With applications underway, we'd like to reveal the creatives already behind this Percy Jackson zine!
First up is @starsoupart, who will be contributing as a lore artist 🏺
Applications open now until March 2nd.
Writer Application
Artist Application
hmm okay tell me why i haven't seen a percabeth actor au where annabeth is playing athena and percy is playing telemachus and they've been secretly married for years
I find it so funny when people use this panel to “prove” Babs is abusive when she’s literally pampering tf out of him like she got this guy 7 pillows and a cutesy pink bed I promise you he’s fine
Literally patched him up, gave him seven pillows, made him soup after this but saying "whine whine whine" in what I believe is a jokingly way makes her a verbal abuser💔
She's treating him like a princess while joking around guys
The vampire arc was not what I expected, even if the set up was predictable at parts. It is… resoundingly uncomfortable, particularly with the sexual manipulation and other undertones. Which I suppose it is meant to be. Still, I’m impressed by how uncomfortable I was.
Dala, the to-be-revealed vampire, is a creep off the jump. The way Dick starts pining for her and the intensity of it begins strange and becomes repulsive on reflection, given that it was entirely driven by supernatural compulsion.
Like yeah, no shit no one has affected you this way before. (Don’t worry though, it won’t be the last :D)
We’re told about her kind much later on, but they’re not vampires, I think. They’re vampiri, with the distinction being that it was a curse wrought upon the patient zero, and later his sister, a few hundred years ago via a snake. This is done on account of them being The Worst. And they really try, in every way possible, to cram the very notion of taboo into these folk.
But like, okay, jumping ahead, we get to the part where Dick is eventually lured out and attacked. And it just… really really rubs me the wrong way.
The fact that it’s partially a hallucination, meaning Dick’s perspective is not reliable, the sexual undertones of turning someone, even the “come to my waiting arms… don’t you love me, Dick?”
Maybe I’m reaching here, and I don’t like to reach in this manner, but… come on. This was assault.
Then we cut to black and Dick wakes up elsewhere. The rest of it maintains the gross edge despite becoming more of a standard vampire romp. Dick finds himself aided by a priest and realizes he’s messed up six ways to Sunday
but very soon after falls so deeply under control that it doesn’t really matter.
And, Jesus, the vibes. I hate her I hate her I hate her ughhhh
Bruce gets lured out, he gets bitten too, it’s a whole bit of shenanigans trying to get the cure for them, whatever. Again, while the vibes are maintained and there are probably more subtle elements you could glean from these later events, they’re much more your standard supernatural affair.
I just can’t get over how in pain Dick looks. Like he has been so damn miserable and it sucks.
I just came away from this feeling really really bad for him, lol. This entire experience from start to finish was stark. And, of course, as all Dick-related losses of autonomy demand, we get back to our regularly scheduled programming with little fanfare after. They’re just fine and that’s that. No comment on Dala.
What I’m interested in is how this might’ve impacted Dick’s experience with being romantically and sexually manipulated by Raven later in NTT, because reading this drew a lot of parallels to that in my humble opinion. The inexplicable and often uncomfortable romantic urges he felt, the hallucination (or, in Raven’s case, dream) sequences with implicit or explicit sexual involvement, what have you. I dunno.
Anyways: ughfghghghghgghgh. The depravity that vampires are typically meant to represent in media was very well captured here. I hate it. Great job unironically.
I swear, Dala has to be a metaphor for sexual grooming, and at one point she just flat out stated that she was promised him sexually.
Like????? What else are we supposed to take away from this?? The double entendre was almost certainty intentional. She made him feel special ("I don't usually go out with younger men, but I think in your case, Dick Grayson, I shall make an exception"), showered him with love and affection, manipulated him, isolated him, and took advantage of him physically. That's sexual grooming 101, and a damn good metaphor for it too, imo.
This. And it's surprising how not many people talk about her???
But well it is old issues, not everyone read those probably...
Still, I forgot that phrase😭 It just gets worse and worse the more you read.
Also about your tag "Dick Grayson and his never ending list of times he's been SA'd" I genuinely made a list on that, it's kinda stretched here and there with the inclusion of gray areas such as kisses on the cheeks, but gods if it's way too long. And someone recently even added another thing, like why does it keep on getting longer?!?
Oh your list is much more generous than mine, negl. There's a lot more times involving Kory and Raven during Marv Wolfman's writing on the list I've been working on. I wasn't joking either when I said Marv Wolfman has a knack for stumbling ass backwards into male SA, because half the time when Kory kisses Dick it isn't even consensual, and at one point she even had Raven kiss him as a joke after Raven had been forcing Dick to have sex dreams about her.
To quote a friend of mine, "The fact that dick immediately knows kori is at fault is telling". Of course, in the end they kiss and make up because what else is Marv Wolfman going to do, acknowledge how fucked up that actually was? Lol, no. This is Marv Wolfman after all.
