Content warnings can be found at the end of this chapter.
"I don't like this," Mad-Eye grumbled as they all stood cramped in an alleyway a couple blocks south of Grimmauld Place. "You sure anyone'll actually show up?"
Tim shrugged. "It's worth a shot, isn't it?"
Ten minutes later, Mad-Eye slammed his staff onto the ground. "That's it, we're heading out!"
"Would you care to add two more to your number?" a deep voice boomed, and Tim instinctively looked up and saw Diana and Cassie descending from the sky down towards the opening to the alleyway. Diana immediately zeroed in on Dumbledore and landed right in front of him, holding out a hand.
"Diana of Themyscira, at your service," she greeted, taking Dumbledore's comparatively tiny hand in hers and shaking sternly. It was then that Tim realized that Dumbledore was using his left hand to shake, his right visibly damaged, like it was some kind of shriveled-up fig. Tim resolved to ask the man about it later, as it was odd for the injury to have not immediately been healed like any other wizarding injury.
"You have got to be kidding me," said Mad-Eye, staring at Diana like she was some kind of goddess, which wasn't too far off. Cassie brushed by everyone and practically tackled Tim to the ground.
"Robin!" she grinned, ruffling his hair (she and Kon must have decided on that gesture together). "Oh my goddess, it's been so long! I'm so excited to finally get to fight with you again!"
"It's good to see you, too," Tim told her, resisting the urge to ruffle her hair right back, seeing as it wasn't much longer than his anyways. "Keeping Kon and Bart company?"
She nodded, giving him a thumbs-up. "We're still waiting for the real leader to come back, though."
Tim felt the heat rise up to his face. "I thought we agreed on a co-leadership…"
"Oh, no way, I'm not nearly responsible enough to have that kind of power. I'm barely responsible enough for the Lariat of Lightning."
Mad-Eye gave one look at Cassie and snorted. "Did she just call you 'Robin?'"
Tim nodded. "It's my codename. Red Robin."
"Well, I'm definitely not callin' you that," Mad-Eye scoffed.
"No codenames, then?" Cassie confirmed. At Tim's nod, she turned to everyone and waved. "Well, then, hi! I'm Cassie."
"You any good in a fight, Cassie?" Mad-Eye asked skeptically.
Cassie immediately took a step forward and growled, "Why don't you come over here and find out?"
The smallest of smirks appeared on Mad-Eye's face. "I think I got my answer."
"Shit!" Tonks crouched down and readied her wand. "Wands out, people, Death Eater at twelve o'clock!" At the front of the alley, a dark portal had appeared, and a hooded figure had just stepped out.
Diana and Cassie both had their lassos in-hand, and Tim had just slipped a Batarang into his hand, but then he relaxed upon seeing the familiar form.
"False alarm," Tim told everyone, tucking his Batarang away. "That's a friend."
"You're friends with a Death Eater?" Tonks asked suspiciously. In response, the person lowered their hood, revealing a young woman with dark blue-black hair and a tiny red gem embedded in her forehead.
"Not a Death Eater," Tim explained. "She just wears a cloak."
"And uses dark magic," Cassie added.
"And uses dark magic," he repeated, nodding.
Rachel walked up to Tim, ignoring the rest of the crowd. "Mary and her family can't come," she told him. "Trouble at the Rock of Eternity."
"Of course there is," Tim grumbled to himself. No, it couldn't be easy for him, could it? Can't have five Shazams beat the shit out of the Death Eaters, nooo…
He hadn't realized he'd said all of this aloud until he noticed everyone giving him funny looks. Tim immediately shut his mouth and resolved to be more discreet from now on.
"Any other surprise guests?" Tonks asked, still eyeing Rachel warily. Tim shook his head.
He held out a hand towards Rachel. "Everyone, this is Rach—"
"Raven," Rachel interrupted, giving Tim a Look. "It's Raven."
Mad-Eye gave Rachel the same treatment he did any new ally, which was looking her up and down with his prosthetic eye and gripping his staff tightly. "You use dark magic?"
"You got a problem with that?" Rachel said blankly, her face betraying no emotion.
Mad-Eye hesitated. "Depends on what side yer on."
"The good guys," she replied dryly.
"Mad-Eye, do you seriously have to ask everyone if they're a 'good guy?'" asked Tonks, raising an eyebrow. Tim noticed that she'd changed her hair again to a curly pixie-cut the exact shade as Rachel's hair.
To this, Mad-Eye rolled his one good eye and spat, "Well, excuse me for not wanting to be double-crossed, Nymphadora." Tim watched as Tonks's face went bright red.
