A/N: Thanks to Hiya1, MaeDay In Hell, riptidedarkphoenix, xSilentSecretsx, dear-darling-x-x, and Black' Victor Cachat for the review. Big thanks to my new beta, rosypenderwick.

Comings and Goings

Mount Justice
August 29, 19:27 EDT

"Training went well today," Black Canary said. She stood in the center of the training circle, facing the main zeta tubes. Miss Martian was leaning against Superboy, her eyes threatening to roll back. He allowed her to lean on him, seemingly enjoying the attention. To his left was Aqualad, who was trying his hardest to keep up a rigid, attentive form. Artemis had set her quiver and bow aside, but was giving the equipment obvious glances, as if they'd be able to better support her. Last was Kid Flash, who had taken his cowl off so he could press an ice pack to his face, having taken four or five more punches to the face than what was safe, even for a speedster.

"Recognized Batman 02," the computer said. Batman marched from the tube and towards Black Canary. He leaned near her and whispered for a couple moments before stepping away and heading deeper into Mount Justice.

With a nod, Black Canary said, "You're dismissed for today." Before anyone could leave, she added, "Artemis, Kid Flash. Batman wishes to speak with you in the library."

They walked, side by side, in silence. Wally had been evasive when it came to the topic of the Helmet of Fate and Kent Nelson's death. Artemis, after her failed initial attempts to find out the truth, had given up. Their time at Hogwarts had revealed that, if anything, Wally West was as stubborn as he was brilliant.

Batman was in the center of the library when they walked in. He watched them as they approached. Once they stopped, he began. "In three days, both of you will be returning to Hogwarts to continue your magical education." Wally opened his mouth to speak, but Artemis stopped him with a quick elbow jab. "Ever since the end of the Triwizard Tournament, all of my ties to the magical world have gone quiet. Given your placement at the school and the recent announcement of the British Ministry of Magic interfering at Hogwarts, I am assigning both of you to a long term investigative mission."

"How much do you want us to report back?" asked Artemis. She already knew that gossip and boasting from her house would have to be sent back to Batman, but she wanted to know what else the Dark Knight wanted.

"Anything that you believe I would be interested in. I agree with Albus Dumbledore that Voldemort has regained his body and his now active. I want a list of current and potential accomplices.

"Good luck with that," Wally said to Artemis. "You'll be hard-pressed to get a single word out of anyone." He turned to Batman. "I've only got a single letter from my cousin, Ron, who's best friends with Harry Potter. He says that Dumbledore reactivated the Order of the Phoenix."

"Members?" Batman asked, probing. "Any recruitment since the first war?"

"Other than his parents and Dumbledore himself? Don't know. They've been under a communications blackout since late June. I'll get names on the First, but not until then."

Batman nodded. "Good. I'll need both of you to work together to get whatever information you can. You're dismissed."

Wally and Artemis nodded and left. As they strolled through the corridors of Mount Justice, Wally looked over. "What are we going to do?"

Artemis frowned, confused. "About what?"

"Working together at Hogwarts," Wally said. "I know that we were together at the Yule Ball, but other than that we don't have much of an excuse to be around each other. Everyone at school knows, or at least should know, that we live far away from each other in Muggle heavy areas, where there's no Floo connections or legal portkeys."

Artemis sighed. "Don't worry about it, West. We'll be fine." She looked away. "Plus Greengrass and Parkinson would give me hell if we ended up together."

"Really?" Wally said. "I mean, I can see Parkinson being obtuse and annoying about it, but Greengrass always seemed to have a decent head on her shoulders, not that it means much."

"Probably because her family was neutral in the first war," Artemis said. She turned away towards the zeta tubes. "I'm going home. I'll see you in a few days, unless we have something before then."

Wally nodded and watched her walk away. Something bad is going to happen this year, just like usual.

King's Cross
London, United Kingdom
September 1, 10:38 GMT

Wally West was pleased to run into Neville Longbottom right after passing through the boundary between the Muggle King's Cross and Platform Nine and Three Quarters. The scarlet Hogwarts Express was just as it had been the past four years when he had come to the station.

