The rest of June was a blur for Harry. In the two weeks left of the month he had been completely uprooted and placed in a totally new environment.
Somehow, Bruce convinced the Dursleys to put through the paperwork for Harry to go to America with them. Dick said Bruce had some 'connections', Harry was still not convinced this did not just involve Bruce throwing large amounts of money at people, and this made the paperwork apparently not take as long as it could have. Honestly, Harry wouldn't have minded, he and Dick had been hanging out during the days it took Bruce to do this, and it was already one of the most fun summers Harry had ever had.
When Bruce finally announced they were leaving for Gotham, where Bruce and crew apparently lived, Harry was a bit nervous about the plane ride. He had experience with flying using magical means, but he had never really understood how airplanes worked. Bruce had explained the science behind it to Harry, and while it was a bit reassuring to know a lot of thought was put into the process, words like 'fluid mechanics' and 'air flow' were not exactly comforting to Harry.
Despite not having any experience on a plane, Harry was pretty sure that it involved more tightly packed rows with little legroom and small packets of peanuts. He did not think it involved wide open spaces with comfortable couches and a fully loaded snack bar. Dick had acknowledged that while no, most people don't travel like this, but this was Bruce's plane, so of course it's nice. Harry may or may not have spit out the sip of soda he had just taken. He knew Bruce had money, but a whole plane? It was a bit ridiculous.
Once they landed, a nice customs agent who seemed to know Bruce greeted them and told them they were all set after very little fanfare. Harry thought the excess wealth was done until they were directed to a limo. Here Harry was introduced to the family butler, no joke they had a butler, who seemed more like a stern but doting grandparent than an employee, as well as the other boy, Tim, who was a couple years younger than him and was excited they were all back.
Harry thought nothing could surprise him more, but he changed his mind when they drove up the gated driveway to the grand manor that apparently he was supposed to stay in for the summer. Deciding that he should just accept that he was going to be horrified by the overt display of wealth, Harry was contentedly dragged on a tour by the younger inhabitants of the manor.
The tour was long, considering how large the house was, but Harry had a feeling that he hadn't even seen some of it. Some of it was just ridiculous, like the ballroom.
"What do you need a ballroom for?" Harry had asked, horrified awe in his voice.
Tim had looked at him like he was a moron. "For balls, obviously."
Dick laughed. "Don't worry, Harry. Bruce doesn't host too many parties, and you can probably find an excuse to get out of it if he does."
They had gone briefly outside, just to see the expansive grounds, and Dick had pointed out some trees that he liked climbing, and they were high enough to make Harry a little woozy. They stopped by the pool, the half basketball court, which Dick promised to teach him how to play, and a weird paved area with strange ramps which Tim said was for his skateboard and offered to teach Harry as well. Harry nodded along, but decided not to point out that maybe this was a bit excessive.
Harry was led inside and shown the kitchen, which they were shooed out from by Alfred since he was making dinner and did not want to be disturbed, and multiple living rooms with big comfy couches and needlessly large televisions. They showed him Bruce's office, which Harry felt like maybe they should have knocked but Dick barged right in. Bruce had a phone perched on his ear and was sitting behind the desk. Bruce made an exaggerated face twisted in pain, and Dick laughed at him having to suffer through business calls, and they were shooed out of there pretty quickly as well.
The three of them then made their way up to the bedrooms. Harry's room already had his trunk and Hedwig in it. He assumed that Bruce and Alfred brought it up. It was a nice room done in a light blue with matching drapes and bedclothes. Hedwig, rather than being in her cage, was comfortably perched on a wooden stand, which seems its only use could be to hold Hedwig and Harry took a moment to feel grateful to this wonderful and open family who wont force him to keep Hedwig in her cage. The window by Hedwig was open, letting a nice breeze into the big room.
"You'll need some posters or something," Dick said once he looked around. "The walls are bare."
"You could paint them," Tim suggested. "The color is nice, but we could find something else too."
"Good idea, Timmy," Dick agreed, and Harry is wondering why on earth they would want to change anything at all about this beautiful room.
"No. I think it's perfect," Harry said quickly, and Dick had shrugged and said, "Well, it's your room." And that was that.
Harry's room was next to a bathroom, which he was dragged past to look at Dick's room on the other side. The floor of Dick's room was pretty neat, with a few scattered articles of clothing, but the walls were covered, full of posters, pictures of friends and family, newspaper clippings, tickets to events, and anything else it seemed could be taped to a wall. Harry could barely find a bit of free space in the whole room.
