Ray of Light

by Evil Irish Pixie

I own nothing of the fandoms or the songs I used in this fiction. You Are The Reason (Duet Version) Ray of Light (AmaLee Version) I See You (Tyler Shaw)

Ray of Light

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When Magnolia Dorea Potter was four years old she came to the quiet realization that her relatives would never love her and that their treatment of her was bad. With that realization came a choice that would change everything for herself and those she'd come into contact with due this choice as she slipped away from Number Four Privet Drive and made her way to London.

Making her first friend in the form of a snake that recognized the power she had and wanted the protection being a familiar could give it. The male Burmese Python guiding her in her quest for freedom.

~Kaa are you sure I'm magic?~ Magnolia hisses to her friend as the large snake bobs his head as he tasted the air once more, having lead them into the heart of London. Trying to lead his human to the other magic humans to get her help. She was too thin and small for a hatchling.

~Yes I'm sure hatchling, only those with magic can speak. Mother said as much and she came from a magic nest~ Kaa hisses patiently as Magnolia nods slowly and would let Kaa continue to guide her. Unaware that her hissing had caught the attention of who would be her ticket to freedom.

A squib from mainland Europe passing through would quietly scoop the girl and the snake up and return to where he'd come from.

This meeting being how four year old Magnolia ended up at Haly's Traveling Circus, staring up in awe as a boy that seemed only a little older than her flew through the air with his parents. He looked so happy and free that Lia couldn't help but wish she could fly and be free like the boy did.

Little did she know at the time, she'd get her wish. The man, Finnigan 'Fin' McKay was part of one of the acts though it had been his night off when he stumbled upon her and knew that living with the circus would be a good way to protect the little girl and her talent with snakes.

Knew that the streets were no place for a young witch as pretty as Magnolia was turning out to be regardless of the health issues she'd developed because of the Dursleys.

As soon as the show was over Fin ushered Magnolia into the back so she could meet everyone, making a beeline for Haly as Magnolia stared around in awe at all the performers. Keeping her 4 ft long snake wrapped around her and nodding along to his commentary about what they were seeing.

Many of the performers stopped to smile and wave at her, a few cooing about how adorable she was before rushing off to finish changing.

Magnolia was barely listening to her new guardian's conversation when she caught sight of him, the flying boy. His eyes locked on hers and she saw that they were a brilliant blue, full of light and laughter. They were her new favorite shade of blue. He seemed as entranced by her as she was by him, keeping his gaze locked firmly with hers until his father gave him a little push in her direction.

That little push being all he needed to approach her.

When he was standing right in front of her, he hesitated, so Magnolia kicked off the introductions. "Hello. My name is Magnolia, this is Kaa" she whispers softly, smiling up at him with wide green eyes as he smiled back.

"It's nice to meet you Magnolia! My name is Richard, but everybody calls me Dick" Dick introduces himself just as happy.

"It's nice to meet you Dick, you did a lovely job in your show. You guys looked amazing as you flew through the air!" Magnolia says, expression becoming a little wistful as she tucks an errant lock of her raven black hair behind her ear. "I wish I could fly like that..." she admits shyly as Kaa hisses his disapproval of that idea.

"And you might get to little one!" Fin's sudden announcement startles both kids, making them jump a little as Haly and the Graysons wander over after a short conversation. "I talked to Haly here and he's agreed to let me take you and Kaa in! The only one here close to your age is little Grayson here, who's a year older than you, and since you were so entranced by their performance they've agreed to train you!" the man explains as he gently ruffles Lia's hair. Silently noting she likely needed a nice warm bath and some food after navigating London alone like she had with only her snake for company. Her hair giving away how long she'd been alone with how filthy and matted it was.

"Really?" Lia and Dick ask at the same time, staring up at the adults with wide, hopeful eyes.

They receive nods from all the adults before the Graysons pull Dick away with them so they could get changed, Haly letting Fin lead Lia towards the trailer he usually used during his stay with the circus, part of the group that performed with the animals Haly kept. Both of the children kept glancing back as they were led away, eager to be able to play and train together.

Though they'd only just met, they felt a strong connection between them, and they couldn't wait to fly together.

Magnolia began her training with the Graysons the next day, and while it was difficult at first, she knew that the payoff would be worth it. She spent almost all her time with Dick when she could, and it became normal for them to be seen together with her snake usually coiled around her or at her feet. No one too thrown off by her abilities since most who came and went from Haly's circus were connected to magic in some way so were in awe of her gift in Parseltongue.

They were together so often that it was considered strange to see one without the other, and whatever they did, they did it together. Partners in crime.

After almost a year of traveling and constant training with the Graysons, Lia would finally be allowed to join their act on the trapeze. Dick and Lia both really excited about it, practically bouncing in place as they heard the good news. Lia had been participating in the circus still, though more as a helper than anything else due to her health so she was excited to finally be part of an act.

Before they knew it, it was time for Lia's first performance with the Graysons. She had been really nervous, but once she was up on the platforms, Dick smiling at her encouragingly everything fell into place. Lia performed amazingly with the Graysons, and after that first performance she became a regular part of the show. She even received some additional lessons on the tightrope and would perform with Kaa on that occasionally.

While she was an amazing performer on her own, she really shined when she performed with Dick. They brought out the best in each other, and those around the circus had begun jokingly referring to them as each other's other half. They had no idea how accurate that was.

When Lia turned six, she and Dick were given their own segment in the show, and they received their own stage-names: Qrow and Raven. The two performed really well together, and soon their act was infamous among the circus community. They would perform both as members of the Flying Graysons and as the Corvids.

Lia absolutely loved being part of the circus with Dick. Fin took the time to make sure she kept up with her schooling and made sure she had the supplies to feed and house Kaa but with how much there was to do he wasn't always around, but Lia was okay with it. As long as she had Dick and Kaa by her side, she wasn't lonely as she had been when she was with her relatives. They were the only friends she'd ever made, and the best ones she could ever want. They did just about everything together, and they had an intrinsic understanding of how the other thought and felt.

Whenever they were away from one another for some reason or another, they always felt like something was missing and they were often antsy, longing to be reunited. While the other members of the circus found it a bit odd, they also thought it was cute. Dick's parents were especially happy that Dick had made such a good friend close to his age, and often found themselves surprised with how...domestic they were, for being so young. Visitors to the circus would often comment over how it seemed a bit odd for the two to be so close, but since the circus-folk were used to seeing them as such, they never questioned it.

The reason the visitors commented was due to their close physical proximity. The two were almost constantly in contact with each other, whether it be through handholding, hugs, side hugs, arms thrown around each other's shoulders, or Lia sitting in Dick's lap. And that's just what the visitors saw.

Normally children their age would shout 'cooties' and run before being caught dead holding hands with someone of the opposite gender. But Dick and Lia weren't normal. Lia, with her mature and knowledgeable countenance, earned from the abuse of her relatives, couldn't care less for the social norms of children having rarely been around others of her age (she didn't count Dudley since he hurt her) and only had Kaa's advice to go off of. Dick, who had grown up in the circus, had nothing to compare the experience to and hadn't really interacted with other kids.

Add to that how both children were advanced for their age, and their physical abilities from constant training, neither child could be referred to as normal from a standard point of view.

Not that anyone cared. To the people that mattered they were just Dick and Lia, the Birds of the circus.

Magnolia had been with the circus for close to four years when she began to feel like something bad was going to happen. She would wake from nightmares of before Fin and Kaa, worrying Dick who often snuck into her trailer so they could sleep together when Fin was away.

The beatings, the green light with the scream and being separated from Dick the few things she did remember. In an attempt to prevent what she saw as an inevitability; Lia would step up her magic training in secret (Fin and Kaa having been working with her in sporadic sessions whenever the man had time to sit her down and teach her what he knew while Kaa would teach her what his mother had shared with him before he'd left her for better hunting which led to their meeting).

No one knew she was learning, not even Dick. She didn't want to worry him even more than he already was, so when she managed to link two journals together with a spell, allowing what was written in one to be seen in the other, she told him that she'd found them in a mystic shop with Kaa's help.

He was obviously a little suspicious given how the journals were customized. They were made of a nice supple brown leather, each one with a belt to keep it closed. The paper inside was a good thickness, and each one had a ribbon, Dick's had a black with a green raven on it while Lia's had a black with a blue crow. Lia had also hand-painted their birds onto the leather of each one, nestled together on a lone branch.

"I painted them for us after I got them" she explains excitedly. "Check it out! They're connected!" Lia opens her journal and scribbles in it for a second before motioning for Dick to open his.

Upon opening it, he sees the word 'see?' written in Lia's handwriting. "Whoa! Let me try!" He takes the blue pen Lia offered him and wrote in his book, closing it once he is finished before noticing something. "Wait, did the crow on your journal just light up?" he asks in surprise.

"Yeah! I brought them back to the place I got them from after I painted them and asked if they could make that happen so we would know when we had a message. I also made sure that our messages would erase themselves after they were read. For extra security" Lia explains, Kaa hissing smugly about her creativity and power from where he is coiled up in her lap.

Dick looks up at her in surprise. "You think of just about everything" he points out.

"Of course! One of has to and it certainly isn't gonna be you or Kaa!" She nudges him with her shoulder as she gave him a playful wink.

Dick rolls his eyes at her, nudging her back as they were called in for practice by his parents.

Lia is just glad that he'd accepted her explanation and seemed to like the journals that she got and enchanted for them. Especially since the journals became something they used regularly. It helped ease her fears a little, knowing she'd still have a way to contact him should they be separated.

Magnolia had shown Dick the journals shortly before her birthday, and when nothing happened directly after that, she thought her fears unfounded.

Only she kept having the nightmares, and they were getting worse. Fin hadn't been back in almost six months, having been bouncing back and forth between Haly's circus and the circus his sister and her family were part of, so Lia often shared her bed with Dick, as they usually did when Fin was gone. He was really worried about her, but since they didn't know why she was having the nightmares, they tried to ignore them. Dick always did his best to comfort her and remind her that he wouldn't leave her willingly.

Convinced that she was just paranoid, Lia did her best to get over her fear. And everything was fine until a few months after her eighth birthday, when Lia's fear was finally realized.

Nobody was expecting anything to happen when they set up their circus just outside of London. They expected it to be the same routine as always. What they conveniently forgot, however, was the fact that Lia was from England; that her relatives lived near or in London.

Everything went according to plan until the last day of their show. Nobody knew it at the time, but with word of the great performances and food getting around someone who recognized Lia (Being part of Dumbledore and his crowd that had been looking for her after she'd run away) would report her return to England from wherever she'd gone.

Fin having returned to Haly's in time to perform the last night with his usual group and too late to warn Haly to keep Lia hidden. The man who had taken Lia under his wing having learned who she was when he'd taken her to Magical Paris to get a full health work up a month after leaving London and knew no one could know he'd taken Magnolia Dorea Potter. Angry that someone had left the young witch with her magic hating mundane relatives that wouldn't understand that they were only aggravating the accidental magic by hurting her and forcing her to do things no child should know how to do at four years old.

That night was one of the nights where Dick and Lia performed twice; once with his parents and once by themselves. There was no indication that things were about to take a bad turn, aside from an ominous sense of foreboding that lingered over the performers. The two birds performed beautifully, gracefully flying through the air together with wide smiles, enjoying every minute they were in the air together. Their performance was captivating, and it was their downfall. Their performance had been a little too good. That one Arabella Figg had spotted the missing Potter child and made plans to grab her once the show was over.

Lia was making her way to relax with Dick when Figg struck. Still in her stage clothes, mask off as she went to retrieve Kaa from where he stayed while she was performing. It was a familiar sight to all those that worked with the circus, and so the little girl went undisturbed. No one noticed the older woman slip into the tent as Lia settled next to Dick to talk about the show, leaning against him with a content smile on her face as she nodded to Kaa who was hissing about what he'd done while they were on the trapeze.

They weren't expecting it when Magnolia was suddenly ripped away from Dick, both of the children crying out in shock as she was torn away roughly. When she caught sight of who had her, she paled drastically. "Miss Figg?" Lia whispers in shock.

Dick's eyes widened as she put a name to her captor. Lia had mentioned being left with a woman who bred cats and sold them sometimes when her relatives went out with her cousin.

Figg dragged her a few feet away from Dick, who was watching in concern. The woman is angry, that much was obvious to all those who had the misfortune of laying eyes on them. "What do you think you're doing here Magnolia? You're supposed to be with your relatives!" The grip on her arm tightens at Figg's words, warning her not to lie.

Lia splutters a bit as she tried to gain her bearings, all the while attempting to free herself from the woman's grip. "I left them! They were hurting me so I went to get help when no one on that street would and found it. Fin kept me safe and we've been traveling ever since!" she explains as Figg tugged her away even further.

"No daughter of James and Lily will grow up to be some- some carnie!" Figg splutters out indignantly as Fin came forward to stop the woman.

"Let Magnolia go now!" Fin barks as the woman turned on the man, ignoring the distressed Lia as she struggled to break free.

"No she'll be returning home with me immediately where she is supposed to be. You can send her things to me later" Figg states firmly as Fin demands to know who had left Lia with her relatives in the first place. Going ignored as Figg continued to drag Lia away.

Tears began to stream down Lia's face as she clutched her journal to her chest with one hand, reaching towards her other half with her free hand. "No! You can't just- Dick!" He reached out for her in desperation, and just as their hands were about to meet Lia was swept off the ground and thrown over Figg's shoulder.

"Lia!" Dick moves to follow, but his parents hold him back, watching after Magnolia with sad eyes. Tears began to run freely down Dick's face as he and Lia fought to be freed, fought to get back to each other, but it was all for naught. Lia is forcibly carried out of the tent, arm still outstretched towards Dick as she let out a final cry of panic before she is gone.

Dick collapses to his knees as he stared at the place she'd just disappeared from, and as his parents finally released him he broke down into sobs. Kaa coiling up around the boy knowing his hatchling's mate needed him and that the caregiver would send him with his hatchling's things soon enough. The boy clutching the snake close once he realizes this as well.

Lia's nightmares had been accurate, and they hadn't heeded the warning. Now they were being separated, and there wasn't anything they could do about it. Their only solace lay in the journals Lia had prepared for them.

She continued to fight against Figg the whole way home, but there was no way for her to get free without hurting the woman. As soon as Figg dropped her off at number 4 Lia was thrown into her room and locked in until the circus had moved on. She'd been exchanging frantic, sorrowful messages with Dick all the while, both of them absolutely devastated at being separated. There was nothing they could do about it. Not with Figg watching her like a hawk though the woman had promised not to breathe a word about where Lia had been. The woman not having the heart to hurt the girl further than she already had in order to protect her from Death Eaters and those that had sided with Voldemort's cause.

The Graysons and Haly were kind enough to pack up her trailer and mail Magnolia's things back to her, Fin having packed it all in a trunk she could shrink and unshrink with a light touch of magic. Not that her relatives were actively paying attention to her or aware of the fact. She managed to redecorate the cupboard under the stairs and they didn't notice until after she'd already done it. Gone was the white, ratty mattress and cobwebs, swapped out for shades of calming blue that reminded Lia of Dick, who she missed terribly and a magically fixed mattress.

After four years of constant human companionship, Magnolia was once again alone. She only had Kaa, her books, and her journal to keep her company. She'd never been so happy to have made those journals as she was when she felt the crushing loneliness of being back with her relatives.

The pain she'd endured from the beating she'd received from her uncle for being brought back. Her aunt showing a little more care than before once she caught on that Lia had been forced back instead of coming back on her own.

Overall Magnolia had hoped that once she was in school she'd be able to make some friends, but she was wrong. Dudley had singled her out and cast her into social isolation. Even if she hadn't been prematurely outcasted she would've had a tough time making friends. Her intellect, which she had found normal in the circus with Dick, was higher than that of her classmates. Add that to how she'd been away from London for so long; nobody was willing to stand up for her. She was just Dudley Dursley's strange cousin that they'd never met before, and they were far more worried about what Dudley and his gang would do to them than they were about Lia.

She took the hint and stopped trying very early on. Instead she focused more of her energy on her projects, like learning magic, her music and her designing. While she'd been with the circus she'd had the opportunity to work with lots of costume designers who had encouraged her talents. Lia having been the one to design her and Dick's costumes for their Corvid performances.

Magnolia had discovered that magic came pretty naturally to her, though there was nobody around to mentor her, so she was forced to learn alone. She made sure to exchange messages with Dick whenever she could, though she wished they could speak in person.

Aunt Petunia had agreed to enroll her in gymnastics, and she was glad to be able to keep up with her routine at least a little, but it wasn't the same. The gymnastics place she was enrolled in had trapeze equipment, but whenever she used it she found herself reaching for someone who wasn't there, only able to perform half of a routine without her partner. Dick had the same problem, from what he'd told her through their messages. Her instructor had told her that she looked like a bird that had lost its mate. Beautifully tragic.

They had no choice but to live their lives as they were. Forced to accept their new normal, at least until Haly brought the circus back to London. Both of them managing to paste on smiles and pretend everything was fine, but those closest to them didn't buy it.

They managed to keep up pretenses for three years, until tragedy struck the circus during its show in Gotham. Dick's parents died right in front of him, and Lia wasn't there to help him. She had known immediately that something bad had happened, awoken after a terrible nightmare with tears in her eyes and Dick's name on her lips in her room in Ravenclaw tower. She went scrying to check on him and couldn't contain her sobs when she saw the source of her nightmare.

Lia didn't care if she couldn't be there physically. She had to be there for him. There was no way Lia would allow him to suffer alone, but there was no way for her to get to Gotham without having been there before. Which meant that she had to get creative.

It took her a week, but she was finally able to get in contact with him the eighth night when he fell asleep. She'd impulsively studied dream sharing during one of her research binges in an attempt to avoid her stalkers and more persistent fame seeking classmates, though now the decision didn't seem nearly as impulsive as it had at the time. As soon as the connection had gone through she'd rushed to him and hugged him close, whispering apologies as he broke into tears once again.

When Dick registered who was attempting to comfort him, he'd frozen. He pulled back in disbelief as he stared at her. "Lia?" he asks quietly.

Magnolia stares up at him with wide, wet eyes. "I'm here, Dick. I know it's different from being there in person, and I wish I could hold you for real, but I'm here for you. I know about what happened" she admits quietly.

He tenses up again as he tugs her closer, burying his face in her shoulder. "It wasn't an accident. Somebody frayed their ropes on purpose, and I'm going to make sure whoever is responsible gets punished" he promises, his anger clear.

Lia stiffens a little before relaxing, rubbing soothing circles into his back. "Just don't let your need to avenge them consume you. I know you need to do something, but if you obsess over it, it will consume you. And if it consumes you how am I supposed to see you again?" She admits with a weak laugh, but from the way he pulls back to look up at her, he wasn't buying it.

"I want to see you again too. I promise, Lia. I won't let it consume me" Dick promises quietly.

"That's all I needed to hear. Now that that's out of the way, let me comfort you" Lia says firmly.

He gave a weak smile as they cuddle up together, remaining in constant contact until they woke up. Lia staring off into the distance longingly when she woke up. Kaa hissing in her ear asking if it had worked and to get a move on otherwise the rest of the tower would come banging on her door.

She knew Dick would keep his promise, and they would meet again, even if it took them a long while.

She took to scrying for him often after that, which is how she learned he'd been adopted by billionaire orphan Bruce Wayne.

It's also how she found out about Batman and Robin. It devastated Lia that she couldn't be there for him while he grieved, even more so when she found out how he was taking out his frustrations. She never would've expected him to become a vigilante, and when they messaged each other he let no indications of it slip through. He was hiding it from her.

There was nothing she could do about it if he didn't want her to know, so she instead placed protections on him and his adoptive father, ensuring nobody else would be able to scry them and find out their secrets.

If she sent him a simple black braided leather bracelet through Hedwig, one that he could wear during his nightly outings, that also had magical sensors in it, well that was her business. Dick never had to know. It was for her peace of mind, linking back to her own matching bracelet, though hers had a single blue bead in the shape of a feather. The bead was enchanted to heat up and glow if Dick got himself into serious trouble with no way out. She would only interfere if there was no other option, and her involvement would have to be extremely discrete. She couldn't have him finding out all of her secrets, after all.

She made sure to keep an eye out for him whenever possible, and he seemed to be doing well as a vigilante. Lia just hoped that it wouldn't become his life, like it seemed to have become the life of his mentor.

There were no problems until shortly after Lia turned twelve, a little less than a year after Dick's parents had died. Having kept her head down and avoided what would have been her first confrontation with her parents' killer the year before. Having made one friend in fellow first year Neville Longbottom and enemies out of most of Slytherin and Gryffindor. The former for turning Draco Malfoy down as a friend and the latter for being sorted into Ravenclaw when her parents were Gryffindors.

Having finally learned about them both and what had lead to her being left with her relatives after turning eleven. Kaa her only companion on her side as she stepped into Magical England and finally learned of what she'd survived and the expectations that most wanted her to live up to.

So when a house elf tried to stop her from getting to Hogwarts she would slip out with Petunia's help and stay at Gringotts catching up on her finances, getting some of her designs made up at Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and finishing up her homework with her new focus in the form of a black titanium ring with a star crow feather encased in blue topaz. Training with the goblins when they caught wind of her connections to the mundane heroes and knew the young witch wouldn't be left behind once she managed to fully slip the leash Dumbledore was trying to control her with.

Managing to catch the train with the help of Petal, one of her family's many house elves.

Once back at Hogwarts though Lia was a lot busier than she should've been, and it was very taxing.

From being harassed by the youngest Weasleys and Granger, to making sure no one picked on Luna, to keeping up with her training from the goblins and her gymnastics, Lia barely had any time to herself. She hated it. All of her time was being eaten up by dodging people who didn't want to know her as a person, and all the rest was dedicated to watching over Dick, who seemed to get himself into a lot of trouble whenever possible.

She hadn't had to intervene to help him yet, but she was worried she would need to soon if things kept going the way they were. She was worried that when something did inevitably happen she wouldn't be able to help him due to her exhaustion. All attempts to distance herself from her year group, to once again be a social outcast, were rejected by just about everyone. The same people that had refused to stand up for her the previous year were now constantly asking for her help with things after it came out she was first in their year, and it was beginning to grate on her patience.

