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xXx The Saga of the Martian Who Lived xXx
xXx Chapter 02: Enter the Bat xXx

xXx Begin Flashback xXx

"H-har–harry! Let… let go!" Rachel cried out in embarrassed distress. It was the first night after she had retrieved him from his dubious relations, and as had been noted, there had only been one bed. Since he had absolutely refused to allow her to attempt meditating, she had resigned herself to sharing her bed with him.

Of course that would have been fine, if it weren't for the fact that he was very clingy in his sleep, and as he stated, Martians were quite strong. "Harry, you're… you're crushing my ribs... Wake up!"

Her panic lashed out and caused him to develop a panic attack, waking him from his slumber as he bolted away from her. While taking heaving gulps for air, he managed to ask, "Holy hell! What happened?"

Pulling herself into a sitting position so that she could catch her own breath, she eventually managed to sigh and reply, "You were using me as a teddybear, you super dense lug."

Harry grinned sheepishly, "You know, normally if someone were to be called dense, they'd be insulted…"

"Why would you be insulted by me describing your physiology?" Rachel replied coyly. "Now we need to come up with a better set of sleeping arrangements, or I won't last a week, and that is apparently a very bad thing."

Harry frowned, before looking around for a moment, "You know, we could probably do with better accommodations. That and we should probably be leaving town too. So, how about we pack what things we can manage to carry, and then… huh I haven't got a clue what to do after that."

Rachel sighed and said, "I actually can get us to the next town over from here. We can decide what to do once we get there."

An hour later and a great deal of ferrying books between Little Whinging and Godalming, the two were in another town and trying to decide what to do from there. Looking around, Harry said, "You know this would be so much easier if either of us actually had a stable income, or family we could ask for help from, aside from the obvious of course."

Rachel nodded her head in agreement. "I have sufficient money left to me by my mother that we can rent a room in a… huh I suppose in a town like this they'd probably be rooms above a tavern or some such, wouldn't they?"

"Yeah, we can do that for a few nights, at least until we figure out a better solution," with that decided the two headed off in search of a place to stay with two heavy bags full of books that Harry was using his Martian abilities to enable him to carry without any effort.

xXx End Flashback xXx

Bruce Wayne stared at the monitor in front of him in consternation. He had of course ordered the fly drone that had been tailing Cobblepot to follow the boy and girl that were responsible for the beak nosed criminal being apprehended. He had hoped to discover where it was that they were staying, which it had been successful in doing.

What he hadn't expected, though perhaps should have, was for the boy to gently lay the girl on one of the beds in their shared room, and then proceed to begin packing everything that wasn't nailed down, or which would be noticed if it went missing, into what was quite obviously a magically expanded trunk.

With a twitching eyebrow, Bruce watched as the room became barer and barer. Half an hour into this activity, the young girl woke up, looked at what her friend was doing, and sighed, before exasperatedly asking, "What did I miss?"

Harry turned to the girl and said, "We had just turned the corner when suddenly about a dozen human minds popped into existence outside the shop completely out of nowhere and began firing off what I presume to have been spells that seemed to be more task focused versions of the general amnesia effect my telepathy allows me to create."

"What exactly were they trying to make people forget?" the girl asked.

"Of all the odd things to make them forget… the existence of magic," Harry replied, "Rachel, is magic supposed to be a secret?"

Now Bruce had a name for the girl, 'Rachel,' "I don't think it is. At least I've never had any problem locating books for my research since getting here. That said, there might be a reason these unknown sorcerers are hiding their existence. Were we followed?"

Harry hesitated for a moment, before saying, "I… I don't think we were."

"Then why are we all packed up?" Rachel asked.

"They somehow arrived on the scene less than two minutes after we left. That is an inhumanely fast response time for any form of law enforcement that I am aware of. What is more, these spellcaster's seemed more concerned with protecting their big important secret than they were with apprehending the people responsible for the secret being blown. I noticed that no one did anything regarding the perpetrators until after the secret was covered up and the spellcasters had summarily vanished."

