Minerva McGonagall-Pennyworth had returned from her honeymoon in Muggle Hawaii, she had never been there, nor she had ever left the cold weather of her Scottish nation but was so glad to visit the tropical scenery, especially since her 73 year old husband looked so well in a bathing suit, she mussed to herself as she began to remember her wedding day four years ago…
She had been going to the Wayne manor almost every month, in part to be witness of young Harry's upbringing but in part to talk to the charming British butler that served in the Manor, and even though she haven't had a relationship in years she found that the attention the man gave her was very welcomed.
They became an item when Alfie, as she called him, asked her on a date, he kissed her hand, pulled her chair back so she could sit, they talked, they drank a delicious wine, they danced and at the end of the night he kissed her and she felt a teenager once again. Their dates continued until Christmas when he kneeled in front of her and asked for her hand in marriage, she was silent for a few seconds but it wasn't in a negative way, she felt very strongly for that gentle man that she kissed him and told him "Yes", they got married early in July so she could take a month off for her honeymoon without leaving her work on the side.
Alfie and her went to Hawaii and were pampered by the full service the hotel had, not only were the beaches beautiful but the weather had been the nicest she had experienced, the meals also were delicious and even though it was a muggle hotel it had been the best food she had eaten especially since she was in the company of her charming husband.
Still the honeymoon couldn't last forever and they had to return to their jobs, she was currently sitting in her office filling many letters to the wizard children in Britain, Ireland and Scotland, she was almost finish, already reaching the W, when she saw two names "Fred Weasley" and "George Weasley" she exhaled when she remembered that both of her lions Charlie and Bill had "warned her" that this year their twin brothers were turning eleven and it was a probability for them to attend Hogwarts. She still continued to write the letters and pull them in the "to be sent" pile, tomorrow many children would discover they had been accepted in Hogwarts.
There was a knock in the door and Minerva allowed the person to enter, then from the doorframe appeared a blonde figure dressed in a black dress that showed her curves but it was modest enough for a school ground.
"Mrs. Black, nice to see you" Minerva said to the blonde woman in front of her
"Nice to see you too Minerva, I see that you have finished the letters" Narcissa said looking at the big pile
"Yes, I just did" Minerva returned the smile
"Draco is waiting his letter" Narcissa said with a smug smile
"Tell him that it will arrive in five years, but definitely will arrive, what can I do for a member of the board?" Minerva asked still with her smile never falling from her face, although Narcissa wasn't in the House of Gryffindor Minerva had been fond of the woman in her school years because she was dedicated, studious and a genius, she felt disappointment when she married one of the worst kids in school Lucius Malfoy but now that she had divorced that bigot git she had regained once again the fierceness of a true Slytherin.
"Well the board of Governors want to make several changes to the classes, mainly Professor Binns', since many of my co-members of the board have taken classes with the ghost, or better said, have slept through his classes" Narcissa said and saw that Minerva wanted to ask something "I came here to ask you if you want another professor sacked before the meeting tomorrow?"
Minerva thought for a second, she immediately thought of three, Professor Severus Snape who was a grouchy man but he wasn't as bad as before, Professor Quirinus Quirrell who she knew now that many of his concepts and theories about Muggle devices were wrong, yet she couldn't truly demand for him to be sacked of his position for that matter. But the third option was a professor that never seemed to teach well, that many students took the class because it was easy and that worst of all kept telling the students that they were going to suffer a terrible death.
"I think that the board should revise Professor Sybil Trelawney, she has been making "prophecies" about the students deaths which completely damps the mood and spirits of many students as well as send many of them to cry to their common rooms" Minerva said to Narcissa
"Very well I'll tell the board, by the way when you go to the Wayne's can you give this to young Harry? I saw it on the store the other day and I thought he would like it" Narcissa said giving Minerva a package box.
"Gladly" Minerva would be offended to be treated like a messenger owl but she would floo to the Wayne Manor that weekend so she didn't had any trouble with carrying the package.
--
Jason scowled looking at the way his father and siblings played, they were playing football like fools, instead of training they decide to have a "family fun Friday", even the almost four year old Helena was running with the pigskin giggling as she was chased by her father and siblings.
