Harry Potter 1. Chapter 1

I tried to make it a one shot really I did but it got away from me. Why? Because I don't feel like updating Unnatural and I've been watching The Batman for hours. Spoilers for up to season and book 4. Although this is going to be very AU. God help me I've been at this computer since 5:00 and it's now nearing midnight I must be crazy. It's been a long day. My cat woke me up at four in the morning by biting first on the foot, and then on my cat. I kept kicking him away but by the time the fifth bite came around I finally sat up and physically threw him off the bed. Did it hurt him you ask?

Of course not five minutes later he was back again.

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The dark skyline of the city was placed on a backdrop of blood red sky. The sun was setting on Gotham City.

Harry Potter watched this sunset; he had traveled the world after he had finished the war that decimated the wizarding population. Leaving hundreds of children orphaned, and many more permanently disabled.

Not even magic could fix everything.

Harry relaxed slowly against the building he was leaning against. His leather coat pulled close against him as he tried to escape the biting wind that had sprung up.

At 5'4 Harry looked like a typical teenager, his black hair as unruly as ever brushed his face allowing people to only see his trademark jade eyes momentarily.

They never quite stopped moving, flashing one way and than another gathering details on the people that walked obliviously past him, searching always searching.

When they finally alighted on a passerby for more than a moment the moon had become predominant in the sky. Automatically street lamps began to turn on as people reached their homes and turned on their own lights the night became eerily lit with shadows growing in tentacles across the walls of the skyscrapers.

The man walking by looked no different than any other pedestrian no distinguishing features could be seen that would attract the attention of the boy-who-lived. Nonchalantly the boy stood up straight and began to wander after the man, and soon stood beside him waiting for a red light to change.

Harry only stood by the man for a matter of moments before turning away and slipping once more into the shadows.

It wasn't until the man got home that he realized not only was his wallet missing but the small knife he had placed in his opposite pocket had also disappeared.

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Whistling quietly to himself Harry Potter, boy-who-lived, flipped the knife effortlessly into the air catching it again by its handle before testing its balance and sharpness by flinging it into a hapless wooden fence.

Or tried to at any rate.

The knife hit the fence handle first before flopping pathetically to the ground, where it twinkled mockingly up at the sullen faced boy.

"Never could get that right."

Bending down to pick up the blade, he felt more than saw the figure that swept over his head. Hearing the rustling cloth of a cape blowing in the breeze brought him to full alert as it were.

Harry crouched against the fence blending seamlessly into the shadows it created and giving him the perfect view of the fight to come.

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It had been a _very_ long day and night for Bruce Wayne as well as The Batman. It had all started when not only had Bruce been forced to get up at 6:00 after only a couple hours of sleep, to head towards an ill-fated meeting of the board members of Wayne Enterprises.

His fists clenched at the memory of the squabbling of the elderly men, all comparing him to his father, and all finding him wanting. Lucius hadn't been able to be there for the meeting and so he had been unable to allow the older man to defend himself and he had needed to keep his Bruce Wayne persona intact so he could in no way show any of the urges he felt.

At least not the bloody murderous ones, he could show however how much the words that they seemed to spit at him hurt. Each one felt as though it was being lashed into his skin.

Fortunately for his dignity he managed to keep a stoic mask in place showing none of these feelings and allowing no visible tension to enter his body. Although the headache that followed was enough to make him growl at the receptionist that had the nerve to be perky at 9:00 a.m.

After downing a couple of pain capsules Bruce had been perfectly willing to do his paperwork for at least a couple of hours in his dark office, window shades pulled down and lights dimmed low.

Of course he wasn't even halfway through the first request for the Wayne Foundation when his telephone had gone off signaling the end of his fifteen minutes of peace for the next 48 hours.

Not only had a now eighteen year old Dick Grayson run off and entered the Police Academy, but Barbara Gordon had turned in her cape and cowl to go into the military and was now running around in some godforsaken jungle somewhere fighting a band of rebels.

So once more Batman was forced to fight alone, the disappearance of his young charges brought snide comments from villains and curious glances from the policemen who had long since become used to the his perky sidekicks bringing slight smiles and small chuckles from the hardest of cops.

They had left him one after the other just like everyone but Alfred had done since his childhood. Even the thought brought another twinge, this time from his heart instead of his head. He was being disrespectful of his parent's memory, throwing away all that he had been given by them.

The phone call had been Dick Grayson telling him exactly where he was, not on a mountain climbing vacation before he entered college, no, it could never go as Bruce planned for the young ex-circus performer. Dick wouldn't allow it.

The pain pills quickly became obsolete with his tightening facial muscles contorting his face into a painful grimace returning his headache tenfold.

However his face may have changed the only way you would have known over the phone how angry he was, was if you could pick up exactly when his voice changed from that of Bruce Wayne easy going multibillionaire, to Batman.

Dick Grayson heard the change and barely managed to cover his own wince from the interested viewers waiting for their turn at the telephone booth.

After the vocal change had taken place Dick couldn't get off of the phone fast enough, heaving a final sigh of relief after finally placing it gently back into its cradle.

Sitting in his office Bruce Wayne also put his phone down although he managed to slam it back into place hard enough to crack the entire device in half. Unable to stay still any longer Bruce once more stood exiting as quickly as he had entered. Stopping only long enough to ask the receptionist this time suitably subdued to replace the phone by the next day.

Moments after he had entered the elevator the receptionist hurried into the office, her eyes widened dramatically at the sight before her, not only had the phone been split in two, the metal desk had a dent the exact size and shape of Mr. Wayne's fist below the shattered pieces.

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When Harry Potter looked up from his hidden position all he could see at first was a flaring black cape that reminded him eerily of a Deatheaters before he caught sight of the black cowl offset by the yellow oval on his chest and draped around his waist in a bulky belt.

His second sight was that of a garishly painted face, showing palely under a rapidly disintegrating street lamp. Disintegrating because the clown had tried to sprits acid on the looming face of the masked man, who had ducked out of the way seemingly at the last possible second.

If the paint hadn't freaked him out enough to begin with, Harry was willing to bet just the teeth and the brightly colored hair would have done it.

A sneer came onto his face, "Merlin, I hate clowns, creepy little child eaters."

Watching the two men fight was somewhat like watching acrobats, one of them drunk and giggling insanely, the other whipping violently across the stage using walls and chunks of concrete as springing boards.

When the clown was finally knocked unconscious Harry almost slipped away now that the excitement was over. But the winner was pinching the bridge of his nose as if trying to stave off a headache. He was so involved with the pain the man didn't see the two.

Very large.

Very fat.

Very…purple?

Thugs.

Creeping up behind the man.

"And creeping me the hell out," muttered Harry

Hardly thinking about what he was doing, Harry slunk forward, his feet made no noise on the pavement and he seemed to dodge any obstacles in his path with inhuman perception.

When he caught sight of the large mallets that the two goons lofted high in preparation of whacking the caped man on the back of his skull all Harry could do was sigh.

Very loudly and directly behind the lavender louts, all three of the costumed men spun around, although the man in black took quite a bit less time to do it than the others.

Harry leaned against a nearby wall studying the tableau in front of him.

"What is it…" asked Harry. "With a crazy's wardrobe, do they ever have on a tasteful suit, nope its bright colors. And the weapons, a small discreet crowbar would be just as effective."

Not a moment after he had spoken those words the man in black had cracked the two loonies' heads together in an impressive show of strength and reach actually moving their bulk a good foot closer to each other with a single pull of his arms.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

His life had just gone down the tube. Batman sighed, when the most fun he had had that day was pummeling Joker into submission, he knew that something was wrong with him.

The headache that had finally began to subside after nearly twenty hours of pain burst back into full bloom once he had knocked the clown unconscious and handcuffed him to a metal flag pole.

Rubbing his nose he hadn't even noticed the approach of Jokers dimwitted duo. Punch and Judy were very hard to miss.

The only thing that had saved him was the appearance of the teenager.

The boy had distracted the pair and gave him the warning he had obviously needed to take care of them.

He watched them drop to the ground before looking up, just in time to see the young boy race around the street corner.

The oddness of it struck him nearly an hour later.

He hadn't heard the slapping sound of tennis shoes hitting concrete as the boy ran. But at that moment the only thing that Batman could think of was why a stranger would help him.

The boy had appeared homeless, his ragged clothing and roughly cut hair highlighting the strangely immaculate leather jacket which hid exactly how skinny the boy was exactly, but he gave an air of starvation, with a background of stubbornness that refused to show hunger.

He'd have to look into finding out who the boy was, but first. Batman turned back to the three unconscious men and added Punch and Judy to the pole, making sure that their feet were tied together preventing one from standing up without the others.

Hopefully that would hold them long enough for the police to catch them, if not than he had an even longer night to look forward to.