Tim's room, on the other hand, had mostly blank walks with a few pieces of artwork that must have been in the room before him. But the floor was a complete disaster. Harry was a little afraid to step into the room, with there being no where to step without hitting some clothes, books, or who knows what else. And Harry was pretty sure he even saw Tim's laptop under a sweatshirt on the floor.
Bruce's room was at the end of the hall, the master bedroom which was closest to Dick's room, and Harry didn't get to go in there, but he had a feeling it would be spotlessly clean like most of the rest of the house. The hallway they were in had five other bedrooms. Four were empty and served as guest bedrooms, but the fifth, the one across from Dick's room and in between Tim and Bruce's rooms was closed, and it didn't take a genius to guess that was Jason's room.
Tim had stayed in his room briefly to answer a text from some person named Bart, when Dick leaned down to tell him something. "Just so you know," Dick confided. "Timmy usually uses our bathroom, rather than his," Dick gestured to the bathroom between Tim's and Jason's rooms, and Harry understood that some ghosts didn't need to be touched.
"That's fine," Harry answered quietly and Dick smiled before calling for Tim to hurry up before they missed dinner.
Dinner was an odd affair. The food was amazing, Harry wasn't quite sure what he was eating but he knew he wanted more of it. The company was relaxing, conversation seemed to flow easily. Harry felt a bit left out at first, since the rest spent some time talking about people he didn't know, but the family made an effort to include him in dinner and made promises to introduce him to some of the topics of conversation.
Harry still kept up his calls to Hermione, who seemed content with being the go between him and the Weasleys as well. He always promised her he was doing well, and she nagged him a bit about starting his summer work. Strangely enough, he had already started the work because Tim had asked him about magic, and having Tim help him with his homework actually seemed to interest the kid. Not that Tim knew much about magic, but he seemed to pick up things quickly.
Hermione talked about her summer with her family and some old primary school friends, and Harry returned that by talking about how his summer was going. He told her all about Tim trying to help with his homework, and Tim trying to teach him how to skateboard in return. Harry wasn't very good at it yet, but he was trying. Tim also liked to introduce him to new TV shows and video games, much to Dick's annoyance. Despite the fact that Harry had never had the chance to play video games before, he still soundly beat Dick every time. He had told Tim he was worried Dick was losing on purpose, but Tim had laughed at said that Dick was just bad at them.
Dick had finally gotten fed up with video games, and pulled out a board game for them to play. The rules of Settlers of Catan were confusing at first, but once he got the hang of it, Harry had some fun. He soundly lost the first game to Dick with Tim close behind, but laughed at the squabble the two got into about trading some resources. Bruce had showed up near the end of the game, and Dick somehow roped the man into playing the next game with them. Tim seemed to be out for blood this time, and quickly tried to ruin Dick in any way he could. While that was happening, Bruce offered to make an alliance with Harry, who quickly accepted. This had the benefit that Harry came in second when Bruce crushed all of them at the game with a wicked smirk and no mercy. Dick had claimed that they needed more practice, and they played again. When the same result came, Bruce winning spectacularly, the three boys decided they needed to team up in the next game just to crush Bruce. With the other three players, and occasionally the dice, working against him, Bruce soundly lost the next game, but tried as hard as he could and ended up in third somehow. Before any rematches could be demanded, Alfred informed them it was time for dinner.
Harry sort of felt like this was what Hermione meant when she said she missed home, and Harry felt like he could get used to this. Hermione had sniffled a little when he told her that, but had seemed happy for him, and made him promise to try and bring the game back to school so she could play it.
There were things he didn't tell Hermione, like how some nights, when he woke up from nightmares, Bruce or Dick, or sometimes even Tim, woke up with him and talked to him until he could fall back asleep. Sometimes, if it was particularly bad, Harry was led down to the kitchen by one of them, and Alfred would already have a cup of calming tea and a small snack ready. It was amazing.
It wasn't always wonderful in the house, however. For some reason, the other occupants were missing a lot. Harry understood that Bruce had a full time job, but the hours he kept were ridiculous because sometimes late at night Harry would be up binge watching some show with Tim and Bruce wouldn't be back yet.
Dick and Tim left sometimes as well. Apparently Dick worked in some private security firm that was very top secret and in some way run by Bruce? Many of Dick's friends worked for the firm also, it was how some of them had met, Harry had learned. And Tim apparently also occasionally did work for the firm in some kind of internship program. Dick didn't seem to like talking about his work very much and quickly changed the subject whenever Harry brought it up. He held odd hours, though, and it never seemed to be consistent.