But anyways, I do think Dala and Liu explain a lot about why Dick is the way he is about intimacy. Sex doesn't really seem like something he enjoys as much as it seems like it's something he does out of obligation to keep people interested in him. Sure, he doesn't completely hate it, but it's not like it's one of his favorite things to do either. Idk, maybe I look too deeply into it, but his behavior mirrors a lot of real world victims, even if that wasn't the writers' intentions.
Also in general Marv Wolfman had a weird thing going on related to make TEENAGERS get SA. Even the second time he writes about it happening to Dick it's him as a teenager.
And while I absolutely do not approve to hate on people, it's actually crazy how much backlash Devin Grayson gets compared to Wolfman?
Made a post about that topic too actually. Linking it here because it'll be faster than repeating that whole yap😭;;
One of my more questionable choices as a pet owner is that sometimes when Ollie needs to be distracted from something I'll wipe a little bit of ranch dip onto his feets and call him "little mister salty paws" while he scoots around licking it off
I have a Harry Potter/Batman brainworm that won’t leave me alone so it’s going to be under the cut
But what if Dick was actually Harry Potter. And when the Dursleys found him on their doorstep that morning, they knew they weren’t going to keep him.
But there was a traveling circus in town, so Vernon took the baby and left the him with “the other freaks.”
John and Mary Grayson, meanwhile, are the two who find the baby. There’s no indication as to what his name is, or where he came from, or who he belongs to. But they’ve always wanted a child, and after years of trying but not being able to have one, they see this baby as a blessing. So they keep him.
They know he’s magical. There are several witches and wizards in the circus. John’s sister-in-law Karla is a witch. His nephew Johnny is a wizard.
So Dick grows up knowing about magic. He knows the scar on his head is a curse scar, but the circus isn’t as up to speed with the news of magical Britain. They don’t know about the story of the boy who lived. They don’t know he’s Harry Potter.
So Dick grows up in the circus like normal, just doing the occasional accidental magic and learning about magic from his aunt, it sort of homeschools him and Johnny in magical education. They figure they won’t ever attend one of the magical schools, because they can’t afford to let the boys leave the act, or they just straight up can’t afford it. Maybe the schools like Hogwarts are more elite, and so kids like them are usually homeschooled anyway.
But then when they’re in Gotham, the Flying Graysons still fall.
Dick, at 8 years old, goes to juvie in Gotham for two months before Bruce is able to get custody of him.
But he uses his magic at night to sneak out, to track down Tony Zucco, to get his revenge. Batman always finds him. Batman always brings him back to juvie. Batman always tells him he just needs to be patient.
Then Bruce Wayne gets custody of him. Then three weeks later, Dick finds out Bruce is Batman when he discovers the cave underneath the manor (“You should call it the Batcave, Bruce!” “That’s a great idea, chum.”).
So Dick becomes Robin at 8 like normal.
But he eventually has to tell Bruce about magic.
Which leads to Dick getting lessons from a JL magic user. Because even though the main schools are an option now that Bruce is there to pay for it, Dick doesn’t want to go. He doesn’t want to go to a boarding school. He doesn’t want to leave Gotham Academy. He’d rather have a tutor and be registered with the Ministry as homeschooled.
Which makes it all the more shocking when a couple years later, he gets a letter from Hogwarts addressed to Harry Potter.
Does he end up going to Hogwarts? Does he get flack from the kids who grew up in the magical world for being the supposedly spoiled boy who lived, only to also get flack from the muggle-raised kids who think he’s the spoiled only child of billionaire Bruce Wayne? Do people like Snape find out that he was in the circus and start harassing him for that? Calling him a circus freak?
Does he eventually have to remind everyone that not only did his birth parents get murdered (and he does sort of remember it), but that he also watched his entire adoptive family be murdered in front of him as well?
Does he have crazy potions knowledge because his Aunt Karla was a potions mistress and took his magical education very seriously, along with whoever the JL member was who tutored him for years? Does he give Snape a run for his money? Is he one of (if not the) best student in his year?
Does Bruce end up having to fight with Dumbledore and the staff when he finds out about any potential bullying? Or when Dumbledore tries to insist that Dick (who he always calls Harry) should go live with the Dursleys?
Or does Bruce just keep him home and continue having him be tutored by a JL member?
You just combined my two hyperfixations and my two lifelong characters into one... To the two characters I've drawn the most, too. Do you know what you just did to me?
Excellent excellent. You can be insane abt this with me. I’ve never read a dc/hp fic I actually liked and tbh I don’t even know what I want to do with it but. It’s been in my head for months and won’t leave me alone so I HAD to post it lmao
I have thought about which house Dick would be in (the right way, by his values, not his personality, as most people choose houses), but I never thought of an AU where they were the same person.
Would Lily have blue eyes? Because I can't imagine Dick with green eyes like Harry- Or maybe just those eyes that look blue or green in the light and nobody knows what color they are, lol
But okay, if the Hogwarts letter really did arrive, He probably already knew that school existed thanks to his JL tutor, but he would never think that he would go there (I if anything, he would have probably thought that he would get a letter for Ilvermorny, not Hogwarts which is on the other side of the world). If he agreed to go, what would it be like?