Hearing the approaching sirens of the police Batman quickly fled the scene leaving the cops to clean up the mess he and the Joker had created. As he swooped through the air, Batman felt truly lonely for the first time in years.

For although he was still free and able to go wherever he wished to, he would have to go with Alfred or alone, and Alfred wasn't one for flying around in a Kevlar suit. Armani was more his style.

With a small smile Batman let go of the latest cord that held him aloft and landed softly in the Batmobile. The top hadn't even slid fully into place before he had hit the gas and headed for home.

Directly into the sunrise."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Stupid, what were you thinking." Harry had curled up in the corner of an abandoned home; his knee's pulled up to his chin and his hands cradling his face. Ruffling his hair in an automatic fashion, Harry slowly uncurled.

Pulling the stolen wallet from his pocket he studied its contents, the credit cards he left alone, only taking the cash. Counting it quickly gave him a figure great enough to cover at least his food for the next couple of days if nothing else.

At least he had lost nothing but time with the latest stunt he had pulled. Hell for all he knew the clown was the good guy… okay scratch that idea, well maybe neither of them were good guys.

Hell what was a good guy anyways.

Him?

Harry let loose a snort.

"Yeah, I'm a real hero."

It took nearly a half an hour but finally he slipped into an uneasy slumber, but his actions earlier that night had brought back other less pleasant memories.

Familiar faces screamed for help, still others cursed at him. Bone covered faces shuffled closer and closer with a threatening hissing coming closer and closer.

Harry lurched to his feet, hair tumbling into his eyes, his skin pale and trembling. Well he was done sleeping for the day that was for sure. He had only been able to sleep for about an hour before the nightmares had woken him.

Rubbing his eyes, frantically trying to remove the glaze of sleep from them Harry didn't notice the police officer until it was to late.

The rookie officer had, heard a complaint of screaming coming from inside the abandoned house over the radio, immediately heading over the residence he had found the door to be unlocked and the house uncared for.

As he stepped into the living room he first caught sight of the boy who was rubbing his face tiredly and than moments later the wallet, lying open on the floor with another person's driver's license, had obviously been stolen.

He had seen that face just this morning in the precinct strained from the worry of the lost credit cards and only a vague description of a teenage boy in a leather jacket.

Before Harry knew what had hit him, he found himself face down on the floor being read his rights by a man dressed in a dark green uniform.

Great, he had managed to escape from the wizarding world only to be caught by a muggle police officer for snitching a wallet.

Wouldn't mum be proud.

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Sitting silently in an empty cell Harry Potter waited patiently for someone to walk up to the bars of his cage. He refused to sit on the bed, and the toilet had no lid. So he sat in the center of the room, as far from the walls as he could get.

Someone had made a decent attempt to clean the smell of the cells previous occupants from the room, but not even the heavy bleach smell could remove all of the stench.

Looking at the floor Harry failed to see Bruce Wayne walking past his cell suddenly stop and turn to look in more closely.

Once he was sure that it was indeed the same boy that had helped him the night before, Bruce Wayne practically dragged Ethan Bennet into the detective's office.

When Ethan turned to look at him a questioning look on his face, Bruce swallowed hard.

"Why was that boy arrested, he doesn't look to be more than fourteen?"

Ethan hesitated for a moment before seeing Bruce's earnest expression.

"He's sixteen actually, homeless. One of the uniforms drug him in for having a wallet that didn't belong to him. Seems he's a bit of a pickpocket."

"What's his name?"

"He refuses to tell us, only reason he told us his age was so that we didn't try him as an adult."

Bruce looked at Ethan in confusion for a moment before asking.

"You didn't seriously believe that he was over the age of eighteen."

"No, but that tact has worked before with other children, threaten them with something worse than we can actually do and they tend to fold on us. Giving away details they didn't really want to give away."

"Look Ethan," Bruce paused. "Could I try and talk to him, I'm not saying I'll get anywhere with him, but I'd like to at least give him a chance to talk to someone."

"Thinking about taking in another stray Bruce? Where is Dick anyways, usually he follows you everywhere?"

Bruce sighed and pinched his nose again as his head gave a warning throb.

"Dick…has decided that he wishes to become a police officer, he has joined the police academy. And just so you know, yes I do blame you."

Ethan winced seeing all the signs of a migraine and judging from the resigned expression on Bruce's face he had, had it for a very long time.

"Sorry, Bruce I know how much you wanted him to go to college but its not like being a cops a terrible career, and unless he chooses Gotham I can't imagine he'll see much action."

"He's actively insisting that they send him to Bludhaven, have you seen this place. The crime rate there has nearly tripled in the last five years. Murders on the street in broad daylight, corrupt cops, and drunken government officials. Is the boy crazed?"

Bruce visibly shook himself removing all traces of stress from his face and body language before making an about face.

"Shall I go speak to the boy than?"

"God." Muttered Ethan. "Sometimes I wish I could do that. Other times the very idea frightens me."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Harry glanced up when a shadow fell across his seated form, only strict control stopped him from doing a double take.

Take away the suit, and add long hair and a goatee, and the man in front of him could have been his Godfathers twin. But the thought quickly passed when he looked the man directly in the eyes.

While Sirius's eyes had been haunted they had still twinkled with laughter when resting upon him. This man's somber expression would have been a temptation for Sirius to play some sort of foolish trick or prank.

And where Sirius had been whip thin, bone and muscle all that was left behind after his stay in Azkaban.

This man obviously worked out on a regular basis and was also well fed. His entire body seemed to exude the health that Sirius had lost.

Suddenly Harry hated this man, almost more than anyone he had ever hated.

Almost.

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Oh my god it's the longest chapter I've ever written, almost nine pages and it only took me six hours. I really hope you like this one. And I hope I can keep up the chapter lengths.

TATA

and goodnight

Gussiegal5


	2. Chapter 2

Here we are ladies and gentlemen I give you Duality chapter two.

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Harry quickly swallowed his unreasonable hatred of the man placing it in the same place that held back the rages that had once so frightened his friends and schoolmates. This man had done nothing to him, and had no way of knowing about the injustice placed upon his godfather.

When Harry first met Bruce's eyes the first thing he noticed was their depth and the second their color. They were as jeweled as his own, although fashioned more towards cobalt than his own jade.

Sneering both at himself and the entering man, Harry turned away from the man once more, uncomfortable with meeting the mans penetrating stare.

"I may not have been born in America, but since I am now a citizen I know my rights. Unless you're my lawyer, bugger off."

The only reaction that Bruce gave that he had heard, what Harry had said was a single eyebrow cocked slightly askew in an unconscious mimicry of Alfred's own patented and perfectly silent question.

Bruce said nothing simply waited for the younger man to either continue ignoring him, or to say something. Hopefully gaining a toehold in the conversation, a jumping off point as it were.

The eyebrow question mark worked its wonders, as did Bruce's continued silence.

"Would you _please_, not do the eyebrow thing, it drives me completely batty. Well are you my lawyer or aren't you. I specifically requested one the instant my ass was in the interrogation room."

"No."

"No?" Harry's expression grew quizzical, "No, you won't stop doing the eyebrow thing, or no you're not my lawyer."

"Both."

Harry sighed before dropping his head into his hands.

"Fine than get out and do the freaky eyebrow thing to somebody else."

"No."

"What?"

Bruce was truly beginning to enjoy himself, he hadn't been able to teasingly annoy another person for years, and Dick had quickly grown to the point where he was able to catch himself before entering this irritating single syllable word game of Bruce's.

Finally he forced himself to stop tormenting the boy, seeing him begin to pinch his nose obviously trying to stave off a headache of his own.

"Why did you steal that man's wallet?"

Harry's head jerked up from between his fingertips at the sudden change in topics, and he knowingly took the bait that man dangled before him. Anything to stop this one-way argument.

"A blokes gotta eat."

Bruce's expression darkened as the attempted humor fell flat.

"And the reason that your parents or guardians aren't giving you any food is?"

Harry's body seemed to lurch forward as though he had barely restrained himself from launching at the older man.

"The fact that they're all dead and rotting might have something to do with that."

The cold response might have hardened Bruce's feelings for the young man, except Harry's voice broke over the word dead, and his eyes seemed to glisten momentarily before once more returning to stone.

Bruce could not allow his expression to soften he knew instinctively that any perceived weakness on his part would have brought the boys walls crashing up, closing himself off forever from the older man.

"What's your name?"

The boy hesitated for a moment before a fleeting look of amusement crossed his face.

"They call me Freak, how bout you?"

"Bruce."

"Well Bruce if your not a lawyer, and judging by that custom tailored suit your not a cop, or some shrink provided by the state, may I be so boorish as to inquire what the hell do you do?"

"Why'd they name you Freak?"

"Why you want to ease the childish pain of my youth by saying, _it's not your fault._"

"Was it?"

"Was it what?"

"Your fault."