Last year had been a reprieve compared to this year with Lockhart as DADA professor for her second year. She hated liars and Lockhart was a liar with a talent for memory charms that much was clear to Lia. Because of his lies she had to spend more time on DADA teaching than learning as she dug through the library for the right books and dodging the man's attempts to get her alone. All the while trying to figure out where the snake in the walls was coming from with Kaa's help.

In addition to all this, Lia was working on learning other types of magic from grimoires she'd found in her family's vaults. While wand magic was extremely useful, her favorite type of magic was probably shadow manipulation, which had been endlessly useful in helping her escape from annoyances. Luna taking to it like a duck to water to both girl's delight once the blonde asked to learn.

She didn't know how she'd survive the stress of avoiding being everyone's doormat without magic. Potions were her best friend next to Dick, who was always excessively cheerful when they exchanged messages. She hadn't risked dream sharing with him aside from when he was injured or in emotional distress, so they hadn't been able to talk to each other properly on a regular basis. Both of them had their own ways of checking in on each other. Dick through the Batcomputer, once Lia had shown him how to shield it from wand magic, and lots of hacking and Lia through scrying and other forms of magic.

Magnolia went out of her way to make it seem like everything was okay on her end, using her connections to get rid of any info that might give Dick cause for concern. Not wanting him to learn about the traps Dumbledore was trying to force her into. She didn't want Dick to find out and come running. With the resources he'd gained upon being adopted by Bruce Wayne, there was little doubt that he'd rush over at the first sign of trouble.

The year would pass with little incident once she'd managed to free Tiamat, Salazar's basilisk and steal Riddle's diary to take to the goblins for the summer and saved Dick numerous times without him finding out.

At some point Dick had helped found a hero team under the guidance of the Justice League, which gave Lia some peace of mind where his safety was concerned. She'd had to scope them out herself, of course, to make sure they would be able to keep him safe for her.

It had been difficult to set up a situation where she'd be able to see them in action but after she'd turned thirteen, Haly setting up shop near Paris with rumors of things happening around the circus, she'd gotten her chance. Having signed up to go home for Christmas break and slipped away to Gringotts. Ignoring the fact her godfather had broken out of Azkaban to supposedly kill her. Taking with her a couple changes of clothes while leaving her trunk, Kaa, Tiamat, and Hedwig with Ragnarök, her account manager.

She knew the moment Dick set foot in France and had made arrangements to keep Dumbledore from getting suspicious of her absence from number 4 Privet Drive and England while she went off to observe them. Lucky for her everyone was too occupied with Sirius Black to notice her absence for the duration of the time the heroes would be near Paris, which made things easier for her. Using what little skill she had with her Metamorphmagus abilities to hide herself and head for the circus.

Haly and Fin, while surprised, had been happy to see her and allowed her to do as she pleased as long as she agreed to perform in the circus for Haly on the last day. She was quick to agree before slipping off to observe the team as they investigated the circus with Fin's help. She'd had to do some careful magic to evade the Martian's notice, but she'd managed it, observing their interactions carefully throughout their time with the circus.

On the day of the last show, Lia was slated to perform right after the heroes, Fin and Haly hadn't told anyone she was there. Fin having been working with her to gain legal guardianship of her with the goblins when she wasn't watching the heroes.

While Robin had a small mishap during their performance and was on his way backstage, most of the guests gearing up to leave, Haly halted everyone in their tracks.

(Play You Are The Reason – Calum Scott & Leona Lewis)

"Ladies and gentlemen! I realize that what's about to happen wasn't in the program, but when I got the opportunity for this performer to shine once again, I couldn't pass up the opportunity!" The lights went out as a single spotlight slowly made its way up to the platforms. "Here for this one night only, with a routine dedicated to her partner which she was cruelly ripped away from many years ago, please give a warm welcome to Raven!" The spotlight finally landed on Lia, her lone figure sparkling up on the platforms. As she jumped from her platform to begin, she noticed that upon hearing her name Dick had stopped dead in his tracks and whipped around to stare up at her in shock. His teammates questioned the action, but they couldn't drag him away from where he had frozen.

He could recognize Lia anywhere. Her costume was reminiscent of the one she'd worn when they performed together, a sparkling black mandarin collar sleeveless body suit decorated with delicate dark blue feathers, her longer hair pulled back into a high ponytail with a black hair ribbon bejeweled with pastel blue feathers. A domino mask was secured over her face to prevent anyone from recognizing her, though it couldn't ever hope to fool Dick, her one true partner.

The routine she'd come up with was one she'd been working on ever since she'd been signed up for gymnastics and her instructor had remarked over the anguish and anger she exuded, like a bird who'd lost their mate. As she twirled and flipped through the air, reaching longingly for a partner she couldn't reach, she was aware of all the eyes glued to her, though Dick's were the most intense. He was obviously shocked at her presence, and he longed to join her in the air, though he couldn't. Her performance hauntingly beautiful, all who viewed it overcome with the emotions she managed to portray as she let loose her pain and grief.

As she released the bar for the final time in the performance, she let herself cry a little bit, onlookers gasping in shock as she dove gracefully towards the earth. Using her magic to encompass herself in a bright blue ball of fire that forced everyone to look away, and by the time it clears enough for them to look back, she's gone.

There were murmurs of shock, confusion, and awe throughout the crowd as Haly asked that they give Raven a round of applause before drawing the show to a close.

Dick, thoroughly shocked and concerned by the performance, searched desperately for Lia, but he couldn't find her. When his teammates tried to find out what was wrong, he wouldn't give them an explanation. He questioned Haly and Fin, but all he got out of the two men was that Lia had been in the city for the holidays and had asked to be allowed to participate for old times sake, and that she'd left as soon as she was finished.

Satisfied that Dick's new team would indeed keep him safe Lia allows herself to slip away, the small smile on her face contrasting with the tears running down her cheeks. She always got emotional when performing, and she'd put a lot of her emotions into her performance that night, relishing in the freedom of letting her emotions loose. Of not having to hide behind the mask she wore at Hogwarts.

Dick had been devastated to be so close to Lia without being able to speak to her, and Lia knew she wasn't much better. She knew that he wouldn't be able to visit her either, what with the mission being unsanctioned and all.

They weren't meant to be properly reunited just yet, and while her heart ached at being so close yet so far, Magnolia knew better than to go against fate.

Her own magical experience and reading letting her know that much. She knew better than to scorn fate. They would meet again, even if she did have the feeling that it wouldn't be under the best circumstances.

A few days after Dick had left Paris, Lia safely back in London, he messaged Lia letting her know that he'd seen her performance.

Dick claiming he saw it through a video and not in person, which was feasible, but they both knew the truth. He'd seen it in person with his teammates nearby, all of them confused over his reaction to the performer. She knew that he hadn't told anyone about her, wanting to keep her safe from the life he led now. He'd kept her existence from everyone at every chance he got, and she knew this because she'd done much the same thing. Not willing to share her partner and first human friend with anyone though Luna had hinted she knew though never naming names to Lia's quiet amusement.

No one knew of her circus background, and she aimed to keep it that way. When she walked into the winter term's first Transfiguration class to find some of her mundane born classmates raving about Raven's performance, Lia kept silent. Nobody was any the wiser, which is exactly how Lia wanted it.

At least, she thought nobody was onto her.

When she met up with Neville for the first time after her performance she found otherwise. Granger would corner them both to ask Lia if she'd been at the circus casually, though she could tell the other girl was suspicious.

Most people knew she practiced gymnastics after she'd shot down the offer to be part of her house Quidditch team so seeing her perform as Raven obviously rung some bells for Granger. She denied it of course, but the seed of suspicion was already planted. The other girl wouldn't be swayed.

As soon as the other girl had walked away Lia knew that Granger would actively begin looking into it so she wrote to Haly and asked him to bury anything that could lead to her true identity. He agreed easily enough, though he was obviously a bit worried as to why, especially since she wouldn't give a proper reason in any of her letters. While Haly did his part, Lia did some hacking of her own to finish off the rest. None of her names had ever been linked to Raven before, but she wasn't taking any chances.

It was a little awkward for Magnolia for a while after her performance on top of the random Firebolt being gifted to her, with people constantly talking about both, but it died down with Weasley and Granger still arguing about the girl's cat and Scabbers the rat wherever they went.

Fin wrote to her shortly after returning to classes that a couple heroes had visited Paris in hopes of tracking down the elusive Raven that had gotten such a strong reaction out of Robin, but they never stayed long. Dick found out every time and scared them away. None of them catching her with her being back at school in the Scottish highlands.

In the following weeks she would do her best to avoid the Gryffindors and Professor Lupin both while doing exceedingly well in Potions class to spite Snape to the amusement of the Weasley Twins who had given her the Marauders map which became a boon in avoiding everyone but the twins, Neville and Luna though she had begun a tentative friendship with Astoria Greengrass and by extension her older sister Daphne. The younger girl having caught her practicing the Patronus Charm in an unused classroom. Her corporeal Patronus coming out as a crow to the delight of Lia, amusement of Luna and confusion of Astoria and Neville.

When Sirius once again broke into Gryffindor Tower Lia was forced to accept the fact that the only one she could trust to do the job right, aside from Dick, was herself. Writing to the goblins to begin the first of her plans to slip Dumbledore's leash by letting the world know Sirius hadn't been her parent's secret keeper and that the sole vault Pettigrew owned was still active.

Meaning that the man was still alive since he had no living relatives after the death of this mother.

Amelia Bones and the DMLE jumping on it and tracking down both Sirius and Peter before Dumbledore could hinder the woman.

It was clear after that though that Dumbledore was growing more desperate as time went on. He was getting sloppier, starting to leave a solid trail for Lia to follow to pin him as the one for the cause of her suffering and the one who had given Voldemort the tools to kill her parents.

Bit by bit, she began collecting the evidence the old man was unknowingly leaving behind. It was difficult though for her to investigate him with Granger and the youngest Weasley children actively attempting to hinder her investigation.

After Sirius was cleared Lia made it clear to both her godfather and Remus that she would not support the man responsible for her suffering at the Dursleys, leaving out the period of time she'd been with the circus, and that she would find other accommodations should they side with the old man or couldn't live with the fact that she could speak to snakes because her mother had a squib ancestor from Slytherin's line in her family tree.

Both more than men able to accept those terms and wanting to learn how she'd discovered that little bit about Lily and wanting to get to know their last connection to their best friend.

Lia moving in with the pair once Hogwarts let out for the summer. Smug at the shock and surprise the pair displayed at her close relationship with the goblins and the shop owners in Diagon Alley.

The alley inhabitants having helped hide her the previous summers after starting Hogwarts, though Lia knew that Snape had at least an inkling that was where she'd been hiding after staying two weeks with the Dursleys to renew the weak wards around the home.

Another issue that had popped up though was Ronald. He, increasingly obsessed with her as the Girl Who Lived, wasn't too happy with the changes in her life, hence his attempts to hinder her. He refused to listen when she asked him to back off, often asking her out on dates and getting pissy when she said no and would move to get physical before Kaa would rear up and scare him off or Lia used her magic to intimidate him. Being the stronger of the two of them in will and power.

Needless to say, she was getting sick of dealing with Ronald. The Gryffindors were getting sick of him, Ginny and Hermione too, many of them having had to listen to his rants about her, his poor hygiene and him constantly losing points.

Lia was just glad she'd been sorted into a different house so she didn't have to deal with any of her stalkers after classes. Able to retreat to either the Chamber or Ravenclaw tower.

Overall the summer before fourth year was the happiest and the most free she'd ever been since she was eight years old. Writing to Dick about the Quidditch World Cup Sirius had dragged her to and what she'd been working on since she'd moved out of the Dursley home. Discreetly hooking up number 12 Grimmauld Place to the internet so Dick didn't get suspicious as to why he couldn't find her electronically anymore though Remus had likely caught on but kept it to himself as another of Lia's quirks.

Sirius on his part would appreciate the help in getting the house cleaned up and the darker artifacts packed up and stored away in the Black vaults though he missed Lia nicking a clunky looking locket. He would comment on her wearing it though a week after the attack at World Cup.

The goblins having used the locket, diary and the shard in her now absent scar to begin tracking down the rest to force Riddle's soul back together.

Lia making it more than clear to the goblins that the man didn't get to die until he cleaned up the mess he'd made and live up to the promises he'd made before going batshit crazy.

"Your brother had it and Kreacher let me have it after I helped him finish Uncle Regulus' last request. Plus technically it's mine to begin with as the only female Slytherin still around" Lia points out as Sirius nods while Remus chuckles at the fact his partner had to fight not to grimace at the reminder.

"Is that why he's so much nicer to you now?" Sirius asks incredulously as the first part of her sentence catches up in his brain.

"Yes that's why we get along better and that's why he moved Walburga for me. Why his work is so much better though that might be because he doesn't want Petal or Dobby doing the work for him since they're not Black family elves" Lia says as Sirius nods his understanding while Remus snorts in amusement at the reminder of the ongoing war between the two elves Lia owned and Kreacher.

"I'll get them to stop now that I've got the basement sorted out so Kaa can come out of the trunk compartment I keep him and Tia in" Lia reassures as Sirius and Remus both grimace at the reminder about Tiamat the basilisk.

Their goddaughter had made a fortune on the shed skin and venom from her second snake. Setting some of it away in the personal vault the goblins had given her the summer before second year though she had used some of it to invest in a few of the businesses in the alley. The rest she'd put away in the Slytherin vault since Voldemort had spent a lot of its contents in the last war.

Going into fourth year Lia knew it was going to be hell with the Tri-Wizard Tournament taking place at Hogwarts. Knew her luck would run out and Dumbledore or Voldemort would pull something to force her into the spotlight.

School slowly becoming a living hell as everyone worked to tear her down once her name came out of the Goblet of Fire. Suddenly, instead of just being the recluse Ravenclaw, she was the target of everyone's frustrations. Her classmates went out of their way to trip her up and destroy her things, and she would stumble back to her dorm room with new bruises. It had started out small and slowly escalated. Between the escalation of attacks on her person and getting through the tournament Lia applied to take her OWL's earlier, which she'd been granted.

Coming face to face with Voldemort and his followers at the end of the third task to make a horrible situation even worse.

Keeping silent on what happened other than to say that the cup had taken them somewhere and men in Death Eater robes had attacked her.

Slipping out of the house at the start of the summer once Remus and Sirius sat her down and told her that the Order of the Phoenix were going to use the house as headquarters. Giving her godfather a small sad smile on her way out since she wanted nothing to do with the man who had indirectly hurt her and had pushed her parent's killer into what he was now.

Going to the bank to finish her training and take her OWL's with only Kaa as company. Finding the Gaunt ring by the time she had to go back to school for her fifth year.

Fifth year turning out to be the worst year yet as she struggled to remain stone faced in the face of Umbridge and her blood quill. Teaching only her friends what they needed to know to survive in the world outside Hogwarts. How to fight back instead of roll over and let the enemy walk all over them like Umbridge had been trying to teach them all.

Getting O's in all ten of the classes she'd been taking up until that point. Charms, Transfiguration and DADA being the only courses she'd gotten an O+.

The happiness she'd felt in accomplishing this diminished with the loss of Sirius when he came to save her in the Department of Mysteries after Granger and Weasley had dragged her there on the discreet orders of Dumbledore. Finally forcing her hand when she lashed out against Bellatrix and Dumbledore for taking Sirius from her.

Destroying Dumbledore's office when he revealed why he'd done what he'd done to her and why Voldemort had killed her parents.

Slipping away into London once she got off the train, leaving a note with Remus promising she'd keep in touch while she worked to fix the mess Dumbledore had made of their lives.

Setting up a base for herself once she realized that Dumbledore had let the Order loose to track her down behind Remus' back when it became clear Lia hadn't gone home with him. Spending two years like this on the run trying to track down the last of Riddle's soul shards. The goblins having been gleeful when she'd brought back the ring and the Diadem of Ravenclaw. They having found Hufflepuff's cup in Bellatrix's vault and seizing it for safekeeping.

Leaving only Nagini and Voldemort himself before her task would be done.

Nobody knew where she'd gone or what she was up to. All they knew was that she'd disappeared, leaving the youngest without their favorite punching bag and scapegoat. With her skill in shadow manipulation and ability to change her hair and eye color on a dime they could only catch glimpses of her, never able to get close enough to speak with her.

She'd made sure that Dick wasn't able to find out how she'd been treated or what she was up to now. Treasuring the messages that they shared. He'd recently moved to Bludhaven to become a cop and picked up a new vigilante identity. He'd also gained a new adoptive brother, though he seemed conflicted about it. She knew that he was upset that the boy was being trained to take up the mantle he'd left behind, but that was no reason for him to ignore the boy.

Dick was stubborn, so she knew there was little chance of her convincing him to be there for Jason.

It wasn't fair for him to leave the kid hanging just because he was upset with Bruce so Lia decided to do something about it. She traveled to Gotham in secret with a little help from the goblins, finding Jason sitting on a gargoyle in his Robin costume, obviously upset about something. He was ignoring all the voices coming from the communicator he'd left sitting beside him and was just staring off into the distance when Lia dropped down in front of him. Wearing a long sleeve black bodysuit with black ankle boots, a gold utility belt and a basilisk skin jacket. Her long wavy hair, which she hadn't had time to cut since third year, pulled into a loose messy bun and fire red instead of its normal black. Her domino mask off for the conversation.

Obviously shocked at her sudden presence, jumping to his feet, he takes a defensive stance as he glares at her. "Who are you?" he demands.

She smiles at him, holding up her hands to show she was unarmed. "I'm a friend of your brother, Dick. I came by to meet you since he's being so stubborn" she explains quietly.

Though she can't see his eyes, she can tell that he's rolled them, scoffing at her answer. "So you're one of his hero buddies?" he demands as Lia shook her head.

"No, I'm a friend from his circus days. We haven't seen each other in person in a long while, but we've kept in contact. He wouldn't have mentioned me, hasn't talked about me to anyone, in fact" Lia patiently explains.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" Jason demands.

Lia tilts her head at the young teen before pulling out a picture of her and Dick backstage after a performance, handing it over to Jason who scrutinized it. "That's a picture of the two of us after a performance before we were separated" she explains fondly.

He glances back up at her, quietly noting she'd dyed her hair, as he returns the photo. "Ok, so you're legit. Doesn't explain what you're doing here. Or how you got up here" he points out as Lia chuckles.

Lia chose to ignore his second question. "I know that Dick is fighting with Bruce right now and isn't really helping you out because of it. It's stupid of him to ignore you because of an argument he had with Bruce, but since I know him well enough to know he won't change his mind, I've decided to help you out in his stead. If something were to happen to you, he'd be devastated" she explains.

"And how are you supposed to help me, exactly?" Jason asks curiously.

"Here" she hands him a black leather bracelet, one similar to the one she'd gifted Dick all those years ago. It's linked to her bracelet, though she's added a new charm to keep track of the kid. He takes it warily, looking between her and the bracelet skeptically. She rolls her eyes at him. "It's magic. If you're ever in trouble with no way out while you're wearing it, I'll know and be able to help you. I've done the same for Dick many times, though he doesn't know it. He doesn't know that I know, and he doesn't want to get me involved. All I ask is that you don't tell him you met me" she explains patiently.

"He won't hear anything from me. Is there any way that I'll be able to contact you?" Jason asks and she hesitates a bit before pulling out a slip of paper with her number on it, handing it over to Jason. He looks at it and nods before tucking it away into his utility belt. "Thanks" he says quietly.

"You're welcome Jason" Lisa says fondly before digging her phone out of her utility belt as it dinged with a reminder she had a meeting with the Weasley twins, causing her to curse under her breath. "Feel free to text and call whenever you want, Jay! I've got to go take care of something" she explains before taking a running leap off the building. Changing shape mid jump into her Animagus form. The last thing she'd done with Sirius, her form having turned out to be a phoenix to the amusement of her family and friends. All of them knowing her love of being in the air and setting things on fire.

She ignores his shock as she flies away to where she could apparate to the New York branch of Gringotts, where she quickly made her way to the meeting with the twins in the London branch before heading back to her apartment. She made sure she placed the same magical protections she'd placed on the other members of the Wayne household on Jason before entering her studio to record her latest piece.

Hitting the record button as she began to play and sing her promise to Dick for all to hear, even if only they would understand her words. Her hair raven black once more and wearing a blue long sleeve, knee length sweater dress with black leggings and her feet bare.

"I changed and ever since that day

I told myself I'd never cry another tear

And I would bear

The weight of the pain

And live each day

True to the vow I made

Even if I try

I can never go back in time

I'm still powerless that hasn't changed from those days

I can see a vision of you clear like a dream

This one memory

It's disappearing

If I could only find the strength

Just a little more each day

Then maybe you will hear me calling out to you someday

I'll continue on this path

'Til the wind comes to a stop

And all I'll have to do is look up and I will find you

Before the dawn, it's shining bright a glowing ray of light

I feel like finally, it's real

That I've begun to understand some mysteries

And now I see

That I was so afraid

I locked away

My whole heart to keep it safe

Even when I see

A beautiful scenery

I am only reminded you're not here with me

Days go on they're flying past like a shooting star

I pray you're not far

Wherever you are

If I could only find the strength

Just a little more each day

Then maybe I will finally cross your path again someday

Even if the tears I cry

Turn to raindrops in the night

All I will have to do is look up and I will see you

Look to the sky and you will find a rainbow-colored light

Years have passed and we both have grown up

You would think I would have better luck

Hope you still seek the answers I've been asking night and day

But I haven't lost my faith I still believe we'll find a way

We will reunite within that far off sky

If I can only find the strength

Just a little more each day

Then maybe you will hear me calling out to you someday

I'll continue on this path

'Til the wind comes to a stop

And all I'll have to do is look up and I will find you

Before the dawn, it's shining bright a glowing ray of light

In that sky, we'll reunite"

She sang aloud, smiling at the audio recorder as it cut off. Glad she'd listened to Fin and started posting her music videos and did the odd commission, working under a pseudonym to avoid unwanted attention. She was extra glad she'd decided to work under a pseud when she heard murmurs of Dumbledore looking to get her blacklisted as a last ditch attempt to regain control over her, not that it would work.

She'd had just about enough of the man's pointless attempts to capture her though.

The only good thing about it was that in his desperation to manipulate her, he'd left behind the clues that she needed to prove to the DMLE that her suspicions were sound.

All she had left to do was compile all the evidence, which she quickly completed before arranging a meeting with Madam Bones under a disguise. She showed her all the evidence she'd compiled, but some were afraid of attempting to confront him.

