When the feast ended Bruce and the other first year students followed Elaine and the other prefects out of the Great Hall and to their respective dormitories. Older students had already filed out on their own, either back to their rooms or to other destinations. The four groups of first years separated quickly, with the Gryffindors heading up one staircase, the Slytherins down another, the Hufflepuffs along a corridor further on, and the Ravenclaws taking a path the led them up a another staircase yet. Their prefects led them up one of the castle's many towers. At the top of the spiral stairs they came to a large door that had no latch but an eagle shaped knocker in the center. Elaine stopped at this door and turned back to the waiting first years.

"This is the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room," she gestured to the knocker. "In order to enter you need to answer the knocker's riddle. Get the answer wrong and you'll need to wait for the next student to come along and let you in." She demonstrated by taking the large bronze ring in the eagle's claws and knocking once on the thick, wooden door.

As soon as bronze connected with wood the eagle turned its head towards Elaine and opened its beak, "You cannot hold me, but you can find me in your pocket. I have no weight, but put me in a barrel and it becomes lighter. What am I?" Without missing a beat Elaine replied, "A hole." This was clearly the correct answer, because the door swung open.

Behind the door was a large, airy room with massive windows looking out over the dark grounds and bookshelves all around. Bruce couldn't be sure but, from the shadows outside, they looked to be one of the tallest towers in the castle proper. A large fireplace stood on one wall with an array of comfortable looking armchairs near it, and a number of tables and chairs ringed the outer edges of the room. On one wall stood a stone statue of a tall, thin woman wearing a tiara and holding a book in one arm. She wore elaborate robes and her hair hung loose down to her waist. Her stone features resembled Helena's ghostly face and this was presumably her mother, Rowena Ravenclaw.

A few older students were still up chatting in the common room but they ignored the cluster of first years filing in after the prefects. Elaine gestured again, this time at two of the doors ringing the common room, "Boys' dorms are on your left, girls' on your right. You bunk with your year, there's a sign saying which door is for first years."

Indeed such a sign was hanging on the third door down the staircase on the left, which Bruce entered along with the other first year Ravenclaw boys. They found all of their things beside the five beds in their dormitory, including Robin's cage. Robin himself was sleeping comfortably and, after a few moments to change into his pajamas, Bruce was as well.

The next morning Bruce changed into his robes and followed his fellow Ravenclaws downstairs to the Great Hall for breakfast. Robin had already flown off before Bruce woke, but arrived at the Ravenclaw table in the middle of breakfast to help himself to some sausage. During breakfast a very short professor with odd, pointed ears made his way around the table handing out schedules to all Ravenclaw students. He introduced himself to each of the new students as Professor Flitwick, head of Ravenclaw House. Bruce thanked Professor Flitwick and checked his own schedule. Assuming he read it correctly, class periods were shared between two Houses and were one hour long. Some days had doubled classes for two hour long periods.

His first class at Hogwarts was immediately after breakfast, History of Magic, and the very first challenge turned out to be just trying to find the classroom. Bruce ended up arriving first with Julian Desmond, after the two got directions from Barbara, the auburn haired Gryffindor girl that Elaine had pointed out the previous night. She seemed impatient with them for bothering her, but did tell them how to find the right classroom.

History of Magic turned out to be taught by a ghost, which was also the most interesting thing about it. Professor Binns didn't bother introducing the course or topic and immediately began to read aloud from a thick set of notes that was kept in his classroom. The chalkboard behind him was completely clean and looked to have never been touched, save for when Binns floated through it at the start of class. Most of the class filtered in late, completely unnoticed by the ghost professor. Bruce initially tried to dutifully copy Professor Binns' notes but was lulled into a daze by the hypnotic drone. An hour later Binns set his notes back down on the lectern and floated back through the chalkboard without a word and those students who were still awake shook themselves from their stupor, woke up their classmates, and left.

During lunch Bruce decided to ask some of the older students about the ghost professor and got a surprisingly dull story. Professor Binns had taught History of Magic for as long as anyone could remember when one day, many years ago, he had gotten up to teach his next class and forgot to bring his body along. Rumor held that he'd been just as dull when he was alive as he was now. New students always hoped the ghost taught history because he'd lived it, but if so he didn't have any stories to tell.

Professor Flitwick taught Charms class that afternoon, and Bruce left lunch early so that he would have time to find the room. The tiny professor had to sit on a pile of books to see over his desk and used his wand to direct a piece of chalk along the board as he spoke. After introducing himself and the subject and conducting roll call, Flitwick led them through a series of carefully practiced arm and wrist movements and enunciation exercises to practice getting the correct form for the Charms they would be working on that week. He insisted that getting the motions and pronunciation correct would be vital to learning proper spellwork in all their classes, and assigned a reading from their textbook on the subject that they would be quizzed on next class. Some students groaned at the homework, but Bruce had already read that chapter of the book at home.

