An: Hello readers of The Wizarding Bat.

Thank you again for the support for this story. It just passed 300 favorites! Meanwhile, I have been working on a new Batman/Harry Potter crossover. In this one, Bruce goes to Hogwarts during the marauder era.

This is probably going to be a BruceLily story, at least in the future. It will be the first time I'm writing anything with a pairing ever, even if it is in the future.

My new story is "The Hogwarts Bat", please read it.

I have enclosed the first chapter below.

*** *** New story

An: New story! Yay!

An2: In this story, Bruce will go to Hogwarts and be in the same batch as the marauders and Lily and Snape. This story will diverge from canon (not that there is too much canon relating to the marauders era) James will start out as a jerk, as he was portrayed in a few flashbacks, but, as in the books, he will become more responsible and a better person eventually.

An3: The idea for this story has largely come from Terraking, who will also be beta-ing this story. This is my first time with a beta so I'm excited!

*** When Bruce is 14

A ping signaled the activation of the intercom of the airplane.

"This is your pilot speaking. We are readying to land at Heathrow Airport, the seatbelt sign is now on, please return to your seats immediately."

The overly talkative man sitting to Bruce's left grinned at him, "So, kid, what's your name."

"Arthur." Bruce replied shortly, his voice clearly indicating he didn't want to continue the conversation.

"Well, Arthur, what brings you to London."

"Just…school." Bruce replied, deciding to stick with the truth.

"Oh ya, where are you going?"

"Just an exchange program, nowhere big." Bruce said dismissively.

"Well, I work in the department of education, I know most schools in the area, try me." The man said.

Bruce cursed internally and thanked the gods when the plane landed and everyone began to get up.

"Well, have a good time in London, Arthur, maybe you'll see me around for an inspection at your school, David Howell's the name."

With that, the man was off and Bruce was left to his own devices in the immigration queue.

*** Dumbledore's office

One of the many instruments in the office of the Headmaster of Hogwarts suddenly started blinking and honking.

Dumbledore frowned, a new unidentified magical entity had entered Britain.

And if the instruments emphatic honking was to be believed then it was a strong entity.

The device was hooked up to the ICW's list of identified wizards and witches which Dumbledore had access to as a Grand Sorcerer, and Supreme Mugwump. It was also rigged to not include anyone below the age of 11, therefore unregistered muggleborns wouldn't ping his system.

Dumbledore opened an ancient looking compass and waved his wand over it a few times before the needle moved away from north and began pointing towards the location of the unidentified wizard.

*** Cambridge

"Ah, Mr Prince, how nice to finally meet you."

Bruce nodded politely to the Professor of Biology.

"Your credentials are indeed great for one only 14 years of age." The Professor complemented, "There will be a representative of the Department of Education who will be here soon. Once he is here, I will begin the tour."

Bruce struck up polite conversation as they waited for representative of the department of education.

"Arthur?" A startled voice spoke up.

Bruce looked up to see the man from the airplane, David Howell, if he remembered correctly.

"Mr Howell, nice to meet you again."

"Just an exchange program, nowhere big" David quoted Bruce incredulously.

The Professor raised an eyebrow, "Do you two know each other."

"We met on the airplane." Bruce explained, "He was sitting next to me and it was a long flight, so we ended up talking a bit."

"Well, that's a pleasant surprise." The Professor said with a smile, "Anyhow, let us begin the tour, as you may know, The University of Cambridge is actually divided into 31 different universities and colleges…" he droned on as he briskly walked out of the reception building they were in.

Bruce followed him out, listening diligently to the speech being given to him, despite most of the information already being known to him.

*** With Dumbledore

Albus activated the anti-muggle and invisibility charm on his custom broomstick as he began to fly over largely muggle inhabited areas, he seemed to be heading towards the mostly muggle town of Cambridge.

While he flew, he pulled out yet another device, that read magical signatures and helped divine the person who it belonged to.

After over an hour of decrypting, the device had pinged Bruce Wayne, an American, currently listed missing with the authorities of a muggle city named Gotham in the United States.