During the years in this Manor Jason had seen how Bruce Wayne truly was, he had adopted Dick and a little late he had adopted him which he was grateful, but then the other children began to appear and he felt shunned aside, things had gotten calm and peaceful but then a literal magic baby was brought to the Manor and everything began to twist in a negative way, Bruce had to take care of the baby and many of his siblings began to pay even more attention to the kid, and unlike him the baby had many people loving him and coming to his birthday parties and giving him gifts, he even saw how from one moment to the other the baby's eyes changed of color, now the baby was sporting heterochromia with one blue eye and one green eye, he would definitely receive more attention. Then arrive the other baby Helena who was daughter of a villain, how could Bruce step as low as to sire a baby with a villain. He definitely couldn't wait to return to college and leave the Manor.
--
Alfred was working on the kitchen waiting patiently for his wife to arrive at the Manor, he couldn't believe his luck when he had met the wonderful witch deputy-headmistress from a magical school but who was beautiful beyond any doubt, he was interrupted from his thoughts when the doorbell rang, he wondered who was at the door since Minerva often arrived from the chimney. He dried his hands and proceed to go to the door.
As he opened the Wayne manor door and saw someone he was never expecting to see again, Talia al Ghul, the brunette had been a very recurrent guest on Master Wayne's storytelling, what shocked the most the butler wasn't the tattered clothes she had on her but the fact that she wasn't alone, she was with a six year old boy whose appearance was identical to Master Wayne except for the slightly darker tone of skin.
"Alfred I presume?" Talia said with a very exotic accent which he couldn't comment since he and his wife had an accent as well.
"Yes, you must be Miss. Al Ghul, I think you want to speak with Master Wayne, am I correct?" Alfred asked
"Yes, if you would be as kind to tell him we're here." Talia said as she and her son began following the butler, over the past few weeks she had been taught to be more humble, when she had lived in the Nanda Parbat Palace she had servants but when the traitorous Wilson had attacked and killed his father she had to ran away from her home country, taking whatever menial job she could get to avoid appeal for alms and reach her destination.
They finally got to the backyard, not before she exchanged glares with a twenty something man who was definitely scowling at the events unfolding in the spacious backyard. Talia had met Batman, the true face of her beloved, the man who defied the Head of the Demon, the man who according to his father was the most fiercest and cunning man to ever existed, but now in front of her she could see Bruce Wayne, the man who was playing football with his children and a woman who could easily be his wife, the man who was laughing watching his youngest son carrying his youngest daughter in his arms as they ran and made a twirl in celebration. Talia wanted to cry, her beloved had move on, perhaps this was a mistake and Damian and her would be better without them in their lives. Then his blue eyes looked directly into hers. He told something to his eldest and walked to where she was standing.
"Talia?" He said confused at her appearance
"Hello my beloved" She said giving a weak smile, she wanted to melt in his arms but her pride was stronger, after all one of the reasons of the drift between them was the view they had on the world and its inhabitants.
"What happened to you? Are you alright?" He didn't needed to be the world's greatest detective to see in her persona the troubles she had been in. Her beloved took her and their son to a couch in the living room where Alfred gave them tea. Talia sat on a loveseat with Damian while Bruce was on a sofa in front of them.
"My father was killed by a man named Slade Wilson" She began telling the coupe that cost the life of her father. "He arrived with an army and took us by surprise during training, the man was a member of the League until he bitterly resigned"
"Why?" Bruce asked
"Because he thought that when my father died he would get to replace him as the new Head of the Demon, but Damian was born so he became heir leaving Slade to the side, he tried to kill him, an almost defenseless child but I was able to injure him and escape through a tunnel he didn't knew, father wasn't so lucky" Talia reminisced of the battle and of the man and women who had trained with her in the League of Shadows to protect mankind's future, all dead because of the ambition of one man.
"I'm sorry for your loss" He said then he glanced at Damian and then at her again "Is the child mine?" He finally asked her
"Yes, his name is Damian Ibn al Xu'ffasch Wayne Ghul" Talia said "How did you?"
"His face is very similar as mine as well as his complexion, the fact that when you were in trouble you came all over to the other side of the world to look for my help and the fact that you're not the only one who has brought me a child to the manor, so don't worry, you'll be safe here, both of you" Her beloved wasn't surprised at all of the situation they were currently in, but she appreciated his help, she continued to talk about the hardships she had to endure to get to Gotham city, without the League of Shadows and with the Palace being taken by Wilson's army she had no resources and had to resort to work.