Their last class that day was a double period of Potions with the Hufflepuff students. Potions was held down in the dungeons of the castle, and it took the Ravenclaws longer than it should have to find their way. When they finally arrived the Hufflepuffs were already waiting with Professor Desmond, who had begun his lecture without them. Professor Desmond, despite his red hair, looked enough like the blond Julian Desmond to convince Bruce they must be related. He also didn't look pleased at the Ravenclaws' tardiness. He pointed right at Julian, "Why are you all late for my class?"

"Sorry, sir," Julian sighed, "We just came from Charms class and had trouble finding our way here."

While the Hufflepuff students seemed sympathetic to this, the professor was not. "So I suppose I should just delay starting my lecture until you can all be bothered to find your way? Two points each from Ravenclaw for tardiness, and an extra two for your weak excuse. Now sit down, quickly." The next two hours followed in much the same manner. Professor Desmond lectured on the properties of various magical substances and how different brewing techniques could reduce or enhance their effects. Every question the professor asked he targeted at Julian, berating him for wrong answers and ignoring correct ones while the blond boy responded in the same even, resigned tone without flinching or responding to the professor's insults. Finally the long period ended and Julian picked up his things and left the classroom without a word or backward glance.

Bruce tried to talk to the other boy during dinner, but Julian simply ignored him. He gave Louisa Ferret, one of the other first years, the same treatment when she tried to engage him. As Bruce was hardly an expert on cheering people up he decided to drop it and leave the other boy alone. Eventually Louisa also gave up and turned back to her conversation with one of the second years. Clearly Julian didn't want to talk about his relationship with Professor Desmond and why it was so strained. Still, Bruce couldn't help but wonder about it that night before he fell asleep. Having no family left, except Alfred, he couldn't imagine not wanting them close.

After breakfast the next morning Bruce enjoyed a double Herbology lesson with the Gryffindor students. Herbology was held in the greenhouses and was mostly spent tending to the various plants in small groups, so Bruce got to spend the two hours working with George and Miles. When the double period ended Professor Sprout gave out their reading assignments and sent the students out across the grounds to the castle.

That afternoon Bruce was surprised to find Professor McGonagall teaching his Transfiguration class. He'd assumed that, as headmistress, she wasn't teaching classes herself. Professor McGonagall began her lesson with a strict warning about the dangers of using Transfiguration magic without caution and warned them all that she wouldn't tolerate any degree of carelessness or clowning around. The rest of their lesson was spent taking careful notes about proper safety when using or making Transfigured objects, followed by a homework assignment to be completed by the next class.

Their final class that day was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Bruce had most been looking forward to this class, as had many other students. The assigned textbook detailed various forms of offensive and defensive magic as well as means of dealing with dangerous creatures. He'd asked at lunch about the class, but as it was only the second day of term none of the older Ravenclaws had encountered Professor Nygma yet.

Everyone managed to find their way to the correct room before class began and took their seats to find that Professor Nygma wasn't yet there. He strode in just as the class was set to officially begin. He wore a long, emerald green coat with a matching bowler hat, both of which he removed and placed on a hat rack near the door. He looked at the class through purple-tinted glasses, surveying each face in turn before finally saying, "Hello class. As you've doubtless heard by now, my name is Professor Nygma."

His familiar, American accent immediately caught Bruce's attention. Professor Nygma's next statement confirmed his place of origin, "According to my class chart I'm not the only Gothamite here. Am I, Bruce?" Nygma looked right at him, "Don't be shy, Brucey, stand up!" Reluctantly he followed the professor's instruction. Nygma looked around at the rest of the class, "I don't know what the Prince of Gotham is doing away from home, but I'm at Hogwarts to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts." He smiled and sat down at the edge of his desk, "Riddle for you, Bruce:

"The letter most often paired with your Q's
The answer most given when you refuse
The sound that is heard from owl's verse
Put them together, and who laid the curse?"

Bruce considered the riddle. Each line of Nygma's poem must have a different answer to be assembled to get the correct answer to the question in the final line. For the first, it was either P or U, or maybe R. For the second, it had to be "no" that one says when refusing a request. The third was obviously "hoot" except that "P-No-Hoot" didn't make any sense. After a moment Bruce remembered George's reaction on the train when Talia was explaining the Wizarding War. It wasn't "hoot" it was "hoo" and so the answer was "U-No-Hoo" or rather "Lord Voldemort." The class gasped when he said the answer aloud.