With his status there was no guarantee that Dumbledore would face legal consequences, so Amelia had made the decision to let Lia curse him to live out the pain of all his victims; he would experience the pain of every person who had ever been hurt or died due to his actions. To others it would seem like he'd simply slipped into a coma, but Lia would make sure the public knew the truth.

She would catch the old man off guard when she used his eagerness to regain control against him when she went to sit her NEWT's, stunning him and then casting her curse with Kaa and Snape as her witnesses.

The Potion's master more than eager to see what the daughter of Lily would do to the man who had sent them both back to abusive households. The man responsible for their suffering until they'd managed to break free in their own ways. The man responsible for setting Voldemort on Lily and Magnolia in the first place.

"Where did you learn of such a curse Potter?" Snape asks curiously as he watches Dumbledore fall unconscious.

"In a Black family grimoire…Sirius confirmed it would work when I asked" Lia admits quietly as she spat at Dumbledore's feet.

"Was the mutt sober when he confirmed this?" Snape asks as Lia shook her head in the negative.

"Nope it was during one of his rare binges just after we moved into where headquarters for the fried chicken are. He forgot I'd asked once he was sober and Remus generally leaves me to scheme unless I start cackling like my grandmother used to. Or so they told me the one time I'd asked why they were so freaked out by the laughing" Lia admits as Snape nods and levitates Dumbledore away knowing come morning that things were going to change once more.

That the Dark Lord was liable to get curse happy once he reported what Magnolia Potter had done to Dumbledore.

The next day the knowledge that Dumbledore had fallen into a coma due to a curse along with all of his crimes was front page news while her continued absence was third page news with the addition of whether or not she was going to take up the charge against Voldemort with Dumbledore gone.

The public very unhappy that they didn't get to see the old man nailed in court, they seemed to feel that forcing him to feel their pain was fair, not that she needed their approval.

Dumbledore's punishment had only been the beginning in fixing Magical England.

All that was left for her to do was deal with Voldemort and his insane followers like she had been while on the run from both sides.

Finding Voldemort proved to be a lot more difficult than Lia had originally anticipated. She could scry for his location, but he moved around too much for her to be able to pin the insane man down. He'd avoided returning to where he'd hidden his soul shards as well, so he never tripped the wards she'd left there.

It was frustrating, to say the least. You'd think finding a magic induced insane maniac would be simple, but Lia found that that wasn't the case where Voldemort was concerned.

On top of her difficulty finding Voldemort, Dick had been unable to message her as consistently as normal. He was dealing with some family and hero drama.

Needless to say Lia wasn't having a very good time.

The only thing she looked forward to was her commissions, her music and talking to Jason, who had warmed up to her despite his initial suspicions.

Jason seemed to be struggling with something, however, and Lia had a bad feeling about it.

Her bad feeling proven correct when the charm that represented (a gold feather) Jason started glowing one night, heating up as his condition worsened.

Lia immediately dropping what she was doing, and diving through the nearest shadow.

The shadows letting out into a warehouse in the middle of nowhere, and it's there that she finds Jason, tied up and beaten on the ground as a bomb ticks away.

She didn't think twice. She scoops him up off the ground and hops right back through the nearest shadow before the bomb could go off, placing Jason gently on her bed. Barely conscious of what is happening as Lia calls upon her magic, coaxing it into healing the worst of his injuries.

The magic flowing through him soothingly as it works with his body to close up cuts and set and heal bones. Lia continues to heal him even as she began to weaken, sweat beading on her forehead as she uses all her energy to save Jason.

Not willing to lose another person she considered family.

She manages it though, but only just. He'd been in terrible shape, and the healing had taken a lot out of her. What he'd been doing alone in that warehouse she has no idea, but there is no excuse for the people around him letting it happen. She knew that he'd been having problems with Bruce and Dick, but they still should've noticed something.

A quick scrying session shows her that Bruce had in fact made it to the warehouse just in time for the bomb to go off, and she is gratified to see him devastated. If he'd paid more attention to Jason, he wouldn't be searching for his son's corpse amidst the ruins of a warehouse.

As she watches Bruce sift through the debris in search of a body, she wonders whether she should leave a clue to Jason's survival. The pain the normally stoic bat exuded made the decision for her though.

As much as Lia felt Bruce deserved the pain for his ignorance where Jason was concerned, she couldn't find it in her to allow him to think his second son dead. Just as he collapses to his knees in the middle of the destroyed warehouse a piece of parchment flashes into being in front of him.

Upon closer examination the words 'he's alive' are printed on it, and as Lia watches hope bloom on the bat's face, she knows she made the right decision.

After that is accomplished she promptly passes out at Jason's bedside from magical exhaustion, and she remains as such for almost twelve hours before waking.

The first thing she does upon waking is check on Jason, making sure he is healing properly as she checks on any wounds her magic had glossed over while focusing on the life-threatening ones. She prepares some food for the both of them, eating her portion as she waits for him to wake. Kaa coiled at her feet snoozing away. Hedwig away with Luna so the young blonde could stay in touch.

When Jason woke up, he's frantic, almost flying off the bed before Lia manages to pin him back down. As he came to his senses he took stock of the situation, taking in the fact that it's Magnolia he is seeing, and not one of the Batfam. His confusion is obvious as he glances around before focusing his gaze on her. "Lia...?" he croaks out.

She gently pats his hand to help reassure him. "I'm here Jay. You're safe now" the witch gently reassures.

"But I was- how did you-?" His brow creases in thought. As far as he knew, there should've been no way for Magnolia to find and help him. Even with the 'magic' bracelet she'd gifted him.

"I gave you that bracelet for a reason Jaybird. As soon as I was alerted to you being in danger I set off to help you out" Lia rolls her eyes with a small huff of fond exasperation.

"But I was in Ethiopia. And you live in London. How did you get there so fast?" Jason asks.

"That bracelet had to get its magic from somewhere, right?" Lia laughs, wiggling her fingers as she allows her magic to form a visible silver layer around her hand.

Jason doesn't know what to do with that information, so he just kinda shrugs it off. "Does anybody know I'm here? Or that I'm, you know, alive?" he asks.

"I left a note stating you were alive, but nobody knows your location" Lia answers as Kaa slithers up to coil around her waist and rest his head on her shoulder to look at his hatchling's latest stray.

"No kidding. Not even I know my location. Where did you take me?" Jason asks, eyeing her snake warily. Having seen pictures but to see his sheer size in person is another thing altogether.

"My flat, obviously. We're in London" She gestures out the window, and sure enough, the London Eye is visible in the distance.

Lia forces him to eat after that, and she continues to fuss over him as his wounds heal. She'd gotten a few messages from Dick, who informs her that his brother is missing and that he's worried. She did her best to reassure him, but there was only so much she could say without giving everything away.

Jason became her own personal shadow for the duration of his stay in London, and she's glad to see that he seemed to be enjoying his time with her. He'd even referred to her as his sister once, which had gotten him an enthusiastic tackle-hug.

Lia wished he could stay with her longer, but the bats were all looking for him, and if he stayed they'd end up in London eventually.

So it's around a month after Lia saved him that she is ushering a grumbly Jason through a shadow that led to the entrance of Wayne Manor. He texts her a few hours later expressing his distaste for being smothered, but she knows he's glad to be back with them.

Based on Dick's happy messages assuring her his brother had been found, they were glad to have him back as well. There was no way that Jason would give her up, so she didn't need to be worried about him telling them about how she'd saved him.

Magnolia making sure to keep a closer eye on Jason after that, to make sure he didn't get into so much trouble again. He'd dropped the mantle of Robin for the time being, and he was a bit more distant with the bats, but he made sure to keep in contact with Lia.

The whole situation had hit him pretty hard, and he was still struggling with it, though Lia was helping him a lot. Letting him vent to a willing non-judgmental ear when he needed it.

With Jason safe and relatively stable Magnolia once again turned her focus to finding Voldemort, finally just saying screw it and stealthily attaching a portkey to the man through his shadow once she manages to pin him and Nagini down to Malfoy Manor.

The goblins more than happy to finish her work on that end while the DMLE hunted down the less stable of Voldemort's followers courtesy of Snape.

Through all of this what she hadn't been prepared for was Ronald Weasley tracking her down. She's on the roof of her apartment building sketching away when she senses him. She ducks out of the way just in time to avoid getting hit by the stunner. She jumps up and took a defensive stance as he put distance between them, glaring at her from where he's stood on the other side of the roof.

"You!" he hisses, blue eyes narrowed at Magnolia. "You were the one who cursed Dumbledore. This is all your fault" he snarls as Lia tilts her head.

"What are you talking about Weasley? I haven't seen the old man since our fifth year and been doing my damn best to avoid the old coot" Lia points out calmly. Giving nothing away with her blank mask firmly in place.

He actually growls at her. "Don't you play dumb with me! I know you did it! If you had just done as you were told he would still be around and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named would be dead already!" His eyes locking onto her bracelet with the charms for Dick and Jason on it and assuming it's a courting gift. "You were supposed to be mine! Dumbledore promised you would be mine and your money would elevate my family from its current state!" he snarls as Lia bares her teeth in an equal snarl at his words as she took a few steps back, watching him with cold green eyes.

"I was never yours and the old coot made those promises illegally without my consent and the consent of my guardians which weren't him and by the time he could it was too late. I'd had the goblins make sure no one could trap me like that ever again" she states coldly.

Ronald's eyes lock on her with a laser-like focus. He wouldn't be swayed. He lunges towards her with a snarled stunner and she barely manages to dodge him as he attacks. He's erratic in his attacks, more unpredictable due to his instability.

Magnolia isn't aiming to hurt him, aiming to disarm, and her distraction is what leads to her injury. A vicious cutting spell connects with her right side just as she spies an opening, and as he is preparing to bind her, she is able to stick the portkey Madam Bones had given her in case of an emergency, as she kicks him away.

The wounds he'd inflicted are bleeding heavily, but there is no way for her to treat them with Ron standing there, glaring at her with hatred contorting his features. There is no way she could continue to fight him in her condition, so she retreats to the edge of the roof as he stalks towards her. As she reaches the edge, she glares at him in defiance. "You will never have me. I'd sooner die than be stuck with you. Avis" she hisses out. His face expressing his shock as she steps backwards off the roof, falling straight through a shadow while he is transported to the DMLE. She hears him scream in rage just before the shadows swallow her, and then she is falling.

The shadows lets her out high above a large city, and as injured as she is there is no way for Lia to stop her fall. She plummets towards the ground, blood trailing from her wounds as she continues to fall. Her vision becoming hazier with each passing second.

Just as she closes her eyes, resigned to her fate, she feels another body collide with her own, strong arms wrapping around her as the person they are attached to swung them onto the nearest rooftop. She manages to pry her eyes open just as her saviour looks down at her, taking her in for the first time.

It's Nightwing, and as recognition dawns on his face, he whispers her name in horror. Her blood is seeping through his costume, and she could sense his impending panic. She reaches up slowly, body weak from blood loss, and gently strokes his face, looking up at him with a soft smile as he fought to bring his panic under control. "It's good to see you again, Qrow" she whispers, barely registering his shock before she finally passes out, hand dropping back onto her chest as the stress of the night took its toll on her. The last thing she hears is his voice, desperately calling her name and begging her to hold on as he leaps off the roof with her in his arms.

Dick

Nothing could have prepared Dick for the sight of a woman falling from the sky, bleeding profusely as she fell from a height no civilian should have been able to reach.

Catching the woman only to realize that it's Magnolia who had been falling from the sky, severely injured when last he knew she is supposed to be safe in London, nearly sends him spiraling. Her touch managing to calm him momentarily, but her revelation that she knew had him panicking again.

The only reason he hadn't is because she passed out and is still bleeding heavily.

He snaps out of his shock when her hand falls away from his face, gathering her as close as he could as he rushes off to the Batcave. He didn't even want to think about what could've happened to Lia should he have been in Bludhaven when she fell from the sky. He realizes dimly that the others were speaking to him through the comms, but he couldn't respond. His sole focus is on getting Lia back to the cave where Alfred could help patch her up.

He makes it back in record time.

Dick keeps Lia pressed close to his chest as he hurries through the cave towards their med bay, calling for Alfred as he did. Babs and Jason been waiting for him to get back, but the shock of him appearing covered in blood with a wounded girl in his arms kept them from speaking. As Alfred appears beside him in the med bay he couldn't take his eyes off of Magnolia. He barely notices Babs rolling away in her wheelchair to inform Bruce why Dick hadn't been responding.

Jason came up beside him and stood with him as they watch Alfred treat her wounds. He is oddly silent as they watch Alfred reveal the injuries her shirt had been covering. They all took note of the strange nature of the wounds. It looks almost as though she'd gotten into a fight with someone wielding a set of knives. There was no way she should've been able to get such injuries naturally, she was more careful than that. Something had happened, someone had a hand in what happened to Lia, and Dick is determined to find out who.

When Lia is finally placed on one of their medical beds, bandages peeking out from under her clothing, Dick finally allows himself to be pushed into the showers. He did his best to avoid looking at how the water turned red from Lia's blood. He wants to return to her bedside as soon as he is back in the main part of the cave but is instead dragged back over to the briefing table where Bruce is waiting, having returned from patrol.

The questions began as soon as he sat down. "Who is she? Why bring her here instead of the hospital?" Bruce demands.

"Her name is Magnolia. She- she's a friend of mine. From my days in the circus. One of the animal tamers brought her and her snake Kaa to stay with the circus when she was four, and my parents agreed to train her. We performed together for almost three years before we were separated. I brought her here because she recognized me and I panicked. She's supposed to be in London, safe, not here in Gotham injured" Dick explains as he stares at his hands, avoiding the others' gazes.

"Where did you find her?" Bruce asks.

"I found her along my patrol route, falling from the sky. I only realized it was her after I saved her" Dick explains.

"You said she recognized you. Did you tell her?" Bruce asks sternly.

"No. I never told her about any of this. I didn't want her to be involved" Dick admits.

"Like that did any good. She knew who you were ever since you put on the mask for the first time" Jason snorts.

Silence fell as they all stare at Jason, who as far as they knew had never met Magnolia before. "And how would you know that?" Bruce asks.

He rolls his eyes at them. "She told me. I've met her before" Jason admits.

"What?" Dick says in surprise. Lia had never mentioned meeting Jason before, so Dick was understandably confused.

"I've met her. She popped out of nowhere shortly after I took up the mantle. Showed up right in front of me when I was taking a break on my favorite gargoyle" Jason explains.

They continue to stare at Jason, Dick being the one to ask the obvious question. "And you never thought to mention this why?" he demands.

"She asked me not to" Jason shrugs, unperturbed.

"Why did she approach you in the first place?" Alfred asks.

"Because at the time Dick was still fighting with Bruce. She said that it wasn't fair he was ignoring me because of his problems with B, told me he'd be devastated if something happened to me and that since he was too stubborn for her to change his mind, she'd watch over me instead" Jason explains.

Babs chimes in then, looking up from the file she'd pulled on Lia. "And how did she manage that if she spends all her time in London? According to her file she's only ever left the city for boarding school in Scotland. She shouldn't have been able to find you, much less get to you" she points out.

"She's just cool like that I guess. Best sister a guy could ask for" Jason says smugly.

Babs glares at Jason for that, going to retort before an accented voice cuts her off. "Jason, don't be rude."

They all turn in the direction of the voice, staring in shock at the source. Magnolia is awake.

Magnolia

Waking up in an unfamiliar place after being severely injured by one of your stalkers is pretty disorienting. Magnolia notes that her injuries have been treated, in addition to the healing that her magic had been working on once it had pushed out the magic of the dark cutting curse.

Based on what she remembers from before she passed out, she could take a guess at where she's ended up. Why Dick had brought her to the Batcave instead of the hospital, she could only assume he'd been overwhelmed and gone for what was familiar.

There is nobody in the room with her when she gets up and wanders around a bit, ignoring her body's quiet protest at her moving around, she hears voices. Probably discussing her presence.

Since there is nothing else for her to do besides go back to London, where there is a possibility of Ronald and Granger waiting for her, she moves towards the voices instead.

The only person that seems to notice her as she approaches is Alfred, though he does nothing to give away her presence.

All eyes turn to her when she scolds Jason for his antagonistic comment. They seem shocked to see her awake, which is understandable given the state of her injuries.

They only snap out of their shock when she slowly makes her way over to their briefing table, Alfred helping her settle into a chair across from Dick and next to Jason, who is the first one to speak. "Sorry Lia. It's true though" he points out.

She rolls her eyes at him, ruffling his hair as Dick finally regains his voice. "You should still be resting, Lia" he chastises her.

"I know that, but the sooner we get the questions over with the sooner I can go take care of things in London. I'm sorry to intrude. I had hoped that we'd meet under better circumstances" Lia sighs tiredly.

Dick continues to gaze at her in concern. He always was a bit of a mother hen.

"What happened to you?" Dick asks.

She hesitates, debating over whether she should fess up or not. "How much do you know about the terrorist attacks in London?" At the blank looks on their faces, she sighs. "Never mind, stupid question. I forgot that both ministers were trying and succeeded obviously in keeping it a secret…Up until a month ago the United Kingdom as a whole was home to a homemade terrorist cult" she explains bluntly.

"What!?" Dick's outburst is predictable given Magnolia had never made any mention of anything being wrong in London or in Scotland. Plus Fin had likely hidden how much shit she was getting into on her own when Dick was investigating with his team in Paris.

She waves a hand at him dismissively. "Chill, it's been resolved. He went by the name Voldemort which derived from his name Tom Marvolo Riddle. Born in a London Orphanage just before World War 2, forced to defend himself when the other children caught onto some of his gifts. The adults tried to exorcise him at least once so least to say things were shitty for him by the time he went to my boarding school much like a certain group of people do. He thought he was finally free but Albus Dumbledore, at the time a teacher now the headmaster, would send him back every summer. Eventually Riddle learned he was related to one of the founders because of his ability to speak to and understand snakes. He gathered like minded individuals to form a group he called Death Eaters, those he recruited while in school becoming his inner circle as he fought for the people's rights to practice some of the Pagan holidays and rituals that had been banned by the government due to the opposition's need to placate to the newblood entering the community. Things escalated quickly, outright civil war breaking out, the fights would be covered up and labelled attacks from the IRA that's how bad it got the first time. My dad and godfather were police officers and my mom in classes to be a researcher by the time things got really bad, my parents marrying right out of school. Joined a vigilante group run by Albus Dumbledore to counteract some of Riddle's more insane followers. Just before I was born the woman he hired as a teacher for a specialty class gave a prophecy that predicted Riddle's supposed downfall. The qualifications only fit two newborns at the time. A boy named Neville Longbottom and me…Neville being born to an old blood family while I was born into a mixed family much like Riddle had come from" Lia explains as she accepts the glass of water from Alfred before continuing.

"Anyways Riddle came knocking Halloween night. I came out of the confrontation with only a scar to tell the tale and my parents dead while Riddle was forced to flee as an insane wraith. I was saddled with unhappy relatives and a title I didn't want with the expectation of one day facing Riddle again since he didn't die that night. I knew about the community and the gifts certain people could have thanks to my time at the circus and my guardian Fin. But I didn't know anything about my parents deaths or what happened to Riddle and my part in it till I was dragged off to boarding school at eleven years old where I managed to avoid him the first year. But the second year one of his soul shards managed to get into the castle and possess one of the first years, Ginevra Weasley, unleashing Salazar Slytherin's defense for the castle on the student body…That was not fun but I gained my second snake in Tiamat by having to go down to Tia's lair to save Ginevra. Things just kept happening after that as Dumbledore kept pitting me against more dangerous things until I had enough and slipped his leash. One of his supporters, Ronald Weasley came after me tonight in retaliation for not following Dumbledore's plans for me" Lia admits in quiet annoyance.

"Hold up. You're a hero? I thought you said you weren't one of Dicky-bird's hero friends?" Jason demands.

"Since he didn't know about it, I technically wasn't" Lia points out in amusement.

"Everything about you just makes so much more sense now" Jason chuckles.

Dick stares at her with sad eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asks.

She glances away, feeling a bit guilty. "I knew that you didn't want me to be involved in this life. I figured I'd tell you once you confessed to being a vigilante" she admits. He flinches a bit at the unintentional jab, but she won't apologize for it.

"What happened when Weasley caught up to you?" Of course the bat would be the one to get things back on track.

"We fought. I was aiming to disarm him and get something that would take him to a holding cell with little effort attached to him in some shape or form, and the only opening I saw was when he cut my side. I disarmed him but was injured in the process. We were on a rooftop when we fought, and I didn't want him seeing where I lived so once I activated the device I jumped off the building and fell through a shadow that let out here. Apparently it let out pretty high above the ground so if Dick hadn't caught me I would've been dead for sure" Lia explains.

"And your contact with Jason?" Bruce asks.

"It's not like you were truly paying attention to him. I just made sure that he was safe and healthy, and I'm glad I did. If I hadn't he would've died in the middle of that Ethiopian warehouse all alone" Lia hisses out harshly. Mentioning this gets her looks of shock.

Jason had never so much as hinted at who had helped him out. He was loyal like that.

Dick breaks the silence, staring at Lia with disbelief. "You- you were the one who saved him? How did you even know he was in danger?" he asks.

"She gave me some magic bracelet that let her know when I was in trouble. Said she did the same thing for you when she found out about your debut as a vigilante" Jason explains.

"I thought it was just a normal bracelet! I've never seen her save me before!" Dick waves his arms about as he attempts to defend himself.

"That's because you weren't supposed to. You obviously wanted me to have nothing to do with that aspect of your life, so I made sure you never found out" Lia shrugs.

"And where did you get magic bracelets anyway?" Dick asks as Lia stares at him with a deadpan expression.

"Dick, I love you but sometimes you can be so incredibly dense. How do you think I got those magic bracelets? Or the journals for that matter?" Lia asks slowly, like she was talking to one of the first years at Hogwarts.

"You made them…I'm an idiot" Dick sighs.

"Yes, yes you are" Lia agrees with a small laugh. Her phone beeps, and checking it shows that Luna had texted her to let her know Ronald was in custody and by extension so was Molly and Ginevra though Granger was still on the loose. That she also had a meeting at the bank to update her on how ritual to fix Tom's soul went. She knew she'd been forgetting something. "Well, I should be getting back. I have to go to a meeting in a few hours" she sighs as she stood up carefully, pushing her chair back a bit.