"Well, then," Dumbledore interrupted before Tonks could reply, "if this is all of us, I suggest we get going. The safest and fastest way to get to the Ministry is to Apparate together, which means every able wizard who knows the location will need to bring along at least one other person, so as not to leave anyone behind."
"I call Tim!" Tonks shouted from the back, raising her hand enthusiastically. Tim shot her a pair of finger-guns. Good to know he had someone always in his corner.
"I must warn the rest of you, though, that Side-Along Apparition is no pleasant experience for the untrained."
Cassie snorted quietly. "Oh no," she muttered, "feeling uncomfortable. Not like I've been stabbed or electrocuted before. How will I ever manage?"
Tim had to cover his mouth to keep himself from laughing at that comment.
With a sharp crack, Tim found himself in a dimly-lit corridor covered in black tile, leading up to a large door, equally dark and reflective.
"That the entrance?" Cassie asked.
Dumbledore nodded, his face illuminated eerily by the blueish light of some scattered torches. "I must warn all of you, though, that even I have not been beyond that point. Everything past there is unknown. We must move on with caution."
The door swung open automatically, which for some reason made Tim's stomach curl, like he was walking into an active volcano and waiting for the explosion. Dumbledore led the way, Tim following close behind, and they all entered a large, circular room with a dozen alternating doors and torches set around.
"Well, this might take a while," Constantine joked nervously, glancing around to see if anyone had any idea as to where to go next.
Dumbledore stared at the doors with a blank face before turning to face the party. "I believe the best course of action would for each wizard to take a team of—"
"There." Rachel was pointing at the second door to their right. "They're through that one."
"An' jus' how would you know—?" Mad-Eye began, but Rachel didn't give him the chance to finish.
"I'm an empath. I can feel the malice. It's strong. Very strong. And it's coming from that direction."
Since no one else seemed like they were going to move, Diana ended up being the one to walk over confidently and push the door open. Wands drawn and weapons at the ready, the party slowly followed her lead. As soon as she stepped through, though, she took a couple steps to the side.
"I believe Raven should be the one to lead the way," she announced as everyone filed into the room. It looked like the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland had thrown up everywhere. There were clocks hanging off the walls, sitting on desks, and standing up on their own, covering the room. On the desk directly opposite the party was a bell jar which cast light all across the room, which was subsequently reflected off of the clocks' faces, scattering light all over the room like a disco ball.
"Time," Dumbledore remarked calmly. "Never will it cease to capture our imagination…"
"They're in the next room," Rachel told them, pointing towards the shimmering crystal jar. "There's thirteen of them."
Cassie gently floated off the ground, doing a quick headcount of their own forces.
"Two…four…six…" she muttered as she counted them off. "Guess we're outnumbered, huh." She didn't sound particularly put-out by that statistic—in fact, in her eyes was only a stronger determination. Diana nodded proudly at her pupil.
"I admire your bravery, Cassie, but it would be unwise to take the enemy's forces lightly," said Dumbledore. "They possess a great darkness within them that manifests itself in truly deadly magic. It is not too late to turn back now."
Cassie snorted. "I've faced worse. Now let's kick some ass, yeah?"
"Oh, I like this one," Mad-Eye grinned, readying his wand, and the fighters each silently entered the battlefield with the solemnness of those ready to fight and prepared to die should the situation present itself.
Thinking back on it, the Death Eaters hadn't really had a chance, not with Rachel here. The minute they entered the grand room, she flew up above the crystal balls as quietly as the Grim Reaper themself. The shelves towered high above Tim, such that he was barely able to make out Rachel's form in the distance.
"What's she—?" Tonks started to whisper, but Tim slapped his hand over her mouth.
'Wait,' he mouthed slowly.
"AZARATH!" The crystal balls bobbled in place as Rachel's voice boomed through the chamber, making Tim's hair stand on end.
"What in the name of Merlin is that woman—?"
"METRION!"
It was as though the light from the torches was slowly being snuffed out as a cloud of darkness surrounded Rachel.
"ZINTHOS!"
All at once, a dozen black tendrils shot out of Rachel's hands and zoomed towards the floor.
Voices in the distance became audible now, yelps of surprise and pain, shouts of "Where's Potter—?" and "How did—?" and "What in the whole fu—?" echoed throughout the cathedral-like room.
"I've got them!" Rachel shouted, her voice hoarse and eyes glowing a bright red to match the bindhi-like gem on her forehead. "Take them out!"
A green burst of light streaked upwards towards Rachel, and there was a rustling of wind and Diana was just there all of a sudden, blocking the attack with one of her sacred gauntlets.