Okay, they learn about the existence (or non-existence yet) of Voldemort... This kid has the most powerful heroes in the fucking world behind him as uncles and aunts (Nobody is going to get it out of my head that Dick is the baby of the League, everyone adores their little ray of sunshine who is a menace that is 2 apples tall).
Would Dick still be a Horcrux? If so, how would they react to the news that he must die to destroy the part of Voldemort inside him? Would they even get to that point in the war? Everything would probably develop a thousand times faster, which would be absolute chaos-
(and here Constantine appears with a way to extract Voldemort's soul without killing the child who somehow won his affection)
I think Dick’s eyes would still be blue, so we could just make it so Lily had blue eyes. That way everyone can still tell him “you have your mother’s eyes.” Maybe they’re a blue-green kinda color, and that’s why they’re so unique in comparison?
I kind of like the idea that Constantine is the tutor Bruce has had for Dick since he found out he was magical.
So the second Constantine met the Bat’s child, he took one look at him and was like, “When the fuck did you acquire – you know what, no, nevermind. Anyway, are you aware your kid has a soul shard attached to that curse scar on his forehead?”
Because Constantine immediately recognized Dick as Harry Potter, but decided he didn’t want to deal with an international incident if he brought it up. That’s why Bruce and Dick never know he’s Harry Potter until he gets the Hogwarts letter.
Constantine also finds a way to remove the horcrux without killing Dick. It takes a year or so of research and testing, so Dick doesn’t get it removed until he’s almost 10, but it’s gone before he ever enters Hogwarts. And Constantine figured out there was more than one soul shard, and tracked several of them down to destroy as a side quest of sorts. Because he was bored. And it was fun.
Maybe he shows Dick how to perform the ritual to destroy the soul shard without ruining the container it’s in. So if Dick does go to Hogwarts, and he stumbles upon the Room of Requirement and the horcrux hidden inside it, he destroys it after a month of prepping the ritual and communicating with Constantine to make sure he has all the details right.
Maybe Constantine still tutors him with something akin to the mirrors Sirius and James made.
My real question is, how do Remus and Sirius react to Dick? He’s their Harry, but he refuses to be called Harry. He has no connection to his birth parents, and maybe he doesn’t even really want to have one. He already remembers losing a set of parents he loved dearly. Maybe he can’t stomach getting to know what his birth parents were like when he knows he’ll never actually know them.
As for which House he’d be in, I feel like it would still be Gryffindor. He’s cunning and ambitious, sure, but I don’t think he’d fit in with Slytherin. He’s loyal and friendly, but I don’t think he’d fit with Hufflepuff. And he’s incredibly smart, but he doesn’t want knowledge just for knowledge’s sake, he wants to be able to use it.
At this point, he’d still be Robin. He’s 11 and he wants to be a hero. He is a hero. He likes saving people, he likes helping people. He likes beating the snot out of bad guys. He’d make an excellent Gryffindor, I think.
But would he still be friends with Ron and Hermione? Would he maybe have more in common with Dean, or maybe Seamus? Since they’re the only other two Gryffindor boys in that year who would’ve been raised in the muggle world. Maybe he makes good friends with Lavender, because she reminds him a little bit of Donna, and he misses his Wonder Twin.
Maybe he makes friends outside of Gryffindor easily, more so than Harry was shown to. Perhaps he and Justin Finch-Flechley get along because Justin is from an upper crust family and they both complain about going to events like galas. Maybe he likes Padma and they study together and debate a lot. Maybe Constantine is friends with Blaise’s mother and Dick had actually met Blaise before school started and they got along well.
Maybe Dick starts a study group with kids from several Houses and just hangs out with lots of different people.
Dick definitely goes to Diagon Alley with Constantine, so maybe he won't meet Quirrell there, but maybe Dick, who is more versed in magic than Harry was since despite growing up in the Muggle world, he was educated as a wizard, (perhaps we can say that in the circus it was a different kind of magic? Like, more natural, not as rigorous as something they teach in schools, so Dick is probably better at wandless and non-verbal magic, because that's how he grew up learning), Well, the point is, he realizes that Quirrell is somehow possessed, and he's just like "anyone else noticed that professor is two-faced, right? Quite literally as well".
For me, Dick is usually a Hufflepuff, not because he's "the good guy," but because of his values. He's extremely loyal and hard-working. But yes, if he's not a Hufflepuff, I'd definitely leave him in Gryffindor. He's THE HERO.
Anyway, let's suppose that Sirius's situation still happens and he runs away and meets Dick, who refuses to be called Harry... Sirius especially had a tendency to see James in Harry, comparing them a lot... And now Dick is almost nothing like James, even in appearance he doesn't look so much alike, as if he had always been the son of the Graysons.
Sirius would probably try to get close to Dick, but Dick, even though he tries to be nice to Sirius... He wouldn't be as desperate for a family as Harry was. He has family, friends... I would probably try to help Sirius because of how Dick is, but I wouldn't give him that crucial role that Harry gave to Sirius in the books.