Usually at least one of the others, besides Alfred, was home at night, but rarely all three ever were, which Harry noticed when he woke them up with his bad dreams. Tim, still half asleep had once revealed that Dick and Bruce were still out when it was three in the morning, but Alfred had quickly changed the subject before Harry could ask.
Despite the strange hours the family kept, it was still way better than living with the Dursleys, and Harry was incredibly glad he had chosen to go with them.
A few days into his stay, Harry was cornered by Alfred Pennyworth. It was a bit intimidating, because while Harry had talked to the older man while in the company of everyone else, he had not yet had a conversation with him individually.
Harry was just coming out of the bathroom after brushing his teeth and getting ready for the morning, when he ran, quite literally, into Alfred.
"Ah, Master Harry," Pennyworth greeted, and Harry still felt a bit weird about the master thing, but he had tried to stop the man enough times to know he should just go along with it. "I was just looking for you."
Harry tried to fight the urge to attempt to flatten his hair. Pennyworth was always so nice and pristine, it kind of made Harry feel scruffy.
"Yesterday, I was doing the household's laundry," Pennyworth continued without a response from Harry.
And yeah, Harry had noticed the hamper in his room had been emptied, as well as some of the scattered clothes around the room. He had meant to ask Dick about it, but totally forgot when Dick had decided he, Harry, and Tim had to go into the city to get ice cream.
"Thanks," Harry interrupted before Pennyworth could continue, which caused the man to raise an eyebrow, so Harry blundered on. "I probably should have said that yesterday, but I forgot. So, er, thanks. And, really, I can do that."
Pennyworth nodded. "That is very kind of you to offer, and you are very welcome, but not why I am here." Pennyworth paused. "I am curious about the state of your clothes."
Harry looked down and felt a blush creeping up his face. "Yeah, they were my cousins. Kinda big on me, but I get by."
"Well I don't think a boy should have to live in badly fitting cast offs, especially not in this house," Pennyworth said firmly, and Harry was about to apologize for stepping foot in the house and maybe even for existing when Pennyworth continued. "And that is why we are going shopping."
Harry thought his jaw might have dropped and his neck might have whiplash from how fast he looked up at the older man. "Shopping?"
"Shopping," Pennyworth agreed, straight faced.
"But, er, I don't have any money," harry answered then frantically searched for another excuse.
"Well Master Bruce has plenty," Pennyworth answered, and Harry was stopped from protesting by a firm look and a raised eyebrow. "I insist."
And that was that honestly. Five minutes later, Harry was sitting in the passenger seat of a car, thankfully not the limo, and he wasn't totally sure how it happened.
Twenty minutes later, Pennyworth was pulling up to a shopping mall and telling Harry he most likely needed an entire wardrobe, since he had burned the clothes Harry had. Harry could honestly not tell if he was joking and was a bit afraid to ask, so had nodded and gone to do as he was told. After picking out a few things, followed around by Pennyworth who seemed content to just drift behind Harry as he flitted to and from the clearance shelves, Harry had decided this was an acceptable amount.
When Harry declared himself done, Pennyworth had simply raised an eyebrow, and Harry had decided that no, maybe he wasn't done. Pennyworth smiled and wandered off for a bit, and returned with a cart that already had a few items that Harry had forgotten earlier, or simply didn't pick up because it seemed too expensive. Pennyworth loaded Harry's armload into the cart, then pushed and prodded Harry with his raised eyebrow until he decided Harry was done.
When the exhausting trip was over, including loading it all into the trunk, harry thought he may have actually been pushed to buy an entire wardrobe. From underwear and socks, to clothes for all seasons, to shoes, to pajamas, it seemed like Alfred had accounted for it all.
When they returned to the manor, Alfred ordered Harry to the kitchen, where apparently lunch was waiting for him, while the older man unloaded the car and told Harry his clothes would be in his room tonight after he laundered them.
Harry ate his sandwich in a dazed, post-shopping state, but was pulled out of it by Tim coming in and asking if he wanted to go outside and show him how his broom worked. Readily accepting, Harry had all but forgotten about the extensive shopping trip while he was zooming through the air with Tim, and Dick when he came back from his work and demanded to join.
But when Harry went back to his room that evening, windswept and a bit dirty and planning on showe4ring then just face planting into his bed, he saw a pair of the new pajamas laid out on the bed. Opening the chest of draws, Harry found them also filled with the neatly folded clothes he had bought this morning, with no trace of his old things. A note was left on top of the dresser in a tight cursive hand.
I hope your stay here is long and pleasant, Master Harry. Do not be afraid to ask for anything you may require.
Harry smiled at the note, and carefully folded it and put it in between the pages of Hogwarts: A History for safe keeping.