Bruce had to admit, this young man had gotten a rather bad first exposure to the world most people expected him to be a part of.

"Well that is rather disconcerting," Rachel admitted. She then tilted her head. It was then that Bruce realized she was looking right at the camera. Standing up, Rachel walked over to where the probe was quite obviously perched, hovered over it for a moment, before saying, "Someone is peeping on litttle two kids who are having a private discussion. Whoever you are, if I ever see one of these things in my private quarters again, I will make sure that what happened to beak nose today looks tame in comparison to what I do to you when I find you. I hope I've been understood."

She then slammed her hand down on the fly probe, smashing it to smithereens. This caused Bruce to glance down at the time stamp, "Damn that occurred before I even got to the Kent Farm, and I only just noticed it? They could literally be anywhere in England by now!"

xXxXxXx

Harry and Rachel both stared in confusion at the large manor that stood behind a gate in front of them. Hesitantly, Rachel asked, "Where are we?"

For Harry however, something about this building set off countless alarm bells for him. It was like he was staring at a friend he had long since thought dead, or who had not yet been born. "Rachel, this… this house exists outside of the normal flow of time as we currently understand it."

Rachel frowned, "I didn't think humans had the capability to construct something like that, magic or no magic."

"Who said anything about humans, cutie," an amused voice asked from behind the two of them, causing them both to whirl around.

When they turned around, they found themselves face to face with a beautiful woman with deathly white skin and a hairdo that was even more unkempt than Harry's own. She was dressed in an outfit that resembled a punk rockstar or something, and was carrying a black lace umbrella in her hand that she had planted the tip off into the ground to somehow support her weight as she leaned over to give the two children an ample view of her cleavage.

"Well, this is a surprise. I didn't expect to see either of the two of you for quite some time. It is very rare that I get guests who are only staying temporarily you know. Then again, anything for family as they say."

"You… you're something like my great-great-great…"

"Don't stop adding those until you reach a staggering twenty 'great's, H'ree," the woman tittered, "And yes, I am your very distant grandmother, both on Mars and here on Earth. I am still trying to figure out what I did to annoy my eldest brother enough that he'd allow that sort of snarl to develop in our own family tapestry. Now what can Granny do for my cute ickle Harriekins and his equally cute Rae-Rae?"

"Would you buy the excuse that we simply took a wrong turn inside the Astral Plane?" Rachel snarked.

"Now now, I'm trying my best to be pleasant for you two," the woman replied. "I really would prefer to just reap that entire planet you two currently reside upon. It would save me a lot of headaches in the long run. But no, two things are stopping me. One is our young man here. And the other is a farmboy over in Kansas who would likely survive it if I caused the sun to implode, and would then pull some deus ex machina out of that fortress of his that would also likely survive and cause the entire collapse of the star to undo itself. Kryptonians are seriously more annoying than the people of Gallifrey."

"You… you're Death of the Endless?" Rachel realized in utter shock and not a little fear.

"Well who else would I be. Nice to meet you Granddaughter-in-Law. And never you fear, neither of you has reached the end of your threads just yet. Though I am still wondering what I can do for you?" Death elaborated for them.

"We just needed... Um, well to be frank we need a more permanent and secure place of residence. We had to leave our inn room because a flycam followed us home," Harry explained.

"Is that a fly sized camera with wings, or a camera that is attached to an organic fly?" Death asked.

"Which option would make me feel less violated?" Rachel asked in a dead tone.

"Well, given the reality you two are from, there is only one individual I can think of who would have fly sized camera's with wings and who would actually even bother having it follow two children back to their inn, and you don't have to worry about him, he's mostly just concerned for the welfare of children. The other option could have been any number of people, each less savory than the last," Death replied with a shrug.

"You aren't actually going to offer us a place to stay, are you?" Harry inquired.