Regarding Remus, I think it would be similar, although perhaps he would understand a little more that Dick isn't that interested in knowing about his biological parents, no matter how much it hurts him. Although they may share a story or two, Remus compares them to James and Lily, and Dick compares them to John and Mary.
Dick is going to be friends with half the Hogwarts community in some way. And let's also remember that he loves reading, so forming a club with members from different houses is completely feasible.
Do you think he'd play Quidditch? He'd definitely love to fly again.
Oh I def think he’d play Quidditch, but maybe not Seeker. I don’t think it would be as exciting for him. I could see him being a Chaser and a backup Beater in case something happens with one of the twins.
LOVE the idea of the circus using more natural magic, so to speak. I can see him being really good at wandless magic, and maybe other magic that doesn’t require a wand. Like he’d be really good at Divination and reading tarot cards and tea leaves.
Absolutely cackling though over Dick taking one look at Quirrell and being like “I thought I left Two-Face back in Gotham, what the fuck is this.”
Maybe he’d call Constantine and tell him to deal with it, since demons ar kind of Constantine’s specialty and he thinks Quirrell is just possessed or smth.
“What do you want, kid, our next lesson isn’t until Wednesday.”
“My teacher has a demon.”
“Most adults do, kiddo. I’m shocked he only has one.”
“No no, like a real one! On the back of his head. It smells funny.”
“Ugh, fine. I’ll come pay you a visit next weekend.”
“Thanks :) bring me some Lucky Charms too please.”
“What kind?”
“The cereal kind, I don’t like the food here.”
Constantine gives Quirrell on exorcism lmao and so the events of first year play out very differently. For instance, no obstacle course from hell underneath the school for Dickie, otherwise Bruce would throw an absolute fit. He’d be complaining to the school board so fast. He’d give Lucius Malfoy a run for his money.
I like the idea of Dick meeting Sirius, and Dick of course being sympathetic about what’s happened to him, but not really wanting much to do with Sirius.
I can see Sirius constantly calling him Harry. Constantly trying to say that Harry should live with him, he’s his godfather, it’s what his parents wanted.
“My dad barely lets me go to Hogwarts as it is, you’re lucky you get to see me at all.”
That makes Sirius see red, makes him snarl, “He’s not your dad!”
But Dick is unfazed. He’s had Killer Croc snarling his face, at least Sirius doesn’t smell like a sewer.
“Bruce is my dad. John Grayson was also my dad. James Potter was too, I guess. But two of those people aren’t alive anymore, and Bruce is. Bruce loves me and takes care of me and wants the best for me. I’m not gonna just leave him because my fairy godfather shows up when I’m 13 and says I should. You don’t even know me.”
“Of course I know you! You’re my godson!”
“What’s my middle name?”
“James!”
“No it’s not. It’s John. But I’ll give you a second chance. What’s my favorite ice cream?”
Sirius is stammering, stuttering, and turning red. He looks like he’s about to blow a gasket.
After two full minutes, he still hasn’t said anything.
“It’s mint chocolate chip. Just in case you were wondering.”
Sirius is so angry, so upset. So Dick gives him one last chance.
“What’s the name of the circus I grew up in?”
Sirius answer that one, either.
“Maybe you should ask your friend Remus. He at least bothered asking me about myself before assuming I was exactly like the dead father I never met.”
I want Sirius to just be so insane about him. So clingy. So obsessed. And Dick is having none of it. Bruce is having none of it either.
This au makes me feel insane bc there’s so many different paths you can take and my brain can’t focus on just one.
This mf hangs from his broom like a trapeze to grab the quaffle and score goals.
I'm thinking that he would probably get along a little worse with Hermione because she is very closed-minded, everything has to be like the books, and Dick would definitely do the potions, spells and everything like he learned, same results, different processes... And he's definitely going to be one of the best in the class. (The teachers would love him... Snape is complicated, maybe he doesn't hate him AS MUCH as canon, but I don't think he would automatically like him because he's a good potioneer).
He's probably not that close with Ron, but they don't get along badly. Dick knows what it's like to grow up with little money, so he would understand Ron... Even if he has a lot of money now, just like Harry did in the books. (maybe he can convince Bruce to give the Weasleys some anonymous help? In canon they wouldn't accept Harry's help because they didn't want to take an orphan's money, but now it wouldn't exactly be his money, so...)
Do you think he likes magical creatures? Maybe Hagrid, who would still get along with Dick (probably the first to agree to call him that instead of Harry, along with McGonagall), he'd present him with some creature and Dick would be like... "I've seen worse in Gotham, or with Constantine, this is cute."
Aaaaaaaa I have too many ideas in my head about how this could go, can you imagine the Triwizard Tournament???
I want the Slytherins trying to get him in trouble during the game because “he can’t hang from his broom like that!”
But Dick, swinging from the one knee he has hooked around his broom, just holds out his hands as demands, “show me where in the rule book it says I have to keep my ass on the broom! Show me! Show me right now, I dare you!”
He has so much practice arguing with the snotty upper class kids at Gotham Academy. Slytherins are practically child’s play.