This puzzled Albus, the US had one of the most well-organized magical governments in the world, they weren't ones to miss a magical child in their country and not add him to their database.

Especially not one as amazingly powerful as Wayne seemed to be.

It would definitely be a feather in his cap if he managed to steal such a powerful wizard from the United States… not to mention the war with Voldemort which seemed to be more and more skewed in the favor of the Dark Lord, a pawn as powerful as Wayne could definitely swing the favor of the war, even James Potter, with all his loyalty and magical might didn't seem enough to win the war for Dumbledore.

*** Later

Yup, Bruce Wayne was definitely somewhere in the University of Cambridge.

This was good and bad for Dumbledore.

The bad news was, the University was huge and his compass wasn't exact enough for him to narrow it down any further.

The good news was, he had colleagues in the 32nd University who could help him out.

Hey, he had said the town was mostly muggle, not entirely muggle.

There were very few magical universities in Britain as it was hard to get enough space and keep it a secret.

Most of them used large ancestral castles or manors, as Hogwarts did, which had started out as a Hufflepuff Summer Home, but had been turned into a school by the founders and expanded to be large enough to house thousands of students.

However, the Milton University of Magic, which offered majors in Transfiguration, Advanced Charmwork, Alchemy (the only university in Britain to do so), as well as courses in dueling and magical combat, was located in Cambridge and was the 32nd University in Cambridge, though only wizards and witches and select administrative muggles (mostly squibs) knew about it.

It had been founded in the 15th century, over 4 centuries after the founding of Cambridge, but was still a very old school of magic.

The huge amount of different colleges made it easy for students to blend in and the actual college building was hidden by many spells, including the Virtual Space spell, which allowed it to fit in an area that wasn't even visible to muggles, who warped straight through it, and the fidelius spell as well as many other protective spells.

Albus strode for the building of the Milton University and walked inside and up to the reception.

The woman at the reception sat up straight at the sight of the famed Headmaster of Hogwarts.

"Mr. Dumbledore, how may I help you." She said respectfully.

Dumbledore vaguely recognized her as a student who had passed through Hogwarts a few decades prior, "Ah, Ms Everton, how nice to see you again, there is an unidentified magical who entered Cambridge today, likely not knowing even of the existence of Milton, I need to know his location."

Ms. Everton nodded, "As you probably know, we can locate any student registered at any school in Cambridge, however you will need the permission of one of our Professors to request us to track any student."

Dumbledore nodded, "Can you call Professor Sterling here please."

The Reception Lady nodded and scribbled on a red piece of paper before tapping it with her wand and it folded itself into a letter before disappearing with a poof.

Within a few seconds, another red piece of paper poofed into existence in front of the reception lady who unfolded it.

"Professor Sterling will be with you momentarily."

Dumbledore nodded kindly, before taking a seat on one of the sofas nearby and twiddling with his wand.

"Albus." A guarded voice spoke.

"Ah! Scott!"

"Mallory tells me that you want to track a student. Why?"

"Straight to business, eh? Very well then. There is an unidentified powerful magical over the age of 11, who has entered Britain and is here at Cambridge currently. I merely wish to offer him a place at Hogwarts as he is not registered with any magical school."

Sterling raised an eyebrow, "Name?"

"Bruce Wayne."

"Mallory, check the system." Sterling stated and the Reception Lady nodded.

"Will do Scott."

With that, she began to pull out some papers from the filing system below her and started tapping on a few files.

"There is no student with that name here at Cambridge." Mallory reported.

"I am certain there is, perhaps under a false name."

"Can you perhaps provide a demographic?"

"14 years of age-"

"Do you think we are crazy Albus, this is a university not High School." Sterling interrupted.

"I am certain of it, Scott."

"There is no way-"

"Actually, there is a 14-year-old here right now, under the name Arthur Prince. He's on a campus tour right now." Mallory interrupted.

"Thank you for your help, I shall go and meet him, if you can point me in the right direction." Albus stated.