"Why on earth would you want to stay with me when you can actually go back to the world of the living?" Death snarked, "Don't worry, I'll be sure to make plenty of social calls, though I can't promise to be completely tactful with them. Then again, in a few years… oh in a few years we might be able to get up to great fun, after all, by then you two will be my Master and Mistress, and then I can do anything for you that you want me to do."

That caused both children to bloom into monumental blushes, but they could only contemplate it for a moment before they woke from what was clearly an induced dream cycle.

xXxXxXx

They eventually did manage to find a place to stay. It was actually quite cozy for a condemned manor house in the suburbs of London. It only took a little telepathic manipulation on Harry's part to convince the town that they didn't want to demolish the building anymore, after all it was a historic landmark for crying out loud.

They ended up managing to hide in this small town from the end of December well into the summer months without using a single ounce of their respective magic, thereby allowing them to fly under the radar of the spellcasters that had caused them to leave Godalming, earlier that year.

However, some things would not be so simple for them to hide from. It was a very early morning and Rachel was walking down to the kitchen from her room, dressed only in the pajamas that she had started wearing ever since Harry told her to lose the cape and cowl unless they were actively fighting criminals. The outfit was very cute for someone her age, though she disliked it immensely since it was largely pink in color. Pink was absolutely the worst color for her, unless worn by her pink emoticlone.

When she arrived on the ground floor, her attention was drawn to the window to the left of the front door. It took only a second for her to recognize the presence of an owl pecking it's beak against the window. Shaking her head in bemusement, she simply filed it as yet another oddity of the lifeforms native to Earth, and proceeded to walk to the kitchen.

It was only when she arrived in the kitchen, which had even more windows, that her eyebrow began twitching. "Why is there an owl for every window on the ground floor?"

Harry looked over at her from where he stood sipping some coffee, which was a guilty pleasure of his, as he would frequent a cafe that actually served coffee by taking the underground from Little Whinging to a few towns over, whenever he wouldn't be missed. "I'm not sure truthfully. But the seem to be carrying some sort of parcel. I'm rather hesitant to actually find out what is in it."

Rachel nodded her head in agreement, "Seems like a sound idea."

There was a loud whiz of sound followed by the sound of parchment hitting wood. This time both Harry and Rachel developed twitching eyes. Growling, Harry said, "I suppose it was too much to hope that Owl's still didn't know how to use a letter slot wasn't it?"

xXxXxXx

An hour later, while Harry was messing around with the absolutely ancient billiard table and Rachel was reclining on a nearby couch with a book in her lap, the two of them immediately stiffened as they both felt the spontaneous arrival of two minds at their front door.

Harry glanced at Rachel, who was wearing a casual summer dress done up in a floral pattern, though the colors were a fair bit muted. He then said, "Stay here where it is safe, Rachel."

"I'm not a baby, Harry. I can take out most humans if push comes to shove," Rachel retorted as she looked up at Harry, who was wearing an outfit that greatly resembled what Hugh Hefner would wear anywhere he went, though in Harry's case he only really wore the outfit at home and it wasn't really as expensive as what Hugh wore. "Plus, I'm not sensing any hostile emotions, they are mostly amused."

"Right, I just, I don't like it when you are in an unknown situation. That thing with Beak nose scared me," Harry admitted.

"I know, and I appreciate your concern. But I don't think we have anything to be worried about here. Shall we go meet our guests?" Rachel inquired.

"Fine, fine. But get behind me if they start casting spells," Harry said.

"I'm the one with the shield, Harry, remember that," Rachel retorted as the two made their way down the hall.

Upon opening the door, the two of them were greated by a young girl about their age who had red hair that was done up in pigtails. The girl was wearing a similar summer dress with done in pinstripes rather than floral patterns. Next to her was a stern looking woman with a monocle over one of her eyes and who was dressed in what appeared to be some form of military uniform, though not one that either Harry or Rachel recognized.

The woman knelt down, picked up one of the letters and looked it over, "Do you make a habit of ignoring your mail, Heir Potter?"