"Alright, I'll show you your rooms where you'll be able to clean and change clothes, if you don't have any I'll ask for Harry and Selina to lend you some clothes so you can dress until we can go shop for anything else" Bruce said taking them upstairs to one of the longest hallways she had seen.
"Your room will be this one while Damian can use the one in front of you, if you need anything my room is at the end of the hall, I'll come back in a moment" Saying that he left them to their bedrooms.
"Thank you beloved" Talia said to him
"Thank you… father" Damian on the other hand almost muttered the last line, he was a good boy and his training had begun since he was four but he was still a child, perhaps without father's interference he can enjoy his childhood, Talia hoped for that but the boy was the Heir of the Demon so she knew he had a destiny to fulfill.
"Mother, are you sure we made the right choice by coming here?" Damian asked her interrupting her train of thought
"Yes my son, your father is one of the only people who has bested your grandfather in combat, and what's more surprising he was the only one who won again in a rematch, so if anyone can help us it's him" Talia calmed her son's worries
"But what I've seen so far hasn't impressed me, he was playing a silly game with some kids and his face isn't as fierce as I was hoping" Damian snickered
"My son you need to respect your father, I don't know about the children but when he dons his cape persona he brings fear to the hearts of anyone" Talia replied at his son's comment. "Now go take a bath, I'll do the same and we'll meet your father later, we need to get too many explanations"
"Of course mother" Damian said and went to his room, he saw some clothes laying on the bed neatly folded, it was a denim short and a shirt with the logo of some kind of music band, he took a quick shower and changed into said clothes, he heard a knock on the open door.
"Can we come in?" A voice came from behind, Damian wanted to brandish his sword but he remembered that he lost it during the escape from the palace, he saw a boy of his age with a blue and green eye holding the hand of a smaller child, a girl, the kids he saw playing with his father.
Remembering his manners after scanning the kids in front of him, and acknowledge they weren't an immediate threat, he nodded in affirmation.
"Hi, we weren't introduced before, I'm Harry and this is my sister Helena, we're the youngest of the Wayne family" Harry smiled at the other boy
"So you're father's other children, hmm, I guess that makes us siblings, I'm Damian" He said while still scanning the other children, the girl rushed to him and hugged him with intensity
"Another brother!!!" She said smiling while hugging the tensed Damian
"What's the matter with her?" Damian asked
"She likes hugs, you better get used to" Harry said
"I don't hug" Damian replied dryly
"Too bad, you better place your arms around her or else she'll cry and NOBODY wants that" Harry said with a smirk on his face, Damian pondered his options and placed his arms around the little girl's back.
"I'm happy, but I'm hungry, let's eat" She ordered which made Harry roll his eyes in amusement at his little sister's antics.
"Come Nena, come Damian, I'm sure Grandma Minnie brought her Scottish bread with her" Harry said guiding the group to the kitchen, even though Damian was a natural leader, according to his mother, he was hungry so he followed the other boy to the kitchen.
"Who is Grandma Minnie?" He asked, his grandfather always reminded him that he needed to question everything to learn more of how things and people worked.
"She's Grandpa Alfred's wife, she's a teacher in a school in Scotland so she comes from time to time, perhaps she even brought Sirius and his pack" Harry mused at his inner joke which Damian didn't understood but nodded along.
They finally reached the kitchen with Helena swinging from her brothers' arms and giggling. They heard two voices which Helena and Harry quickly recognized
"Grandma Minnie!" Both kids said as they rushed to hug the older woman. Damian quickly scanned the woman from head to toe and noticed that she had dust on her shoulders, just a faint trace of it, like if she had been dusted off or passed through a chimney.
"Hello children, how have you been behaving?" She asked them as she gave them a gentle pat on their hair.
"We're doing fine, I'll be entering elementary in September, and Nena will be going to her kindergarten classes soon as well" Harry explained
"And we have a new brother!" Helena said excited
"Really?" –Minerva said looking at Damian in the door frame, then she looked at her husband "And I thought that Sirius was the one who needed to be neutered" She laughed at her joke as well as her husband. "Hello young man, I'm Minerva, if you're Bruce's son and Harry and Helena's brother you can call me Grandma Minnie" She said with a smile
"I'm Damian, nice to meet you" He said, even though he wanted to snicker or ignore the elder woman he was still a six year old boy and she looked nice enough, like those elder members of the League that took care of him when his mother was training or in a mission.