Harry gave Bruce a crooked smile, "Depends on who you ask."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

When Ethan Bennet glanced through the open door of his office, the only thing he focused on was the man walking towards it.

One look at the man's face pulled a groan straight from Ethan's gut.

"Your going to take him aren't you?"

Bruce simply smiled at Ethan for a moment before nodding. Ethan sighed and picked up the phone to call the Chief.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Harry once more alone in his cell, Harry was beginning to lose his carefully kept composure.

His years in the cupboard had left Harry not only severely stunted in growth but also very claustrophobic. An hour and a half in a small room usually only gave rise to slight increase in heart rate and respiration. But now at the four hour marker Harry was almost imperceptibly shivering, and he quickly drew himself into a huddle still in the middle of the room trying desperately to escape the encroaching walls of his cell.

His face pulled towards his chest and held in place by his hands which gripped the back of head in a white knuckled hold, kept him from seeing the cell door open. But the instant he heard the grating of metals Harry was on his feet and out of the small room in less time than it took his brain to completely process the sound.

Only Bruce's reflexes kept the pair on their feet as Harry barreled unseeingly into him. Feeling the quaking, damp skin, Bruce quickly drew the younger man into the relatively open area of the bullpen of Gotham Police Department.

Once he was in the open Harry wrenched himself away from the older man, arms raised to protect his head from any incoming blows, and knees bent to lessen the impact.

It took nearly ten minutes for the shaking to stop but Harry tried desperately to calm himself, trying ineffectually to hide the terror that he felt whenever he was trapped.

Regaining his composure Harry found himself the center of unwanted attention, in a room full of police officers. As he began to shake again, from the scrutiny of so many strangers, Chief Rojas pointed first at him and than at the door while looking at Bruce.

Not attempting to touch him again, and unwilling to say anything to the frightened boy, Bruce gently herded Harry out of the door and into his waiting car.

Without protest, Harry slid into the backseat surprising both himself as well as Bruce with his compliance. Before he drove away from the curb, Bruce glanced into the rearview mirror studying his newest ward with interest.

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Chief Rojas hadn't like it of course, but since the man who had been pick pocketed had regained both his knife and his wallet with its contents still intact he had been unwilling to charge the skinny boy in front of him. The entire precinct could see just how malnourished he truly was, after they had removed his leather jacket.

With no pending charges against him, the Chief had been perfectly willing to give the teenager's care over to Bruce Wayne, with a private phone call to a an old buddy in child services he had been able to give temporary custody to the well known businessman.

If he had known about the teens claustrophobia he would have never placed him in one of the smaller cells and rather left him chained up to a chair in an out of the way corner of the bullpen, giving him some privacy while keeping any panic attacks at bay.

But without any overt indication of the boy's problem he had simply placed him into the small room perfectly willing to leave him there until Monday rolled around. To put some fear into the kid, and hopefully keeping him from stealing from people ever again.

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Nearing the entrance gate to the manor, Bruce looked once more at the boy in his mirror. The trip couldn't have taken more than twenty minutes, but the child had already fallen asleep, curled in on himself as if even in sleep he felt the need to defend himself from the world at large.

The gates opened silently, and Bruce began his way up to the front steps of his home, unwilling to take the time to go to the garage to return the automobile to its proper resting place.

When the car stopped Bruce heard a muttered curse, turning his head to look Bruce didn't' see the boy for a moment as he was no longer on the backseat.

Looking down he barely restrained a smile at the glaring teenager who had been unceremoniously dumped on the floor having rolled slightly to close to the edge in his sleep.

Pulling himself back into the seat Harry saw where they were for the first time. He quickly scrambled out of the car, all the while studying the gothic structure that loomed stories above his head, guarded by exquisitely tormented gargoyles at its corners.

Harry rolled his eyes, "Great, add a flash of lightning and a threatening rumble of thunder and you've got a great start to a horror story."

Bruce's lips twitched, "Or a gothic romance novel."

"And what Master Bruce would you know about such books?"

Harry whipped his head back down from looking at the architecture nearly giving himself whiplash in the process.

Standing on the steps waiting patiently for the two men to come inside stood a balding, elderly man, with a small goatee waxed to British perfection.

"Dude, a butler, I though the only one's left were in said horror stories."

"Why only in those?" Asked Alfred with an amused eyebrow tilt.

"You know," grinned Harry, "_Oh my god, the butler did it_." His voice switched from his light tenor to a patently false soprano, in an obvious attempt to emulate the shrieking tones of a youthful maiden of the single horror story he had read.

"You walked into that one I'm afraid Alfred."

"You needn't rub it in Master Bruce."

Bruce's voice changed to a whine, "But it happens so rarely." Moments after he had spoken the words Bruce looked startled. He hadn't played such games in years; or realized how much he had missed being even slightly light hearted. His dual life had worked to remove any of his more humorous tendencies. Few though they were.

Alfred noticed Bruce's sudden unease, and looking at the young gentleman beside him, thought that perhaps the praise could be placed at his nervously shuffling feet. Neither Master Dick, nor Miss Gordon had caused such a dramatic change in his young master's personality in such a short period of time.

"May I ask who this young man is sir?"

"You may."

Alfred had known Bruce far to long to allow himself to be pulled into one of the younger mans silly arguments. So he simply allowed his eyebrow to raise in question.

A snort pulled both men's faces towards Harry. "Now I know where he got that fucking eyebrow thing."

"Gentlemen, do not curse." Was Alfred's pointed reply to that statement.

"Harry jerked his head around behind him, "Gentlemen? Where?"

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When neither man did more than look at him for a moment Harry smirked. "Thought not."

The words seemed to put steel into the butler's spine as he straightened his back and squared his shoulders.

"Perhaps not at this moment, but in the near future I have no doubt a young gentleman will stand in front of me."

All humor gone from his expression Harry snarled at him unknowingly deepening his voice, in a manner that once again reminded Alfred of the similarities he could already see between the two men before him.

"Don't bet on it old man. I've been the disappointment of too many people to count, and the bloody scapegoat for even more. I doubt a single person will live to see the day when I am even the semblance of a gentleman."

Before either of the men could stop him Harry had whirled on his heels and headed at a dead run back towards the gate. Alfred watched as his young master ran directly after the teenager.

Shaking his head Alfred turned to once more enter the house, knowing that if anyone could catch the fleet footed boy, it would be his master whether he had his costume on or not.

Harry was used to running, he had learned early, quickly escaping beatings doled out by his cousin Dudley and the other young boys in the neighborhood. His training had continued while still at Hogwarts, escaping from first Draco Malfoy and his henchmen, and than from the swarms of death eaters that lurked just on the edges of the wards waiting impatiently for someone to step to close.

His remembrance of things past caught up with him at exactly the wrong moment, he hadn't focused enough on his current surroundings to notice rock that slipped out from under him when he stepped on it, sending him sprawling just in time for Bruce to grab him by the collar.

Harry shook his head and came back to the present just in time to feel himself being lifted off of the ground by the back of his jacket. His newest guardian's face was closed off of all expression and the fact that Harry's feet floated several inches off of the ground also caused him some distress.

Even if Bruce Wayne was at least a foot taller than him, he would have to be enormously powerful to pick-up a 105 pounds of limp teenager.

"Now than." Said Bruce to the dangling boy. "We are going to have to set some ground rules if you're going to try and run away from this house."

Harry looked at him for a moment before sneering, "And what makes you think I won't just run away from you the minute both of your backs are turned."

The smile Bruce gave him would have made even Voldemort tremble.

"I own most of this city boy, if I put forth a concerted effort to bring you back, which believe me I will, there wouldn't be a place you could hide from me or a person you could speak to without being recognized."

As the fight left the boys face Bruce slowly allowed him to regain his feet.

"Now, I'm tired, and it's been a very long day for both of us, so I suggest that we return to my manor in all due haste. I have no doubt that Alfred has set up a room for you."

"In the ten minutes we've been gone you expect your butler to have deduced that not only have you taken me on as a ward to the state, but that I will be needing a room of my own for an extended stay?"

"Of course."

"And he could do this how?"

"Because he's brilliant of course."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As the pair entered the house, one with an amused twitch to his face, the other sullenly dragging his feet, Alfred met them at the door. His face carefully wiped clear of all expression as he saw the muddy knees on his newest charge as well as the still immaculate appearance of his eldest.

"Come along than young sir."

Harry watched Bruce walk off silently heading up the stairs and than turning left, before following Alfred up the stairs and to the right.

When Alfred opened the third door on the left Harry expected and got a very large room, with darkly stained floors and rugs. The four poster bed was also not unexpected, he had studied the manor as he entered noting both it's size and expensive décor though most of the colors of a similar dark taste to this room.

"Where is your bag young sir?"

Harry didn't even bother to look at the butler.

"They were…removed from my care."