"Heir?" both Harry and Rachel asked in mutual confusion. Harry's biological mother never mentioned that he was the heir to anything. And neither did Death, though in her defence she likely couldn't say much of anything useful.

"Auntie, I don't think either of them has any idea who we are, or what Harry's significance to our society actually is," the girl said in a conflicted tone, "It is also quite clear that this is not a crystal palace, and she is not a fairy princess."

Harry chuckled, "Hmm, I wonder what she'd think if we told her what you actually are the princess of, Rae-Rae."

"Don't you dare bring my father into this discussion," Rachel declared before whacking him on the head. She then winced, "Would you stop turning your head into the equivalent a ball of iron every time I try to smack you, Harry?"

"Only when you stop trying to smack me," Harry retorted.

The older of their two guests blinked, "I feel like I'm back in Hogwarts. The two of you sound just like Harry's parents in how you are interacting with each other. Can we come in?"

Harry glanced at the two for a moment. What neither of their guests knew was that he just scanned their minds for any hostile intent. He didn't find any, but he did find something odd. Activating his link to his mate, he asked, "Rae, can you scan their emotions?"

Rachel frowned but did as asked. She then narrowed her eyes at the young girl, "Why are you jealous of me?"

"I, huh?" the girl asked in confusion.

"Alright, now I suppose had definitely go inside," the girl's aunt said.

xXxXxXx

Once they were inside, the woman jabbed a finger at Rachel and said, "Why did you use Legilimency against my niece?"

"What is Legilimency?" both Harry and Rachel asked in perfect unison.

"The ability to perceive the thoughts of another. It is a very advanced form of magic, and strictly regulated," the woman declared.

"I'm a natural empath ma'am, and Harry is a natural telepath. We did not mean any harm by it. We didn't even know laws existed regarding such things," Rachel supplied.

"Natural… oh, oh dear," the woman muttered, "This likely won't go over well with certain members of our society. They like to believe they can keep their secrets in spite of never bothering to learn Occlumency."

"What is Occlumency?" Harry asked, "I understood the meaning of the root words that made up that word, but not sure what the significance is."

"The art of shielding one's mind, Harry," Rachel supplied, "Or in my case, the color coded clones you like to chase around while we are both asleep."

"Chasing your clones around doesn't require any mental exertion, so I actually get rest. You on the other hand…" Harry retorted.

"I try and keep myself from falling into fits of laughter while you are making my clones laugh. Yes I know, utterly futile, but I try all the same," Rachel replied with a dismissive headshake.

"Auntie, they're like an old married couple, aren't they?" the girl inquired in both dismay and amusement.

"Based on the fact that he is actually able to enter her mindscape while they are both asleep…" the woman uttered, "Are you two soulbound?"

Harry gave her a confused look, but Rachel nodded, "That is about as good of an explanation for what is going on with us as what is actually going on with us. There isn't actually to my knowledge an equivalent word in the English Language for it. I only know what the actual word means due to having it translated for me in my mind."

"Then I suppose we should probably explain why you felt jealousy from my niece, young miss," the woman said.

"You'll likely have to get used to that if you decide to accept the invitation to Hogwarts," the girl smiled, "Though now that I know what is going on, roughly, I must say I'm not as jealous, just amused."

Harry tilted his head to regard the girl, then blanched when she purposefully supplied him with why she was amused. "Did not need to be reminded of that, Susan. Thank you."

"What did she remind you of?" Rachel inquired.

Susan also was confused, "You already knew how grouchy teenage girls can be when they are on their period?"

"Telepath… I swear, almost every time I walked past the Little Whinging high school, one of the first things I picked up were the words 'man, my girlfriend is such a bitch,' or some variation thereof. I can't tell you how thankful I was when Rachel succeeded in teaching me how to block out thoughts I wasn't actively looking for."

"You ever call me that, Harry, and you are… are… are…" Rachel started to say as he quirked an eyebrow in her direction.

"Aww damn, I'd never be able to make any sort realistic threat against you given how much my Rage let's you get away with, would I?" Rachel realized a bit meekly.