Tim slipped a pair of Batarangs out of his pocket. "Well?" he snapped, glancing over his shoulder at the others. "She can't hold them forever! Let's go!"
Tim shot off down the hallway, not checking to see if anyone was following him, but his cape whipped to the side as Cassie flew over him and zoomed off. He spotted a spell coming from the right side of the room heading towards Rachel and so decided that this would be his opponent. Diana blocked this spell as well, and Tim slid into the hallway to find some familiar faces bundled up in Rachel's tendrils.
"YOU!" Huh, Macnair and Rodolphus. Figures that they were still alive and kicking, quite literally right now. Their hoods had been knocked back, revealing a pair of furious faces spitting insults in Tim's direction.
And—shit.
"Little birdy!" Of course Bellatrix was here, why not? She looked just as manic as ever, dark curls bouncing in front of her face like the legs of a particularly large spider. "Lucius, look! It's the little birdy I told you about! How funny that he's here!"
There was a new face, too, a man with long, bleach-blond hair and an expression not unlike disgust stretched across his face.
"We didn't come for this—this boy, Bellatrix," Lucius—Lucius Malfoy, Draco's father, it couldn't be anyone else—sneered, looking supremely uninterested in Tim. "We're here for Potter—"
"—who won't be joining us tonight," Tim interrupted with his best customer-service smile. "So very sorry. Expelliarmus!" Lucius's cane flew out of his hand and knocked into the shelf to Tim's left, sending a dozen crystal balls careening toward the floor. He swiftly stepped to the side, wincing as the prophecies shattered and ghastly forms emerged from the wreckage, whispering in a soft cacophony.
"Little birdy isn't here to play, is he?" Bellatrix cackled, but her face quickly contorted into an expression of rage as soon as Tim disarmed her. He used the Incarcerous Spell a couple of times, and then he had four disarmed wizards at his mercy.
That was, of course, before the giant shockwave that toppled over all the sky-high shelves in the room.
Tim was lucky to have noticed quickly enough, just as he noticed that Rachel's dark tendrils had dispersed. He rushed towards his captives, as he wasn't willing to let them be crushed by the shelving (death was a pretty easy way to avoid facing consequences for your actions, in Tim's opinion), but, just as he was doing so, Bellatrix disappeared, her bindings dropping to the ground, and reappeared inches away from Tim, a feral grin stretched across her face.
"Hello, little birdy!"
Tim, caught completely unawares, stumbled back and knocked his head against the side of one of the glass shelves, wincing as the pain flared up in the back of his skull.
"Bellatrix!" Lucius called, and Tim looked up to see Bellatrix pick up her wand amidst the shattering glass balls, flick her wrist, and vanish alongside her allies as they zoomed towards her. Tim had to take a moment to comprehend everything that had just happened before someone yanked him from behind and he was pulled out into the central hallway just as the shelf he'd been next to came crashing to the ground.
"You okay?" Cassie asked, brushing the glass off of his shoulder.
Tim nodded. "Just didn't expect her to be able to Appar—I mean teleport without her wand. What happened to Raven?"
"Some dude showed up while I was lassoing up these two—" she yanked on her whip, pulling a pair of wizards towards her, "—and shot a really big spell at Raven. Diana tried blocking it, but it was too powerful, and it—I think the spell might have cracked her bracers." Cassie looked quite shaken up from this fact, and Tim could see why. The Bracers of Submission worn by the Amazons were capable of deflecting a moderately-sized missile without it making so much as a scratch on the polished metal. For something to have actually caused a break in one of those bracers…there were only a couple wizards Tim knew of who would be capable of such powerful spellwork.
Then, Tim looked past Cassie and caught sight of the middle of what might have been one of the greatest magical duels he'd ever seen. Dumbledore was pitted against some tall, bald wizard with snakelike features, and the two were throwing spells at one another and transfiguring objects around them with a terrifying ease to their movements. A spell would be cast at Dumbledore, who would flick his wand, transforming the blast into shards of ice that were sent hurdling back at the other wizard, who lifted his wand and caused the ice to melt into puddles on the ground which at once began to bubble, looking less like water and more like acid with every passing second.
"TIM!" Cassie struck her forearms against one another, forming an 'x' with her bracers, and the resounding shockwave made Tim's eardrums rattle. At last remembering where he was, he spun around on one foot, seeing four wizards getting themselves up off the ground after having been thrown back by Cassie's shockwave.
"Thanks," Tim breathed, and he flicked out a pair of Batarangs.
But Tim, he could hear one part of his mind scream, this is a magical battle! Shouldn't you be using your wand? Probably, but the truth of the matter was that Tim was much, much faster at reacting with his normal nonmagical toolset, and if he just imagined the spells coming his way as bullets to be dodged, he didn't have anything to worry about.