Alfred's eyebrow rose. "I hope that they were not the police."

"Of course not, they were… acquaintances who believed that I owed them something."

"Goodnight, sir."

Just as Alfred was about to close the door he heard a softly murmured sentence.

"Harry…my names Harry."

"Very good, Master Harry, good night."

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Well there's the end to that chapter I hope you enjoyed it, it took me quite a while hopefully a second chapter will help with my lack of reviews. I'm not saying I desperately need reviews to keep writing. But I do go looking at my e-mail hoping for a nice review quite a bit of the time. Well anyways hope you enjoyed

p.s. please take my poll

TaTa

Gussiegal5


	3. Chapter 3

Yay thanks so much everyone that reviewed I really do appreciate it, and it was amazing I mean my second chapter hadn't been up for more than an hour and I got like five reviews. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Oh I got a couple of questions about whether or not Harry had his magic that will be explained in this chapter. Well here's chapter three I hope it meets your expectations.

Harry woke the next morning to the sound of his door being opened. Eyes barely slit open saw that Alfred had come into the room quietly, a small pile of clothing placed neatly on the end of his bed. He left as quickly as he had entered.

Alfred had seen the slight hint of green which gave away his newest charges level of alertness. If he had been completely asleep, there would not have been any such hint, and if he had been half asleep, Harry would have most likely said something to give away the fact that he was at least partially awake.

Alfred had stayed up nearly an hour longer than the teenager speaking with Master Bruce hearing both about why the young man had been in jail in the first place, but also the way that he had assisted The Batman the night before that.

Once Alfred insured that no harm would come to the young man, and that he was perfectly safe in allowing others to take care of him at least for the time being, he hoped Harry would come to accept the large manor as a safe haven.

Slipping quietly out of the bed Harry studied the clothing that the butler had given him, seeing nothing more than a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, Harry grabbed them, relieved to at last be out of the only clothing he had owned in over a month. He wasn't one to be picky about the source of the clothing.

Stepping into the attached bathroom, Harry noticed the granite countertops and the heated floor. As well as a shower if slightly larger than he was used to. After scrubbing most of the grime of the streets off of his body, the water headed toward the drain had run brown for the first fifteen minutes, Harry stepped in front of a mirror, clad only in a small towel which wrapped around his slender waist easily.

Years of quidditch and more recently street fighting, had kept his body muscular even in his starved state. And the all of the scars but one had faded from healing red to white, showing swirls and patterns cut into his skin from his capture in fifth year.

He had knowingly walked up to the edge of the wards and allowed himself to be pulled over the other side, although not before sending Peter Pettigrew flying into the murderous arms of his former school mate Sirius Black.The days that followed were filled with pain, although the Deatheaters themselves seemed to ironically favor muggle techniques which did more physical damage while leaving the mind relatively intact.

So they had left his mind and his face alone, for the time being accepting their lords decree that both belonged to him. They were only allowed two forms of mental torture that they were allowed to dabble in, one was the moment when they snapped his wand forcing his back to arch in a bone aching position as the bond was broken between wizard and focus.

The other was a spell that had left him crazed for nearly a week, they had attempted a ritual that when done properly would completely cut the person it aimed for from his magic, leaving him basically a squib.Or so they had thought.

Snape had been the man forced into the position of creating the potion which would be used in the spell. And although he could not completely halt the spell he managed to give Harry something in return for his lost control.

Accidental magic.

For although Harry could not consciously use his magic any longer, he didn't truly have to. Magic bent to his wishes now instead of his command. No more would he be able to point a wand and say a word to send a man flying. But now if he unconsciously wished for it the man could be sent hurtling across the room.

And so when he did not wish to be found no creature on this earth would hear his footsteps or see even his shadow. When Harry had finally been placed at the feet of the self-proclaimed Dark Lord Voldemort, he did not say or do anything.

He never so much as moved a muscle as every single bone in the creature's body snapped like a twig, and its heart suddenly lost all access to blood as it was vanished from his body.

He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was finally dead, never to rise again. Did the wizarding world thank him, throw parties in his honor.

No.

His lack of obvious magical ability now clear for their entire world to see, nobody wanted anything to do with him. He was shunned, more by his peers than squibs by their family. A unanimous vote of the council would have had Harry placed in a mental institution for his belief that he had killed Voldemort.

How could he have killed Voldemort when Minister Fudge told everybody repeatedly that not only was He-who-must-not-be-named dead, he had remained dead from the night that Harry was a year old.

He had willingly left the wizarding world with only the clothes on his back and one last gift from Severus Snape. Snape had managed in ways that Harry never ever wanted to think about, to give Harry citizenship in the United States as well as an airplane ticket to get there.

Expecting nothing in return for his kindnesses Snape returned once more to his quarters at Hogwarts he found a single lined note on top of a book that he had never seen before.

Snape, this book was Slytherin's it contains all of his knowledge on potions. Enjoy. H.P.

Snape would until his dying day, say that the joyful shriek that echoed down the dungeon hallways, came from an owl that had become lost in the labrynth.

Harry stepped nervously into the hallway, quickly making his way back towards the stairs that he had been led up the night before. But once he reached them Harry could only look for either the butler or Bruce. When neither showed up nearly fifteen minutes later, Harry had, had enough.

He was supposed to make this museum his home, for at least two years, so he figured that gave him the right to explore the place in search of a kitchen.

Home.

He had never really had one of those before, and his own temper tantrums aside, both Bruce and Alfred had seemed willing to put up with him for the time being.

Maybe things would be better here than they had been at the Durselys, and it was already an improvement from the wizarding worlds prejudice and hate.

As he padded barefoot on the cool floors, Harry studied the varied artwork, it seemed to show an eclectic taste on the part of Bruce, but nothing really seemed to fit with the personality that he had so far shown Harry.

If anyone else had walked through the house after meeting Bruce Wayne millionare playboy they would have merely seen choices probably made by an interior decorator. If they had met Batman and than placed into this home, they would have seen something made to hide his face from the world.

But Harry saw something else, he saw the hand of a different homeowner on these walls, and if this manor was as Harry suspected handed down to Bruce than the people to probably choose the decor was his parents.

Seeing no recent pictures to suggest they were still alive, Harry knew that they were probably dead, leaving Bruce orphaned at a young age. He had seen only one portrait of the family and in it Bruce could not have been more than ten years old at the time.

This had probably changed him into someone else, knowing that his family was dead and would never return was enough to darken anyones personality.

Question was how much?

As Harry pondered that, he found himself in the kitchen. It too was silent, and empty of people. Almost without thought he began to search the kitchen for the ingredients for a breakfast large enough for three people.

When Alfred entered the kitchen followed closely by a bleary eyed Bruce twenty minutes later, he stopped so abruptly that only Bruce's neat sidestep saved him from being knocked to the floor by his own employer.

Three plates were filled with omelots. Even just looking at them the gaping pair could see the plethora of ingredients which were cooked in the eggs. Sitting facing the door was Harry, quietly eating his own omelot, which was of a significantly smaller size than the other two.

When they finally sat down both Alfred and Bruce had the single eyebrow raised in question. Seeing the mark of a family response for what it was, instead of an irritating habit taken on simply to annoy people as Dumbledore had done.

"I figured." began Harry hesitantly. "That since I was going to be here for a while I might as well help out a little bit."

Alfred smiled gently at him, "We appreciate that very much Master Harry, your cooking assistance has saved me quite a bit of time this morning."

After inhaling his omelot Bruce cleared his throat apologetically, "I'm sorry you two but I'm going to have to leave early today, I have a meeting with some of my department heads." He hesitated for a moment before saying. "If you would like, Harry, you could explore the grounds today. I also have some video games, and a rather large library."

Harry perked up at the word library, he had seen a light dusting of snow on the ground, and he had never really enjoyed Dudley's video games when he had gotten the rare chance to play some.

"If you or Alfred could show me where the library was I would appreciate it."

Bruce hid his surprise at the suddenly too polite tone that the boy had used when talking to the older men that morning.

He had seen this kind of thing before as Batman, in children that had been abused, after he had threatened the boy he had shown that he was capable of harming the smaller man and so was treated in the same manner as the childs abusers had been treated.

But the manner was likely to snap at some point, as it obviously had for the boys previous abusers, who had probably been the ones to call him Freak.

This had probably irrevocably changed the boys attitude towards the world.

The questions were how, and what Bruce could do to make the boy believe that he would never purposefully abuse him.

"Of, course Master Harry if you would leave your dishes there I will show you immediately."

"I can clean up after myself."

"Ah but this is my way of thanking you for the delicious breakfast."

"Okay, I suppose."

"I insist Master Harry."

As Bruce sat at the head of the meeting table listening to the older men bicker among themselves as to the direction that they wished to take with the newest invention of Wayne Corp.