It was strange to have people care this much about his wellbeing. Harry's scar had been hurting a lot recently, and he wasn't sure if he made a face or if everyone in this house was a mind reader, but it felt like every time his scar so much as twinged, someone asked him about it.
Finally, after about a week of Harry avoiding questions about it, Bruce cornered him and asked him about it. He was hard to say no to, so Harry had confided that, yes, his scar hurt sometimes, but he was fine really.
Bruce hadn't liked that response and dragged Harry to go see a doctor, apparently a friend of the family. Leslie Thompkins was a nice, but stern, woman who insisted Harry get a full checkup and even get his head scanned in some fancy ways just to make sure it was okay. After a few days, Doctor Thompkins called to let them know that nothing appeared to be physically wrong with Harry and that medically, he was fine.
Deciding that he couldn't do anything about it, Harry tried to ignore the scar. However, a few days later, Bruce told him that Zatanna, apparently a magical friend of his, was coming to check on the house wards again, which Harry didn't even realize the house had until that moment, and would see if she could find anything magically wrong with him.
When she arrived that afternoon, Zatanna checked the wards on the house first, but came to find Harry with Bruce and Dick trailing behind her. Alfred had convinced Harry and Tim to take a break from skateboarding lessons, which may have just developed into jumping the skateboards into the pool, so they could have a snack.
She was explaining something complicated about wards she had set to the two men following her as they entered the kitchen. Bruce and Dick were listening intently and nodding along seeming to understand whatever was happening. Harry caught Tim's eye, and Tim shrugged in confusion as well.
"So Harry, I'm Zatanna and it's nice to meet you," Zatanna greeted, directing her attention to him. She seemed nice enough, so Harry greeted her politely after he finished chewing the cookie in his mouth. Bruce and Dick sat down, the latter filching some cookies, while Zatanna came to stand in front of Harry. "Your scars' been hurting?"
Harry nodded. "Yeah. It's happened before but never for this long really."
"We had him see a doctor," Bruce added. "She seems to think whatever it is must be magic because she can't find an explanation."
Zatanna nodded and seemed to be thinking some things through. Her sharp nails drummed against her thigh in thought. "You only feel the pain where the scar is?"
Harry nodded. "It feels like it prickles sometimes, and other times it will get bad and feel like it burns."
"Interesting." Zatanna thought some more. "Is there a common stimulus that you've noticed?"
"Er, it usually happens when I'm close to Voldemort," Harry answered tentatively, but Zatanna didn't seem to be horrified by the name. She just thought for another second before clearly coming to some sort of conclusion.
"Okay, I'm going to try something, but just to warn you, I'm not sure this will work. It's mostly done to dispel curses and other malevolent charms, but I'm not sure that's what's affecting you," Zatanna warned, then closed her eyes to prepare the spell. She placed her hands, one over the other, on Harry's scar. Her eyes glowed in a strange way when she abruptly opened them. Harry closed his eyes tight as she said the spell. "esnaelc s'yrraH luos morf sredavni!"
Harry opened his tentatively after a few moments of silence. Zatanna was still standing over him and had her hands pressed tightly to his forehead, and the observers were still sitting around the kitchen with bated breath.
Suddenly, Harry felt a tugging sensation on his scar. It was almost like someone was pulling his hair, despite there not being any hair there. It started with a slight tug that was more annoying than painful, then it escalated to a point where it seemed like Zatanna had grabbed a huge chunk of his hair and just yanked it with all her strength.
When it reached a point where Harry was about to push Zatanna away from him, she fell down like a puppet whose strings were cut. Dick jumped to catch her before her head could hit the floor, and managed it just in time. The moment she fell, all the pain seemed to disappear from Harry's head.
Harry was just about to ask if it worked, when all of a sudden, a strange vapor seemed to be coming out of Harry's scar. Harry briefly went cross-eyed trying to see it, but the vapor detached itself from Harry's head and flowed slowly and haphazardly, like a snake that was taking its time, to the floor. It gathered itself on the floor, the long snake-like shape formed into a blob of mist. Then a shape formed. It seemed to like the imprint of a small child, horribly deformed in some ways, curled up on the floor. Harry was momentarily reminded of the ghosts at Hogwarts, until the creature let out a horrible shriek, loud and high and very clearly in pain. The vapor that made up the creature started to evaporate before their eyes, and within a few seconds the creature, whatever it had been, was gone without a trace.
All the eyes in the room were focused on where the figure had just disappeared, save for Zatanna's, who was still unconscious.
"Well," Dick said lightly. "I hope everyone else just saw that too."