Nygma clapped, "Right you are, Bruce! You can sit down." Bruce gratefully retook his seat and Professor Nygma went on, "You see, students, many years ago a certain infamous Dark Wizard came to Hogwarts asking to teach this class. He was refused, of course, but ever since no instructor has ever managed to teach it for two consecutive years." Professor Nygma continued as he rolled up the sleeves of his black dress shirt, "For decades everyone who planned to stay for a second year has found some, usually unfortunate, reason not to." He stood up, "Of course, the curse should have died when the man who cast it did, but no one wants to test the theory. Instead the position has remained an open rotation for those who are planning to teach some other course later or only looking for a year's experience at Hogwarts." Nygma swept an elaborate bow, "I am one of the latter. One year here and then I'm back off to Gotham City."

Julian Desmond was the next to be singled out to answer one of Professor Nygma's riddles, "When can your drink knock out your teeth?" To which the correct answer was, as Julian responded after a moment's thought, "When it's a punch."

"Precisely! Today we're working on the Knockback Jinx, which will feel like a strong punch to the chest of your intended target." Professor Nygma had them read the relevant sections out of their textbook and demonstrated the proper form and pronunciation in diagrams on the board. According to the textbook and Nygma's diagrams, the correct form for the Knockback Jinx was a strong forward thrust with the wand while saying "flipendo" with the emphasis on the second syllable. Finally he paired them off and told them to practice the jinx on each other.

Bruce was paired with Louisa Ferret, the same dark haired girl who had tried to comfort Julian after their Potions class the day before. As they were sorting out who would practice the jinx first she asked him in an undertone, "How do you think Julian and Professor Desmond are related?"

He followed her gaze over to where Julian was squaring off with Tommy Smythe. It was something he had also wondered about. It was obvious they were related somehow, but how wasn't easy to say. Professor Desmond could have been Julian's father or uncle, or possibly even a more distant relative, and still share the same family resemblance. Julian seemed accustomed to the professor's abuse, so they probably had regular contact, suggesting a close relative. The boy's sullen response when asked about it also had Bruce thinking that they were close relatives, he'd tell them if it was just a mean uncle, right? "I think Professor Desmond is Julian's father," he answered.

"Bruce," Professor Nygma looked up from the paper on his desk, "It doesn't look like you're being punched in the chest." They hastily ended their conversation and squared off. Bruce tried to hold his ground but was unexpectedly knocked down and had to fall, tucking his chin and slapping the ground as Alfred had shown him. Bruce and Louisa took turns trying the spell against each other, and on his second try Bruce was able to remain standing but was still forced to take several steps back.

All around them other students were experiencing the same thing, some had to step back while others were clumsily knocked over and picked themselves up. For the rest of the period they continued to practice the Knockback Jinx on each other while Professor Nygma looked over something at his desk and occasionally picked his head up to correct or chastise some student. When it was over the class filed out, those whose partners had mastered the spell faster rubbing bruises.

That night after dinner the Ravenclaw first years had Astronomy class, held in the only structure in Hogwarts that was taller than Ravenclaw Tower. The Astronomy Tower was the flat topped one set apart from the rest of the school they had sailed under that first night. When class was over they took the incomplete star charts they were to have filled out by their next class and trudged sleepily back to their dormitory.

By the next morning Bruce had hoped Nygma's offhand comment had been forgotten. He was sadly disappointed when, at breakfast, Louisa asked him, "What did the professor mean when he called you 'Prince of Gotham' yesterday? I was so worried about Julian, I forgot to ask."

He barely withheld a sigh. There was no way to explain without also explaining why he was now in Britain, something that was going to come up sooner or later because of his accent anyway. Bruce didn't want to talk about it but perhaps it was just as impossible to avoid here as at his previous schools. On the other hand, George and Miles had understood that he didn't want to discuss things, perhaps Louisa would too. "The Waynes are one of Gotham City's oldest and most powerful families. He called me that because I'm the last heir of the Wayne family."

By this point several other students near them were listening in, but instead of questioning the "last heir" part Louisa instead asked why Bruce was in Britain. He gave her, and the others near them, the same explanation he'd given George and Miles on the train. She seemed to accept it and dropped the thread.

With the exception of that awkward but unavoidable conversation, Bruce's first week continued in the same way. When their first break came on Saturday, Bruce wrote a short note and sent it back home to Alfred with Robin:

"Dear Alfred,

My first week has gone well. I promise that I am keeping out of trouble. I've had to explain about my parents a few times, but so far everyone has been very respectful. I've made a few new friends, too. You would be very proud of me.

My classes are going well. You wouldn't believe it, but History class is taught by an actual ghost! I asked another ghost, but she couldn't tell me anything about my parents. She was very sorry about it.

Another teacher is from Gotham City. His name is Professor Nygma, he asks a lot of riddles and he seems to know a lot about everything.

Professor McGonagall also teaches one of my classes. Do you think maybe she works too hard?

I still miss you.

Love,
- Bruce."