"Good summer, Neville?" Wally asked, coming alongside the nervous boy. Most of his baby fat had faded, but he still had most of the skittishness he had during their early years of schooling.

"Pretty good," Neville said. He showed a plant that made Wally nervous. He remembered when Robin had showed him all of Poison Ivy's special plants and what Neville held looked just like one. Robin told him it sprayed a foul sap that attracted dogs from a half mile away, all of them in a wild, barking frenzy. Neville caught his look and moved the plant from view. "How was yours?"

"It could've been better," Wally said, looking ahead. He spotted Artemis with the rest of the Slytherin girls in their year: Parkinson, Bulstrode, Greengrass, and Davis. Each one of them was terrible in her own right and he wasn't sure how Artemis had stayed so…decent in their company.

"Still pining after Crock?" Neville asked. "I don't know why you do, but I have seven Galleons on you two getting together this year."

"You do?" Wally asked. He frowned and pressed the chubby boy. "Who else is in on it?"

"Uh…well…" He stammered as they boarded the train. They lugged their trunks down the corridor until they found an empty compartment. Wally entered first, throwing his trunk up before taking Neville's and setting it besides his.

"Don't worry about it," Wally said. He sat down and leaned back. "So what's been going on since I went back to America? The Ministry's still obtuse or did Dumbledore convince them of the truth?"

"Harry had a trial for underage magic," Neville said. Wally leaned forward, eyes wide. "My Gran's on the Wizengamot, so she told me everything. Apparently some dementors attacked him and his muggle cousin. Got in trouble for casting a Patronus to save them both."

"I take it he got off?" Wally asked.

"Yeah, he did," a voice said from the door. Neither boy had realized they hadn't closed the compartment door until they spotted Harry Potter himself standing there. He put his trunk with the other two before sitting down. "I didn't know your Gran was there, Neville. I saw Bones' aunt and Lucius Malfoy, but that's it for anyone I know."

Neville shook his head. "You barely know anyone, Harry. Hermione puts most people off and Ron pushes away a lot of people from other houses that try to approach you. Especially – "

"We won't be telling Harry about that," Wally said loudly. He still remembered last year when one of the Slytherin girls had tried to approach Harry about the Yule Ball, before he had settled for Parvati Patil. Ron had sent her away in tears, which had shocked Wally. Artemis had spoken highly of the girl, which was odd in itself. He watched the skinny boy sit down and noticed something he had expected.

Wally frowned. "You didn't get a prefects badge, I see."

Harry scowled. "Unfortunately. Ron and Hermione got badges."

"I can't believe Ron was selected over you," Neville said.

Wally snorted. "Dumbledore's probably playing the long game, trying to appear unbiased. I've heard he's had trouble over the summer, even if it was from hearsay."

Harry scratched his head. "What do you mean 'the long game'?"

"He probably has a plan to take down Voldemort, even if it's years away from being realized," Wally said. He leaned back and turned to Neville. "Wasn't there a plant you wanted to show me on the platform?"

"Yeah," Neville said, pulling it out. Before he could explain it, however, the door was thrown open. Hermione and Ron stormed in, fuming.

"I can't believe that harlot!" Hermione shouted, sitting down beside Harry. "I can't believe she would say such a thing!"

"Do I want to know what happened?" Wally asked Ron. The other ginger frowned, but spoke.

"Only if you don't want to know who the new prefects are."

"And to think that I believed her aunt to be someone to aspire to!" Hermione continued on her rant and Wally soon realized she was speaking about Susan Bones of Hufflepuff and not whomever Snape had selected to be a prefect for Slytherin.

"I…I don't think Susan would say such a thing," Neville said from behind his plant.

"What did she say anyways?" Wally asked. Outside of the terror of their second year and the outrage of their fourth, he had always found the girl to be nice, if a tad shy.

Hermione shook her head. "I wasn't talking about Susan Bones. Daphne Greengrass was made a prefect and she said something quite awful about Harry." When she noticed everyone's confusion, she continued. "Her aunt is one of the premier experts in experimental charms. I've been considering that as a career if I don't go into the Ministry."