"But you're injured? And I thought you were still in school?" Dick asks.

"Graduated earlier. The injuries won't slow me down enough to warrant canceling the meeting. See you later" Lia says as she slips into the chair's shadow before they can protest and is back in her flat.

While meeting Dick's team had been interesting, she hadn't really appreciated the interrogation.

It was a relief to be back in her flat, though as she reached into her closet to pull out clean clothes for her meeting she feels pain in her side and winces. While Alfred had done a remarkable job patching her up, he didn't have access to the sort of things that were needed to treat injuries imparted by a magic user. Though it would undoubtedly make her late for her meeting at the bank, she had to take care of her injuries. As she pulls out her healing potions and salves she could only hope the bats didn't arrive to drag her back to Gotham too soon.

There's no doubt they'd show up eventually, and with Granger still on the prowl she's going to have to be extra careful until they arrive.

She just hopes that they wouldn't cause her too much trouble when they did find her.

It took her considerably less time than she thought it would for her to take care of her injuries. Of course, then she had to shower because, you know, blood, but she actually makes pretty good time. She is still late to the meeting, but five minutes late is better than fifteen minutes late in her books.

Griphook would be quick in leading her to Ragnarök's office once she stepped into the bank. Sitting her down with a tray of tea and a folder with commissions inside since her account manager helped manage how much she took on and which clients were authentic and which were scams.

They were quick to get through the details of the ritual though, Magnolia going back to her apartment as soon as the meeting was over and another one scheduled so she could meet with Tom when he was a little stronger.

Foregoing normal modes of transportation until Granger had been dealt with, which meant she travelled almost exclusively by shadow.

She knew that some of the bats would arrive in the city sooner or later, after they'd had a sufficient amount of time to look into Dumbledore and Voldemort's reign of terror. No doubt Dick and Jason were itching to have a chance to go after Ronald, though whether they would be able to find where the Ministry was is what had Lia unsure. That and whether Dumbledore's few supporters in the Ministry would get Ron, Ginevra and Molly out on bail.

The one thing she did know was that Ronald didn't know where she lived.

Despite them literally fighting on the roof of her building, he had no idea she was a resident there, and if he did he was unable to find out which flat was hers. When she was officially emancipated she'd decided that she'd get her apartment under the name she'd gone by with the circus, Magnolia Evans, which was simple with the help of her clients. She hadn't wanted anybody to be able to find her easily, and she still had no idea how Ronald had found her.

Likely he'd gotten lucky and come across her by accident, he'd caught sight of her and tracked her back to the building, or someone had helped him track her down by her magic signature. The first option was unlikely due to the bad luck she'd cursed him with in fourth year, which meant it had to have been one of the other two options.

She'd had very few interactions with her neighbors, her clients would never sell her out for fear of missing out on Loki exclusives, and she rarely let herself be seen entering or leaving her home, so there was no way for her to tell for sure. Lia just wishes that she had some way to pin Granger down.

With the loss of the guilty Weasleys it would be easier for her, but she would have to wait until she'd healed sufficiently enough for her to be able to track and pin the witch down for answers if the DMLE didn't find Granger first.

Between her salves, potions, and hoard of worried familiars she's surprised if she isn't fully healed by the end of the week with how much fussing Tiamat and Kaa did. Due to the wounds being caused by magic with intent to harm, they would leave some scarring behind, which was a bit annoying, but there isn't much she can do about it. Just another one to add to the small catalogue she had earned over the years, though she's glad the one Tom had given her as a baby could and had been removed since it made it easier to hide on both sides since magic users who knew her story tended to look for that scar first then her hair and eyes second.

Thinking about her hair Lia would puff a strand out of her face and head to find a pair of scissors and her wand since the charm to cut her hair needed a little more precision than her ring could provide with how much pain she's in currently. Wanting to get it done before she settles into work.

Her black mane going from wavy to messy as she trimmed it down to just below her shoulders and letting a tuft of her hair settle across her face. Smiling slightly at the new look in the mirror since it had been awhile since she'd kept it this short (Think Xiao – Genshin Impact); Quickly spelling the mess away as she ties her hair back to get to work.

Settling in to her studio she forces herself to focus on her work. There isn't anything she could do about her problems by overthinking them, and she didn't feel like working herself up for no reason. Her work is more important to her than obsessing over plans she couldn't even put into action for another week at the very least. There's no point worrying about when the bats would arrive either. The link between her bracelet and the bracelets she'd given to Dick and Jason would alert her as soon as they are in the city. Jason knew where she lived from his time staying with her while his injuries healed after she saved him, so she wouldn't need to go looking for them either. They would end up right on her doorstep and she wouldn't have to lift a finger.

Lia only felt a little guilty for ditching the meeting in favor of her work, which could've been put off until later if she is being honest.

In her defense, Bruce is more intimidating than she'd initially anticipated, and while she is glad she got to see Dick and Jason again, she preferred to be safe at home when injured so severely. Not that the Batcave isn't safe. It's probably one of the safest places on earth, but there aren't as many magical protections as she would've liked. Plus, none of them besides Dick and Jason had known of her existence before she'd been carried into the cave by a no doubt very frantic Nightwing.

It had been a bit awkward for her, to say the least.

The boys would arrive in London a week after she had shadow travelled out of the Batcave.

Seemingly focused on information gathering before they confronted her, from what she'd seen when she checked in on them. It's only Dick and Jason who'd been able to come, probably because they were the ones who actually knew her. By the time they finally show up at her flat she is almost completely healed.

Their investigation into Dumbledore and Voldemort going slower than she'd expected, but both Ministers had put a lot of effort into burying it on the mundane side, so that is understandable.

Unfortunately, she had taken Jason into Diagon Alley so he knew what to look for and a few of her former classmates did live on the mundane side, this meant that they had talked to her classmates and Jason had showed Dick the alley. Which meant that the information she'd purposefully been hiding from Dick is no longer hidden, as her former schoolmates had tended to blame her for anything and everything they could pin on her once it became clear that only Flitwick would defend her.

The first thing that happens when she opens her door for the two of them is her being swept up into a crushing hug by Dick, though he makes sure to avoid the injuries he'd seen the last they saw each other. She stumbles backwards into the apartment; Dick still latched onto her like an octopus as Jason follows them in and closes the door. Dick didn't release her for a solid five minutes at the least, and that is only because Jason pulls him away.

"Sorry about the octopus Lia. Couldn't stop him in time" Jason apologizes.

"It's alright Jaybird. He was clingier than this back in our circus days" Lia laughs softly.

"Lia!" Dick squawks, face flushing a bit at her words.

"What? You know it's true. We were almost never seen without each other after we met. People would stop and ask us if we were okay if we were alone. We were definitely clingier than this" Lia points out with a small laugh.

Dick stares at her, trying to think of a way to deny it, but he couldn't. "You make good points. Even if I want to deny it" he sighs.

Lia rolls her eyes and gestures for the two of them to sit in her the living room. Jason has no issues making himself at home, having stayed with her for a long while during his recovery. "I'm kinda surprised you guys didn't raid my place earlier. Even with the investigation you conducted" she points out as Kaa quickly slithers into the room to greet the boys; Jason more than willing to let the large python into his lap. The snake having gotten even bigger since the last time Dick had seen him, having grown from four feet to ten feet long in the years apart.

They look at her in mild surprise. "You know about that?" Dick asks.

"This is my city. I'm magic. Of course I knew you were investigating. I knew the moment the two of you entered the city" Lia rolls her eyes.

"I forgot how scary you can be sometimes Lia" Dick says as Lia grins in amusement.

"Trust me if Dicky-bird over here had his way your place would've been our first stop. B-man wanted us to investigate first, so I got the pleasure of keeping him in check" Jason admits smugly.

Dick rolls his eyes. "Whatever little wing; you know you wanted to come over here first thing too" he points out, Jason looking like he was gearing up to argue, so Lia decides to steer them back on track.

"So! How was the investigation?" Lia asks cheekily.

"It was...something. A lot of the things we heard seemed pretty far-fetched. If there wasn't video evidence I would've guessed that the city had shared hallucinations. I can't believe you had to deal with all of it on your own" Dick says quietly.

"It's not like I had a choice. I was specifically singled out by Dumbledore and that stupid prophecy, and there was no way for me to get out of it without losing more than I already have working around the old coot" Lia admits bluntly.

Both of the boys look angry at that. Both of them had chosen to be vigilantes, and the thought of someone being forced into the life isn't something they were happy with. "You mean someone forced you to be a hero?" Jason demands.

She waves off their anger. "It's in the past. It was for the best really. If I hadn't been chosen then it would've been Neville, and I know for a fact he wouldn't have been able to handle it. Did you have any questions for me about the situation?" she prods.

"What happened with Dumbledore? Everyone we asked just said he got what he deserved" Dick asks straight out.

"He is currently reliving the pain of all the people that died or were hurt due to his actions. He's in a comatose state until he's experienced all of their pain" Lia explains.

They seem shocked at her statement, which is perfectly understandable. The only thing they did with their villains had put them away in Arkham. "And that's possible how?" Dick asks slowly.

"It's a basic punishment curse I found in the Black family grimoires. Remus and my friends wanted to do worse once it got out what he'd done over the years" Lia explains making sure both know she isn't joking about the curse or her meager support base.

The last of her family and her friends had wanted to do way worse than what Lia had ended up doing, Snape more than eager to help her since he was one of the old coot's victims.

"Okay then. I'm just not going to ask. I don't think I wanna know" Dick says slowly.

"Lia...when we were investigating, we talked to a lot of people from some class referred to as 'Gryffindor' They talked about you. A lot" Dick says as Lia sighs tiredly, tilting her head back to avoid eye contact. "Why didn't you ever tell me you were having problems with your classmates?" he asks.

Lia fiddles with her focus ring as she avoids looking right at him; Accepting Kaa into her lap as he feels her discomfort on the issue. "I didn't want you to worry. If you found out then there was a good chance you'd drop everything to come see me, and if you tracked me down to Hogwarts then you would've found out about Dumbledore and Voldemort. I didn't want you to have to get involved when you had enough to worry about. I got lucky when you brought your team on an unsanctioned mission to investigate the circus while it was in Paris. I was on Christmas break and Dumbledore was sufficiently distracted with the fact Sirius had broken out of Azkaban to track down the man who gave my parent's safehouse to Voldemort" Lia explains quietly.

"Lia" Dick says quietly. She glances up, only to be met with Dick's sad eyes.

Lia averts her gaze once again. "It's fine. I'm dealing with it, and it's all in the past now" she tries to reassure. He obviously doesn't believe that based on the way he stands from his seat and moves to pull her into another long hug. Kaa included to the snake's disgruntlement.

Jason clears his throat. "So if you two lovebirds are done, we should talk shop" he points out.

They release each other, faces flushed as Dick reclaims his seat.

Magnolia could guess what they need to talk about. It was the reason she'd ended up wounded in Gotham after all. "So I'm guessing you guys want to know more about the situation with Ronald, right?" They both glance at her right side, where the cut marks had mostly healed, with grim expressions of determination on their faces as they nod. "As I'm sure you've heard, he was one of my more rabid Gryffindor stalkers. He was chosen by Dumbledore due to how easy he was to manipulate and his greed as a way to try and leash me to Dumbledore's side of the fighting. That fell through when I smashed all of the old coot's plans for me. The problem was that he'd been convinced that the two of us were meant to be together, and he wouldn't take no for an answer. Things escalated when he started to actively hinder me during my investigation against Dumbledore. When I cursed Dumbledore, Ronald and the old coot's most staunch supporters basically went to ground and laid low to avoid getting caught up in the clean up the DMLE is doing currently. I hadn't seen any sign of him until he confronted me on the roof" she explains patiently.

Silence following her explanation as the boys thought about what she'd said.

"He sounds like a greedy asshole" Jason says bluntly. For a kid obsessed with literature, that wasn't a very eloquent way to break the silence.

"Jason! Language!" Dick's scolding barely seems to register with the kid. Jason just rolls his eyes at him.

Lia cuts in before they could get in an argument. "He's right. I plan on going in and giving my statement on the attack since he's still in a holding cell, but I was waiting until I was fully healed. I should be able to safely go into the Ministry in a few days, and now that you're here I'm guessing you guys are going to want to help out" she explains quickly.

"Am I allowed to shoot him?" Jason asks.

"Jason!" Dick squawks.

"It wouldn't kill him. Besides, I need to practice my marksmanship" Jason points out.

"I'll let you shoot him if you promise to use rubber bullets and let me cast a silencing ward" Lia says in amusement.

"Deal" Jason agrees as Dick shook his head at the two of them, but he reluctantly expresses his agreement. In a few days, they would go to the Ministry to give Lia's statement and confront Ron, and he wouldn't know what hit him; Besides Jason's rubber bullets of course.

"Now I have a meeting at the bank with Tom so if you're going to come you may want to change" Lia points out as Jason asks why she kept using both of the man's names when talking about the person who killed her parents, Lia having slipped into her room to pull on her business clothes.

"Voldemort was a batshit crazy Dark Lord that was afraid to die because Dumbledore pressured him into a corner while Tom Riddle is a charismatic Dark aligned wizard who only wants the best for Magical England before he tore his soul to pieces" Lia calls through the door as Dick frowns and asks how that had happened.

"Dumbledore left the relevant books on the subject on the shelf in the Hogwarts Restricted section for which Tom had managed to get permission to browse from his head of house…You have to understand Dumbledore kept sending Tom back to London during the Blitz, playing on Tom's fear of dying and kept cutting off anyway for Tom to get out of the orphanage or make any progress on his goals because the old coot feared what Tom was capable of" Lia explains as she came out of her room in a black handkerchief midi dress, a dark green ankle length over robe and knee high brown leather boots. Her hair pinned back to reveal a pair of long green chrysocolla with gold detailing tribal lever back earrings.

"Right…is this the same bank we went to while I was here?" Jason asks with a grimace as Dick looks between them question clear in his blue eyes.

"Yes so if you don't want to stand out you're going to have to change. The set you wore last time are set out on my bed and I need to go to my studio to get Dick's out" Lia says cheerfully, Dick following her to the studio.

"How high end is the bank?" Dick asks warily as Lia snorts in amusement.

"You would have seen it when Jason took you to the alley. It was the large white building at the end of the main street when you entered through the Leaky" Lia explains with a laugh as Dick accepts the package of clothes while Lia went to gather what she needed for the meeting; Her heiress ring for Slytherin and her Lordship ring for the combined house of Potter-Black to go with her focus ring.

Both boys coming out in black mundane dress pants, shirts with ties and black over robes; both glad they'd worn dressier shoes than they'd worn trekking around London.

~Kaa are you coming or staying?~ Lia asks her familiar as Kaa slithers up to her and silently begins coiling himself around her.

"Coming then, alright you both need to grab on and not let go since we're getting to the alley via shadow travel" Lia explains as Jason latches on quickly enough and Dick does the same as Lia steps into the nearest shadow; Coming out just outside the entrance to Diagon Alley, giggling at Dick's slightly queasy look and Kaa's insistence to get a move on.

The trio and snake making quite the image as Lia led the way to the bank, the witch ignoring the whispers like a pro to greet and say hello to a couple of the shop owners who knew her.

Madam Malkin stopping Lia to let her know some of her commissions were ready for pick up.

"I'll come get them on my way out of the alley. I have an appointment at the bank" Lia reassures as the older woman nods and shoos them along. "Now when we enter the bank, do not and I repeat do not stare at the tellers. Goblins take it as a challenge to fight and as Jason learned the hard way they are not to be underestimated" she says quietly to Dick as he nods his understanding, wariness in his blue eyes at her words of caution.

Griphook greeting the group as they enter the bank, Lia ignoring the impressed look on Dick's face at the warning engraved on the inner doors.

"Good afternoon Griphook I'm here for the 1 o'clock appointment" Lia says pleasantly as Griphook nods and barks orders in Gobbledegook and the group are led down the hall and deeper into the bank.

"What did little wing do?" Dick asks as they follow their guide to the healing room Tom had been put up in while he healed from having his soul forcefully put back together.

"I brought him with me during one of my sparring sessions and he let himself be goaded into sparring with one of the more experienced guards, getting his butt handed to him for his efforts" Lia explains cheerfully as Jason flushes in embarrassment at the reminder of the one and only time he'd followed her into the bank; Preferring to browse the book store while she was in Gringotts after that.

"He's just inside" the goblin says bluntly before walking away and leaving the trio outside the door.

Lia would swallow hard and open the door, peeking in to see an at least two decades older version of the diary Tom reading the Daily Prophet, Kaa uncoiling to slither into the room to talk with Nagini where she was resting near the room's fireplace.

"Potter take a seat" Tom says quietly as he motions to the sole chair at his bed side as he folds the paper up to get a better look at her.

"It's Potter-Black" Lia says as she sat down, leaning into the steady hand Dick put on her shoulder as he stood behind her while Jason leaned against the wall by the door.

"I have you to thank for my returned sanity" Tom notes as Lia nods without hesitation, green meeting dark brown.

"Yes. I wasn't going to be the one to clean up the mess made by the old coot. It helps that I have a good relationship with the bank since human magic would have seen your soul destroyed…though from the impression I got from the diary shard you never intended to make more after the first since the first was an accident" Lia says as Tom chuckles at her blunt assessment.

"Yes the first was an accident and from what little that's been put together the old man, through spells, forced me to make the first one after I found the Chamber of Secrets" Tom admits as Lia nods slowly in understanding.

"The goblins are good at finding out things like that for a price" Lia grins in amusement knowing the goblins had paid for the ritual from the Slytherin vaults she'd been dumping the money she'd made off Tia's venom into. The restored shed skins stored on rolls in the heirloom vault for safe keeping.

"You didn't have to do all this" Tom points out quietly as Lia nods, smile turning a little sad and knowing at what wasn't being said; She could have just destroyed the shards like the human books had suggested.

"If you remember even an inkling of what was said between the diary and I when I had it you know we share a lot more in common than just our ability to speak with snakes…we were dealt shitty cards and made the most of what we had to get where we are. I just got lucky enough that Kaa came to me early enough in my life that I was able to break free of the cycle the old coot had us in. I was able to find a place that accepted our gifts and learned the things I needed to thrive instead of survive like you did before the old coot forced you to go down the road you did" Lia says gently reaching across to take the man's hands between her own. Squeezing gently when Tom only nods in jerky understanding as she ignores the tears gathered in her eyes.

"We're all each other has as family now and I won't lose what I have left to the old coot's schemes" Lia finishes as Tom makes a curious noise and the young witch remembers she didn't share that bit of information with the diary. Having learned about her Slytherin roots after the diary had been turned over to the goblins.

"Ah the goblins and I were curious as to why I could speak to snakes since my father's side didn't have the ability and my mom came from a mundane family. Lily had a Slytherin ancestor in her tree along with a couple other magic family's and add to the fact I housed one of your soul shards for a few years it brought the Slytherin family magics forward for me" Lia explains as Tom nods with a fond look, Kaa slithering up into her lap to demand attention.

~Are you going to tell the male speaker of your plans for the weasel? He might have more creative ways to get payback for hurting you~ Kaa hisses as Tom looks at her sharply at Kaa's words, startling Jason into alertness from where he'd been dozing by the door.

"What did your familiar mean by a weasel hurting you?" Tom asks in a near hiss as Lia gives her snake the stink eye while Dick would cough in amusement that Kaa had ratted her out. Knowing Magnolia likely wouldn't have said a word to this man about Ronald Weasley cornering and attacking her.

"Thanks Kaa…the old coot tried to set up a marriage contract between myself and Ronald Weasley. Illegally mind you so it obviously didn't work but the old man promised Ronald I would be his and by extension my money. So when those plans went down the drain thanks to my own scheming and good connections with the bank he lashed out in anyway he could while at school but managed to corner me a little over a week ago. Managing to wound me with Snape's home made cutting curse before I got a portkey attached to him" Lia explains as Kaa hisses and spits choice words about the red haired weasel.

"Once I'm fully healed I'm going to give my statement about the attack and the memory of the incident so Weasley can't wiggle his way out of Azkaban and add further charges to Dumbledore's case for when he finally wakes up to face the Wizengamot for his crimes" Lia adds on as Tom nods slowly and the rest of the visit would spiral into a planning session, Lia leaving copies of her notes and research with the man to look over and further his own schemes. Removing another thing off her plate in regards to Magical England.

Leaving the alley tucked between Dick and Jason to catch a cab back to her flat to rest after the long afternoon in the bank.

With the boys on board, Ronald never stood a chance. He hadn't been expecting Magnolia to be let into the cell with Nightwing and Jason, who had yet to decide on a new name. Without his wand, there was no chance of him winning. He'd always scoffed at her when she suggested he take up exercising, always relying heavily on his magic to get him through his fights.

Jason had shot him four times with his rubber bullets before he could even turn over from where he'd been pacing in his cell, one to the back of each knee and the other two to soft spots on his back. Before he could recover from the shots, Dick hit him with his escrima sticks, sending him to his knees. Lia took forcing him up and into the sole chair in the cell, bound by spelled rope, using the opportunity to deliver a punch to Ron's face for good measure. And just like that, Ronald was subdued, completely at their mercy; Dick and Jason flanking her as she stood in front of Ronald, who glared up at them.

"Magnolia" Ronald spits out with as much venom as he could muster, glaring at her with his blue eyes. "I see you survived the blood loss. I was expecting you to come back around eventually, but I never expected you to get goons to back you up" he taunts as Lia stares stonily at him.

"You mean you don't recognize them? I'm surprised considering you were stuck listening to Granger's hero rants so many times. I thought with all the time you'd spent around her you'd be able to recognize an established vigilante when you saw one, but I've been wrong before" Lia muses as Ronald's smug expression falters, face paling as he finally paid more attention to her two companions, Magnolia lets her lips quirk up in a subtle smirk. "I'm especially surprised that you can't recognize members of the Batclan when you see them. Especially when these two with me are former Robins" she points out.

Sweat beads on Ron's forehead as he scrambles for something to say. He obviously remembered Granger's and the other mundane born magical's tales of the Gotham vigilantes, if his sudden nerves are anything to go by. "So what? The bats don't have any jurisdiction here, and neither do you; the only ones that can legally come after me are the aurors" Ron points out, gaining confidence as he spoke, and by the end, he is smirking. He still seems a little nervous, which is all Lia needs to know that he didn't have anything up his sleeve to get himself out of this mess.

