The Magic in the Insane

Chapter One

The night lingered on as the dark navy blanket of the sky was shielded by the choking thick grey smoke from Gotham. A few of its inhabitants were currently at Joker's club. The bright lights of the club shone in vibrant colours all around as drinks were handed around the large circular table. Cheers of laughter and smug grins were shared throughout the villain-filled room. Today was the birthday of the Harley Quinn, and as a result, many of her friends had come over to celebrate. It had also been a month after the 'saving the world fiasco' and while no one knew about the incident apart from the squad and Waller, people began to notice something different and off about Quinn, the fact she was gone for a while doesn't help her case. Surprisingly, the Joker had let Harley's friends from the squad come to his club as well as many other villains like Poison Ivy (whose guts he hates and would be dead if not for Harley.) Joker's hired staff had been shooed out, who were at first were expecting a paycheck but instead received a warning to exit quickly to leave room for the people coming. Most of the guests had arrived if not all looking at how many of the rogues were there just chatting to one another, or scheming depending on who you were talking to. As Harley wanted to spend her birthday with the maximum happiness achieved possible, she got her puddin' to bust anyone invited out of Arkham, which he did. So now the dark knight has a migraine.

Suddenly, a regal looking black-feathered owl swooped down through the top round window into the club circling around them, halting the party. Its eyes searched the crowd of people (if you could call them that) and it's piercing green eyes landed onto the addressed person... Harley Quinn. The blonde looked at it curiously, a feeling of similarity came which led her to gulp as she recognised the scarred left eye of the glowering bird. A snow coloured envelope fell onto her lap which was stamped with a family crest on it, two arctic foxes and an ebony-scaled snake stared into Harley's eyes as thoughts crept into Harley's mind. The dashing bird had landed behind its receiver on the leather curved couch that most of the Arkhamites were seated on, waiting for orders.

Harley slowly took the letter from her lap before dropping it again as Joker had suddenly questioned in a dangerous tone "Why is there a bird in my club? And now it's a messenger for you Harls? If this is a prank... so help me, Harley! I freaking HATE BIRDS!"

Harley glared at Joker, "Calm down Mistah J, just because Robin is based on a bird gives you no reason to disrespect my noble family's owl! Plus, you killed a Robin didn't you?" Harley laughed nervously when she realised what she just said as all eyes landed on the couple in both confusion and amusement as Joker smirked at the memory. Looking back down onto her lap, she took the letter in her pale hands. Inspecting it she slowly opened it neatly, placing the envelope on the table as she took out the piece of parchment. She opened up the flaps as the rest of the rogues started to lean in, eager to know what was inside.

"Harls, are you sure that this isn't some sort of trap? I mean, that looks pretty suspicious to me," Poison Ivy stated out of the blue.

"It ain't no trap, I'm sure of it. " Harley reassured Ivy when she picked it up. In cursive yet hurried writing she began to read. Harley cursed as she stood up from her seat and threw the piece of parchment onto the table. She rubbed her face with her hands when the rest of the rogues reached to grab the piece of paper. It was then that Poison Ivy grabbed it before Joker could read it and possibly rip it. She read it aloud so that everyone in the room could hear what the letter had to say. If anything, the reactions were varied, some were worried (probably at the subtle death threat), others looked confused and some just had the face "You're English?".

"Dear Harleen,

We know you no longer wanted contact with us so we allowed you to find your own way, one without magic. When we had found you in muggle college and gave us your wand, an extremely hard thing for any witch or wizard to do, we understood that you wanted to live your life away from magical England. While he won't try to hurt you, we wanted to send you a warning. He's coming for you Harleen, and he wants revenge on everyone who dared to lay a finger on his family. He's willing to kill anyone in his way just to get you back, just be careful.

From Lord and Lady Quinzel

P.S. As you know Tom has powerful magic but he can be dissuaded, just use your head and he's going to be there by 5:00, by apparition." Ivy paused and slowly put the letter back down onto the table before calmly saying, "Harley, what the hell does this letter mean?"

Harley's hands left her face, her blue eyes desperate for a moment before they hardened. Never had she looked so serious. She rubbed her arms, looking down to the tiled floor as if it was the most interesting thing on earth. "You were never supposed to know about all this..."

After a bit of contemplation Joker's face began to have a twinge of red. "Okay Harls, let's get this straight, someone is coming here to Gotham. Someone with magic, and as I quote 'powerful magic' is going to take you and possibly kill the rest of us."

Harley looked up again to see that Joker was steaming, he had edged to her face and she could feel his uneven breaths on her skin. His eyes were slightly crazed as the pools of green stared intently at Harley's blue ones. Her friends do seem to take threats quite seriously. She chuckled nervously, "Well when you put it that way it does seem a little on the downside."

"Who is this 'Tom' guy anyway? Sounds like a real douche, and you never mentioned anything about family Harley," Harvey said, flipping his coin casually.

"I never had to Two-Face, plus, it wasn't anyone else's business but mine," Harley glared at him.

The former politician rolled his eyes as he continued to flip his coin, "But, to answer your question, Tom is a.... heh.... it's kinda hard to say. I mean it's not exactly normal for anyone to say that 'there's a dark lord in my family'."

Jervis Tetch suddenly spat out his coffee, "Hey!" Scarecrow shouted, wiping his face with his sleeve, "that's just disgusting Jervis, and I thought you were a gentleman."

Ignoring the man next to him Jervis stuttered with a knowing look, "Do you mean Voldemort by any chance?"

"Oh yeah, I mean that's what the public call him, or well you-know-you or he-who-must-not-be-named," Harley nodded and babbled, exaggerating the titles that the wizarding community had given him," I mean, they just love their hyphens ri- Jervis! How do you know about that? You're not a wizard are ya?"

Jervis gave a dark look, "of course not, I would be somewhere else if I was one. My half brother was one, he's a half-blood, wouldn't stop going on about that piggywarts place. Until he was killed by a death eater."

"Oh, sorry about that Jervis. What was his name?" Asked Harley sincerely.

"David Tetch, but he was much older than me," Mad Hatter said thoughtfully.

"Wait, wait, wait, lemme get this straight. So there is this whole 'magical business' going on in England. With witches and wizards that can be good and bad, yet no one knows about them?" Joker placed his hands in his cane as he dramatically pointed it around as he spoke.

Harley nodded,"Well there is supposed to be the statue of secrecy. Not that magic is uncommon here specifically, but the magical communities tend to try and keep themselves secret, but they are pretty much stuck in the mid ."  

"Outdated huh Harleen?" A raspy voice asked from behind them. 

Harley turned to look behind her, finding the source of the voice "Oh, uh hi Tom."

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