I also agree that he and Hermione Would Not Get Along.
Those two have full on heated debates in the common room at least thrice a week.
“That’s not how the textbook says to perform that spell! You didn’t say the incantation or do the proper wand movements!”
“Well then tell me why it worked just fine without any of those things! It’s magic, Hermione, not rocket science! I don’t need a user manual to know how to make my magic do what I want.”
“Then what’s the point of us going to school if it’s such an innate skill? Can you tell me that?”
“You need it because you can’t feel your own magic. I need it because my tutor is a lazy asshole who convinced my dad it would be good for me to socialize or something.”
“You can’t use language like that!”
“It’s English. Would you rather I say it in French? Constantine est un connard paresseux.”
Hermione gasps, obnoxious and loud, and then stomps off in a huff.”
Ron, who can’t stand Hermione for being a know it all, thinks this is the funniest thing ever and is one of the ways he and Dick get along. But I still think Dick would be closer with maybe Seamus, since they both understand both the muggle world and the magical world the best out of the other boys in their dorm room.
But yes I think Dick would adore Hagrid, and vice versa. And Hagrid understands wanting to be called something other than your given name, even if Dick’s situation is a little different than just preferring to go by your surname.
I think he’d really like magical creatures, and he’d talk about it with Hagrid a lot, but probably not take the class come third year. I can see him doing Divination and Ancient Runes.
As for Snape. I have a lot of feelings about Snape.
I feel bad for the kid that Snape was. I’m sympathetic towards the kid who got bullied and then lost his best friend for various reasons. But I have no sympathy for the adult Snape became. One does not simply join a terrorist organization, get bailed out from any jail time bc Dumbledore pulled some strings for him, then go on and continue bullying children for over a decade and then get have all of that horrible behavior excused.
So I think even if Dick is a potions prodigy, Snape would still hate him because he came from James Potter’s loins. Because he was half Lily, and he was so obsessed with her that he would hate a child of hers who wasn’t also his.
So he’d bully Dick just like he bullied Harry. But maybe even more so, because now he can use being a circus child as ammo. He can use being the ward of a billionaire as ammo. Because this child of the man he hated more than anything has been living in the lap of luxury for however many years (despite the tragedy that lead to it, Snape doesn’t care about that).
So Dick, in all his petty glory, would be so obnoxiously amazing at potions. He would make perfect potions, write perfect essays. Snape would still grade him harshly, but he wouldn’t be able to give him an actual horrible grade. Because after he tries it the first time, Dick sends the essay to Constantine, who reports back to Bruce, who immediately launches a complaint with the school board. And with both Bruce Wayne and John Constantine in this kid’s corner, the complaint has to be taken seriously.
I also think Snape would constantly call him Potter, but Dick would straight up ignore him until he acknowledges his actual name.
“I’m adopted,” Dick says slowly, as if talking to a particularly dumb toddler. “Does wizarding Britain not understand the concept? It’s quite simple, really. Do I need to make a diagram for you?”
He waves his hand, and a family tree appears. Snape looks like he’s going to explode.
Dick is having a great time.
“If calling me Grayson-Wayne is too hard, just Grayson is fine by me. Even just Wayne works. Because that is, in fact, my legal name.”
The other Gryffindor boys are trying so hard to smother their giggles. Hermione looks like she wants to throw a book at his head.
Dick being a ray of sunshine who gets along with everyone, but an absolute menace to those who try to upset him is my favorite thing in the world.
Dick would probably go full sassy mode and tell him to his face how pathetic he is for bothering a kid, this kid was raised with manners by Alfred, okay, but Constantine is his guardian too, he's not going to hold back at all.
And yes, it makes sense, even though he likes creatures, he probably prefers Divination and Runes a thousand times over to the Magical Creatures class... Although he probably still goes into the woods to see creatures.
Although I'm thinking second year. Did Dick somehow sense the Diary's energy before it reached Ginny? Because without the Horcrux, he wouldn't be able to speak Parseltongue, he couldn't hear the basilisk. He shouldn't even be attracted to the other horcruxes at this point... Unless Constantine is with him buying his second year supplies and he's the one who stops Lucius.
And mixing it all up again... DUDE, Dick receiving the invisibility cloak and taking it to Gotham and using it when he's Robin...
I never vibed with Harry losing the Parseltongue once the horcrux was removed, SO! Idea that maybe it unlocked a sort of dormant ability to speak Parseltongue, and since he had the horcrux for like 10 years, the ability was around long enough to stick.
I’m also thinking maybe Constantine trains him to recognize the signs of a horcrux, or at least the ones Voldemort made. And since he has the horcrux on him for so long, it’s easy for him to learn to recognize what it feels like.
Maybe he doesn’t have the run in with the Malfoys in Diagon Alley because he’s not shopping with the Weasleys. But he probably recognizes the feeling once it’s in the dorms with him.
So he quickly, quietly, and efficiently steals the diary and packs it away for Constantine to help him destroy. And since Ginny didn’t have too much exposure to it, she has minimal side effects. And thus the Basilisk is never released.