Lia makes sure to keep her expression unaffected even as Jason and Dick glare at her former classmate. "Well unfortunately for you, I'm here on official business to let you know that your trial date has been moved up after the evidence I provided" she explains casually.

Ronald hadn't been expecting that. "You- you can't do anything to me! Dumbledore will wake up and fix all of this and you'll take down He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named like your supposed to" he hisses out.

A smirk spreads across her face at these words. "That's where you're wrong Weasley. Once Dumbledore wakes up he'll be too busy with his own criminal charges and the public's hatred of him for what he's done. As for Riddle well he's no longer anyone's problem" Lia says with a vicious grin on her face as she turns around and leaves. Ignoring the cursing and swearing coming from the cell now that the silencing ward is down. Nodding to Kingsley on her way out with Dick and Jason.

Leading the boys back to her apartment. If Jason turned back to shoot Ronald again, well it's not like she had seen him do it. She explains to the slightly confused boys what is likely to happen to Ronald with all the evidence piled against him when they had safely returned to her apartment unseen. Hedwig having left a letter from Luna letting her know Granger had been brought in shortly after she'd left the Ministry. That the war was finally over and no one else would rise up in resistance against Riddle's ideas now that Dumbledore's schemes had been revealed to all.

While the boys would obviously rather have Ronald stuck in a normal jail, or just anywhere that was far away from her really, they respect her decision. London is technically her jurisdiction, so while they were here they would follow her lead. Not that they planned to stay in the city for long. They had to return to the States soon, but it didn't seem like they were willing to leave until they'd managed to convince Lia to go with them.

She'd actually been considering moving to the States for a while, but with everything she had on the go up until this week she hadn't wanted to risk it.

Now that all threats to her freedom were taken care of there is no real reason for her to stay in London. Not that she is going to let them know that. It's rather amusing to see them try to out-bribe each other. They were also debating over where she should go if she did accompany them back to the states. Dick wanted her to stay in Bludhaven, as that is where he lived and worked. Jason, on the other hand, wanted her to stay in Gotham and join up with the Batclan. She didn't know which would be better, honestly. Not that it mattered where she decided to live when she could just apparate to either place whenever needed.

"C'mon Lia! Please come and stay in the States with us! Nobody here appreciates you besides your friends and clients, and if you come back with us we'll get you whatever you want!" Jason pleads.

Lia rolls her eyes at the two of them. "You've been trying to convince me for three days. Not even asking my opinion on the matter. I was already planning on moving you idiots. I just don't know where I'll live yet. I had plans to move before we even reconnected, I just had to sort out the Weasley issue and make sure the ritual Tom went through worked" she explains with a look that told them both how stupid she thought they had been trying to bribe her.

They stare at her for a while before Dick drags her into a hug, lifting her off the ground in his excitement. Jason tries to play it off, but she knows he's excited for her to return with them as well.

"Now I just need to make sure Tom is up for looking after Tia since I can't bring her with me since she's on the banned list of magical creatures for the States" Lia sighs as Dick and Jason both give Tiamat's trunk enclosure a wary look. "Relax she's staying here and she'll be happy to see Tom again so won't make too much of a fuss about me leaving her behind" she grumbles as both boys breathe a sigh of relief. There wouldn't have been anyway to explain Lia owning nearly 1030 year old basilisk without Bruce freaking out or becoming paranoid.

With Tia squared away all that was left for Lia to do was pack up everything she wanted to take with her and pick up the commissions she'd had Madam Malkin pull together for her knowing she likely would need to brush up on the charms to make the rest of her commissions herself instead of collaborating like she had been since Madam Malkin had taken her under her wing.

They were due to leave the next day, though they'd arrived via zeta so there was no real rush. She had a great time dragging them around the city as they wasted time before they had to return. When it's finally time to leave, instead of going to the zeta Lia just drags them through a shadow straight to the Batcave. Locking her flat up magically and with a key so what little did remain in the flat wouldn't be stolen.

They arrive in the Batcave in no time at all, and from there they wander up into Wayne Manor, which she hadn't been able to see the last time she was here. She got to formally meet Alfred and Bruce, which is nice. Bruce seemed a bit suspicious of her, but she knows there's nothing she could do about that other than show him she could be trusted.

The bats hadn't been idle though while Dick and Jason spent time with her in London, and that night they got a bit of a surprise upon entering the Batcave.

Bruce had somehow managed to pick up another child, one that wastes no time in coming up to them and fanboying.

"Oh my gosh! You're Dick Grayson, the original Robin! And you're Jason Todd! You were the second Robin! It's so great to meet you both! You were so inspiring during your time as Robin!" The dumbfounded looks on the boys' faces when confronted with the new kid is priceless.

"And you are?" Lia asks slowly.

"Oh! I'm Tim Drake, the new Robin" Tim announces happily.

That snaps the boys out of their shock, Dick immediately turning to confront the bat as Jason glares. "What?! B! Why didn't you mention this?!" Dick demands.

"That would be because young Master Tim blackmailed him for the position" Alfred's statement doesn't seem like something Bruce wanted them to know, if the exasperated sigh is anything to go by.

Jason laughs a bit at that. "Wait, really? The big bad bat got blackmailed by a kid into letting them be a Robin?" he asks.

"Isn't it hilarious?" Babs asks, having arrived. The boys converge on Bruce, who looks done with the whole situation, so Lia turns her attention to the new kid.

"It's nice to meet you Tim. I'm Magnolia; I was in the circus with Dick when we were younger. Did you figure out who the bats were by yourself?" Lia asks curiously.

Tim's eyes widen at her words, and he turns his excitement on her. "Yeah, I figured it out because of Dick's quadruple summersault" Tim explains, the way he says it makes it seem like anyone could've figured it out, when tons of others had failed before him. "You were Raven? You were amazing! The performance you gave four years ago was incredible; it's so great to meet you! Do you work as a vigilante too?" he asks as Lia listens. His research must've been extremely thorough if he knew about the things she'd done as Raven. Especially once she, Fin and Haly had started burying information to hinder anyone trying to look for her through that connection.

"Not quite. I was a vigilante in London until a little while ago, but if Jason has his way I'll probably be joining the crew eventually" Lia explains. This catches Tim's interest, and he asks her all kinds of questions about what had happened in London, and he seems amazed that she knew magic.

He's a nice kid that much she can see and based on his parent's hands-off parenting approach; he'd end up being a victim of Bruce's adopting habit soon enough. Not that it seems like he'd have a problem with that. The two of them ignore the bickering going on between the bats as they talk, and Lia decides that if Bruce doesn't adopt the kid then she would.

Nobody should have to deal with neglectful parents, and Lia would make sure that Tim had the support he needed now that she's met him. She'd done it for Jason; she'd do it for Tim. And if he ended up as her adopted brother/son, all the better. The kid could definitely use some support now that he's joined the Batclan, and Lia would make sure he got it.

All talk is interrupted though when a ball of fire flashes into the cave, dissipating to reveal a swan sized red bird that only Lia recognizes as she groans in quiet annoyance.

"Seriously Fawkes, you stop hiding as soon as I hand off Tiamat to Tom?!" Lia asks as Fawkes sings in amusement, landing on the back of the chair she'd sat herself down in to talk to Tim. "All the paranoia and the looking over my shoulder and all I had to do was stop share living space with Tia?" she grumbles as the phoenix only chirps unrepentantly as Babs asks what Fawkes was.

"Fawkes is a phoenix and used to be the companion to Albus Dumbledore. He ditched the old man during my fourth year of school if the rumors going around were to be believed…I'm one of his favorites from the few times the old man managed to get me alone in his office hence why he's shown up now that the old man is out of the way" Lia sighs as she guides Tim's hand up to pet the smug bird.

"Who and what is Tia if a phoenix is avoiding you?" Tim asks curiously as Dick groans knowing no one was going to like Lia's answer.

"Tiamat is a Greek Basilisk that's been around since 993 AD, one of my ancestors hatching her as a means to protect the school he founded with three others. She came into my care when I was twelve and has been living in an expanded space I could carry around but due to what she is she couldn't come with me across the pond" Lia explains with a small pout as Tim nods his understanding. Birds and snakes did not get along, even magical ones it seemed.

"My cousin has her currently hence why Fawkes finally showed up. Tia is going to be so mad with me if Hedwig or Kaa tells Nagini" Lia grumbles tiredly as Tim pats her shoulder sympathetically while Bruce mentally thanked whatever luck on his side that Dick's friend had been forced to leave the deadliest snake on earth back in England.

Magnolia did end up going on patrol with the bats that night. If she hadn't, there probably would've been quite a few 'accidents' along the routes. She made sure to keep Tim in her sights at all times, already thinking of what charm she would create to represent him when she made him his magic bracelet.

It seemed like it was going to become a tradition at this point, giving magic bracelets to the Robins.

She wore an updated version of what she'd met Jason in for the patrol, not looking to become an established Gotham vigilante just yet, so when she went out she wore a black body suit with her basilisk skin jacket and boots, her eyes gold, hair white, a face mask that covered the lower half of her face and focus ring on. Her whole outfit geared towards stealth. The magic she used to change her eye and hair color seemed to excite Tim, having a million questions about it once he'd seen her transform. She's happy to humor him, already fond of the kid.

She became even fonder of him when she found out he was a fan of her music and what little design work she'd done on the mundane side. Hearing him gush about her stuff had been a bit embarrassing, but she is happy that he enjoys her designs so much. If he's suddenly at the top of her priority list commission-wise, nobody needed to know.

The patrol goes smoothly, though Lia had a feeling something not so good was going to happen soon, which was bad. Gifting Tim his magic bracelet made her feel a bit better, as did the new charm on her bracelet that would alert her if he needed help. The charm being a red coffee bean, as she'd found out the kid is almost obsessed with the stuff.

Tricking Tim into a normal-ish sleep schedule is added to her list of things to do while in Gotham. Alfred was in on it as well.

Dick and Jason were a bit miffed at the presence of a new Robin, but Lia made sure that they got over it. She made sure Dick went into excited older brother mode, as he'd always wanted a large family, so he warmed up to Tim pretty quickly. Jason was harder to persuade but comparing Tim's experience with hers had gotten the reluctant agreement that he would play nice. He'd still be his usual smart-ass self, but he wouldn't go out of his way to be an asshole. That being more than she'd hoped for, honestly.

He still ended up calling Tim, Replacement which Lia could do without, but his tone typically had a hint of teasing in it when he used the nickname so she allowed it.

When it came time to choose where she would live, Lia decided that she'd live with Dick in Bludhaven. There were multiple reasons for it, the main one being that he had almost no idea how to properly take care of himself. She had no idea how he'd survived alone for so long after splitting off from the bats to start his own thing in Gotham.

Seriously, if he had his way he'd probably eat cereal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. At least if she was in the same city she could make sure he wouldn't just up and die of malnutrition.

Dick wasn't the only one either. Lia was pretty sure that without Alfred all of the bats would be in the same situation as Dick, with the exception of Barbara. How so many people with so little regard for their health had ended up under one roof was a mystery to her. The worst part being that she honestly wasn't much better. Kaa often had to force her to take breaks and eat, though she sometimes remembered before he had to get her attention. There was also the fact that she'd jumped off a roof while severely injured with no guarantee she would survive. If she's being honest with herself she would admit that she hadn't known if there was a shadow beneath herself to fall through, but there was no way she would ever dare admit such a thing around so many protective vigilantes. They would wrap her up in bubble wrap and refuse to let her out of the house much like Remus, Luna, Astoria and Neville would should they find out.

There is no way Magnolia would allow them to do such a thing, however, so the finer details of her confrontation with Ronald Weasley went unmentioned. She instead focuses on looking for a new apartment in Bludhaven for her and Dick to share, because his current one wasn't quite big enough for the both of them and Kaa. Truthfully, it was actually a decent size, and with their complete disregard for personal space where the other is involved, it would've been fine.

The problem being that it was almost guaranteed that they would receive constant visits from the younger birds now that Lia is there to stay, and they wouldn't have the space for that. Finding a nice apartment is easy; getting Dick to agree on it is harder.

With all the money Lia had from selling Tia's venom, her commissions and her own barely touched inheritance they could pretty much afford to live everywhere. Problem was that Dick didn't want her to pay for it. He didn't really use Bruce's money that much, wanting to be self-sufficient, and as a cop he didn't have a great salary, which is the reason he lived in a small apartment in the first place.

It took some convincing, but she eventually won the argument by pulling out her puppy dog eyes, the one thing in the world Dick could never say no to. He was a bit bitter about it, but he did like the apartment she'd picked out for the two of them. It had more than enough space to accommodate for her animals and their rather frequent visitors, the number being more than she'd initially anticipated.

They fell into a routine easily, used to living with each other after all that time they'd spent together in the circus. She'd introduced Dick to Hedwig once the snowy owl turned up with letters from Remus, Luna and Astoria. Remus writing to say he'd moved into her flat for the time being since Grimmauld was just too big for him alone while Luna had congratulated her on her move to the States. Astoria having written to say she'd finally settled on Draco Malfoy as her suitor of the small list her father had compiled for her to choose from.

The two of them made sure not to intervene in each other's work unless it's an emergency. Since Dick was a cop, he could be injured at any time, which Lia was fully prepared for thanks to her frankly unnecessarily large medical kit. His patrols as Nightwing also led to sporadic injury, so much so that eventually she just decided it would be better for her to patrol with him to help out. She'd missed being able to traverse the rooftops as she had back in London. Relenting to use the name Phoenix to help tie her in as part of the Batfam since she used her magic a little more openly when she patrolled with Dick as Nightwing.

People were a bit suspicious of her at first due to how all other members of the Batclan started out with Batman himself, whereas she was starting with Nightwing, but they eventually got over it.

The prevailing theory for why Nightwing and not Batman was that she and Nightwing were actually lovers. Hearing about that theory from an amused Tim had been pretty awkward for the two of them since they'd been skirting around Lia's kind-of-confession ever since it'd happened.

In her defense, she'd still been a bit out of it from the blood loss, but she had meant it.

Besides Kaa, there's nobody in the world that knew more about her than Dick and even though they'd been separated for years, she'd still developed feelings for him. Her feelings for him are probably how she'd ended up in Gotham while he was patrolling in the first place.

Her magic having responded to her need to feel safe. The only person she'd ever felt even remotely safe with being Dick, which is likely how she'd ended up falling from the sky along his patrol route. He could've been anywhere in the world and she'd still have ended up near him upon exiting the shadows.

Despite their (obvious to others) mutual feelings, the two didn't end up talking about it until they ran into Marietta Edgecomb and Cho Chang with her husband Cedric Diggory of all people at a Wayne Gala they'd been invited to attend. How Marietta had gotten an invitation they didn't know for sure outside possibly slipping in as the Diggory couple's plus one.

Magnolia had actually been rather excited for the event, as had Dick who normally hated galas. Pulling out the dress Madam Malkin had slipped into her last order in the form of a dark green floor length, long sleeve, and backless maxi dress. She hadn't expected to see anyone she'd known at Hogwarts at the gala, so hearing Marietta's unpleasantly fake tone was unwelcome to say the least.

"Oh my gosh, is that Magnolia? It's been so long since anyone has seen you!" Marietta says chirpily.

Magnolia turns around and glances at her warily. She'd been talking with Jason, who really did not want to be there, and didn't appreciate the interruption. "Edgecomb" she says, making sure to keep her voice level, some of her displeasure must've shown on her face though, as she notices Jason tense a bit in her periphery.

"Where have you been? Nobody's seen you since before summer before sixth. Everybody's been saying you disappeared" Marietta says, her false concern giving way to a smug smirk. "Those that have noticed, anyways; We all thought you'd finally gone and killed yourself" she finishes viciously.

"Well, as you can see, I'm perfectly fine. I graduated early and focused on my apprenticeship with Madam Malkin, which is part of why I'm here tonight. You, on the other hand, I don't recall seeing on the guest list" Lia notes stonily.

Marietta stiffens up a bit before forcing a laugh. "You're so funny! Like there's any way you of all people could be close enough with the Wayne family to see the guest list. I doubt that you're prominent enough in the fashion world to warrant an invite."

"Like anyone would want to invite a gold-digger like you, I'm surprised anyone can stand the sight of your face, buried under makeup as it is" Jason's blunt statements obviously don't sit well with Marietta, who places a hand over her exposed chest as she gasps in offense.

"How dare you! Who do you think you are? I can get you kicked out of here in a heartbeat for speaking to me this way" Marietta hisses in outrage, missing the uncomfortable look on her best friend's face.

Lia and Jason share a look before they start laughing. They try to keep their laughter under control, but it's loud enough to draw the attention of some of the Waynes, though Dick is the first to start making his way over.

"Why are you laughing Magnolia?! I bet you slept your way into an invitation you- you slut" Marietta bites out. At that word everybody in the vicinity freezes. She'd said it just as Dick had enters hearing range, and from the murderous aura he's exuding, one even stronger than Jason's, Marietta had made a huge mistake.

"What did you just call her?" Dick's voice is ice cold as he steps up next to Magnolia, wrapping an arm around her waist as he glares daggers at a suddenly nervous Marietta.

Jason is more than happy to confirm it for him, also glaring at the liar. "Edgecomb over here just referred to our dear Lia as a slut, big bird" he explains.

"That's what I thought" Dick says coldly. The two boys glare at Marietta, who had been preparing to flee the scene. She freezes in her tracks when she notices Bruce Wayne himself and Cedric starting to make their way over.

"I don't recall seeing your name on the guest list, Ms. Edgecomb" Dick notes.

"I- I'm here with my friend" Marietta admits knowing she was in deep shit at Dick's blatantly unimpressed expression. "Cho invited me but didn't want me to be crowded for knowing the Waynes so they didn't put my name on the list" she explains gaining confidence while piecing together her lie, but it all shatters at Dick's next words, Cho moving to stand away from her friend, looking embarrassed.

"That's funny. If you know the Waynes, how come you didn't recognize two of them when they were standing right in front of you?" Dick asks.

"Wh- what?" Marietta asks meekly, shrinking back into herself as she looks around for the Waynes she'd supposedly failed to recognize.

"Name's Jason Todd-Wayne; the guy you just blatantly lied to is Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne's oldest adopted son" Jason's casual introductions bringing Marietta's tower of lies crumbling down. She's too shocked to speak as people around them whisper amongst themselves, Bruce and Cedric arriving just as Marietta seems like she's about to recover the ability to speak.

"What's going on over here?" Bruce asks. Seeing his children are too busy glaring at Marietta to give him an answer, he resorts to the one person who seemed to have heard him and would give him an unbiased account of the events. "Lia?" he asks.

"It's just an old classmate of mine stirring up trouble. She insinuated some rather insulting things about me that the boys didn't appreciate, and to get out of it she claimed to know the Wayne family. What she failed to notice was that she was speaking to two of you, and now she's too shocked to say anything about it. You might want to step in before the boys commit a murder" Lisa explains, the last part she makes sure to whisper to him. They didn't need gossip of how the Wayne kids were all cold-blooded killers.

Bruce didn't even bother trying to confirm, trusting Lia enough to know she wouldn't lie to him. Security is called and Marietta is escorted out, though she wasn't going to be let off the hook that easily. As soon as Tim heard about what'd happened Lia had seen him whip out his phone, and she knew that Marietta was officially screwed. Tim would dig up all the dirt he could find on the Irish witch and get Babs to dig up even more. A quick phone call to the Wayne Lawyers and Marietta would be no more.

"I'm so sorry Magnolia" Cho says quietly as Dick looks to the Asian woman with a little surprise.

"Its fine Cho, we both know you have no control over her actions. When was the wedding?" Lia asks as Cho nods with a small pleased smile as Cedric wraps a supportive arm around her shoulders.

"Nearly two years ago now, Cedric managed to find work here as doctor in New York six months ago" Cho says with pride as Lia smiles while Cedric asks how she'd been; Having heard rumors of a Marvolo Slytherin and his connections to Magnolia.

"I've been well, like you I moved and I know you heard about my cousin taking control of our family assets" Lia smiles wryly as Cedric smiles sheepishly.

"Yeah a couple of my friends were complaining a little bit about it last we spoke" Cedric sighs as Lia laughs and would let Cho drag her into a conversation about her dress and how her work had been doing with the move to the States since most of her clients had mostly been from England though a few Irish families had hired her for wedding robes once word had gotten around she'd done a set that Madam Malkin had sold for a pretty galleon.

The rest of the gala went smoothly after that, Dick glued to her hip for rest of the evening but Lia knew she would need to address Dick's reaction to Marietta's unflattering words towards her. They couldn't talk about it in public, but Lia knew there's no escaping it once they got back to the manor.

There's no way for them to keep dancing around the subject anymore. They were going to have to talk about their feelings for each other if she wanted to avoid another confrontation like at the gala.

They didn't talk about it until they were in the relative safety of Magnolia's room in the manor. The rest of the gala had been slightly awkward after Marietta was kicked out, but they'd managed to pull everything together and pretend everything was fine. Lia's conversation with the Diggory's and her blasé attitude towards Marietta's insults helping a great deal in settling the guests.

But there had been an almost unnoticeable tension between them until they'd finally shut the door of the room, Lia using a silencing ward to make sure they weren't disturbed or over heard should things get loud.

"So, you want to tell me why you were so mad back there?" Lia asks looking up at him with curiosity, head slightly tilted as she took out the gold hoop earrings she'd been wearing; tucking them away into her purse.

Dick glances away, then back at her. He wouldn't meet her gaze. "You know why. She was making faceless accusations against you, and you don't deserve that" he says quietly as Lia rolls her eyes fondly.

Moving closer to him, forcing him to look at her. "Dick, you looked like you wanted to skin her. Your homicidal glare was stronger than Jason's, which is quite the accomplishment" she points out lightly.

He makes an indignant noise at that. "I wouldn't have skinned her! Just, you know...made sure she wouldn't be able to bother you anymore." Because that's convincing. He never could lie to her, as she couldn't lie to him.

"Dick" Lia sighs, crossing her arms and looking at him, unimpressed.

"I don't know Lia. I heard her say that about you and it just made me so, so angry. Even though you were trying to hide it I could tell you were upset about it, and she was practically gloating in your face for no reason. Her name came up during our investigation into Dumbledore and Tom, but we didn't know she was part of the crowd that regularly turned on you" Dick sighs. She looks away, not wanting to think about her time at Hogwarts. Even though she wasn't really friends with anyone in her house, besides Luna, Ravenclaw house's betrayal had still hurt her, and it was plainly visible on her face.