"Nothing short of asking your father to deliver a shovel speech would work, I imagine," Harry assessed.

"Are you insane?" Rachel asked.

"Well, given who my distant grandmother turned out to be…" Harry surmised.

Rachel frowned, "I don't know who I'd wager on in such a conflict, your grandmother or my father. Both of them are just not people we want to bring to the dinner table."

Rachel then blushed as she noticed that the other two occupants of the room were staring at them confusedly, "Sorry, we'd say more on the identities of our respective relations, but we aren't exactly on the best terms with my father, and Harry's distant grandmother isn't someone you like to bring up over a polite conversation."

The elder of the two nodded, "I'll take your word for it. Anyways, as my niece was saying, Heir Potter, you are quite famous within Wizarding…"

"Excuse me," Rachel interrupted, "Did you just say 'Wizarding'? You didn't perchance mean 'Sorcerous' did you?"

"Is there a difference?" Susan asked in confusion. Her Aunt however seemed to know what was implied.

"Maybe once a very long time ago, the two terms would have been synonymous. However, there are now two distinct species of magic using humans on this planet, though Veela probably count as a third. I'm not actually certain how a scientist would classify a Veela if they knew about them. Most people in the mundane world are only familiar with those capable of Sorcery, many of whom practice their art in a manner that actually allows them to blend into mundane society, stage magicians, hermetic orders, etcetera. What Witches and Wizards practice, would probably best be defined as 'Erudite Sorcery,' meaning we learn it by being taught in a school, complete with homework and examinations."

"Don't bring up the exams, auntie, you don't want to scare them, do you!" Susan complained.

Harry frowned as he instinctively got the unspoken words, "Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test, abbreviated as NEWT? Are you people trying to be the laughingstocks of the entire universe?"

"Neither of us are responsible for the perpetuation of unfortunate stereotypes within our community. In any case, I've been asked by a dear friend to both locate you, and inform you that if you ever need the support of a family member, both herself and her sister are willing to come to your aid. From what I understand, they are related to you via your father, James. She also told me to inform the two of you, not to trust Headmaster Dumbledore any further than you could throw him…"

At that statement, Rachel suddenly stiffened momentarily, before saying, "Excuse me… I need to go…"

She then bolted from the room, though they heard her begin laughing halfway down the hall.

"What did I say?" the woman inquired.

Harry grinned mysteriously, which caused Susan to roll her eyes. "One of the two of them can obviously throw a grown person a considerable distance, Auntie. And judging from earlier comments made by Rae-Rae made, my Galleons are on it being Harry with the throwing arm."

"You are a very observant girl, aren't you?" Harry inquired.

"I'm smart too. How else do you think I figured out how to make you see the thoughts I wanted you to see and not the ones you were looking for?" Susan inquired.

"Incidentally, Susan is absolutely abysmal at proper Occlumency," her Aunt stated.

"I'll see what we can do to help her with it. Now about Hogwarts, how are we meant to attend when we haven't got any school supplies? We've only really been making ends meet due to a trust fund Rachel's mother set up for her prior to her death,"

"You are both orphans?" Susan asked.

"No, her father is still alive, we just don't like interacting with him if we can help it. Seriously bad stuff happens if he visits," Harry stated.

"The way you talk about this man, it sounds almost like you are talking about the man who killed your own parents, Heir Potter," Susan's aunt stated.

"So, they didn't die in a car crash?" This was another thing that the memory of his biological mother did not see fit to inform him of.

"Oh good heavens, no. I don't think either of them even knew how to drive a car. Nor did they make a habit of visiting the parts of Britain where cars are more common. Your parents lived in a very out of the way village where you could walk from one end of town to the other in less than ten minutes, Anyways, the man who killed your parents was little more than a terrorist trying to carve out a name for himself, and nearly succeeded in conquering the Wizarding portion of the United Kingdom, before whatever happened at your home that night killed him."

Harry tilted his head to the side. That didn't make a lick of sense. "He can't have killed both of my parents and then wound up dead himself without something else in play."

