Bruce was most put out that Ceridwen was more impressed meeting Zatanna over Batman. It was bad enough that his other kids almost never bought the new Batman merch when it came out.
Zatanna was rather cheerful overall, and more than happy to stick around for the somewhat delayed birthday party. The others had been distracting Ceri during the Scarecrow incident, which was even now making the rounds among the Rogues.
On a related note, Scarecrow was not living down the fact he screamed like a little bitch while being chased by an irate teenager who wasn't even wearing a damn cape or hiding her identity at all.
"So...you're a mage like Zatanna," said Bruce.
"Witch," she said absently.
"We don't call ourselves that anymore," said Zatanna. "And normally you'd be in a lot of trouble for casting that spell, but since the fear toxin replicates most of what a dementor causes just by existing, you're getting a slap on the wrist."
Ceridwen was more surprised that someone had bothered to investigate at all.
"I won't have to leave...will I?"
"Normally yes. However when they found out it was Batman they were dealing with, they were willing to arrange a compromise," said Zatanna. Ceridwen looked at her, hopeful. "Once you finish your fifth year at Hogwarts, I'll take you on as my apprentice which means that legally you'll be allowed to cast magic outside school."
Seeing her perk up at that, Bruce had to ask "What's Hogwarts?"
"A magical high school in Scotland," said Zatanna. "It used to be a premiere school for magic, but it's gone downhill due to the civil war a while back."
Ceridwen winced at that.
Bruce narrowed his eyes.
"I'm not going to like what I'm about to hear, am I?"
Zatanna looked to Ceridwen.
"You can tell him, or I can use a memory spell. Your choice."
"I'll take the spell. Explaining will take too long," said Ceridwen.
"After the party," said Bruce firmly.
Ceridwen's favorite present had to be the kitten Selina had given her. It was such a tiny thing, all black and fluffy. The only oddity was the fact it had two tails, but she loved it so much she could care less about that fact.
"What are you going to name her?"
The kitten looked at Ceridwen and mewed cutely. After a quick check of the gender, she grinned.
"Freya," she said. The kitten mewed again, clearly pleased with her new name.
The next morning...
Ceridwen settled into a comfortable chair, with her new cat Freya purring up a storm while she stroked her fur. Zatanna was about to 'play' her memories from the moment she found out she was a witch to the end of the tournament.
It was going to be a long, painful day.
And by the end of it, she found herself in a sort of puppy pile of the others.
"And you want us to let her go back to that?" said Tim incredulous.
Zatanna shook her head.
"She has to return, otherwise they'll seal her magic. Female mages are allowed to drop out of a magical school once they pass their OWLs due to some rather outdated thinking about stay at home mothers...especially if there's a betrothal involved. Not that anyone's used it in ages, but still."
"I have to return for one more year to claim my family inheritance. Otherwise I'd drop out in favor of homeschooling in a heartbeat. I like it here," said Ceridwen firmly.
No staring, a family that actually wanted her around and had no clue who she was or what the damn scar meant. Sure, Bruce was beyond paranoid and she would have to worry about them during patrols, but that was what family meant...right? Besides, Alfred fed her way better than the Dursleys ever did and was teaching her all sorts of new recipes.
It felt safe, which was something she had never really had since her parents died.
"Well if you're going back to that death trap of a school, then we'll have to make sure you're extra prepared for anything they try to pull. Right guys?" said Dick.
Everyone nodded firmly.
"And I'll start the paperwork to list you as my official apprentice," said Zatanna. She would say Bruce owed her for this, but the poor kid had been screwed over by pretty much everyone in her life.
She was almost tempted to introduce Ceri to Constantine.
~*~*~*~
Barbara was checking on the family online and, at a whim, decided to see if Ceridwen had gained any online notoriety.
Only to immediately do a spit-take at the online forums for thugs who worked under the Rogues. This...this was too hilarious not to share.
Within an hour or two, Tim, Jason, Stephanie and Cass were in her home.
"So what did you find that had you calling us on the non-emergency channel?" asked Tim.
Barbara grinned, and pulled up a video. It was Scarecrow running away from Ceri. However it was the caption that had everyone laughing their asses off.
"The thugs are openly calling our baby Crow a she-demon?" said Jason, guffawing.
"It gets better. They've been openly comparing her to Damien, and saying she's worse because she's not a cape."
That made them all laugh harder.
To be fair, Damien was a murderous little shit to begin with. It came from being raised by the League of Assassins.
It was still weird seeing him interacting with Ceri so...normally...usually with animals present.
"So...what are the odds of Damien and Crow getting together later?" said Tim.
"Oh god, can you think of what sort of children they'd have?" joked Stephanie.
"Worse, imagine Bruce as a doting grandfather," said Cass. "Besides, isn't she older than him?"
"Only by two years or three years," said Barb. Her glasses were glinting and she was already preparing to make a new betting pool for the laugh. "Not that big of an age difference."
"Dear lord, are we seriously doing this?" said Tim. Mostly at the thought of them actually being a couple. He foresaw a lot of knives, blood and screaming... and not from the two dating.
"Yup," said Cass cheerfully. Damien could use some good in his life, and Ceridwen could use someone reliable.
Damien might be a murderous little shit, but he was a loyal murderous little shit once you earned his favor.
