Is Love A Strong Enough Word?

Second Year

Adjusting to muggle life again over the summer between first and second year was rough; his siblings were all incredibly eager to see him do magic. Alfred insisted it was very, very illegal and that he couldn't perform magic outside of school until he was sixteen.

His favorite part about summer was writing to Marinette, not only because he missed her (which he would never admit), but also because the owl always freaked everyone out.

She claimed to be learning muggle classes so they could do it together during the school year and while Damian didn't think she'd go through with it, from what she'd been saying she's keeping up pretty well. Damian used the summer to speed through history and science, knowing English and math would take longer to absorb.

Marinette did not appreciate science, claiming the book always skirted around magic and was too afraid to admit it. Damian explained that muggles saw gravity and other natural laws as things that the universe simply did. When Damian rants about it to Alfred during dinner, his siblings are beside themselves.

"Wait, you don't learn any normal stuff?" Steph asks.

"No, kids are homeschooled to learn reading and math and then they learn magic at school. But it works, it's everywhere. They use it for everything. Packing, transportation, cooking. I had my measurements for my uniform taken using magic." Damian explains his classes and his siblings' imaginations are captivated as their curiosity runs with every new glimpse into life at Hogwarts. The rest of summer is filled with genuine questions and light teasing.

The worst part of Damian's summer was the publicity around his return. No one knew what school he went to and everyone was very curious as to why Bruce Wayne would send his only blood son to a different school than his wards.

People would crowd him at galas he now had to go to, making up for all the events he missed during the school year. The family used the excuse of privacy to avoid answering where Damian went to school. Damian vents to Marinette, who never really understood the scope of his family's wealth and place in society but did her best to be a good listener. She couldn't offer much consolation via letter but she offers a silver lining whenever she can.

When it's time to go back to Hogwarts, Damian and Marinette meet at the bookstore and catch up.

—

When school starts, Marinette studies with Damian for both magical and muggle classes. As promised. She's very proud of herself, doing pointless math problems and reading confusing poems.

Damian unwillingly becomes the Slytherin tutor for muggle studies. Marinette encouraged him to be nicer, having intimidated and scowled his way through their first year, and so they discussed muggle topics with a growing group of kids.

He had to explain phones, muggle schools and sports, even electricity which seemed to be the most confusing.

"That sounds like magic."

"I guess, but you can't control it to do different things. All it does is give energy. Like food gives you energy to move, electricity is food for stuff like phones and cars."

"And what's a phone like?"

"It's just a rectangle, here." Damian pulls it out of his pocket, he takes it with him to Hogwarts with a solar powered charger he made with Dick. "It doesn't have service so it can't do much but I have some games my niece likes to play." He really only brought it for the normalcy of having it.

The students pass it around, someone turns it on by accident and everyone looks at the phone like it might explode.

Damian rolls his eyes and opens it, for a bunch of people who claimed to have seen a phone before they don't seem to have a lot of experience with them.

"It reacts to touch, look, swipe your finger and it moves." Marinette tentatively slides her finger along the glass and the screen goes from one window of apps to another.

"What are the squares?" Damian sighs, this is gonna be a long night.

Marinette and Damian spend most of their time together now, and while Damian used to block out Marinette's rants he listens to them every once in a while.

They play chess and Marinette keeps Damian up to date on class drama. Their unlikely friendship gets stronger as the two try to survive second year. On the train ride back to platform 9¾ , Damian and Marinette sit with some other friends but Damian misses their usual cart where Marinette and him discuss the summer. He'd been looking forward to her ridiculous promises to keep in touch and meet up at the bookstore.

He's quiet for the majority of the trip, but when they get off the train the Dupain-Chengs are waiting with Damian's family which is considerably bigger than when Damian's father and Alfred dropped him off in september. No one seems to notice them approaching.

Glaring at his siblings, Damian's mood sours further. They all look like deers caught in headlights.

"How did your exams go, Master Damian?"

"Good. What are they doing here?"

"Damian, they were curious. They promised to behave. Isn't that right?" Damian waves his hands in front of his siblings' eyes. They don't seem to be aware of much, perhaps this finally broke them.

"Did you have to bring all of them?"

"Steph and Tim were going to come, but Jason didn't want to wait until september." Dick explained. "You think this school takes transfers?"

Swarmed by his siblings, Damian gets dragged out before he can say goodbye to Marinette, who they fail to notice as she tries to join the conversation. He's able to make the excuse of forgetting something and slips back onto the platform and sneaks up on a dejected looking Marinette.

"You didn't think I'd leave without saying goodbye, did you?" Marinette jumps in surprise and hugs Damian. And then Marinette makes him swear to keep all the same promises as before and that next time they get their own cabin, like they usually do. Damian rolls his eyes, as if it was his fault they sat with those kids.

He gives a quick goodbye to Marinette's parents before stealing back the quill Marinette took from him for exams.

"HEY! That's my lucky quill!"

"Yes, but I'm what makes it lucky. Heaven forbid it loses its magic over the break." Marinette huffs, giving Damian one last hug goodbye before he leaves.