An incredibly advanced machine that could be used either as the newest form of unmanned space travel, or with a few minor changes as a weapon of war. Either the machine would be sold to the government as a war machine, or they would sell the information that it gathered in space to the government.

Bruce already new that he would never use one of the machines in battle, he had no wish to see even more people killed because of him.

He massaged his temple, the headache had returned.

Again.

They though that he was merely there as a figurehead, useless in and of himself but needed to keep the public happy with their image.

But he had, had enough of dealing with people who though he was incompetent. They would either learn to deal with a different version of himself, or he would find new department heads.

When the side of his fist crashed into the table the only man that didn't jump was Lucius Fox.

"ENOUGH. The machines will be used for unmanned space travel, they will not be equipped with weapons, they will not be sold to our government, let alone foreign governments. And by god will speak no more of this, am I CLEAR."

Over the course of his dialogue his voice had deepened noticeably, going from the light tenor of the agreeable playboy, to a baritone only a few notes away from being Batman's threatening rasp.

All of the men had fallen silent at these words and remained so until after he had stalked from the room, still massaging his temple trying desperately to remove the ache that threatened to incapacitate him.

After he had left the room he heard an uproar of sound as the argument began anew, but Bruce knew that Lucius would make sure that his wishes were followed down to the letter. He had already written out a formal report and sent it to the government, days before this meeting had taken place, but he had to give at least some semblance of control over to the department heads.

If they ever realized just how much he actually did, his image would be ruined forever, that didn't mean that they needed to believe that he was completely incompetent.

Although that was probably how they were going to take his outburst, yet more evidence of his childishness.

He'd have to fix that someday.

Harry had managed to find a reasonably interesting book, although the only reason he thought that it didn't have any dust gathering on it was because of Alfred's fanatical hatred of all things untidy.

When Alfred walked into the room nearly two hours later he was surprised to find Harry reading a chemistry book that Master Dick had left behind from his senior year in high school.

But judging by Harry's fascinated expression, he found the book far more interesting than Master Dick had.

After he got slightly closer he could hear low muttering coming from the boy, as he copied something down on a piece of paper. But peering closely at the writing on the paper he could only understand about one word in three.

Some of the letters were completely different from the standard English alphabet, other words were scientific terms that even Alfred had some problems grasping.

He seemed to be trying to mix two or three different kinds of science. Judging by his expression he was finding it a difficult task.

"If aconite mixes with sea salt, than you get veritaserum, but if you mix it with sugar you get no reaction, so maybe the chemical properties aren't able to divert because of the newt entrails not being allowed to mix with the remnants of the alkaline. So maybe if you add a small amount of calcium powder…"

"Newt entrails sir?"

Harry leaped from the chair and was almost to the door before he realized who had spoken. Smiling nervously, he stuffed the paper into his back pocket.

"Just a science experiment Alfred."

"Indeed."

Well hopefully, that will tide my readers over for a while, unfortunately I don't think this chapters as long as the previous two but I think I got some interesting information in to answer the questions I've been getting in my reviews. So my first poll has been closed and it looks like there will be slash. And for my second poll I want to know who you think Harry should be paired with. Read, review, poll, and I'll have your next chapter out pretty soon.

TaTa

Gussiegal


	4. Chapter 4

I'm sorry I know I just told everbody to poll but I just got a review that told me that it should be my choice since I'm going to be writing it and all. And now I know why I felt wrong.

I have control issues. Big ones. I can get down right bitchy when I don't get my own way. So why should I abuse my readers by asking them to poll and than getting upset when they make their choice?

So no more polls for at least a little while sorry everybody.

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As Batman took to the nighttime skies of Gotham anybody watching would have only seen the same frightening concentration that was always so readily apparent in the dark figure.

But he was distracted, and annoyed with himself for being so. The only thing he could think of was his newest charge. At sixteen he was already obviously more mature than the eighteen year old Dick. His moments of uncontrolled panic, that Bruce had seen were based more on an intelligent balance between fight or flight.

He did not seem to take uncalculated risks as Barbara had, she had also had the disadvantage of becoming far to emotionally involved with the villains.

The cowl hid Batmans suddenly rolled eyes. Why was he comparing Harry to the two teammates that had abandoned him as soon as they has legally been able to make a break for the world away from Gotham.

Granted Dick was just going to continue doing legally what he had done illegally for years. Although after he graduated from the academy, he would be heading for a city that in a way was just as bad if not worse than Gotham City.

Finally he shook himself free of the thoughts of his daylight life, and entered once more into the separate personality that was the Batman.

As the night continued, nothing of any true note happened, he quickly stopped a group of young thieves from taking the televisions sets that they aimed for, terrorizing them just long enough for the police to respond to the silent alarm that they had set off.

No evil cackling villains to return to Arkham, no lurid green question marks to test his mind. Even catwoman seemed to have disappeared, going at least momentarily underground.

Boring.

Not that he wanted to have people killed, but he would at least like to have a slight bit of an adrenaline rush before he went in for the night.

Finally giving up around three a.m. Batman landed gracefully in the car that had pulled up at the base of the building he stood on. The fall had at least given him a momentary release from his loneliness.

Loneliness?

Where had that thought come from, he was bored, he wasn't missing smart ass remarks from his young charges. He was just fine, everything was fine.

If anybody had been around to see the roof of the car close on the Batman, they would have seen the single tear track that had made its way out from underneath the cowl.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Stepping out of the elevator that was placed just down the hallway from his bedroom, Bruce noticed that a light was on further down the hallway, down where Harry had been placed.

After knocking on the door and hearing a softly murmured. "Come in." Bruce entered the room trying desperately to leave the Batman at the door. He had made mistakes with Dick, never truly there for the boy when he had needed it, always ducking behind his mask to avoid emotional contact with his team.

He refused to do so with his newest ward, the boy needed an obvious source of support besides Alfred. Something it seemed he had never had before he had come to live with Bruce.

Still in the clothes he had put on that morning Harry had the same thick chemistry text in front of him although quite a bit further along than he had been that afternoon.

He carefully placed the small bundle of papers into the book before closing it and focusing his complete attention on Bruce, unwilling to have to pass off his attempts at mixing chemistry and potions as a joke again.

Before he could stop himself his voice seemed to rip from his throat uncontrollably, even as he desperately tried to stop himself.

"Back a little late, from your _meeting_ Mr. Wayne, did your secretary keep you late…with paperwork?"

The words in and of themselves were impolite but Harry's voice deepened slightly, and he listened to himself in shock. If he had just heard the words and not actually spoken them, he would have taken the sneering words as that of Snape in a particularly vicious mood.

Seeing the involuntary wince which appeared even as he said the words Bruce decided not to let the taunt go unnoticed.

Lowering his own voice Bruce returned the taunt with his own disdainful retort.

"No later than that book is keeping you, are your wrists sore yet…from holding up such a heavy book?"

Harry's expression lightened at the jibe, as if he was returning to familiar ground.

"Less than you might think, I mean this book may be heavy, but all that practice at holding it means I can easily help someone else…hold a book."

"As I see no study partners I shall assume that you practice quit diligently with very little results, you must be graded quite poorly."

Harry's smile turned lewd.

"I've never had any complaints, and ever so many compliments, which I'm sure your not used to since your secretary would never use what with how boring your…paperwork must be."

"Contrary to popular belief, I have no need for assistance from my secretary when I have so many other people practically falling at my feet to perform all sorts of _services_ for me."

At this final repartee Harry finally seemed to be struck speechless, and Bruce smiled gently.

"Now if where both done trying to find out who the alpha-male is, I merely wished to know if you were finding everything to your liking here."

Harry's cheeks were now glowing a pale rose color, he had been out maneuvered, Snape would have had a hard time keeping up the double meanings and the sharply returned comments. So even his experience with the acerbic teacher had only helped him keep up the conversation a sentence or two longer.

"Yes, Mr. Wayne you have a very beautiful home, your library is impressive."

The stiffly formal words brought a small frown to Bruce's face, no reason for them to go back to what the boy had started this morning.

"Oh I'm sure you've seen many places that are much more beautiful, both inside and out of Gotham."

Bruce watched carefully as the boys polite façade cracked hardening the young face.

"While I have been to places both more and less impressive, I am sure that this building will not have quite the same undercurrents as they had."

"You'll forgive me if I question you on your meaning for the word undercurrents, what buildings are you talking about?"

"My aunt and uncle, sent me to boarding school when I was eleven, neither place holds many fond memories for me. Even when they allowed me to escape for the school year my relatives felt it necessary to chain me to an even bleaker metaphorically speaking dungeon wall."

"I'm sure that if you gave some more information on your relatives that I could probably have them placed in prison for abuse, if not than your school seems to have done some of it's own harm, to put it bluntly, betrayed a most basic trust."

"One should rather die than be betrayed. There is no deceit in death. It delivers precisely what it has promised. Betrayal, though ... betrayal is the willful slaughter of hope."