Ceridwen's face when she saw the video feed and how the criminal society now called her a she-demon for defending herself was both adorable and hilarious.
"Why is it so impressive that I hexed Crane to hell and back, or that I maimed the Joker?" asked Ceridwen confused.
"Crane is one thing. He's not that threatening once you get past the fear toxin. Joker on the other hand..." said Dick.
"Joker's the crown prince of crime in Gotham, and even the bigger players are leery of him," explained Bruce.
"So the fact you not only escaped him without help from Batman, but permanently maimed him despite the clear lack of training speaks volumes," said Tim. "I mean it took them a month or two to get used to Damien as the new Robin, especially since he's so violent, but someone not a cape doing that kind of damage?"
"Yeah, they're going to be really wary of you now, especially the thugs," said Steph.
"Wish the same applied to those idiots back in England," said Ceridwen sourly.
"Speaking of England," said Zatanna, who made a few of them jump. "It seems there's been an...issue...at your old home."
"What sort of issue?" said Ceridwen.
"Two rogue dementors appeared in Surrey. Fortunately no one was killed, but that was only because of a squib living in the area."
"Who?" said Ceri, confused. She didn't know of anyone in Little Whinging with magical ancestry.
"Someone by the name of Arabella Figg. She barely managed to call the aurors in time," said Zatanna.
Ceridwen shot up from her chair.
"Mrs. Figg was a squib this entire time?!" she hissed in fury.
"You didn't know?"
"All I knew about her was that she was unmarried, had entirely too many cats, and her house smelled weird. Popular opinion was that she was running a kitty mill to pay for her house and taxes, since she never seemed to leave for a job," said Ceridwen. "Aunt Petunia used to dump me on her all the time while they took Dudley out for 'fun outings' with his friends."
"In any case you still need to pick up your school supplies, and there have been a lot of unpleasant inquiries as to where you are, since it's known to the Ministry that's your residence. Something about a levitation charm?" said Zatanna.
"It wasn't me, that was a house elf named Dobby," said Ceridwen tiredly.
Dobby was very, very lucky that no one aside from Damien had access to sharp and pointy objects when he appeared suddenly. Mostly because Ceridwen was able to catch the knife Damien had thrown at the elf.
On the plus side, Alfred would soon have some extra help around the manor, as Dobby (and by extension Winky, Crouch's ex-elf) would rather work for a good family than take the hand out that was Hogwarts employment.
Ceridwen...honestly didn't know that Hogwarts employed house elves, though it made a lot more sense. Did not explain why Filch was still employed though.
Well, that and it made it much, much easier to transport healing potions to her new family while in England. No one looked twice at a house elf, and her friends would likely assume it was for her own personal use with her little...adventures.
~*~~*~*
Ceridwen was incredibly nervous about being in England. At least she had been cleared about using her patronus so publicly. Once the situation was explained by Zatanna (and it said a lot that the Scarecrow's fear toxin was so well known, as well as it's effects), she had basically been given a slap on the wrist.
That being said, she was very, very relieved that the paperwork had gone through and she was now officially Zatanna's apprentice until her majority. It meant she had an adult who's job was specifically to advocate on her behalf.
Considering how the past four years had gone, Ceridwen was beyond glad to have Zatanna with her. Especially since she had gotten an owl (via the regular post) that said she had to come to England to "defend herself" regarding the Dementor attack on Surrey.
She wasn't even in the same country when the attack happened, and this reeked of a set-up.
Zatanna made a face as they went down the phone booth into the Ministry proper. They had come a day early for the 'trial' to get this cleared up, as it was obviously a play against her.
Amelia Bones was not pleased when she heard why the rather infamous witch Zatanna was in her office.
"Let me get this straight. Someone sent Lady Potter a notice saying she was being tried for underage magic...despite the fact she wasn't even in the country when the incident happened?"
"She did cast a patronus recently, but it was cleared by MaCUSA due to mitigating circumstances," said Zatanna. "More importantly I'm baffled as to the lack of response to two rogue dementors being so close to a populated area."
"Believe me, I've been quietly looking into that incident myself," said Amelia with a growl. If there were two rogue dementors, there could easily be more and she was beyond unhappy at the lack of investigation. "As for Ms. Potter, it should take a few hours to clear this up and the trial dropped."
"I'm more surprised you never looked into Sirius Black's lack of a trial," said Ceridwen, speaking up for the first time since entering the office.
Amelia's eyebrow went up at that.
"What do you mean, lack of trial?"
"I mean he was supposedly the Dark Lord's right hand man, according to everyone. Yet there's no records of him being given Veritaserum to name his conspirators, let along even a farce of a trial. And after that mess third year, I checked," said Ceridwen calmly. "Not to mention the arrests made by a lower ranked member like Karkaroff who turned on their ranks and netted Barty Crouch's son. Imagine who you could have gotten with Black."
Amelia made a note to look into that claim the second she got the girl's charge of underage magic cleared up. Such a miscarriage of justice would easily net her some major political clout if played correctly...and if Black was actually innocent, he'd owe her house a major favor. Enough to make her Minister, at the very least.
She found it highly telling that she had to browbeat far too many non-involved parties just to get the underage magic charge dropped. Someone was trying to pull something, and she did not like it.