While Harry said that, he sent a mental memo to Rachel telling her to gather the clones and and invade his half of their shared mindscape. Something was very wrong here, and he wanted answers. Oddly, neither of them had actually set foot in his half of the mindscape up until now.

Meanwhile, Amelia Bones tilted her head, "Yes, that is likely true. But I was only a rookie Auror back then, and the entire event was classified as a threat to national security, which meant only the Unspeakables, Chief Warlock and Minister of the time were allowed to be involved."

"I am likely going to kick myself for asking, but who were the Minister and Chief Warlock of that time?"

"You needn't worry yourself about Former Minister Bagnold, she is very happy in her retirement. As for the Chief Warlock… Dumbledore," Amelia replied.

"And he still is," Susan supplied.

"Thank you, Susan," Amelia replied.

"So he is headmaster of the nation's school for magic, and the head of their jurisprudence council as well?" Harry asked.

"He's also the highest ranking member of the Wizarding version of the United Nations," Susan chipped in.

"That seems like far too much consolidated power for one man to possess. Have the people the Wizarding World never heard of the concept of 'checks and balances'?"

A very deep and gruff masculine voice sounded from the door to the room, "You'll find that the wizarding population lacks any common sense at all, Mister Potter."

Everyone's attention zeroed in on the newcomer, with Amelia drawing and raising her wand in the direction of the newcomer. When Harry realized what he was seeing, he snarked out, "Holy Oleo, it's the Batman!"

The two women in the room looked at Harry in confusion, and even the Caped Crusader arched an eyebrow beneath his mask. "What on earth?"

Harry felt Rachel and every single one of her clones smack something inside of his half of the mindscape that caused him to wince in pain. He then heard her exclaim "Bingo!"

"Oh damn…" Harry groaned, "Rachel… please have mercy…"

Susan smirked at him, as she noticed his wince, "Let me guess. She just found a location where you can't defend yourself from her smacking you, didn't she?"

Harry whimpered as he nodded in agreement. He then looked up at the man, and frowned, "How come I can't see into your mind?"

"I had wondered if that would work. I'm glad it did," the bat stated, "I simply used advanced technology to simulate what I presumed to be the properties of the helmet that a rather famous comic book character likes to wear so his best friend can't read his mind."

"You did that just to protect your identity from me?" Harry questioned.

"Heir Potter, do you know who this man is?" Amelia asked.

"Eh, yes…. And sadly no. I know he is a highly wanted criminal, at least that is, if you believe the bullcrap put out by GCPD. He's right up there with Mister 'I wear my undies outside my pants while flying around at mach speed' in how wanted he is by their respective law enforcement agencies… Ow… dammit Rachel! Let me snark, it's not everyday you meet a vigilante."

Suddenly a black raven manifested in the room, "Harry, be nice to our uninvited guest. But do remind him that if he ever peeps on us while we are in our bedrooms again, I will eviscerate his manhood."

Both Harry and and the cowled man winced at that, and the Bat intoned, "Your girlfriend is a charming girl."

"She just doesn't like people invading her privacy," Harry stated testily, "She lets me get away with it, but if it is anyone else, they had damned well have a good reason for it."

He then sighed and said, "Now I was fairly certain I covered our tracks well enough for you not to find us again, Mister Bat. So how did you locate us?"

"I asked a friend of mine if he knew where the two of you were holed up, and he asked an old drinking buddy of his named Alastor…" The bat started replying.

"You don't mean Alastor Moody?" Amelia asked as she lowered her wand.

"You are familiar with the man?" the Bat asked.

"Right that tosser is fired, and if I had my way, he'd be in Azkaban by tomorrow night," Amelia sighed. "Mister Bat, I don't suppose it occurred to you that this is an internal concern for our society, and not something that a foreigner, who may or may not possess the ability to utilize magic, has any business meddling in?"

"Ordinarily I would have been inclined to agree with you ma'am," the Bat stated. "Except that Mister Potter here managed to make an enemy out of a rather influential member of Gotham City's social scene."