"Who are you quoting?"

"Steven Deitz an American playright."

"Well than I am afraid I must disagree for even in death, there is a kind of betrayal.'

"Perhaps, but to die for the right cause can be seen as heroic, saving another, protecting a child."

"Ah but if in their death they have left the child, abandoning him to a cold world, full of uncertain futures and sickly smiles hiding a poisoned dagger, what than does that make them?"

"Only human, I'm afraid, what more can one ask of a person one life for another."

"Ah but what makes one life more important than another?"

"What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal."

"Must you always quote people when you attempt to make a point."

"Why should I have to think strenuously when Albert Pine has said it for me."

"Good night Harry, I'm afraid I can't argue with your nonexistent logic."

"Hah so it does have its place."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

After Bruce had left the room, Harry reached once more for the textbook, frantically scrabbling to find the page that he had been on.

He had noticed a small paragraph which after he had read it three or four times gave him a bit of a brain blast.

His hair seemed to stand at attention as he leaned ever closer to the page, peering through his contacts at the small picture which had been placed beside the words.

Now this small chemical reaction that was barely worth being placed into the books was exactly what he was looking for.

For along with the ability to use controlled magic, Harry had also lost his ability to transform into his animagus, one of the few things that he actually missed about having a wand.

But it seemed that if he was able to recreate a single thread of a line back to his magical source he would be able to once more control his inner creature and bring it back into his life.

If he could simply find a way to gather the equipment necessary to create the potion/chemistry mixture, he could feel at least slightly more secure in his new home.

Harry smiled and he would hopefully be able to save his former potions professor from having to complete one more year of teaching dunderheads as he so caustically put it.

Even as he thought of it his smile faded there was no way he would be able to find an owl to send Snape a letter with.

And just as that disheartening thought hit him he heard a series of high pitched screeches coming from just outside his window.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Snape was nearly pulling his hair out in frustration, desperately trying not to rip apart the third years paper. For merlin's sake, the boy was a Ravenclaw how was it that he was incapable of answering a question directly.

He had to have been one of the most long winded people Snape had ever met, and for someone that had served at the feet of a narcissistic maniac, and been to meetings that included The Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge that was saying something.

At least those two pompous asses were trying to make a point, not trying desperately to use every ounce of vocabulary that they had in their possession all at once.

Finally regaining his self-control if only slightly, Snape restrained himself to writing a deeply engraved F in the corner of his paper. Only writing a few rather pointed comments at using vocabulary that was quite obviously beyond the imbeciles reach around the edges instead of pulling out a new piece of parchment.

One finally remark would later actually cause the Ravenclaw to tear up, as he read the crumpled paper.

_You even called me stupid in your verse, and I'm almost agreeing, for where stupidity is involved, you are quite an expert, friend. A muggle quote but nonetheless appropriate, did you think I would not notice the unneccasery explanations you gave for words you used. _

_Are you trying to convince me you're an imbecile, which is quite alright because I already truly believe it, or worse are you trying to convince yourself your intelligent, which I must say judging by your performance so far I must most heartily disagree with, as well as strive to show you the error of your ways.._

As he gently placed the slightly mauled paper in the large pile of graded papers, almost all marked with similar paragraphs of malicious dialogue, he heard the flapping of wings moments before a small bat landed awkwardly on the edge of his desk, crawling the last few inches on exhausted limbs.

Clutched in it's tiny claws was a small folded piece of paper. Why in the world was somebody sending a bat as a messenger, to Snape unless it was someones idea of a joke, although all of the people he could think of offhand who would have done something like this as a whim were either dead or beyond caring.

Opening the muggle paper he immediately recognized the distinctive scrawl that was Harry Potters attempt at legible writing.

_Hello Professor:_

_I'm quite happy here in the U.S and would once more like to give my most profound thanks to you for making it possible for me to live in this place. After being arrested, yes you may snort at my idiocy, I was placed in the home of a wealthy businessman named Bruce Wayne. Chilling isn't it, even when I'm not looking for it infamy finds me. _

_While I am perfectly willing to stay here, (especially after said Mr. Wayne picked me up by the scruff of my neck and shook some since into me) and I do most heartily agree that the snapping of my wand and your subsequent assistance were perhaps the best and worse moments of my life all at the same time._

_To make a long story shorter…I believe I have found a way using a mixture of potions and muggle chemistry (don't play ignorant with me, I saw that muggle college textbook of yours) to once more allow my body to transform into my animagus form._

_Unfortunately I am quite unable to get any of the supplies I need here, and I wondered if you would be willing to do so for me, I of course will pay from my Gringotts account. I would give you both a general list of things that I will need for the potion but also the precise measurements and my notes so that you may sell this potion to the wizarding world at large. _

_I believe that while it will assist me in regaining my form, it will help witches and wizards even more who are having difficulty with their first transformation. You will of course get full credit which I believe you richly deserve. _

_Ever so simperingly yours_

_Harry Potter_

Quickly flipping the page over Snape saw the directions and ingredients and after a silent moment of study his eyes widened to an impossible size. The process actually made sense both magically and chemically speaking.

They were all relatively common ingredients that he could easily send over the proper amounts for a single person, as well as all of the equipment Harry would need to create it.

Easily paid for by Harry's Gringotts key which had remained locked in Snape's desk since the boy had left.

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A/N

Well here it is the end of a chapter that I had a blast writing and that I hope my readers will find amusing at the very least.

TTFN

Gussiegal5


	5. Chapter 5

I started this chapter thinking, okay now I've somehow got to get a brand new character into this story line just so Harry can have someone to lean on. I couldn't do it. I know I replied to several reviews from people that I believe are very very good authors themselves saying that I was going to do Harry/OMC.

But I started this story wanting Harry/Bruce and I'm going to have it, I really am trying not to be rude but it's like adding someone into the story just to have a hostage, for Harry to rescue from harm, and so Harry can have someone to boink…I mean _stabilize_ him.

I've only done a few OC's and of them they were either highly unstable characters (meaning they were nutso's) or they were just like music in the elevator. Makes the time go slightly faster but overall ignored.

Once again I'm very sorry if this is not what some people wanted but this chapter, heck this story got away from me.

On a completely different note, I know for a fact that the Cat's Eyes were used in season two, but I needed them to make this chapter work so let us pretend that they were used sometime after the fourth season, and Catwoman was more than just a little bit irritated at the Batman for what he had done.

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After sending the bat off into the night, not sure that the poor creature would be able to complete the task that he had set forth for it, Harry drifted to sleep.

Now he only had to wait.

Waiting was something he had grown to be very good at, over the passing years.

Waiting for his parents to come rescue him from the hellhole that had become his home.

Waiting for the summer to end so that he could leave his relatives home.

Waiting for the school year to end so that he could escape from Dumbledore.

Waiting.

Always waiting.

Unnoticed a tear tracked its way down his cheek.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A rapping on glass woke him later the next night, waiting patiently at his window stood a raven, its beak larger than normal and attached to its leg was a single small package.

When Harry opened the window it flew in, and after landing on the floor easily slipped the strap which held the package to his leg off.

And after only a momentary pause began to shift into the unforgettable form of Harry's ex-potions professor, his robes for once lay still.

His normal sneer however remained fully affixed to his face.

Until his hand reached into his pocket and pulled out the bat, which had easily curled up into his pocket asleep the moment it had been released into its new and warm, if albeit small cavern.

It lay still, only waking long enough to grip onto the wooden dowel inside of Harry's armoire.

When he turned back to Snape, Harry's welcoming expression was marred only by a slight and unconscious tilt of his eyebrow; he was already being affected by his new home at Wayne Manor.

"Were my notes not clear enough, Severus? Come to insult my intelligence perhaps?"

Severus's smile was small but the sincerity of it could not be doubted.

"Actually, I wished to see if you were finding your life in the new world to be acceptable."

"Oh more than, Severus. I find myself finding this place more everyday. The city's so gloomy and dark makes me think of your dungeons."

Only a slight tightening around his mouth betrayed Snape's humor.

"Indeed, and your newest guardian, Mr. Wayne was it?"

"He's here infrequently, but when he does show up, the man has a sense of humor that reminds me of you."

"Is he that brilliant than?"

Harry's laughter slipped through clenched teeth, giving it a strange hissing undertone which had always made Snape startle lightly whenever he heard it.

Harry had always seemed to laugh as loudly as possible while he was in school, as if wanting every person in the room to know that he was happy, with the world, and his life.

But this laugh was somehow more real, given only in moments when Harry was sure he was safe and either completely alone or with someone who new what his true personality was.

Their hatred during that first year had not been unfeigned; both had made every effort to annoy the other.

Severus because of his grudge against the boy's father, and Harry because he new the instant he saw the letter to enter into Hogwarts that he must hide his true self, just as he had from the Dursleys and the only one to ever crack his personal mask, had been the potions master.