But also I FORGOT ABT THE INVISIBILITY CLOAK! Imagine the shit the Titans would get up to with that thing. Oh my god.
As a fellow Dumblebitch hater, feral robin enjoyer, and all around chaos gremlin, I think Bruce needs to refuse to let his baby boy live in dorms with unvetted magic users. So they live somewhere on/close to campus so on paper Dick can go to school safely but in between the lines, Bruce can storm into Dumbledore’s office at least 3 days a week. Snape looked at his baby funny?Bruce can woosh a cloak just like his cape. Dick misses patrol? Alby baby Dick will be gone for the next week for a ski trip. (Or something frivolous just to piss him off). Now to hash out Bruce and McGonagall’s relationship.
OBSESSED with the idea of Brucie Wayne strutting into Dumbledore’s office insisting on taking Dick to Aspen for ski week, and just blinking at Dumbledore like he’s a simpleton when he says Hogwarts doesn’t have a ski week.
“You don’t have ski week? How…uncivilized. Oh well, I’ve already had our butler set up our vacation home, so you’ll be missing Dickie for a week or so. Toodles!”
Bruce would absolutely have a home in Hogsmeade, and Dick can have special privileges to sleep either in the dorms or at home.
I also think Bruce and McGonagall would get along swimmingly. They both only want the best for Dick.
I feel like in this AU Dumbledore would try to turn the ministry against Dick instead of fear mongering, because he thinks Dick is out of control and needs some way to reign him in but Dumbledore has been threatened by Bruce too many times so they send in Umbitch, who ends up trying to torture him. Dumbledore tries to have plausible deniability by saying that Ministry was oppressing him and trying to take over the school and whatnot.
Ooooh very good angle to use, I like it.
But also now I’m picturing Dick sitting in Umbridge’s pink cat cafe office using a blood quill, and he just stares at her after the line he’s just written has been carved into his skin. She’s smiling so sadistically at him, but he’s cool as a cucumber.
“You’re gonna have to try a lot harder than that to break me,” he tells her, voice bored. He’s suddenly glad it’s common knowledge that he was held hostage all summer. “I’ve had way worse than this, just a couple weeks ago even.”
She’s livid, her face turning red, but then Dick just stands up and tucks the quill into his pocket.
“This is also super illegal, especially to use on a minor. My dad’s lawyers will be contacting you soon enough. Best look out for their owl.”
She can’t catch him. She can’t get her blood quill back. He evades her every attempt, and eventually just walks right out of Hogwarts altogether.
Bruce has a house in Hogsmeade he’s been staying at, in case Dick needs him.
Dick refuses to go back to the castle until Umbridge is gone. Bruce’s lawyers make quick work of that.
@psychemochanight I had a thought abt 5th year for Dick in Harry Potter if we assume that the triwizard tournament happened without a hitch bc of a few factors (started a new post bc the other one was getting very long lol)
Anyway reasons why Dick wouldn’t be involved in the triwizard tournament:
Constantine and Dick have destroyed all the horcruxes at this point so no more Voldemort
Aunt Karla, upon discovering her newly adopted nephew was a wizard, helped John and Mary perform a naming ritual so no one could use the baby’s original name against him magically (especially since they didn’t know who he was or where he came from)
Bruce has the best lawyers imaginable both muggle and wizard. No way he’d let his baby be forced to compete in a death sport
Constantine could probably threaten Crouch and Fudge and the other gambling guy who’s name escapes me if they tried to make Dick compete
So anyway assuming nothing bad happens during fourth year, we need a reason for Dick to be depressed as shit fifth year.
Enter Slade Wilson.
The summer after fourth year, Dick is kidnapped and blackmailed into being Renegade, Deathstroke’s Apprentice.
He doesn’t start fifth year on time. He’s a week and a half late, because the JL couldn’t rescue him before then.
Dick escapes Deathstroke by the skin of his teeth. The JL actually hardly have a hand in helping him escape. He ends up using a lot of magic, general fuckery, and sabotaging Slade’s blackmail material (could be that he was threatening the Titans and he managed to get himself infected with the nanobots or maybe he destroys them idk).
Whatever happens, Dick doesn’t show back up to Wayne Manor until September 2nd. Then he refuses to leave Bruce’s side for a week. Then Dumbledore pulls some shit once he finds out Dick is no longer being held hostage (the story for the public was that Dick was being held for ransom and the kidnapper kept demanding more money and not letting him go or smth idk).
So Dick arrives late his fifth year, and he’s horribly depressed. He can’t tell anyone what really happened. He can’t tell them he was forced to become a killing machine. He can’t tell them how he was tortured damn near daily. He can’t tell them anything.
So naturally, everyone and their mother is demanding to know what happened to him.
“I was being held fucking hostage, Hermione!” he snaps one day in the common room.
Hermione had been pestering him since he’d been back, saying shit like, “Just because your dad is rich doesn’t mean you can show up late to school! Fifth year is so important, Dick! Weren’t you thinking about your OWLS?”