"Come, I've brought some treats for everyone" She said, Minerva had remembered how everyone, including Bruce, had loved the Hogsmeade candies, she wasn't going to bring Jelly Beans or Chocolate frogs because of the Statute of Secrecy but she brought lemon drops, hard candies and regular chocolate wands. She was happy how the kids, including the newest one, ate with gusto.
--
In other place of the manor…
"So you're the other woman in Bruce's life?" A voice came from the doorframe, Talia had stepped out of the shower and was wearing a bathrobe, she had seen the clothes that awaited in her bedroom but she wasn't expecting the arrival of the blonde woman.
"The name is Talia, and don't worry, I don't want to steal your husband" She said with a hint of sadness, then the other woman began chuckling
"I'm sorry, but who said I was his wife?" The blonde woman asked
"Well I saw you playing in the backyard and I just deduced that you were" She said
"Oh my darling that's not happening, yes I have a daughter with him and yes the sex is fantastic but I don't want to marry him, if I do that it would place a target on my daughter's back since many dangerous people in this city would mark me as a traitor, as a mother you must understand the lengths one would go to protect her children, let's pray you can remain under the radar so that the dangerous life we've experienced don't come to hurt our kids" The blonde woman said with a serious tone
"I want to keep my son alive and safe, but he has begun a training and I'm sure he'll try to complete it and to follow his father or his grandfather's path, I pray for that day to be long in the future so that he reaches adulthood and can truly enjoy life" Talia confessed "I'm sorry but I didn't heard your name"
"I'm Selina Kyle, and I guess we'll be seeing each other for a long time" She said as she walked the hallway.
--
"So now you have another children?! Seriously Bruce what's your fucking problem?!" Jason yelled at his father in anger
"I didn't knew of Damian's existence until this afternoon and I would really appreciate if you calm yourself, yes Talia and Damian came here seeking shelter, just like Selina and Helena did a few years ago, so now you need to deal with it, I don't like that attitude" Bruce said to his second son, ever since Helena had come to the house he had been grouchy and angry for some reason.
"Look Bruce, I'm not taking any side but Jason does have a point, this is getting out of hand, I mean I love Harry and Helena but perhaps you should try to control your little dark knight" Dick joked trying to calm the situation a little only to receive a bat-glare for his efforts.
"Bruce, Jason was wrong to lose his composure, but I believe that he is worried, he thinks that you can cast him aside, because neither of us is biological linked to you" Cass said, since she had almost reach her adulthood she had become more mature and didn't provoke fights or pranks with Dick but still was very insightful in the human psyche especially the ones from her siblings.
"Do you really think I would do that? That I would leave you on the streets? Any of you? I adopted every single one of you because you needed family, Dick I was there on the Haley Circus, I saw a frightened boy whose world had been destroyed by a mobster, Jason your life wasn't better, your mother abandoned you and you had to live on the streets, I saw potential in you so I'm disappointed that you think that I would leave you back in the place I found you, Tim, you had no one after your father died, Cass and Steph, you two are the daughters of Supervillains, do you seriously think I would be petty enough to leave you on your own, you're my children just like I'm your father, and together we're a family, we face every challenge together just like we always do, now I don't know how many surprise children will come through that door but we'll make sure that they feel safe, welcomed and that they feel loved" Bruce said with a firm conviction
"Who thought you that? Uncle Clark?" Tim asked with a smirk which made ever laugh in relaxation.
--
Spinner's end…
Severus Snape massaged his temple, he was tired and hadn't been able to reach his proposed goal.
"I can't do it" Snape said collapsing in the couch he had on his potion lab in the basement of his house.
"Yes you can, we have faith in you Mr. Snape" Dr. Fate's voice resounded.
"But it's almost impossible to make what you're asking" Snape replied at the golden armored man.
"It's not that impossible, but perhaps you need some help, I made some research as I was working with the Longbottom, there are two potion master witches not far from here, you could visit them and ask for their help" Dr. Fate said
"Who? I'm the only potion master registered" Snape replied
"They're not registered but are very good in potions" Dr. Fate said as he placed a piece of paper in his lab table then he conjured a light Ankh and vanished.
"This must be a joke" Snape said to no one as he read the names in the paper.