The rest of the wizarding world had forcefully shattered the rest of it after they had attempted to capture him after his killing of Voldemort.

But he still remembered that night, during one of the many detentions that he had been forced through that fourth year, the night Snape had seen the truth behind the carefully constructed boy-who-lived.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

_Snape watched the boy scrub the cauldrons, Harry had not spoken a word since he had entered the deeply shadowed room. He had simply stepped into the room and gotten straight to work._

_Thinking this just another trick from the spoiled brat, Snape had begun taunting the boy, hitting every apparent emotional sore spot that he could think of._

_Nothing seemed to work until finally, Snape had tried to smash into the very mind of his student, searching for anything that he could add to the arsenal at his command. _

_And in doing so he broke through the barrier that had contained Harry's true personality, releasing it from the prison that it had been shut up into from the time that Harry had turned four._

_Of course Snape saw nothing of this, he felt only a slight giving way, and than before his minds eye a rippling shadow, eerily reminiscent of a snake, it slipped past his mental presence._

_When Snape once more focused on the present world he found himself staring into the cold stone eyes of a stranger. The boy he thought he knew was gone and replaced by someone which would have made even his strongest Slytherin students shiver in their cloaks, unable to face his stare._

_Snape managed it, if only barely, he waited, unwilling to allow his gaze to be turned away. And as his eyes stayed steady slowly the rock seemed to melt turning to liquid once more._

_When he saw the change Snape gave in to the feeling that he had fought only long enough to gain the respect of the stranger._

_The bow that he gave to Harry was not the groveling that was forced upon him by Voldemort, nor was it the carefully bland face that always met Dumbledore's._

"_My Lord."_

"_No."_

_The word was hissed and seemed to trail down his spine, dragging ice behind it, sending a chill straight to his bone._

"_I am no one's lord, Severus, I am only a freak, given way to a monster, now that you have broken that which cannot be fixed."_

"_You are not a monster, Harry."_

_Harry tossed his head flipping his hair back away from where it had begun to overshadow his face as it grew longer, and longer._

"_Than what am I Severus, I ask you, the first person to see the truth, what am I?"_

"_For the moment Harry, you are a boy, and later you will be a man. Although I have no doubt that you both are and will be very different. But you will always be my lord, my mark, given to me by Voldemort, speaks the full truth of this."_

_When he lifted the sleeve, Harry expected to see the ugly tattoo that he had read about in the history book that he had secretly grabbed from Hermione._

_But instead of a skull, jaw opened by a snake, he saw a mark so different as to make him gasp._

_A black band wrapped its way around Snape's forearm the only hint of color that of a pair of eyes which seemed to glow up from the skin as if some great creature hid in the shadow created by the ink which even now began to spread further._

_Giving the creature more life without giving away a single detail as to what it actually was._

"_Only a true lord of the dark is capable of giving these marks without using any form of chanting or spell."_

_Harry's eyes flashed,_

"_I am not, a dark lord."_

_Snape shook his head in denial,_

"_A lord of the dark is not, a dark lord. He is capable of binding together all parts of humanity towards a single purpose, he controls not only all of the creatures of the night, and the underground, but also puts back in their place the people who go beyond the rights of any human being. _

_A person such as Voldemort will have no chance once your powers are fully released, and your inner self is unlocked from its prison."_

"_My inner self?"_

_This time Snape hesitated, unable to truly think of the words when his vocal chords were taken away from him, and out of his throat came the story that lead the way to Harry's destiny ._

"_Lord of Dark don thy cloak_

_made of shadows made of smoke_

_release thy beast's one, two, and three_

_you alone can set them free._

_For if you don't, go mad you will_

_and flesh will rip and blood will spill._

_The first your true self locked so long_

_Released from chains and cruel thongs_

_When faced with partner not your foe _

_Show your self as black man crow._

_He will someday be your love_

_Note the signal high above_

_Second self your public space._

_Show them just your smiling face._

_Your third face so hardly seen _

_Used but once to kill the fiend._

_When he had finished Snape's face suffused with color as he regained control of his own body._

_Harry had stared gape-jawed as the rhyming words had erupted from the dour man in front of him._

_Snape's lips thinned._

"_Thank you, fates I do believe it could have been stated better without the abysmal rhyming."_

_A nearby vial filled with a silencing potion hit the floor, making Snape wince as the expensive brew began to dissipate quickly into the air._

_They had quickly figured out that the fiend he was supposed to show his third face to only the once was Voldemort, and that his public face must remain smiling and cheerful. But the second face, was beyond their comprehension they had no understanding of what the fates had meant and not even extensive study over a period of several false detentions provided no results other than increasingly frustrated pair, and finally they had given up all hope of knowing what they had meant until the actual time was upon them._

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It seemed the time was upon them. For Harry pointed out the window towards the inner city after their single glance shifted the memory between them.

In the sky was the gigantic silhouette of a bat.

Harry smiled sardonically, "Note the signal high above, Severus."

"I do Harry, I read between the lines as the saying goes. Your first face must be released once more into the world, but I do believe that the prophecy said something about masks."

Harry bared his teeth in a savage grin.

"Oh believe me Severus; a mask in this town hardly draws a passing glance any day of the year, much less night."

Severus returned the grin before pulling his wand from its sheath at his belt.

"I think I can whip something interesting up for you my Lord Crow."

"Just Crow, my Severus, my Raven, my second."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

When Gordon had hit the switch to the signal, he expected the Batman to continue to be in the same foul mood he had been in for the past month.

Ever since his two younger teammates had quit showing up alongside the man, he had become if it was even possible even broodier.

It was obvious the man missed the two and he always seemed to be glancing around as if searching for them, hoping they would once more land quietly by his side.

But tonight, the frown was ever so slightly less dark, and he seemed to be looking only enough to be sure of his surroundings not as if he was searching for a lost object.

"Batman."

"Commissioner, you needed something."

"Joker appears to have escaped from Arkham Asylum again."

"Are you aware of what his latest plot is, as well as the absolute futility at placing him there?"

"Clueless, feeling better are we."

But he spoke the final half of his sentence to an empty roof.

"Why does he always do that?"

Shaking his head, Gordon headed back inside once more, but his annoyance was lessened by the seeming lightening of the young man's mood.

Sitting in the far corner of the roof, the shadows seemed to swallow the presence of the now darkly masked and clothed figure, who had listened silently to the conversation.

White teeth flashed in a wild grin.

Batman was it?

Ignoring the tremendous amount of space between one building and the next he seemed to leap effortlessly to the slightly shorter building, webbing placed between his arms and his side allowing him to glide the distance easily.

He followed Batman, never close enough for the other to notice his presence, but always keeping him in sight.

Batman was so focused on searching his city for Joker that he almost failed to notice the tell-tale sight of a museum being burgled by Catwoman.

But see it he did and giving a faint huff of annoyance he turned unwillingly towards the museum, why did she always have to show up when he was unwilling to be distracted, but when he was looking for a fight she was nowhere to be found.

As he lowered himself in through the hole in the glass roof that she had already made, Batman was wary. This museum held very few true treasures to its name, and none of them were truly catlike in nature.

He was forgetting something he was sure.

And as a lithe body hurtled into him at a bone cracking speed, Batman recalled the Cat's Eyes so recently taken from her very claws and the rage which had seemed to sweep through her body.

She had tricked him it seemed into coming to a place that she obviously knew well and he knew very little about.

Feeling his ribs give way even through the Kevlar and rubber of his suit, Batman winced as he hit the ground.

She had apparently put steel in the bottom of her shoes. Ouch.

As quickly as he could Batman got to his feet barely managing to fend off the quick as thought blows that were coming at him constantly.

When he tried to return them though, he found himself swinging at thin air. Catwoman had raced off and come in for a different angle of attack.

That of a verbal threat.

"So Batman, its seemed you've not only chased off your young compatriots but you have also apparently lost your touch. I mean really, I practically handed you an invitation and you actually took it? How foolish. You took the Cat's Eyes from me, how about I take your eyes as fair payment."

Feeling lightheaded as his lungs weren't capable of bringing in all of the oxygen that he needed so desperately, Batman began to sway slightly on his feet. It seemed one of his ribs had punctured a lung, and just as blood began to dribble from his lips, she attacked again.

Or tried to anyways.

Just as Catwoman leapt at Batman she felt herself hit in a similar manner as she had hit Batman, although the blow was designed to knock her off course rather than to break bones.

When she hit the ground it was on her side rather than her feet, standing in a protective crouch over the now collapsed form of Batman stood a teenager who she for a moment mistook for Robin in a new costume.

"Going for a new look Robin? I don't know the clown colors kind of suited you."

But as she looked closer at the boy, she saw to many changes that time would not have done to the boy.