"Right, girls keep looking. I need to go deal with Mister Bat as he seems to be running rampant over this conversation," Rachel declared in Harry's mind, causing him to blanch.

"Yeah this is about to get messy," Harry sighed.

A very ticked off Rachel opened a portal from where she had been meditating into the room they were congregated in, tilted her head to the side and said, "Nice mask."

Batman's eyes widened in shock and fear as he was bombarded with the exact same level of mental stress that caused him to fear bats in the first place. Fortunately, he had conquered that fear many years ago and was only staggered by it. "God damn, I really, really need to find a better way to field test experimental technology than to wear it into the field myself. That was most unpleasant."

"By the way, Bruce," a voice intruded into the Batman's attempts to refocus himself, making him instantly aware his surroundings, what caught him off guard was that he was now being held off the ground by what appeared to be a field of black telekinetic energy. It was strong enough to keep him restrained, and was quite obviously coming from Rachel. That wasn't the most concerning bit though, it had been the young man who had spoken his actual name.

"We can piggyback our abilities off of one another. When she bombarded you with fear like that, I was able to learn everything there is to know about the Batman," the young man stated.

As soon as that was stated, the Bat glanced at the HUD hanging over his right eye and frowned, it had been a full five minutes since he first felt the wave of fear and when he actually overcame it. Rachel entered the conversation, "In any case, if Mister Cobblepot was dissatisfied with his nose-job, which from what I have heard is a vast improvement. I am sure we can schedule another face pounding for him, isn't that right, Harry?"

The bat sighed, "Can I at least recommend a mentor for the two of you who actually shares your enthusiasm for reconstructive surgery?"

"Who did you have in mind?" Harry asked.

"Hawkgirl," the man replied.

"Isn't that the angel that likes to bash people in the face with an extremely large morningstar that looks much too heavy for a girl her size to actually be swinging around at those speeds?" Harry asked.

The bat nodded slowly, "She is actually on extended leave from the Justice League at the moment. Actually, based on your abilities, Mister Potter, I believe Martian Manhunter might also…"

"Yeah no…" Harry said. "We'll agree to meet Angel girl, but not the Martian."

Amelia sighed, "I guess this has something to do with why your mother and father went incommunicado for a full nine months prior to the announcement of your birth?"

Harry nodded. "I can guess why based on the content of this conversation. Harry, you must promise me to never reveal your true heritage to anyone at Hogwarts who has not proven themselves to be one hundred percent loyal to you and your young friend before anyone else. That means I am exercising my authority as Head of Magical Law Enforcement, to give you permission to lightly scan the minds of others. Do not dig for information if your first scan is rebuffed, as that likely indicates a person capable of Occlumency. In that case talk to the person instead."

"I'll go on the assumption that you are also a Martian, which actually puts my mind a bit more at ease as Martians are actually easier live with for the most part if J'onn is an example, than Kryptonians are. Arrogant sod actually admitted he lets people win just so he doesn't get bored when I spoke to him earlier. At least I can be fairly certain J'onn actually considers Earth to be his home, as I can likely do the same for you since you grew up here," the Bat stated.

He then sighed and said, "I'll get in touch with Shayera, and send her in this direction. Can I be reasonably certain this is where you will be for at least the next few weeks?"

Harry glanced over at Rachel, who swiftly nodded, "At least until we head to Hogwarts. We're both very curious to see what this school of magic has in it's library if nothing else."

"Definite Ravenclaws," Susan declared with a grin.

"Which is probably one of only two Houses at Hogwarts where they would actually be able to have a somewhat enjoyable education. The other being your preferred house, Susan," Amelia stated. She then frowned "It will likely get denied by the Headmaster, but I'll send my suggestion for the two of you to be issued a private suite. Usually only married couples who are still attending are given such accommodations, but…"

Rachel sighed, "As long as no one touches my mirror, there shouldn't be any problems with me sharing a dorm room with people other than Harry."