"Actually, I think I shall accompany you." Sterling said, getting up, "Besides, there's no way a Professor here would let you speak to a student, especially a minor, unless you had a staff-member and a reason."

Albus nodded, slightly disgruntled at being accompanied by a fellow magical.

*** With Bruce

As the Professor who was guiding him continued to talk about the history of the school, Bruce was thinking about the future.

He would be in England for about 6 months, in which he would be doing a biology course at Cambridge after which he had gotten through admittance for a course at The Sorbonne.

In the meanwhile, he would also have to keep up with his physical exercises.

If he wanted to fight crime in Gotham, then just intellect wouldn't do him any good, his physical strength and skill also had to be unparalleled.

That was why he had gone through immense physical training despite his young age while continuing to train himself mentally.

However now that he had no master, and he was going from University to university, he would have to keep up his fitness in his spare time.

"Excuse me." Bruce heard a voice behind him.

His guide also turned around, "Professor Sterling! What a pleasant surprise."

"Professor Bradbury, nice to see you again as well." Sterling inclined his head.

"And who is the gentlemen with you?" Bradbury asked cheerfully.

"This is Professor Dumbledore; he teaches at a prestigious college in Scotland. He is a colleague of mine from years ago who happened to be passing through the area and thought he would drop by to see me, he has agreed to help me out in a few lessons."

"Is he also in Theoretical Physics?"

"Indeed, he has made several breakthroughs in the field."

"Nice to meet you, Professor Dumbledore, I'm Professor Bradbury, Brian Bradbury, I teach Biology."

The two men shook hands.

"Anyway, I was interested in this young man, only 14 years of age, I understand." Sterling asked, peering at Bruce.

"Indeed, he is quite the prodigy." Bradbury said proudly, "More qualified than half my undergrad class."

"I would be interested in a chat with him, maybe after the tour?" Sterling asked.

Something about the two men struck Bruce as being slightly off, they had some kind of other vested interest in him that they weren't stating.

"Sure." Bruce replied.

"Meet us here." Sterling said, handing Bruce a piece of paper, "Nice to see you again, Professor Bradbury, we should have tea some time."

Bruce glanced down at the paper.

Scott Sterling's office can be found in room 614 of the Milton University building.

Bradbury peered over Bruce's shoulder, "A blank piece of paper?" he said curiously, Scott must have forgotten to list his office address, wouldn't be the first time, smart man Scott Sterling, but very forgetful. Anyway, I think Professor Sterling is at the King's College, I can help you get there if you want."

There was definitely something off here, there were clearly words on the paper, and to his knowledge, Milton wasn't one of the 31 universities at Cambridge.

"No, I can find my way." Bruce said.

And he could, as soon as he read the piece of paper, he knew exactly where the University was.

Strange.

Really strange.

*** Later, Milton University

Bruce walked up to Milton University, it was a humungous building but there was nobody outside it, everyone else seemed to walk around the building, nobody standing near it and nobody seeming to notice it.

He walked inside and saw the reception to his left.

"Hello, I'm looking for a Professor Sterling, he asked me to meet him in his office in room 614."

"Right, you must be Arthur. Walk up to the 6th floor, 1st room on the right." The reception lady said cheerfully as she scribbled something on a piece of paper and quickly chucked it under her desk.

He nodded his understanding and walked up to the 6th floor surprisingly quickly in less than half a minute, far less time than he should have taken, considering he was walking leisurely.

He passed by many people who were wearing long black robes, some kind of uniform policy he assumed, a lot of them looked at him strangely.

He knocked on Sterling's office door and the door creaked open automatically.

"Ah, Bruce, nice of you to join us."

Bruce didn't let his shock or surprise show on his face, "It's Arthur, Professor Sterling, Arthur Prince, you may have me mistaken for someone else, you asked me to meet you here when I was on a tour with Professor Bradbury."

Sterling smiled genially, "My mistake, Arthur. Anyhow, as you may have guesses, we have not called you here just for tea, though you may certainly have some if you wish, Professor Dumbledore has something to discuss with you."