Dick reaches out and gently tilts her chin up, waiting for her to look him in the eyes before he continues. "I love you too much to stand by and let people try to hurt you" he finishes.

Dick's hand moves away from her chin to gently cup her cheek, and she leans into his touch as she searches his eyes for any hint of a lie. There's none. "I love you too" she says quietly with a smile even as happy tears well up in her eyes, eyes slipping closed as Dick leans down to press their foreheads together, using his thumb to gently wipe away the single tear that manages to escape. He pulls away for a second to examine her, before leaning in and connecting their lips together in a chaste kiss.

Dick pulls away after a second, and the both of them lock gazes before they both lean in to meet in another kiss, this one deeper than the last. Any hesitance they might've had is washed away at the realization that they both want this, that this is happening and their mutual feelings are shared.

When they break apart it's due to a lack of air, both of them reluctant to break away. They stare at each other; faces flush as they regain their breath. Dick is the one who breaks the silence.

"Well, it looks like some of those theories turned out to be true. Who'd have thought?" he teases lightly.

Lia laughs, slapping him lightly on the arm. "Everyone else will say it's only taken us long enough. But seriously, does this mean you want us to be a thing?" she asks quietly.

"More than anything" Dick reassures.

"Then it's official. We're now partners, in every sense of the word" Lia grins at him, getting a chuckle for her efforts as he smiles at her, scooping her up into a bone-crushing hug. He spins her around a few times, planting a kiss on her cheek before finally setting her gently back on the ground.

It's late at this point, and they weren't expected to stay at the manor overnight due to the fact that Dick had to work the next day, so Lia apparates them home and they part to get ready for bed. They wouldn't be patrolling, which is nice, as it allows them to get more sleep than usual.

While the two of them had separate rooms, they often ended up sleeping in the same room, Kaa taking up Lia's room. Saying they had separation issues was a bit of an understatement. They had refrained from sleeping in the same bed, but now that they were officially dating, they threw that restraint out the window. As soon as the both of them were ready for bed they met up in Dick's room and plop down on the bed, Dick immediately curling himself around Lia's small form as he often had back in the circus. They fit together like two puzzle pieces, just like they remembered.

The next morning they got some teasing texts from some of the other members of the Batfam, as well as an update on how much dirt Tim had dug up on Marietta. There was so much there that Lia is certain he hadn't slept the previous night. She didn't doubt that once Babs got on the case there would be little chance of Marietta being able to show her face in public ever again. They'd let her off easy the previous night, but it wouldn't last long. Nobody messed with a bat and got away with it.

She notices that Tim had also been digging up some info on her other classmates, most of which were graduating this year or already had. Lia hadn't expected him to go all in when he started his research, but she supposes she should've known better. That kid researched things to an almost excessive extent. Even she didn't do quite that much research, mainly because if she did she'd probably be walking around as a permanent coffee-fueled zombie, but that isn't the point. It's clear that he had been plotting against her old classmates, probably had been since he first learned of her background, but she doesn't know what exactly he's planning, so she couldn't do anything about it.

Lia chose to ignore the very obvious plotting going on in favor of enjoying her new official relationship with Dick, who's more than happy to drag her off on spontaneous dates whenever and wherever possible. They were a little excited.

To be fair, they had been separated for a long time after spending every single day together for close to four whole years, so in a sense they were just making up for lost time. The boys and Kaa often teased them about it, and all three of them had given Dick a shovel talk, which had been extremely entertaining. Kaa having done it the morning after their late night confession, forcing Lia to translate for him and most of the threats the python used were not meant for small ears.

The boys had teamed up for theirs, and while Lia wishes they would work together civilly for more than just threatening people close to her, she's glad they were able to set aside their differences at all.

Neither of them had been expecting it when the two birds had shown up in Bludhaven and found them during a patrol, aiming their weapons at a confused Nightwing as Phoenix hid her laughter behind her hand. They stood there in silence for a few minutes, Jason waving his guns about threateningly as Tim brandished his bo-staff.

Jason had finally decided on a new name, and he'd gone with one that would maximize Bruce's exasperation: Red Hood. He'd also designed his own costume, which was mostly okay except for the helmet he insisted on wearing. Not like he needed it when he wore a second mask underneath. And people liked to say Dick was dramatic.

She supposes Jason had to get it from somewhere.

Jason and Tim glare at Dick as Jason finally spoke. "Heard you finally asked the girl out. You know what that means."

"Is this-? Am I being given a shovel talk? By my own kin?" Dick's look of confused betrayal is amazing. Lia discretely takes a picture while attempting to keep herself from laughing.

"You bet your ass you are. You hurt our precious sister Lia and you won't live to regret it. I own more types of bullets than just these rubber ones" Jason threatens, holding up a clip of ammo to emphasize his point, clicking the safety off his gun as he did.

Tim adds his own threats, of course. "And I can ruin you. Completely. My tech skills are better than yours and Babs will side with us if you hurt her."

"Are we clear?" Both boys say together

"Yes...?" Dick says slowly, still very much confused.

"Good. You better take good care of her." And then they are gone, on their way back to the Batcave no doubt. As soon as they clear the roof Lia bursts into loud laughter.

Dick looks at her in complete and utter bewilderment, and he looks so similar to a kicked puppy that she hadn't been able to stifle her laughter any longer.

"Did that just happen?" Dick asks as she nods, wiping tears from her eyes as she tries to get her laughter under control. Dick seems a little offended at her laughter, but it's overshadowed by his amusement. "I guess my family likes you more than they like me. Those two don't team up for just anyone" he pouts and Lia breaks down laughing again, and this time Dick joins her. They did have to continue their patrol, however, so they eventually get themselves under enough control to finish up their route before returning to their apartment.

Word of the birds' shovel talk circulates throughout the hero community, and it becomes a bit of a trend. Dick's friends end up dropping by at various points, and while each of them initially come over to give Lia the shovel talk for Dick, things always ended in them giving one to him for her instead.

It's hilarious for Magnolia since none of her friends or extended family had given the shovel talk to Dick, though Dick pouts about it for a good while. It's especially funny when someone got partway through giving Lia a shovel talk only for her to meet and ease all of their concerns, at which point they would switch to giving Dick the shovel talk instead. The boys got a good laugh out of that one. They laughed about it for so long that Magnolia had almost been concerned for their health. They had bonded over it a bit though, which was nice.

The shovel talks had taken place over the course of a month, over which time Tim and Babs had continued to dig up dirt on Lia's past in London, discovering the many complaints and open ended cases with Child services due to the abuse, and by the end of that month, they had all the information that they'd wanted about life before and during Hogwarts.

They finally let Lia and Dick in on the plan, which involved the entirety of the Batfam to stay in London for a brief period of time, though with the portkey Lia had been given they would be able to travel back and forth for vigilante business when necessary. While Lia didn't want to confront this part of her past, she was glad that she'd finally be able to put everything behind her. Plus, she had Dick, Remus, Tom and the rest of the Batclan to back her up.

Before she knew it she's on a private jet with the others, on her way back to London. She'd prefer shadow travel, but there was official Wayne Enterprises business to take care of as well, and while the Waynes were known to back the Justice League, they weren't known to have access to zeta tubes or other methods of teleportation. So normal transportation it is.

As she sits next to Dick, head leaned on his shoulder as they look over some old pictures of the two of them Tim had somehow dug up, she could only hope that things would go smoothly, but nothing was ever certain where Vernon is concerned.

The flight to London is longer than any of them would've preferred, but it's necessary. Lia is just grateful that there weren't any big fights or problems for the duration of the trip. If somebody had started something she would've looked for the closest shadow to get her out of there, arriving through official channels be damned.

They split up after they land, Lia and Dick to Grimmauld place while the others went to stay in a Wayne-owned penthouse elsewhere in the city. Because of course they would have a place in London. She would've been more surprised if they didn't have one; though if they hadn't before they probably would've just bought one. All of them were a bit too paranoid to stay in a hotel for any significant length of time, so if they told her they'd bought out a penthouse just so they didn't have to stay in a hotel, she wouldn't be surprised.

The actual confrontation wouldn't happen for a couple days, so Magnolia took advantage of their free time to drag all the Waynes around the city, pointing out her favorite places. They'd been spotted a few times, and there was speculation over why the Wayne family would be in London, though none of the theories is completely true.

The one that came closest is the one that guessed they were there on business, with a possibility of legal action. There had been murmurings of someone that had gotten on their bad side ever since Marietta Edgecomb was kicked out of the Wayne Gala. Her name hadn't even been in any of the gossip, as she hadn't been high-profile enough for people to actively take notice of. Lia getting a real kick out of that; Marietta had thrived on attention back at Hogwarts, and being denied attention, even negative, is probably extremely frustrating for her.

It's during the tour that Lia got the letter of invitation from Tom inviting her and the Waynes to visit the manor he'd settled in once he'd gotten his estate in order. One they shared ownership of in Peverell Castle.

"Who exactly is Marvolo Slytherin to you?" Bruce asks curiously as Lia penned a response and let Fawkes take it.

"We're very distant cousins on both sides of our family tree though the maternal relation is a little closer than the paternal connection…there's been a lot of inbreeding in Magical England so I'm distantly related to a lot of the nobility here thanks to my Black grandmother" Lia explains at the slightly grossed out looks on Jason and Tim's faces.

"Things are slow to change before you ask and that's why I haven't shown you the magical side of things. That and Tom is still trying to straighten out some of the issues the opposition left behind after I cursed Dumbledore" Lia admits as Fawkes returned with another letter. "Alright he's managed to set aside sometime the day before our meeting with Vernon at WE, he also says that Marietta won't be a problem anymore" she rattles off as Dick asks what that meant.

"The Diggory's or one of the other guests with connections to the magical side at the Gala probably let slip what happened where Tom or one of his inner circle could hear about it and they dealt with her via their own means which would be ten times more vicious and binding than what you all came up with" Lia admits sheepishly as Tim pouts.

"Don't pout too much; Tom likely has a report for me to look over. You can still tear into Vernon since Tom left how he is to be handled up to me after I let him loose on Figg and the others that knew about Privet Drive" Lia points out as the youngest perk up at that while Dick asks who was likely to be at the manor.

"Tom obviously but knowing him he'll likely have Severus, the Malfoy's, Remus and probably Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange there as well. Most being members of the inner circle and Remus because he's technically my godfather but due to certain laws isn't that position legally but he's still family" Lia explains as Dick frowns in remembrance but lets the matter go since she hadn't outright told the rest of his family about Remus' furry little problem like she had him in their journals.

The next day would see Remus gathering Lia up into a tight hug that lifts her off her feet as soon as she steps through the front door. Dobby letting them in to the curiosity of the Waynes who hadn't met the quirky elf and bemusement of Dick who had gotten the full story of how Dobby had tried to protect Magnolia but had ended up being saved by her instead.

"It's good to see you Moony" Lia laughs as she hugs back tightly.

"You don't write nearly enough and you look so much better" Moony sighs as he put her down so Lord Slytherin could introduce himself and his diminished inner circle to the rest of their guests. Amber eyes thoughtful as Lia settled at the oldest son's side.

"Welcome to Peverell Castle" Tom greets as he offers his hand out to Bruce while Jason and Tim took in the medieval architecture mixed with some modern touches, the house elves obviously having kept with the times to both boys quiet awe as Tom led the way to the formal living room where Severus and the others were waiting. Not paying too much attention as Tom introduced the rest of his guests to the Waynes as Lia greets Narcissa with a hug as well and smiled at Andromeda and her husband. Glad the Black women had reconciled.

"This place is really pretty" Tim says quietly as he settles between Dick and Lia.

"I thought the same when I toured it at 13. The summer I had free reign since everyone was focused on the fact Sirius had done the impossible. I had it cleaned up a bit like I did the few other properties my family still owned and hid here before going back to school" Lia grins in amusement as Tim asks who Sirius was and what he had done that was impossible; Sirius having come up a couple times in their conversations and in the files but Lia not having explained his connection to her.

"Sirius was my godfather and cousin through my dad's mom. And he was the first to break out of Britain's magical prison on his own" Lia admits as Remus chuckles.

"Gave everyone heart attacks though not as bad as the fact you exposed the fact Pettigrew had spent fifteen years hiding in his rat form, seven of which spent sleeping in the Gryffindor dorm rooms" Remus points out as Lia scrunches her nose up at the reminder while Jason asks what kind of school Lia had been going to.

"Hogwarts under Dumbledore's control…he had ideas and I ruined them by not being sorted into the house my mom and dad were sorted into. I like reading and learning magic a little more than getting into trouble like my dad" Lia explains as Dick chuckles.

"We didn't have problems with getting into trouble while we were traveling with Haly" Dick points out as Lia smiles in remembrance.

"Yeah well I had you and Kaa as back up. Kaa had to hide at Hogwarts since technically I wasn't supposed to have him there so that was enough mischief on its own. He wouldn't let me go without him so I had to shrink him and keep him on me for most of my time there" Lia explains as Dick grimaces knowing that Kaa likely wouldn't have appreciated being that small considering how big he was now.

"Tom if you don't mind my asking what did you and the others do to Miss Edgecomb?" Lia asks as Tom passes over the folder and watches as Magnolia nearly chokes on the sip of water she'd taken. Obviously having skimmed and found that he'd gotten Marietta Edgecomb arrested on sexual assault charges.

"You found my complaints or Flitwick gave them to you in regards to Luna's harassment" Lia says as Severus nods.

"Filius was more than eager to pass over the reports once I explained what we were doing. Miss Chang also happened to come forward with her complaints and gave memories to back up what she'd seen of Miss Edgecomb's and her friends treatment of miss Lovegood and others in Ravenclaw tower" Severus explains as Lia nods thoughtfully.

"So she got sent to Azkaban" Lia hums thoughtfully as Bruce frowns and asks about Azkaban.

"Azkaban is Magical England's prison. It's where those convicted go though depending on the crime determines which security level their sentenced to. Edgecomb was sentenced to one of the higher levels since sexual assault is one of the few crimes all levels of our society strongly looks down on" Lucius explains to Bruce who nods thoughtfully. All the Waynes recognized that none of the wizards were willing to go further on the subject and would go onto discuss the plans they had in place for the Dursleys. Lia letting her aunt and cousin off lightly in the face of their changed behavior towards her, Petunia having seen what she had done before was wrong and knew that her niece hadn't come back to Privet Drive willingly so had treated Lia as well as she could with Vernon in the house.

The fact her aunt had stepped up and been supportive of her art and music had gone a long way in healing their relationship. Dudley having gone through some difficult times at his private school to learn what he'd done to his cousin was wrong, sending a letter to apologize during her third year of school. The one and only time he'd contacted her after she'd gone to Hogwarts and immersed herself in Magical Britain.

Vernon and Marge on the other hand had only gotten more vicious as Lia had gotten older. The one and only time Marge had visited since Lia had been forced back into the house she'd been forced to forget the fact Lia's magic had inflated her for insulting Lily. Vernon hadn't though and it was his rage over what Lia had done to Marge that forced Lia to hide out in Diagon for the rest of that summer, working with Madam Malkin and getting deeper into her apprenticeship with the older witch.

Dick knew about it, of course. She'd come clean and told him about everything she'd been hiding from him, and he'd been less than pleased to hear his fears and the fears of his parents confirmed. That she'd had no one to support her once she was back in that environment had left them both bitter about how Mrs. Figg had so cruelly and suddenly separated the two of them, resulting in their separation issues.

They hadn't even known that they'd developed separation issues until they'd been reunited, which was a bit strange. The rest of the family had to be careful when they wanted one of them for something without the other; otherwise the sudden disappearance would cause the other to panic. It had happened a few times before they finally realized they had a problem. They probably should've seen someone about it, but the way they'd grown up had made them averse to such things.

Instead, Magnolia just made a way for them to always know where the other was and how they were doing. All it had required was a few tweaks to their bracelets.

Their separation issues were the main reason they were all wary about Vernon. While she hadn't seen the Dursleys in a long while, she knew Vernon was liable to lose his temper and attempt to lash out at her for what was about to be unleashed on him, which wouldn't end well for anyone involved. She could only hope that the confrontation wouldn't be as awful as the last time she'd seen the man.

When it's finally time for them to confront Vernon, she's nervous. Dick was nervous too if the way he made sure to keep physical contact with her is any indication, not that she was much better. The rest of the boys seemed a bit on edge as well, all of them remembering the story of how Lia had been separated from Dick in the first place.

Tom having told Bruce what had been done to Figg and Diggle for their part in Magnolia's abuse; the two minders having been sent to Azkaban where both had died due to their weak magic and exposure to the rough environment and aura of the Dementors.

It had been really difficult to determine a good time to confront the man, Vernon being constantly busy at Grunnings, and when he wasn't he didn't tend to leave the house. The main problem with this was that they wanted to have the confrontation on neutral ground, and they wanted to make sure the man wouldn't just lash out at Lia when he saw her, which would be pitifully easy if the confrontation was held in the Dursleys own house. Getting the man out of the house had proven to be a bit more tricky than initially anticipated, but they did manage it in the end.

It was arranged for Vernon Dursley to meet up with them in a secluded conference room in the Wayne's apartment building, supposedly to talk about a potential job between Grunnings and WE. Vernon being very punctual, he arrived in the specified meeting place with Petunia right on time.

Neither of them were expecting to walk through the door only to find Magnolia, who had been missing for quite a while, sitting casually at the conference table. Surrounded by various boys, only one of which seemed familiar, though Vernon couldn't place him.

Petunia remembered though and would relax slightly realizing what this is about and would put some distance between herself and her husband. Freedom very much on the horizon for herself, her son and for Magnolia.

Bruce prompts them to sit, and in their shock at seeing Magnolia after so long they oblige easily, not putting up a fight as they wait for the shock to wear off.

Vernon is granted no time to recover, all the birds glaring at the man while Bruce has a bland smile on his face that is as fake as they come. "You must be the Dursleys. We've heard a lot about you, though not much of it has been good, which is quite unfortunate for you. I take it you recognize your lovely niece over here?" He gestures to Magnolia, who is clutching Dick's hand underneath the table and avoiding looking directly at the business man. Having given a small smile to Petunia.

"What did you tell them you stupid girl? Have you used your freakishness?" Vernon demands as Lia resists the urge to flinch at how red his face is getting.

Vernon's words and overall demeanor not sitting well with any of the vigilantes in the room, though Dick is the one to speak up. "Really? That's the first thing you assume? That she's influenced us? Not even going to bother asking where she's been all this time? Did you even notice she was missing in the first place?" he demands.

"We haven't seen her since she was granted legal emancipation. If she's been missing we've not heard of it. We were glad to be rid of her and the freaks she runs with. Who are you to judge us for that young man?" Vernon barks. Petunia flinching at his tone and telling Magnolia everything she needed to know on how her aunt had been treated after Magnolia had left the house for good.

Dick's glare intensifies at Vernon's words. "What, you don't remember me?" He demands but is cut off by Bruce, who waves a hand in front of him to prevent him from getting up. The chances of him actually attacking Vernon were rather slim, but it could still happen if he thought Lia was being threatened.

"Dick, that's enough" Bruce says sternly.

Her relatives stare at Dick blankly as they attempt to think of where they could've seen him before. "Remember you? I don't recall ever meeting...wait." Realization settles over both their faces, along with a bit of anger on Vernon's part, though that is directed at Magnolia. "You, you're the boy from the circus! The carnie Magnolia was hanging off of when the crazy bint Figg retrieved her! Magnolia, weren't you bloody told that you were to leave that part of your past behind? It was agreed that you would never mention it or get in contact with any of those degenerates you were found with!" Vernon snarls.

Lia straightens up and finally glances at Vernon, still squeezing Dick's hand for support. "We didn't agree on anything. You were threatened into keeping me once more and I kept quiet so no one could take my belongings or my memories of Haly's circus away from me. It didn't work out so well for you obviously since I went to see them in Paris" she hisses out. Vernon's face grew red at the reminder. Petunia kept her face blank at the admittance. Dumbledore had threatened them and they had kept their silence much like Figg on where Magnolia had been so the girl wouldn't be Obliviated. Petunia not wanting to take away her niece's one non magical friend away from her regardless of the fact the boy was a carny.

Vernon wouldn't get a chance to respond before Bruce jumps in, looking to end the confrontation as soon as possible. It's clear that Magnolia is uncomfortable and the boys are feeling homicidal. He'd prefer to avoid an international incident if possible. "There's nothing you can do about it, so it would be best for you to remain silent. Let's get on to the reason we summoned you here. We want to make sure you won't bother Magnolia ever again. That includes spreading rumors about her, trying to contact her, and attempting to hurt her directly or indirectly. We've filed a restraining order against you for her, and once the judge signs off on it you can't be within fifty feet of her. If you violate our terms we'll sue. Our lawyers will give you all the details" the man explains as he pushes the paperwork towards Vernon.

"A restraining order?!" Vernon seems appalled, but there's nothing he can do about it, and as the small army of personal lawyers employed by the Waynes enter the room to lead him out, he began to realize that.

"Yes. With the amount of evidence found and given against you in regards to your treatment of your niece, the judge is more than likely to grant it. If you'll please follow our lawyers, they'll explain everything in detail." Bruce's tone left no room for argument, and the stunned man is soon led out of the room, and out of Magnolia's life. The likelihood that Vernon would ever see her again is extremely low, and the Waynes wouldn't have it any other way.

"I'm so sorry Magnolia" Petunia whispers as Magnolia reaches across the conference room table to squeeze her aunt's frail looking hands. More than able to see how tired and vulnerable her aunt looks in that moment.

"It'll be okay…If Vernon behaves the way he usually does he's going to end up at the station facing more charges than just the ones against me. We're free" Magnolia whispers as Petunia sniffs and nods, squeezing her nieces hands just as tightly before admitting Dudley is going to pick her up. Having known that this meeting was liable to end the way it had and would slip from the room without another word.

Lia slumps against Dick as Petunia finally left her field of view, relieved to be rid of Vernon. Dick wraps an arm around her shoulders as he guides her to stand with the rest of the family. They head back to the Wayne's penthouse after that, doing all manner of things to distract Magnolia from the confrontation. They watch movies and play games, even though they knew the odds were always in Magnolia's favor, and at the end of the night, Lia went back to Grimmauld Place with Dick. They cuddled together in bed, taking comfort in each other's presence and the knowledge that those who had ripped them apart would be unable to do so again. A weight lifting off their shoulders as this knowledge sunk in, though they still had their separation issues.