"Heh…" Harry muttered, "Susan, you've been mostly agreeable to us. If we agreed to join whichever house you were planning to join, would you be willing to play interference between Rachel and any idiots with a death wish?"

Susan frowned, "No, I'm not a silly Gryffindor. You can let the bozos fend for themselves if they anger your bondmate."

"I like her," Rachel admitted… "Hey where did Bruce get off to?"

"He walked out while you were contemplating how best to maul our future classmates, Rae-Rae," Harry admitted.

"Right, you asked how we would get your school supplies. We can do that next weekend. I will collect the two of you, and then we can meet up with your godmother, Harry. I make no promises on the conduct of her son if he joins us for the trip, which will likely happen as has pretty much been refusing to enter Greengrass Manor for the past three weeks, and his father refuses to babysit unless it helps his public image."

"Incidentally, he always runs crying to his father whenever one of us girls decides to knock him down a few pegs," Susan admitted.

"That is because his mother sympathizes with all females forced into either of their companies," Amelia said, "Now we had best be off. It was an interesting visit you two. Can't say how I feel about learning that there a costumed vigilantes trying to enforce their own law across the ocean."

Harry smirked, "And that Rae-Rae, is why I made you lose the cape and cowl."

Rachel nodded in agreement, "So much better if the criminals fear the real you, rather than some myth you create around yourself."

Amelia sighed, "Not what I'd have hoped you'd get out of this entire day, but beggars can't be choosers."

xXxXxXx

Half an hour after the Bones women had left, both Harry and Rachel were inside his half of their shared mindscape staring at something utterly horrific. "What the name of my Great Grandmother Death is that?"

"That is not any form of sorcery or wizardry I have ever heard of," Rachel admitted in a shocked whisper, "But it is definitely magic in origin. This shouldn't be here, but I have no idea how to excise it."

"We'll ask Miss Shayera when she gets here," Harry said.

"Why ask her, rather than Madame Bones?" Rachel asked.

"A couple reasons, but it might be best if we discussed them in a location where whatever that is, is unable to eavesdrop, assuming it is sentient at all," Harry said, "At least it isn't mobile or aggressive from what I can tell… just extremely foul."

"Can you read it at all?" Rachel asked.

"No, and that is what bothers me about it. It is like a big empty void inside of my mind," Harry admitted.

"Let's get out of here, this entire area creeps me out, and that isn't easy to do," Rachel said as she shivered in disgust. This entire section of Harry's mindscape felt diseased due to the presence of whatever that thing was. As such the two children rapidly retreated to a safer location, where they proceeded to vacate the stomachs of their mental constructs.

xXx Chapter Concluded xXx

Author's Note: This one went a bit longer than I expected it to, and covered a great deal of information. No, Moody won't end up in Azkaban, that would be far too inconvenient. And also, did any of you really honestly expect Dumbledore would do what Narcissa wanted him to do?

This Dumbledore isn't going to be a simple MOB carbon copy. He has valid reasons for what he did in regards to Harry, as was highlighted in his discussion with Narcissa, at that point in time, and on short notice, Harry was better off with Lily's sister. That said, revealing all of those reasons all at once would defeat the purpose of the story.

Updated Mutants & Masterminds stats for Harry and Rachel that include the piggybacking ability have will be added to the library I am building and linked over on the AO3 version of this chapter within 72 hours after this chapter is first posted, please feel free to check them out at your leisure.

Additional Note: Fair warning… I am currently in the process of writing the sixth chapter of this story, but my attention to this story has slowed down as other things, namely the news that the next season of Sekirei is on it's way, have caught my interest. Please do stay tuned, as I have not given up on this story, it just might take longer for chapters to get published. I also have an idea in the works for a Sekirei / Potter fic.

UPDATE: Blargh... apparently I need to actually watch videos on youtube before just assuming that something is true XD Sekirei season three probably isn't a thing... still, that is what caught my interest at the moment. Going to still be trying to finish Martian as well though.