"Why are you worrying about that?" Ron asked, staring at one of his packed sandwiches with concern. "We don't need to worry about jobs until we finish Hogwarts."

Wally tuned out Hermione's lecture on the importance of OWLs and NEWTs for getting specific jobs. He looked out the window and watched the rolling green England scenery go past. After an hour, Hermione and Ron stood so they could go patrol the train as they were expected.

Hogwarts Express
England
14:12 GMT

Artemis Crock gave the newest Slytherin prefects, Draco Malfoy and Daphne Greengrass, a cursory glance and nod when they returned to the fifth year Slytherin compartment. She had been listening to Pansy Parkinson brag about her summer and complain about the disappointment that was her not getting the prefect badge. Artemis thought it was for the best, since Pansy would've abused it to the point even Professor Snape would've had to take it from her.

"I can't believe you said that," Draco said as they sat down. Daphne crossed her arms and smiled, a pleased look that made Artemis nervous.

"You're just jealous because Potter paid more attention to me than he did to you." The compartment went quiet as they all turned to Daphne. She turned to her best friend, Tracey Davis, and said, "You should've seen his face after I asked him to Hogsmeade. I don't think even Weasley has ever been that red."

"That mudblood's face was priceless though," Draco said as he slid between Crabbe and Goyle's thick bodies. The boys grunted and pushed Theodore Nott over.

"And why is that?" Pansy asked, turning away from Daphne and Tracey's whispering.

"Oh, it just has to deal with something that happened at the prefect meeting," Daphne said. "Draco, if you'll be a dear, please tell your girl what happened."

"Oh?" Pansy asked, her voice turning sweet.

Draco looked around for support before groaning. "Greengrass decided to apologize to Potter for what she said about him at the Prefect meeting. When he asked what she said, she decided to tell him that there was one thing she would never dare do."

"And?" Pansy asked, nearly crawling into Draco's lap.

"And then I kissed him," Daphne said. "Oh, and asked him to Hogsmeade, but I already said that."

Artemis sighed, leaned back, and closed her eyes. Hufflepuff would be better than this.

Hogwarts
Scotland
18:36 GMT

Wally frowned when Headmaster Dumbledore introduced the new Professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Batman had insisted he learn the names of every major member of the Ministry of Magic and their positions on issues that would label them light or dark. He knew from his research that Dolores Umbridge, Undersecretary to the Minister, was a notorious blood purist and hated those the more zealous purists would call half-breeds: veela, werewolves, and centaurs were her most recent targets.

And then she coughed. It was slight, but he could pick out her little 'hem hem' in between Dumbledore's practiced speech giving. And they say that he isn't politician.

"Do you need a cough drop, Dolores?" Professor McGonagall asked.

The toad-like witch shook her head and stepped forward. "Thank you, Professor Dumbledore for such kind words of welcome.

"The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. The rare gifts with which you were born may come to nothing if not nurtured and honed by careful instruction. The ancient skills unique to the wizarding community must be passed down the generations lest we lose them forever. The treasure trove of magical knowledge amassed by our ancestors must be guarded, replenished and polished by those who have been called to the noble profession of teaching."

She paused in a manner that made Wally's skin crawl. He had seen politicians on both sides act just like Umbridge in that moment. "Every headmaster and headmistress of Hogwarts has brought something new to the weighty task of governing this historic school, and that is as it should be, for without progress there will be stagnation and decay. There again, progress for progress's sake must be discouraged, for our tried and tested traditions often require no tinkering. A balance, then, between old and new, between permanence and change, between tradition and innovation because some changes will be for the better, while others will come, in the fullness of time, to be recognized as errors of judgment. Meanwhile some old habits will be retained, and rightly so, whereas others, outmoded and outworn, must be abandoned. Let us move forward, then, into a new era of openness, effectiveness and accountability, intent on preserving what ought to be preserved, perfecting what needs to be perfected, and pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited."

She nodded to Dumbledore and returned to her seat. "Thank you all."

"With that, I wish everyone a good night's sleep."