All of them are back on the jet to Gotham a few days later, ready to head home and beat up some bad guys. There hadn't been any major incidents that they knew about, which had been nice, as they'd gotten a bit of a vacation. Lia and Dick would be staying in Gotham for a little while, as Lia had some plans to do with Tim's parents. More specifically, plans to take guardianship of Tim away from them. After that it would be a race to see who could adopt the kid first: Magnolia or Bruce. Both of them have the paperwork ready to go, and Tim would be given the name of a Wayne regardless, but only one of them can be the official parent. The thought of an adoption war is harrowing for the rest of those residing in the manor, but they didn't get a choice in the matter.

If Magnolia won, Tim would be joining her and Dick in Bludhaven, and if Bruce won he'd be staying in Gotham. Though either way he'd likely end up spending the majority of his time in Bludhaven. He liked Magnolia more than he likes Bruce, and he can still be Robin regardless. Jason would be jealous, but he already spent a rather absurd amount of time in Lia and Dick's apartment. He would just show up randomly, as would Tim. It's kind of strange at first, but the young couple got used to the surprise visits. When you have friends that moonlight as heroes, you tend to get used to surprises. Magnolia especially tended to be extremely difficult to surprise due to her time dealing with Hogwarts and Dumbledore's schemes.

There may or may not have been an ongoing bet over who would be able to get the biggest reaction out of Lia with a surprise. And said potential bet may or may not have spread to a good portion of their friend group. They were trying to keep it a secret because they didn't want Lia to find out and rig it with Dick, who is semi-aware of the bet.

Little did they know that Lia already knew, Alfred had told her for the express purpose of having her rig it. Already coming up with ideas of when and how to make sure Alfred won the bet. He promised to grant her some of the earnings.

Bets aside, Lia is looking forward to the chaos the adoption war would bring, as well as her plans to steal guardianship from Tim's parents. She would literally fight Bruce for custody if it came down to it. He wouldn't stand a chance when faced with her magic.

Either way she's just happy that Tim wouldn't have to stay with neglectful absentee parents anymore. They probably didn't even notice that he'd run off to London with them. As someone who had grown up with abusive relatives, Lia wanted to make sure Tim has someone to be there for him, and while she's already there for him whenever he needs, she didn't want him to have to keep returning to an empty house. Dick being in agreement with her, would side with her when the time came. She knew that Tim would be happy whatever the result, and so would she, but Lia is notoriously competitive.

Her plans wouldn't be enacted for a few days after they return to Gotham, so there is still time. She just has to hope that nothing too terrible would happen before then. Fat chance of that considering it's Gotham they're talking about, but she can hope.

Even if something did go down, with the bats on the case it's likely to be short-lived.

That was the hope, anyways. Lia has a feeling that something unexpected would happen. She just hopes whatever happens wouldn't cause too much damage. Or drama, for that matter. She's had enough drama to last her a lifetime, and a good portion of that is due to her involvement with the bats.

How one family could generate so much drama, she has no idea.

There are theories about it, but honestly they probably just learned how to be overly-dramatic from Bruce. For all his claims to the contrary, he is probably the most dramatic one of them all.

The first thing Lia did when they arrive back at the manor is drag Dick up to their shared room and tug him onto the bed. She's exhausted from the flight and slept best when Dick was near her, so he would be laying with her whether he's tired or not. There's an added bonus of no interruptions when they're alone in a bedroom, as the boys didn't want to risk walking in on them doing 'gross couple-y things.' They claim this, but none of them have ever walked in on the two of them doing anything more than cuddling or making out. Of course, that is partly due to the wards Lia has placed on the room that alerted the two of them to visitors, but it's nice that people are reluctant to enter their shared room.

Lia settles into bed with a similarly exhausted Dick, which is great because it meant he wouldn't be leaving before she woke up later. They would have to be up and about the next day, so they really need the sleep. Sleeping is always so much easier when they did it together. Had been ever since they reunited, which is probably in part due to how frequently they slept together when they were still in the circus. Their separation has led to somewhat unhealthy sleeping habits, so it's nice for them to be able to fall back into a healthy, habitual sleeping habit together.

They drift off to sleep not long after settling into bed and woke early the next day. Lia has a few things to prepare for when she stole guardianship of Tim and Dick would be helping out at Wayne Enterprises while he is in Gotham. There are a few things they would need to look over before they go on patrol that night as well, though it's nothing pressing. Things had been fairly quiet during the week they were gone, which is a tad unusual, but they're sure the Rogues would soon make up for it.

That night they got word that the Joker had escaped Arkham.

Nothing good could come of it, especially after what happened with Jason, but there is nothing they can do until they find the rotten clown. Odds being good that he'd either target a prominent member of society or a bat, possibly even both. This meant that all of them are in some level of danger, which isn't good. Lia is just glad she is able to monitor all of their vitals, like she had been with Dick and Jason for years.

It had been a bit difficult to get Bruce to wear something magical, but he eventually relented under the threat of Alfred tricking him into it. The others had easily consented to wearing a magic bracelet that linked back to Lia's own. After what happened with Jason, it's clear that it would be a good thing to have on them.

They went about with things as usual. It wouldn't do to panic anyone and there is work to be done. A couple days after their return Lia went to an appointment with the Drakes and politely asks them to transfer guardianship of Tim to her. They didn't take too kindly to that, but after some persuasion (blackmail), they agreed. The Drakes transferred guardianship straight to Magnolia, so Bruce never stood a chance of beating her to the punch. Tim is still given the name Wayne, as Lia is an honorary one until they made it official someday.

Whether she became an official part of the family through marriage or adoption is anyone's guess, but she'd prefer it to be marriage. She wagered Dick would prefer it that way as well.

Either way, she would eventually be a Wayne. And now she had successfully managed to pull Tim out of his neglectful household, which she's been itching to do for a long while. The kid already had a room in her and Dick's apartment, so this is just making him an official member of the family.

When she walks into the manor later that day with proof of guardianship, she's a little smug. Tim would light up and tackle her into a hug which she returns enthusiastically, watching with idle amusement as money changes hands near them. Of course bets had been placed on who would get Tim first. She'd be more surprised if there hadn't been a bet. Bruce frowned at the papers she'd come in with, though he made nice and congratulates her, Lia had a feeling he'd be busy with a new kid of his own soon anyways, not that she'd ever tell him that. It's far more amusing to watch him flounder.

Everything is going well until the night before they are due to head back to Bludhaven. Tim had been patrolling with Bruce, who had left him alone for a moment to check things out and had ended up being captured by the Joker.

Lia knows something is wrong immediately, almost falling off a rooftop as she suddenly whips her head around in the direction she knows Tim is supposed to be. Dick stops beside her, concerned, but she waves him off. She pushes up her sleeve so she could see her bracelet just as the coffee bean charm she chose to represent Tim starts glowing. Dick mutters a curse under his breath before motioning for her to lead the way, and moments later she took off. She and Dick flew through the air efficiently, anger vaguely visible on their faces as they made their way towards Tim.

They get there just before Joker could take off with him. It's clear that Tim is unconscious, just as it's clear Joker hadn't been expecting any of the Batclan to be interrupting his kidnapping attempt.

Like hell Lia would ever let him get away with it. She's been itching to pummel the clown ever since she saved Jason, and his attempt to kidnap her ward is not appreciated.

Before the clown could even get a word out he's kicked in the face and sent flying into the alley wall. Harley tries to intervene but is quickly engaged by Dick, leaving Lia to deal with the psychotic clown. He's barely gotten up before he is knocked back down by a vicious blow to the ribs, Lia making sure to keep him occupied enough that he won't be able to get a rise out of her.

She makes sure to make it seem as though she isn't prolonging the fight until Dick successfully subdues Harley, at which point Lia finally knocks Joker out. He's sustained quite a few injuries and possibly a few broken bones, but it's nowhere close to what Jason had been subjected to.

As soon as she hears the police sirens she grabs the still unconscious Tim and transports the both of them back to the Batcave, having been reassured by Dick that he would deal with the cops while she took care of Tim.

When she appears in the middle of the cave, having emerged from the shadows, she is met with Alfred who takes a moment to assess the situation before leading her into the infirmary.

Alfred takes care of Tim's few injuries while Lia went through her potion stash, eventually grabbing a couple potions that she carefully pours down his throat. One potion being a cleansing potion, meant to remove all foreign substances from the body, including caffeine which Tim probably won't be too happy about. The other a healing potion, and only when his bruises start healing and his breathing levels out does she allow herself to relax. She slumps into a chair by his bedside and carefully holds one of his hands as she waited for Dick to return.

He doesn't make her wait long, practically flying into the cave on his motorcycle minutes later. He makes a beeline towards her, taking note of the healthy tones in Tim's skin before turning his full attention to Lia. Dick picks her up out of her chair, prompting her to wrap her legs around his waist and one arm around his neck. The other hand is still holding Tim's for reassurance. Lia buries her face into Dick's neck as he began to rub soothing circles into her back, murmuring words of comfort as she collects herself.

"Joker?" Lia asks quietly.

Dick stills in his motions for a split second before resuming, doing his best to reassure her. "On his way back to a maximum security cell in Arkham. One with 24-hour surveillance. He won't be getting back out for a long time" he reassures.

"Sorry I left you to deal with the police alone" Lia sighs tiredly.

A soft smile spread across his face as he hugs her tighter. "It's alright sweetheart. I know you had to take care of your little chick."

"Joke's on you. He's our chick" Lia giggles quietly. It says so on the guardianship papers.

"Of course, Lia. He's ours. I wouldn't have it any other way" Dick agrees quietly.

"That's what I thought" Lia hums out. They fall into a comfortable silence after that, Dick sitting down in the chair he's stolen from Lia, making sure she's situated comfortably in his lap. As long as Tim is unconscious they would be there by his side, waiting for him to wake up.

The only time they leave is so Dick can go berate Bruce for leaving Tim on his own. Jason had wanted to fight with Bruce, but one glance at Magnolia changes his mind, and he instead keeps her company as she watches over Tim. She knows that Jason cares about Tim, no matter how much he protests to the contrary.

Tim wakes a few hours later, and Lia is right there to make sure he's okay. He's a bit shaken at having almost been abducted so easily, but Lia's presence helps keep him calm. When they are absolutely sure that he is okay they head back to Bludhaven via shadow travel.

Dick and Lia make sure Tim is settled into his room before slipping off to their own, where they climb into the bed and just hold each other. The thought of one of their own being kidnapped had triggered their separation issues a bit, and they are both having a bit of a difficult time dealing with it. They felt better being in one another's presence, though they don't manage to sleep for hours after that, still worried over Tim.

Magnolia knew she would have to help smooth things over between Dick and Bruce, especially if her instincts are right in saying they would soon have another addition to the family.

Since she ignored her nightmares over her and Dick's separation she had never doubted her instincts again. Never acting against them again after she'd ignored them in fifth year.

She's just glad that the sense she's getting now isn't overly negative.

It has the potential to turn out badly, but as long as Lia is there to anchor everyone and calm raging tempers things would be fine. Until then she would focus on helping Tim readjust to constantly being around people that actually care about him.

It might take a while, but she's determined to make sure Tim feels like a member of the family. She knew that Bruce hadn't always made him feel included, and Jason hadn't helped with that, but Lia would make sure Tim knows he's a valued part of the family. She's been itching to be able to teach one of the boys some of her trade, and she could sense Tim wouldn't be as averse to learning a few tricks with magic as Jason was. Tim having a fair sized core meant she had a lot she could show him.

It had her looking forward to being able to build up their family ties, and she knew Tim is probably feeling much the same.

There would likely be some bumps in the road, but there's no way Lia would ever let Tim feel like he is alone. She'd felt alone for years before finally taking out Dumbledore and accidentally ending up bleeding out in Gotham, and she doesn't wish it on anyone.

You don't need to be blood related to be part of the family, and Lia would make sure Tim knew that. They're legally family now, after all. Blood families are overrated anyways.

She just didn't realize that her instincts would be proven right so soon when Tom sends her a letter through the bank asking her if she is interested in investigating some of their distant Peverell relatives.

Dick

Dick loves Magnolia, and he freely admits it to anyone who asks, but he wishes she would warn him when she knew crazy things are about to happen. He could kind of tell that something is going to occur based on Lia's anticipation of something, and she didn't gloat over her beating Bruce in the race to adopt Tim nearly as much as she normally would have.

This is his first and only clue to the chaos that would soon be upon them.

He's been busy helping Lia make sure Tim is settling in, and he's involved in a few cases that are keeping him quite busy as well, so he doesn't have the time to question her.

Every single time he went to ask her about what she's sensed would come to pass, he would suddenly get dragged into dealing with something else. Every single time.

It gets old pretty quickly, and by the time he is finally free enough to ask her about it, it's too late. The chaos is upon them.

It starts during one of their routine trips to Gotham. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary at first, at least, not that Dick could see.

What Lia saw, however, though he didn't know it at the time, is the sudden presence of various assassins. All of them straight from the League of Assassins, and while none of the bats picked up on their presence, including Dick, Lia had.

Why she didn't tell anyone about it, he would never know. She often did things that nobody could understand in the moment, but she always proved to have a reason behind it later on. He noticed that she seemed a bit distracted, but she didn't give anything away when he asks about it so he figured she would either tell him eventually or it's nothing.

She sure proves him wrong.

After they returned from their trip she informs him that she's acquired a brand new client, one that she would need to go meet in person.

Similar things have happened before, so he isn't overly worried. She's prepared everything as though she's really just going on a normal business trip, so there is no reason for him to be suspicious. He only figures out something is off about the situation when she shadow travels back to the apartment a few days later with a small child.

What had happened for her to go out of her way to get a child he has no idea, and she tells him that she doesn't want to have to explain more than once, so he would have to wait until they return to Gotham.

They hadn't been planning on returning to Gotham for another few days, but with this new development it's unanimously decided that they would bump up the trip for that night instead. And he thought Bruce was the only one with an adoption problem.

Magnolia

To be fair, Magnolia wasn't sure her trip to the League of Assassins would actually turn out as it had. She noticed the increased presence of their assassins scattered throughout Gotham and knew that there had to have been some reason for it. She didn't wanted to worry Dick so she decided she would look into it by herself and arranged for a business trip to make it seem like nothing is going on. She's been meaning to infiltrate the League after what she dug up on the Lazarus Pits anyway, since there is no way she and Tom would allow for the Pits to continue existing after what had al Ghul had done to taint the healing springs their Peverell ancestors had once guarded so fiercely. Her research project from Tom leading to this realization fairly early on.

If she found some sort of plot against the Gotham vigilantes while she's there...well. It's not like anyone could stop her from sabotaging said plot.

She only has a vague sense of what could potentially be going on, and as such is almost blindsided by the sight of a small, angry version of Bruce. In the middle of the League. Being referred to as the Heir to the Demon. Yeah, there is no way Lia is going to let this fly, and if the assassins want to stop her they're welcome to try.

With her proficiency in magic and the assistance of Fawkes and Tiamat (Tom having let her borrow the shrunk down Basilisk for the trip once she clued him in on where she's going) it's simple for her to bust in, destroy the pits, snag the kid, and bust out. All without being noticed or leaving a trace. Not with the League being busy dealing with an angry Basilisk covered in so many protections the League couldn't kill it.

Walking into the living room of their apartment with a struggling, homicidal toddler isn't something she ever thought she'd end up doing, but its happened. And it's awkward, to say the least. Though the toddler would calm once she began speaking in a language he can understand, one he shares with her and Tom to her quiet delight. The toddler having a strong core much like Lia's had been at his age.

At least it's a quick trip to Gotham, and her boys know better than to ask questions when it's clear she isn't going to answer them. The sight of the three of them and the toddler doesn't even phase Alfred, but she has yet to come across anything that actually does. Their appearance does shock Bruce and Jason, however, though only Bruce is able to keep his surprise from showing on his face.

Jason is the first one to speak up, pointing at the struggling toddler in Lia's arms. "Is that a child?"

"Yes" she says casually, walking past them on her way to a seat.

"Is it yours?" Jason asks slowly.

"Nope" Lia pops the 'p' as she plops down at the conference table, the others slowly taking their seats around her and watching warily as she expertly restrains the child. "He's Bruce's!" She announces cheerfully. They all freeze at that, even Alfred though only for a millisecond.

"What." This is the general reaction, though Bruce seems to be frozen in his shock.

She turns to Bruce, propping up the child so he could get a better look. "You have a biological child you never knew about with Talia al Ghul that was being raised in the League of Assassins! Isn't he adorable?" she chirps.

"I would say murderous is probably a better descriptor" Tim mutters under his breath, but they all hear him clear as day in the silence of the cave.

"How did you even find out about this?" Dick asks.

"Tom gave me a research project since he knew I had a little more free time than he does currently. The Lazarus Pits to be specific since they were healing springs once upon a time, healing springs that were guarded fiercely by the Peverell family before al Ghul found one of the springs and tainted them through the one spring. I was supposed to destroy the Lazarus Pits once we figured out how he tainted the springs. I kept forgetting about it until I noticed the increase in assassins lingering about the city on our last trip to Gotham, and I decided now was as good a time as any to go take care of it. I noticed this little guy on my way through their compound, thought it was odd 'cause he looks a lot like Bruce and Talia was super smug. That's her default though so maybe it wasn't that suspicious" Lia trails off for a minute, clearly lost in thought before snapping out of it. "Anyway! I heard Talia gloating about him being the son of the bat, and if that isn't a dead giveaway I don't know what is. Snagging him on my way out of their base was trivial, and then we came here as soon as I got back" she finishes as she lets a shrunk down Tiamat curl around the toddler's shoulders to help the boy relax into sleep.

"..."

"So? Do you want to take care of him or should I? He's technically family" Lia asks cheerfully.

"Lia you can't just keep snatching children out from under Bruce's nose. If you do we might end up with a hoard of children to rival his own. He made the kid he can take care of him. You'll still be able to help, but as we're still pretty young it's probably for the best. Here he'll have Alfred to watch over him" Dick points out.

"You make some good points. Congratulations on your new child Bat-Wayne. We'll stick around to help you out for a while as you process this" Lia then stands from the table and walks out with the child and Alfred, heading off to prepare a room for the kid, who's fallen asleep with a snake curled around him. Dick scrambles to follow as Tim and Jason move off to a different part of the cave to talk about the situation and laugh at Bruce, who is still frozen.

Settling the kid in is pretty easy. Easier than she thought anyway, not that Lia is complaining. The only problem is that he spoke more Arabic and Parseltongue than English, so they often have to make use of a translator for the Arabic as they help him acclimate to using English more often. He also has a pretty bad temper and seems to be extremely entitled, which makes Lia glad, regardless of being a distant cousin, that he is going to be Bruce's problem.

Maybe having his own flesh and blood child around would help him gain some parenting skills. All of them could agree that it's hilarious to watch Bruce flounder as he tries to get acquainted with the kid, who they find out is named Damian, and when the two had matching scowls they just about die laughing, which they didn't seem to appreciate for some reason.

Jason turns out to be a decent brother-figure, which had been a bit surprising to everyone but Lia and Alfred. They're working towards curbing his more violent tendencies, as Damian having tried to murder Tim and Jason a few times. He attempts it with Lia once, but when she catches him before he could even manage to attack her she gained his respect. Tim tended to avoid him so he wouldn't have to deal with more assassination attempts, but all in all, things are pretty peaceful.

They all knew it wouldn't last. Talia would come looking for her son eventually, and there is no way of knowing the lengths she'd go to in order to get her baby assassin back.

It would be interesting to see how Bruce tried to manage that situation.

Their intel indicated that the assassins were already gearing up to find Damian, though they wouldn't check with the bats for a good while after the mess Lia had left in her wake with Tiamat and Fawkes, which gives them time to prepare.

As far as Talia knew Bruce has no idea about Damian, and none of the other bats would have reason to visit the compound to find out.

Lia herself has never had the displeasure of actually meeting any of the assassins, and while they likely knew of her identity due to her being Nightwing's partner, Phoenix, they had yet to come size her up. She couldn't say for certain where they would look first, but the chances of it being Gotham are extremely low. They're careful to keep Damian out of the spotlight to avoid catching the League's attention and the kid too young to join them on patrols.

While there are a few assassins scattered about the city, none of them are able to catch sight of the kid, even when he went out in broad daylight.

Lia may have had a hand in concealing Damian, but she doesn't want to deal with a bunch of assassins, none of the bats complain, and Alfred commends her for it so...she feels justified in the extreme measures she'd taken with her spell work.

When the assassins finally arrive there's little doubt that Damian would want to leave with them, though the chances of them getting so close to him with Lia around are extremely slim.

The assassins may have knowledge of magic, but with their leader only alive due to the results of tainted Peverell magic they wouldn't be able to do anything about Magnolia. Not unless they want to get cursed by a pair of angry Peverell mages. Tom more than a little angry once Lia submits her report to him about the state of the now destroyed main spiring.

Talia caving a lot faster than Magnolia initially anticipates. Bruce receiving a message from her less than two months after Lia retrieved Damian from the League's compound, long enough for him to have become sufficiently accustomed to being with them. Her message didn't explain more than the fact that she needed his help finding something, as well as containing coordinates, a date, and a time for him to meet up with her.

The location being in Gotham, which would make things easier for them in the long run, but if Talia really is coming out of the woodwork there's a decent chance she'd find out about Damian being with the bats, not that there's anything she can do about it.

With Talia's thoughtful warning of her impending arrival all they can do is prepare for the inevitable. Dick got some time off work for a family emergency as Lia put her commissions on hold for a while, and before long the small family of three is resettled into Wayne Manor.

They get to watch as Bruce tries his best to deal with a dangerous four year old, Jason on the sidelines with popcorn that he gleefully shares with them as they join in. Damian insisting that the stray cat he has found is now a member of the family no matter how much Bruce tries to say no. Bruce eventually caving, tuning out the snickers of the ones on the sidelines as Damian declares the cat to be named Alfred Pennyworth, or Alfred the cat. The look of mild shock on the butler's face at the scowling child's declaration is priceless.