Plus, he could Apparate. That definitely helped.
The battle was going great until the Minister for Magic showed up. Those who could Apparate ended up moving the battle into the Ministry's Atrium, which Tim thought was incredibly foolish, as it greatly increased the chances of someone walking in on the fight and exposing the Death Eaters and the wizard whom Tim had come to realize was Voldemort himself.
Tim had just dodged one of Bellatrix's spells when the fireplace behind him roared to life, green flames bursting forth and revealing a man in his pajamas brandishing a wand, which he fumbled with after catching sight of Tim and his opponent.
"Bellatrix Lestrange!" the man gasped.
"Oh, hello, Minister!" Bellatrix grinned, tilting her head to the side. "Avada Kedavra!"
Before he had time to think, Tim flicked out a Batarang and tossed it, the flat metal shattering as it came in contact with the curse and, as Tim had hoped, stopping the curse from reaching its target.
"What is this—what is—Merlin's beard, is that—?"
Bellatrix took this opportunity to Apparate directly in front of Tim, which he really should have expected, but she nonetheless managed to shove him to the ground. Tim would have been fine had he not tripped over his own feet like a novice and hit the floor with a thud. His ears rang, and he felt a weight press down onto his stomach and pin his arms to his side. Bellatrix leaned over so that her face was inches away from Tim's, her hair dangling down onto his face.
She licked her lips. "Now, let's play, little—" Tim thrust his head forward and headbutted Bellatrix, who let out a horrible screech and rocked back. Suddenly, the whole Atrium shook, sending her toppling over.
"AWAY!" Voldemort shrieked, his voice shrill and echoing throughout the entire Atrium. Everywhere, fireplaces were coming to life and wizards were swarming onto the scene, some, like the Minister, still in their pajamas and nightcaps, but all screaming and shooting spells in every direction.
Bellatrix seemed supremely annoyed at this command, but she rolled her eyes and Disapparated away before Tim could stun her properly, leaving Tim pointing his wand at empty space before being practically mobbed by strangers, all touching him and grabbing him and asking him a million questions.
"Were you just fighting You-Know-Who?"
"Are you allied with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"
"Was that Bellatrix Lestrange I just saw?"
"Blimey! You-Know-Who, back again!"
Tim squeezed through the crowd, locating Dumbledore first, as he was nearby, having some stern words with the Minister for Magic.
"…proof, with your own eyes, that I have been telling you the truth for a year. Lord Voldemort has returned, you have been chasing the wrong men for twelve months, and it is time you listened to sense!" Dumbledore sounded absolutely livid, which Tim could get behind, as it was the Minister who had kicked him out of Hogwarts in the first place.
"I—don't—well—" Cornelius Fudge looked quite flustered, like he had just been caught doing something naughty. "Very well—Dawlish! Williamson! Go down to the Department of Mysteries and see… Dumbledore, you—you will need to tell me exactly—the Fountain of Magical Brethren—what happened?" He gestured wildly in every direction with his hands, finally landing on the pile of rubble that used to be a fountain before Dumbledore had turned it into a weapon while fighting Voldemort.
"Well, to be frank, Voldemort attempted to lure Harry Potter to the Department of Mysteries to retrieve a prophecy made about the both of them. However, he—ah, Timothy, I hope you are not too injured." Dumbledore had then noticed that Tim was standing awkwardly to the side, awaiting further instruction as to how the headmaster wanted the rest of the evening to go now that Voldemort had escaped and now that the rest of the team was making their way through the Atrium, dragging the limp forms of Death Eaters behind them (Tim would later learn that there was such a thing as an Anti-Disapparition Charm that everyone except for him seemed to know how to do).
"Just a couple scratches," Tim said, pointedly leaving out the fact that he definitely had a concussion and had been Cruciated twice by Bellatrix over the course of the last hour. "Do you know who escaped?"
Dumbledore glanced about the room for a moment, taking everything in, before turning back to Tim and letting him know, "I believe Mrs. Lestrange was the only one to have made it out alongside Voldemort. We have dealt a critical blow to his forces, I am certain, in no small part due to the efforts of you and your friends."
"And who might that be?" Fudge asked coldly, clearly stifling a yawn.
"Ah, yes, yes. This is Timothy Drake-Wayne, the Wizard Liaison for the Justice League International."
Oh Timothy, you have no idea what you're in for.
CW: depictions of violence, non-graphic depitcion of a head injury, brief non-consensual suggestive content (it's Bellatrix being Bellatrix)