“It was only international news all goddamn summer! So no, I wasn’t thinking about the fucking OWLS, I was more concerned about not pissing off the man who waterboarded me to try and get me to spill Wayne Enterprises secrets that I don’t even know!”
He’s fudging the details on why Slade tortured him, but it did happen. He was tortured in several different ways. It’s just that Slade usually called it training.
Hermione goes totally pale, and the whole common room is staring at him now. So he just takes the book Hermione had been holding out and chucks it across the room.
“So take your fucking lecture and shove it up your ass!”
Idk I just want him to still be angry and pissed off and depressed during fifth year, and Slade seemed like a great reason. Whether Umbridge is there for fifth year or not, I haven’t decided.
I was also thinking more about this AU, and there are certain things that are eating my head, lol
Okay, so the reason Harry was forced to participate in the first place was because of the binding contract with the Cup, right? We know that there are consequences if they are not followed, but we don't know what they are. So the idea of his aunt performing a ritual to remove any link to his original name is brilliant, because that would make Dick not be bound to any contract because he is no longer Harry Potter.
Now, assuming they used his new name (I always thought the way Barty put Harry's name in his own handwriting was by using a homework parchment signed by him, and Dick would sign it as Richard Grayson-Wayne, not Harry Potter), even if Dick were to participate in the Tournament, I think he would literally destroy everyone in it without any difficulty, or on the contrary, he would do the most fucking logical thing... He shows up on the day of the task so he doesn't break his requirement to participate... But he doesn't do a damn thing. Like, "oh, no, I can't do this, it's soooo difficult", with the most sarcastic voice in the world, but yes, he doesn't do shit, because he doesn't want to participate, he doesn't want to be there, and he doesn't give a shit about the prize.
(Maybe they don't even go that far, maybe just like with Quirrell, Dick realizes there's something wrong with Moody, and tells Constantine that he discovered it using a spell to reveal covers or something like that).
(I feel like we can still keep Voldemort alive, considering DC magic also exists here now, he'll probably find something to keep him alive until his original soul is killed, not just the horcruxes, but that's just so he can keep screwing around sometimes outside of Hogwarts).
So, fifth year.
I absolutely LOVE the idea of you putting the Renegade arc in here.
The idea that Dick is so stressed and angry that he just can't contain himself when someone is being SO insistent on knowing about things he can't tell, and being away from the people who CAN know (aka the Titans), must stress the shit out of him.
Maybe Dick doesn't even have such a close confidant at Hogwarts? Sure, he has plenty of friends, but he's never been able to make the connection with anyone as strong as he did with Donna, for example. because they can't possibly know about Robin, or all the shit that goes on, they don't even know why exactly this boy can get out of Hogwarts every weekend, maybe some people just think it's because he has the privilege of having a billionaire dad?
And that drives Dick crazy, because he doesn't want to be at Hogwarts, he doesn't want to hear whispers about him. He doesn't want the Muggle-born to spread the news that "Richard Wayne was kidnapped to reveal secrets of Bruce's company", because there are more and more questions, about why he didn't use his magic to free himself before (he tried, hell he tried until he could finally escape), and he's hurting because in a week he hasn't recovered from everything Slade did to him, and the memories are so fresh.
Oh, and Snape? He definitely relives the memories every time, because he speaks just like Slade, just as contemptuous, just as arrogant. He can't stand being in the same room as him, not because they look the least bit alike, but because the haughty tone puts him in fight-or-flight mode every single time.
If Umbridge is there, she won't last long. If she tries to punish Dick for something, using that pen, after just the first punishment Dick would say something and she would be sent to hell by Bruce.
The only reason I can think of that it wouldn't happen is that Dick is so depressed he won't say anything, plus he knows they're monitoring the mail... But I think even then he'd say something to Bruce o Constantine, so... Yeah.
Oooh I’d forgotten that that was how Barty got Harry’s name submitted. Hmm. Something to ponder.
If Voldemort’s remaining sliver of soul is still around though and so is plotting shit for the triwizard tournament, I can get behind him making Barty go about the plan as usual (but would Wormtail still be around? I sort of assumed the events of third year would unfold differently, maybe even making it so Sirius was proven innocent).
BUT, but, I can also see Voldemort being a dumbass. And Barty also being a dumbass by association.
Because would Voldemort acknowledge that Harry Potter now has a new name? Or would he assume that it was a trick to make people think they can’t use his birth name in a ritual of some sort or for a magical contract (I’m making shit up but I think baes having power in the wizarding world would be plausible).
So would Voldemort insist on using the name Harry Potter anyway? And then throwing a tantrum when he realizes it doesn’t work?
Because for the sake of the story, we could say Dick isn’t actually obligated to compete, but the people in charge of the tournament (Dumbledore, Crouch, etc) make him compete regardless.
But I do fully believe Dick would kick all their asses. It wouldn’t even be a competition.
But god I’m also just so obsessed with the thought of fifth year being a post-apprentice arc situation. Like he just had the summer from hell, and now he has to deal with OWLs and Umbridge all the other fuckery from fifth year? He’d have a psychotic break lmao
And no one would take his PTSD seriously. Not until he does something actually a little crazy.