Lia would bet just about anything that Damian is going to have the same adoption problem as her and Bruce, though it seems like it would be focused on animals instead of on troubled children with dark hair and jewel colored eyes. The others seem to agree with her, if their jokes about him being a miniature, murderous magical version of Bruce is any indication. Jason would likely have the betting pool open by the end of the week.

As amusing as watching Bruce flounder in the face of a small stubborn child is, they did have other things to worry about, as Alfred is quick to remind them as he ushers them all down into the cave. They all gather around the table as they thought about what they would do when Talia shows up, Damian refusing to leave as he climbs up onto Lia's lap and stays there. They share a glance before collectively shrugging. It's not like Damian wouldn't find out about the situation eventually anyway.

Kaa having become the boy's enabler within hours of settling into the manner to the quiet delight of Lia and horror of the rest of the manor's inhabitants.

Jason starts them off. "So what's the plan B-man?"

Bruce appears to be deep in thought, so Dick pipes up in hopes of actually getting a response. "We can't let Talia take him back, obviously, but what are we going to do to send her packing?" he asks.

"I don't know" the bat looks mildly pained as he admits this, a slight grimace on his face as he looks over his gathered family.

"What do you mean you don't know? Don't you have a ridiculous amount of contingency plans?" Jason demands as Lia bounces Damian on her knee to get him to relax, feeling him tense up at Bruce's words.

"Without knowing all the resources at their disposal, there's no way for me to be certain of the correct course of action. We don't know the extent she's willing to go to retrieve Damian. Especially if she brings Ra's with her" Bruce points out as Lia mentally sighs and would cut in.

"Well it's a good thing you know me then!" Lia announces with a wide smile. All eyes turn to her in various states of confusion. "They pose little threat now that their precious Lazarus Pits have been destroyed, and at this point Tom and I would just love to meet someone who benefitted from them. The Pits are a result of our oldest family magics, after all. There's little chance of those two getting past me. Even with all their knowledge of magic they can't beat Tiamat at full size" she says chirpily, her green eyes promising death for Ra's and Talia.

"And you didn't mention this before because...?" Bruce asks slowly.

"I like watching people flounder" Lia says it like it's obvious, which it probably should've been considering how she introduced Damian to the family.

"Lia..." Dick facepalms, looking at Lia in exasperation.

"What? It's not like I've ever claimed not to" she points out as she looks over at him, holding her hands up defensively.

Dick just sighs, used to such things after having spent so much time with her. "I should've expected that."

"Yes, you really should have. But seriously. Everything will be fine, and if they try to go over our heads and somehow manage to snag the kid I'll let Tia and Fawkes loose. You better be okay with curses though. Tom's been itching to curse someone for quite a while over the Pits, and I'm not about to spoil his fun so...yeah. They are almost definitely going to be on the receiving end of at least one curse" Lia admits as Bruce gave her a look, obviously disapproving. Lia isn't having it.

"Don't look at me like that. Just because Tom is my family doesn't mean I control him. Consider yourself lucky we aren't going to just outright kill them. Tom is absolutely thinking about it, and I will allow it since they're a threat. If you complain about the curses then Tom will move on to murder, and that'll be on you. It's not exactly easy keeping a reformed dark lord contained" Lia hisses out, her frustration clear.

"They won't die from it?" Bruce asks. Him and his no kill rule. What a killjoy.

"Most likely not" Lia says evenly.

"..."

"That's the best I can do. Don't push your luck" Lia growls as she continues to stare him down to make sure he wouldn't keep trying to argue, only looking away when he finally relents. "Well now that that's all settled, I have a video to post. Who wants to help me out?" Tim and Jason's hands immediately shot into the air, along with Damian's. Lia smiles at the three of them before scooping Damian into her arms and standing up, motioning for the other two to follow. Dick would likely join them later on, but for now it would just be Lia, the kids and Alfred. To supervise and make sure that nothing is broken in the ballroom where Lia set up to record her promised livestream to reveal herself as Loki.

Or so she thought when Alfred opens the door to reveal Tom has come ahead of schedule to Lia's delight, freaking both Jason and Tim out as she, Tom and Damian hissed at each other in greeting. The older man's delight at Damian's ability obvious.

"Which song did you pick Lia?" Jason asks as Lia hands Damian over to Tom with little fuss. Kaa and Nagini more than willing to entertain the toddler with Tom. Tiamat sunning herself on the other side of the room.

"It's a surprise" Lia grins as she steps behind the screen to change into her latest pieces. A black cinched front long sleeve mini dress with basilisk skin leggings and black slippers. Pulling her hair back into a braided updo she'd seen online to reveal dangling mini basilisk fang earrings as she steps out from behind the screen.

Dick joining them just as she turns the music the on, Tim turning phone on as Lia tugs Dick into camera view to dance with her.

"Fog in the mirror, a ghost of yourself

You lost your voice when you asked for help

You wanna run with nowhere to go

Guess I should do better at letting you know

Don't waste time on your demons

Find that space you can breathe in

Not too long till it's over

Rest your head on my shoulder

When we're broken and blinded

We all need someone to guide us home

You don't see what I see

Beautiful in front of me

You can hide in the dark, but the light you keep

You don't see what I see

I see you; I see you

I see you; I see you

Too busy thinking 'bout everyone else

You're just a stranger inside of yourself

All of the silence weighing you down

I'll be the voice; I'll scream and I'll shout out

Don't waste time on your demons

Find that space you can breathe in

Not too long till it's over

Rest your head on my shoulder

When we're broken and blinded

We all need someone to guide us home

You don't see what I see

Beautiful in front of me

You can hide in the dark, but the light you keep

You don't see what I see

I see you; I see you

I see you; I see you

I see you; I see you

I see you; I see you

You don't see what I see

Beautiful in front of me

You can hide in the dark, but the light you keep

You don't see what I see

I see you; I see you

I see you; I see you

I see you; I see you

I see you; I see you"

Lia sang softly as she and Dick sway softly to the music, Dick joining her once he realizes which song she's picked. Both oblivious to the dinging of her phone as the song finishes. Oblivious to the picture they paint to Lia's fans, absorbed in their little bubble until Damian broke it and demands his turn as 'Ray of Light' plays next on the small mixed playlist Lia has on her phone.

The livestream helping everyone take their minds off the impending assassin invasion, though they're still a bit worried. Lia, Tom, and Tim having yet to have actually met the infamous assassins, and they can't say they're looking forward to it. Watching them get destroyed by an angry basilisk is bound to be entertaining though, so that would hopefully make up for their unpleasant presence. Lia herself doesn't plan on being overly involved magic-wise, but if things start to go south or they show an interest in any of her boys, all bets are off.

While Magnolia is widely considered to be one of the nicest people you could ever meet, she isn't known to be very merciful. She also didn't tend to be very forgiving, which her old classmates had learned very clearly when she finally got sick of them.

The days leading up to Bruce's meeting with Talia would pass by at a crawl, everyone tense from the ever-increasing presence of trained assassins in the city. Damian knew what was happening by that point and isn't very happy about it. Making himself very clear in his preference of remaining with them, Lia in her joy getting him a dog which he promptly names Titus.

They warned the members of the JL that they would be taking care of some things, and a few of them were on standby just in case. After careful planning and tracking on Lia's part they also had the location of the various League bases around the city, which would prove beneficial in the long run. They also double down on security at Arkham for the time being. They didn't want to take any chances.

When the day of the meeting finally came, Bruce goes alone. Babs monitoring the encounter over comms, the others scattered about the city as they play like they are going on their normal patrol routes. Everything going smoothly until a group of assassins pop out of nowhere while Lia is running across the rooftops with Dick. There's no warning before they attack, and while it's a rather large group of assassins, all of which seem to be focused on Lia for some reason, they don't stand a chance. Between the two of them they take out all of the assassins, reporting the incident before swiftly returning to the Batcave, where they wait for Bruce's return where Tom and Alfred are waiting.

They don't have long to wait before the Batmobile speeds into the cave, Bruce swiftly exiting as he made his way towards them.

Talia had attempted to seduce him, apparently. Bruce not happy about that, which is when Talia tried to resort to blackmail by claiming she'd captured one of his partners. The problem with that being she claimed to have obtained Phoenix, who is safe and sound after beating up the assassins with Nightwing. Which explains the sudden attack. They likely targeted her because she's been noted to be close to all members of the Batfam, and visibly the newest member. Having no idea she's been a vigilante for almost as long as Dick is where their plan fell apart. Talia upset when she got the report that the attack failed finally prompted her to tell Bruce what she wants.

According to Babs, he showed no sign of shock and Talia couldn't provide proof of Damian's existence. Without any evidence, it's easy for Bruce to shut her down, telling her flat out that he didn't believe her. He left shortly after that, leaving an angry Talia behind. She would obviously try something else since her initial plans didn't work, but for the time being she has no reason to be suspicious.

At least, that's what they thought before learning that Ra's is in town a few days later. They even have the audacity to try and kidnap Tim while he's out on patrol with Lia. Anybody with eyes could tell Magnolia is absolutely pissed, and the batboys actually feel a little bad for the al Ghuls. Now that they've gone after her ward, there is no way Lia would attempt to reign in her cousin when the time came. More likely to join him if the impressed look on Damian's face at her angry hissing is anything to go by.

The League would need all the luck it could get if they wanted to escape Gotham minimally injured now that they'd gone and pissed of Magnolia. Unfortunately for them she has several ways on hand to make them suffer and a eager partner in Tom.

It doesn't take long for the assassins to get sick of the bats constantly outmaneuvering them. There had been multiple kidnapping attempts, mainly focused on Lia, though the boys had been targeted a few times as well. Nobody is happy about it, and the tension between both sides slowly escalates. Everyone knows that things are bound to come to a head sooner or later, it is just a matter of who would strike first and where. The bats perfectly content to wait for Talia to get fed up and come to them, so it is up to the assassins to make a move before Lia gets tired of waiting and kicks them all out of the city.

Talia would finally make her move during the day around two weeks after first arriving in Gotham, barging in with Ra's and their goons as they interrupt a family dinner. Dinner having been going pretty well for once, so none of the bats appreciate the intrusion. For highly trained assassins, they didn't seem to be very observant where the Wayne family is involved, as none of them notice Damian's presence even though he's clearly visible from the point they broke in.

Ra's sauntering into the room casually, acting as if he owns the place. His gaze locking on Bruce, who is situated at the head of the table glaring at the intruders. "Ah, Mr. Wayne. What a pleasure to see you again, and with new additions to the family as well."

"Ra's" Bruce says blankly.

Talia stepping closer to Bruce, obviously confident that he'd bend to her will now that they've caught him and his family (supposedly) unaware. "Now, now, beloved. Just help me find our son and we'll be out of your hair" she purrs.

"Tt." The sudden unexpected noise, however small, drew the attention of the entire room. Talia and Ra's seem especially surprised to find Damian sitting calmly at the table between Magnolia and Dick, all three sending harsh glares their way. If Magnolia hadn't been subtly restraining him, Damian likely would've attacked them all with his silverware.

Talia turns her gaze on Bruce, eyes narrowing. "So you lied to me. I'm impressed, beloved. Especially considering there was no way for you to find out about him in the first place, much less snatch him out from beneath our noses" she notes.

"I had no idea he existed, I'm not the one who brought him here" Bruce admits.

This catches the attention of Ra's, who refocuses his attention on the Wayne family patriarch. "Then who, pray tell, managed to infiltrate our base and steal away with the most closely guarded child in the compound?" he demands.

All the bats turn their eyes to Magnolia, who lifts a hand in a small, unenthusiastic wave. "That would be me. You should really improve your security. It took me less than an hour to get in and out without being spotted while you were trying to kill my companion" she says blankly.

"Ah, the newest addition to the clan. You must be the infamous Phoenix" Ra's says as he makes a hand gesture and suddenly no less than three swords are pointed at a calm and collected Magnolia's throat. She doesn't so much as flinch, casually moving the point of a blade away from her while she glares up at the assassins that dare threaten her.

"If you want to survive your trip to Gotham, you better get those out of my face" Lia says sweetly, the assassins sharing a glance and seem to shrug off her warning, moving the swords closer to her. They aren't expecting it when all of their blades suddenly dissolve into ash one by one. All weapons the intruders took out are systematically turned to dust, though only Lia and the bats have any idea why. Those surrounding Magnolia back away, now believing that the threat is not idle. "Can't say I didn't warn you" Lia casually examines her fingernails as she leans back in her chair, as Tiamat slithers out from beneath Lia's chair. Making her way up into the witch's lap where she's visible to all. The assassins in the room recognizing her on sight as the basilisk that had attacked their compound months ago.

"Well you weren't wrong about what you found dearest. Our guests have benefitted from our family magics" Tom hisses out pleasantly. All of the assassins whip their heads around in search of the hissing, though they are unable to find it.

"Need I remind you my luck is weird when it comes to these things" Lia points out as Tom reveals himself, pulling off the invisibility cloak, standing behind Magnolia with a pleasant smile on his face as he examines the assassins with distaste. Crooning praise to Tiamat in Parseltongue as she lunges at the nearest assassin.

Ra's pales upon recognizing the language and whose before them, looking back and forth between the basilisk, Tom and Magnolia, who is now nonchalantly showing Damian something on her phone, Dick helping her explain it as they staunchly continue to ignore everything around them. "My apologies Lord Slytherin. I had no idea you resided in Gotham or I would have taken care to alert you of our presence. Why Gotham if I might ask?" he asks as Tom's eyes gleam with barely restrained violence.

"Magnolia is my only living relative. You imbeciles clearly didn't do your research on her before barging in like you own this property" Tom says pleasantly.

"Now, would you care to explain your selfish take over, usage and guarding of the Lazarus Pits when it was clearly explained to you by our ancestors that they were dangerous to anyone without magic?" Tom demands, beyond livid, which would prove bad for the assassins. Lia really didn't want to be caught in the crossfire so she signals the rest of the family to gather around her, and when they did, she transports all of them out of the room and into the cave, making sure to remind Tiamat and Tom that they aren't allowed to kill them unless they cross the line.

It doesn't take long for everyone to hear screams, though they did their best to ignore it. Lia isn't fazed in the slightest, so they try to follow her lead and act like nothing is wrong. They didn't dare leave the Batcave until Kaa came down and reports that everyone involved has been sufficiently punished and the al Ghuls cursed. All that is left is for Magnolia to give them one last threat, and then dump them all into in their compound with a shadow. If it took a while for the shadows to actually spit them out, the bats would never know.

Magnolia would be surprised if they dared to set foot in Gotham again. Then again, they are rather stubbornly persistent, so it's unlikely for them to keep away for too long. They would probably try to plan around her, make sure she isn't in the city when they want to interfere, not that it would matter. With easy access to any shadow she could be in Gotham in less than five minutes, no matter where in the world she is. Actually, she could probably return no matter where in the universe she is. She hasn't tested it herself yet, but it was likely possible with a little extra magic and planning.

With the assassins successfully driven away for the time being, life slowly goes back to normal. She wouldn't be surprised if they end up coming back eventually, what with their bat obsession and all. They won't be able to get far with Lia as part of the family, so she isn't worried. She is more focused on bonding with her family and teaching Tim everything he wants to know that's actually safe for him to learn. Damian is eager to learn as well and with their connection through the family magics she would likely end up training him as well someday.

With all the excitement that kept happening in Gotham while they are away, Lia and Dick decided it would be best for them to just link their home to the manor for ease of travel. While useful for emergency situations, it's also a hindrance. Damian and Jason just loved to walk through the door whenever they wanted, often sending Bruce into a mild panic when he realizes they are temporarily missing. Lia almost wishes he'd get some more kids to eat up his time, but figures it is for the best he hasn't picked any up yet. The new ones would probably spend most of their time in her and Dick's apartment anyway. She is starting to think she should be paid for constantly babysitting.

Of course, her thinking about it seems to jinx it. Bruce, serial adopter that he is, has a soft spot for children. After learning of Damian's existence it has gotten even worse, and a while after running the League out of town Lia began having a feeling that the family is going to get a new addition in the near future. There is always a small chance that it would be her and Dick that picks up a new kid, or Babs even, but the most likely culprit is definitely Bruce. She just hopes the new kid wouldn't be as murderous as Damian, though she doubts there is anyone nearly as murderous as her little cousin.

She resolves to ignore the bat drama that is sure to crop up soon. Her and Dick have an anniversary coming up, and after spending so much time with the family they want to get away and have some alone time for once. Even if they only got to go on a date or two before inevitably being recalled to the manor. There is also the ongoing bet of who could surprise Lia the most, which they are really thinking about cashing in on soon. A few of the bets involve no questions asked favors, which would be extremely useful. You never know when you need an alibi or partner-in-crime, after all.

Yeah, Lia is totally going to drag Dick into helping Alfred win that bet. They wouldn't even be able to accuse her of rigging it because they didn't know that she knew, which would make it even better. It would have to wait until after their hard-earned vacation, however. If they have to deal with all the bats again without getting a sufficient amount of alone time, she can almost guarantee Dick would stage a kidnapping and arrange for them to be off-grid so they can get some.

The man could be pretty irritable when he isn't able to get his fill of attention from Magnolia, though she's the same way.

If anyone asks, they'd blame it on the separation issues.

Surprisingly, her little vacation with Dick goes by with minimal interruptions. Of course, when they return and visit everyone in Wayne Manor they discover it was because Bruce had somehow managed to acquire a brand new child, though the child is a girl this time. Damian seems to take offense to the addition of a new family member so soon after he's been brought into the family, but since the new child, Cass, has been receiving similar training to him, she is able to fend off his assassination attempts. At this rate Bruce is going to end up with an inordinate amount of children. Alfred seems to enjoy it though, and he is their main caretaker, so she supposes they can hold off on throwing an intervention.

They have other things to deal with. Like making sure Alfred won the bet, for instance. She doesn't know what exactly they are planning, but they are definitely planning. Dick could come up with plans that are almost as convoluted and unorthodox as she could, so there is no way for her to predict what they would do to surprise her. Or when, for that matter.

Which is how she finds herself completely, genuinely surprised when Dick finally went through with his plan. He gave no warning, no indication that the night is going to be anything other than normal, for which she has to give him props. He normally can't hide things from her to save his life. They'd been in the Watchtower with the rest of the bats and a few league members, having a meeting to discuss some logistics. They're all in costume, and the meeting is incredibly boring. She barely registered when it ended, only really coming back into focus when she notices they are on one of the observation decks. Dick suddenly drops down on one knee, and Lia can't conceal her surprise.

"Lia, I know we haven't officially been together for too long, but you're it for me. Being separated from you for so long was one of the most difficult things I've ever had to endure." Dick begins to say, pulling a small jewelry box out of his pocket and opens it to reveal a beautiful onyx engagement ring inside. "Will you marry me?" he asks.

She throws her arms around his neck with a small sob, nodding enthusiastically in agreement. "Of course! Is it even a question?" she gets out around the lump in her throat.

He thinks about it for a second before shrugging. "Not really, but I figured this would be a nice surprise, what with everything going on" he points out as Lia just laughs and bops him on the nose before dragging him into a kiss. Once they are both sufficiently breathless they hurry to meet up with the rest of the bats to head back to the cave, though they hold off announcing their new relationship status until they are all safely back in the cave. Multiple bets end up being won and cashed in that night, Alfred winning all of them. Lia doesn't know why they even bother to attempt to bet against Alfred when he always wins. He is too omniscient to lose unless he decides he wants to lose on purpose for one reason or another. Betting against Magnolia is much the same, due to her crazy Potter luck.

Nobody is surprised that the two of them would be getting married.

Maybe a little surprised it's happening so soon after they became official, but not surprised that it's happening.

It does mean that they have an event to plan for, which they aren't looking forward to. Magnolia would be designing all of their outfits, of course. The wedding would be private, which is par for the course where the Waynes are concerned. The only people that would be allowed to the wedding would be close friends and family members, all members of the press would be strictly prohibited from entering.

Between wedding planning, working on her wedding dress, working on the outfits the Waynes would be wearing to the wedding, and being active vigilantes, time went by pretty quickly. They had little time to themselves in the months and days leading up to the actual event, but it would be worth it. Especially once the wedding is over and they're permitted to leave for their honeymoon, where they wouldn't dare be disturbed unless it's a life or death situation. If they are interrupted for anything less than that there is a very high possibility that Dick or Lia would end up maiming whoever is unfortunate enough to interrupt them.

If they got disturbed enough times it was very likely Dick would drag the both of them to some location off-grid, and if he did there would be no guarantees that the honeymoon would end on time. Seeing as Lia is considered to be a big part of the glue that holds the family together, the threat of an extended honeymoon isn't something the bats are willing to risk. There's already a pretty high chance that Bruce would pick up a new family member while they are away, and if he kept at it Jason might just end up killing him for it. Damian would help, Lia is sure.

There is no time to dwell on such things, however, as the wedding is fast approaching and before they knew it, it's upon them. They got through the ceremony and the reception without a hitch, though many are moved to tears by their vows and Dick had just about burst out crying when Lia walked down the aisle with Tom. The remaining bats are all either bridesmaids or groomsmen, with the exception of Tim, who managed to win the position of man of honor. Lia didn't expect them to battle it out for the right to be her person of honor, but it happened. None of them bothered to fight for a spot as Dick's best man though, which amused her endlessly. Dick ended up asking his best friend Wally to be his best man, though he did have Jason and Damian act as groomsmen.

As soon as they could get away with it they were off on their honeymoon trip, and Dick's threat worked to keep them from being interrupted. They had a lovely time, and while they almost wished it could be longer they knew that if they didn't return they would be hunted down.

At least Bruce hadn't actually found any new children while they were away, though Damian acquired a new dog. Bruce had gotten into some drama with Selina, but that was very much the standard for them so it isn't anything for Dick of Lia to worry about. They're glad to find that there had been minimal fighting while they were gone, which is nice, and everyone is excited to see them when they get back, especially Tim whose been staying in the manor while they were gone.

They had an amazing time, though they're excited to jump back into the swing of things and help out where they are needed. As they gather in the cave for their first official patrol as a married couple, they look around at their family. It's a large family, but everyone there had chosen to be there. Their family is a bit unorthodox, but they all fit together and make it work. It's likely to expand in the future, what with Bruce's adoption habits and Lia and Dick's newlywed status, but Lia is looking forward to it.

As long as she is with Dick, she knew that everything would turn out for the better. There's no place she'd rather be than at his side for the rest of their days.