Dumbledore prepared his usual magic speech, "Have you ever found anything odd happening in your life, such as when you feel extreme emotions."

Bruce frowned, He didn't feel anything but grief, and he certainly hadn't felt any extreme emotions since… that night.

Taking Bruce's frown as a yes, Dumbledore continued.

"You're magical, 'Arthur', the only way you could have found this office is because you're magical." Dumbledore revealed.

Bruce let a skeptical look cross his face, despite already at least partially believing the story.

"You don't believe me, do you." Dumbledore said.

Bruce raised an eyebrow, "I'm not as dumb as you think I am. I may be 14 years old, but I'm 14 years old at CAMBRIDGE, I'm not an idiot, Professor Dumbledore."

Dumbledore's eyes seemed to sparkle with amusement, "Indeed, you aren't an idiot, but I am telling the truth, Bruce Wayne."

With that, he let his wand fall out of his sleeve, and flicked it.

A stunning white creature, that Bruce instinctively knew was a phoenix which seemed to be made out of pure light burst out of Dumbledore's wand and stood in front of Bruce.

"You must have me on some kind of drugs." Bruce said tightly, "There are certainly those which could cause hallucinations to this extent."

"Then how do you explain how we know your real name, Bruce."

"You don't-"

"Don't refute it Bruce, that IS your name and magic is real. You haven't heard of Milton University have you? Prior to today, you have known 31 universities here at Cambridge. That is because Milton is a university of magic." Dumbledore said.

"IF I decide to believe your story…why have you contacted me, and why now? Why never before."

"I am here to offer you a place at my school of magic, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You should have been contacted at age 11, by the American Magical Government, or their school Ilvermorny, but they seem to have decided to ignore you or deemed you un-magical. I was made aware of your presence immediately when you entered England." Dumbledore said.

"If there is a magical school in the US, why would I go to a random school in the UK." Bruce shot back.

"Because they haven't offered you admission. For whatever reason, they have ignored you. You can't simply apply for admission to a magical school, if they had accepted you, they would have sent you a letter." Dumbledore claimed, "Not to mention, Hogwarts is the best school of magic in the whole world!"

Sterling sent a weird look at Dumbledore that wasn't unnoticed by Bruce.

"And what if I say no."

"Then your memory will be wiped and your magic bound. The ICW has deemed any Wizard or Witch without proper training dangerous for society." Dumbledore said.

"So I have no choice but to go to your Hogwarts…" Bruce grit his teeth, there was many things he didn't know, and he didn't entirely trust Dumbledore's word.

"Essentially." The Headmaster of Hogwarts spoke.

"Well then…mind-wipe me Dumbledore, I can't give up my entire life's studies for magic." Bruce said.

Dumbledore's eyes widened with panic.

Aha!

Bruce was right. Dumbledore definitely had some ulterior motive for wanting him at Hogwarts.

"My boy, I'm sure we can sort something out…" Dumbledore began, "You don't have to attend the entire year, but you need to learn enough to take your Ordinary Wizarding Levels. Perhaps, you could start out on a trial basis for one semester a year."

Bruce mulled over his options, he didn't know enough about the World of Magic yet to make an informed decision, but if he went to Hogwarts for a semester, he would be able to figure out exactly what he should do, he would be able to gather information about the magical world fairly easily.

"Very well then. I shall come to your Hogwarts for one semester starting...?"

"Starting August, however I suggest you land up in July so you can try and catch up, 4th year will be starting, and you need to at least know the basics to catch up."

"Learn 3 years' worth in a month?" Bruce raised an eyebrow.

"Only your core classes, it will be tight, and your revision will probably continue into the school year. You only need to do a few classes to pass your OWLs, so you can do Transfiguration, Charms, Potions and Defence, which are the necessary courses to pass to be considered not-a-danger-to-society in the ICW's eyes." Dumbledore explained.

Bruce nodded.

It didn't seem like he had any other choice.

"But what about my time here at Cambridge?" Bruce asked.

Dumbledore smiled, "Magic has its advantages…"

*** End of Chapter