Maybe Snape gets a little too snappy one day and Dick just launches him across the room and then holds a potions knife to his neck.
He’s breathing heavily. His eyes are glazed over. He’s trembling. But he’s ready to slit Snape’s throat if he reminds him of Slade one more time.
Would Dumbledore insist on the Occlumancy lessons? Would Snape see any of the torture Dick went through, or would Dick be too good at shielding his mind already thanks to training from the likes of Martian Manhunter?
And Sirius. Omg Sirius. He’d have a shit fit once he found out Dick was held hostage all summer. He’d insist that Dick lives with him from now on, that Bruce Wayne couldn’t protect him.
Would Sirius storm into the castle during meal time and start shouting at him and at Dumbledore about it? Would Dick hex him, or just leave entirely?
So much happens in fifth year there’s so much to work with.
I've been thinking all morning about a conversation Sirius and Dick would probably have if Sirius keeps insisting on turning Dick's life upside down to "get" Harry back.
Anyway, Voldemort's case was because of his blood, not his name, whatever his name is he can use his blood for rituals. Still, maybe he doesn't try to use the tournament as an excuse, or he sees that Dick isn't linked to the Tournament so he has to find another way to revive, (Again, we can say that Barty was discovered at the beginning of the year as Quirrell, If at 11 he discovered the impostor so quickly, at 14 Dick already has even more experience in magic and as a detective, he surely notices something strange even without knowing Moody yet).
Anyway, we return to Sirius, who refuses to leave Dick alone. He wants the last thing he has left of his best friend back; he wants his godson.
"You are James and Lily's son!"
"They may have been my biological parents, but my parents were John and Mary Grayson, and now my dad is Bruce Wayne. I didn't know them, and although I don't doubt that they loved me, I can't love someone I didn't know."
"They gave their lives for you!"
"So Bruce would do it too".
Sirius is seeing red, because this boy, his godson, doesn't recognize his parents, or well, Sirius doesn't want to see that Dick respects James and Lily Potter, but can't love them as he loves John and Mary.
"Was James an honorable man? Did he love me?"
"He was, he loved you more than life itself. Just like Lily."
"Then he'd be happy that I had a good life with my parents, the Graysons, even after their death. He'd be happy that I now have a father who, like him, would give his life for me. Lily would be happy to know that mama Mary loved me with every fiber of her being like she did... They'd love me even if I stopped being called Harry James Potter. They'd love Richard John Grayson-Wayne, wouldn't they?"
And Sirius can't answer, he just has to accept it, because he knows it's true.
"If you want to stay in my life, you have to accept that too. I'm not Harry Potter, I don't know if I ever was. If you can't accept that, you have no right to even try to act as my godfather. Can you keep me safe? You weren't even there for the 13 years of my life when my family was. Bruce never stopped looking for me, you didn't even know I was kidnapped until I was free. Keep me safe... What a bad joke".
On the other hand, he wouldn't need Occlumency because by no longer having the Horcrux he would no longer have the connection to Voldemort, so... Yeah, it wouldn't be necessary, at least.
I think Dick would be so over Sirius’ bullshit and he wouldn’t be afraid to hide it.
Imagine Sirius finding out about how Dick was kidnapped all summer, how he started school late because of it, etc.
He storms into the Great Hall demanding he see his godson, demanding he have custody of his godson, insisting that Bruce Wayne can’t keep him safe.
And Dick is livid.
“You really think you’d be any better?” he snaps, but his voice is ice cold. “You didn’t even know I’d been kidnapped. You had no idea. Because you don’t know anything about me, you don’t talk to me. You have no contact with me. And that’s not my doing.”
“That American let you get kidnapped!”
“That American is my dad! My dad who worked tirelessly with the Justice League all summer to get me back! My dad who paid ransom after ransom and was sick with worry because they never even let him talk to me the whole time I was there, he had no idea if I was even still alive!”
He’s fudging the details, but the sentiment is the same. Bruce did work tirelessly all summer to get him back. Bruce would have absolutely paid any ransom to get him back, it’s just that Slade wasn’t interested in that. Bruce looked like a wreck when Dick finally got home. Bruce didn’t let Dick out of his sight until Dumbledore showed up on their doorstep demanding he return to school.
He marches up to Sirius and digs a finger into his chest, his eyes burning.
“You didn’t even know I’d been taken, because you only care about Harry Potter. But Harry Potter doesn’t exist! You don’t give a shit about Dick Grayson, and it’s obvious!”
Sirius wants to argue, but Dick doesn’t let him get a word in.
“You don’t want me. You want a ghost, you want a replacement for the friend you lost. You want someone who looks exactly like James Potter. Bruce Wayne wants me, his son, and he doesn’t care who I look like or who my birth father was. And if you think for one second I’d willingly leave him for you, you’re batshit crazy.”
This is a title for a blog @synstylae - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
ellievsbear
izzy806
gracieabrams
areudirty
stormborns
theartofmadeline
snowghoul
pixelskylines