His eyes were covered in a similar mask but the lean body was clothed in an even darker costume than the Batman.

It seemed to consume the darkness around it, not allowing any light to penetrate the shadow's which covered the face of the stranger as if performing a favor for a good friend.

"Your not Robin."

His response to her statement, made it perfectly clear in her mind just how different the two teenage boys were.

He gave a wolfish grin before saying,

"Robin's run from Crow's and so should little kitties if they wish to see the rest of their nine lives through."

A roll of her eyes the only answer, Catwoman once more attacked, this time cracking her whip at the boys face. He never even flinched, grabbing hold of the end of the leather cord, Crow pulled her to him until they stood face to face.

Catwoman froze in fear as the slight boy actually picked her up by the scruff of her neck. Remembering the helpless feeling that Harry had felt when his feet left the ground, Crow snarled.

Catwoman's eyes widened to an impossible degree as fangs seemed to sprout from the boy's gums. Just as suddenly they were gone, replaced by a forked tongue licking the air.

When that to was gone Catwoman hung limp in Crow's hands frightened beyond movement.

When he finally released her, she actually landed on her knees before bolting directly for the door ignoring the whip still in the Crow's grasp as well as the hole in the window above.

Hearing a cut-off groan from just behind him Crow quickly knelt at Batman's side.

At his first close look at Batman, Crow drew back, he would recognize that chin anywhere.

Leaning in again, Harry drew a hand down the side of Batman's face. As he drew close he allowed his voice to regain its natural tone, losing the unnatural hissing which had accompanied his speech to Catwoman.

Looking into the pain slitted eyes of his mate, Harry took his mask off his face careful to keep the shadows around it so that only Batman could see his true face.

Leaning close he whispered into the others ear.

"Hello, Bruce, want some help with those ribs."

Batman's chest seemed to arch off of the floor a moment later as Harry pushed a healing potion down the man's throat.

When Batman quite heaving and choking his first words were filled with horror, at the knowledge thrust into his face.

"Harry?"

"Hello, sir. Happy to see me?"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I think at this point everybody realizes that I had an epiphany as to where this story is going. Sorry if it's going all cliché on me.

Read and Review

TaTa

Gussiegal5


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter six, I know it's been a while but I just kept chipping away at it until I got it as long as this. It helps explain more about why Snape helps Harry.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Batman struggled to his feet, body still stiff from recently healed bones. He eyed the young man in front of him, it was as though Harry was trying to show what a partner not a sidekick could be to Batman. 

All pretence of shyness was gone from the figure, his shaggy hair pulled back into a very short ponytail. His mask covered only his eyes but seemed to drip in silken waves of black down his cheeks, as if a natural part of his face.

He could look no further than Harry's face as if transfixed by the not stranger that stood before him. Recalling the teasing stroke of leather down his face, Batman hesitantly reached towards the teenager.

Before jerking his hand back, trying to avoid tracing the fabric on Harry's face, in a similar manner. Although he hardly seemed to be the Harry that he was just coming to know, almost as if like Batman, they were two separate entities, although his seemed to get along better than his own pair.

"I've heard that Crow is a master trickster, is that also true of you Harry?"

Harry's hissing laugh brought a different sort of slithering temperature to Batman's back than Severus had experienced. Its warmth seemed to envelope him.

"I only trick those that ask for it Batman, and I am calling you by your proper name, would it not be polite for you to do the same for me?"

"Very well, Crow, although I must ask the fangs and tongue seemed more snakelike than anything."

Crow smiled, "Ah, that well a little illusion goes a long way, and guess who's afraid of snakes?"

"Catwoman?"

"Catwoman."

Batman studied him for a moment, "And you would no this how?"

"Same reason I came to this city, a feeling."

"You get a lot of these feelings?"

"Only when it's necessary for me to go somewhere, meet someone."

"Which leads me to my next question of why specifically are you in my city?"

Crow looked up at the sky at the place where when it was turned on would become lit by the bat signal.

"Here in this place specifically or in Gotham?"

"Both." The gravely voice returning to its normal Batman tone, "I want to know both."

"I was going to be thrown into a mental institution for killing someone who was already dead, and came to this place because it was the place that reminded me of deep, cool dungeons filled with all you would ever need if you only knew how to survive. 

I followed the bat signal; saw your little meeting with the commissioner. Just wanted to see what you were gonna do about the crazy."

Batman's eyes had widened only slightly at the confession slipping from his newest wards lips. Crow's face showed no humor, and his repeated memory of the dungeons was indeed how Batman and Bruce saw Gotham.

Safe and protective if a little cold in its very heart.

Batman's lips quirked, who would want a city filled with false warmth.

They gave a sardonic twist; of course homicidal rage wasn't much fun sometimes.

"And if I don't believe you?"

"Perhaps, you'll believe me."

Spinning on his heel at the unexpected voice, the only reason the man behind him wasn't kicked backwards several feet was because he was far enough away that Batman's natural reflexes wouldn't be able to harm him. 

Although the batarang was a difficult weapon to track, Severus managed to dodge it and after a brief, and rather clumsy scramble for him, before kneeling at the Crows feet.

His face was unrepentant and scowling, he looked if possible even grumpier than Batman was on a regular basis. He didn't like seemingly cowering at the feet of anyone even his lord but the tradition of the lord of dark must be upheld. 

The Snape family had been charged with the Lords of Dark by the fates themselves, and in return each generation had been given a talent, something that would assist their Lords.

It seemed Lord Crow would need a potions master in the future. He didn't want to abandon his Slytherins but the choice between the two was impossible, so he had left instructions to his seventh years to protect their younger housemates

Batman stopped short at the protective stance the much younger man had taken over the elder.

Crow smiled slightly and gently guided Snape to his feet unwilling to allow the man to debase himself in a way similar to how Voldemort had forced his followers. 

"Crow speaks the truth, he always speaks the truth, I came only to protect him, but now you may do so." Raven turned to Crow. "I have what you requested there in the usual place."

Harry nodded towards Snape who gave a stiff bow in return before turning on his heel and apparating silently away. Making it seem like he had disappeared into the shadows.

"And that was?"

"Why Raven, of course."

"Of course."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As Batman headed once more to the inner city listening for the cackling of the Joker, Crow stayed close to him leaping easily from one building to the next, using the built in wings as well as a set a tool that looked similar to talons.

On the knuckles of his gloves were four metal plates which could serve to make his blows more effect, a bracelet-like ring could be twisted so that four bent claws, each honed to a razor edge would become magnetically charged. Sticking to the plates in such a way that only another twist of the wrist could dislodge them.

He had tried to convince the boy to return the Manor but in his own quiet way he was as intractable as Bruce had been at that age.

No matter the odd twists and turns Batman took, Crow kept easy pace with him, never seeming to tire, even as the night wore on and the Joker continued to elude the Batman. 

When he finally stopped to rest, crouching on a relatively spike free gargoyle on his latest building, Crow landed next to him easily resting against the side of the same gargoyle.

Crow looked up at the taller man, face bland and relaxed. He wasn't even breathing heavily.

"Who are you looking for?"

"Joker."

Crow drew back slightly.

"The evil clown?"

"Yes."

"Fantastic, he gives me the freaking creeps."

Batman nearly smiled.

"Take a number."

Suddenly Crow's head twisted at an almost impossible angle in a direction just behind them, his face growing intent and cold.

"He likes to cackle doesn't he?"

Batman nodded.

"Well than," Crow gave a vicious grin, "he's that way."

Not even asking how he had heard the insane laughter across the city Batman launched himself gracefully from the gargoyle, Crow gliding easily in his wake.

As they made their way closer to the business district of Gotham, Batman began to hear the same thing that Crow had, the deranged giggling of the Joker, and the terrified screams of his latest victim.

Just as suddenly as he had appeared at the museum Crow went left when Batman went right, remembering similar guerilla tactics that he and his friends had used to take out enough Death Eaters to enrage Voldemort.

Of course their were to many to actually incapacitate them all completely but that didn't mean that the trio didn't spoil some of the more grandiose schemes that the Dark Lord had made to try and force Harry to show himself.

Although judging by the exploding balloons and rabid looking hyena's Voldemort had nothing on the Joker when it came to insane ideas.

Crow looked around puzzled; I mean what was the point of it all?

Joker was bouncing around on a rather ungainly looking muggle toy, his two purple lackeys calmly holding back the hordes of people who were trying to escape.

When Batman landed in front of the madman, eyes following his movement for a moment, Crow took his chance.

While Joker was excitedly explaining to the Batman exactly what he was doing. 

"_Why trying to make Gotham, LAUGH"_'he looked around furtively as if telling the scowling man a secret. "_I mean this place has no sense of humor."_

The closest Crow came to laughing that night was when Batman calmly knocked the make-up covered man to the ground with a swift roundhouse kick to the face, the cowled man looking slightly smug.

Not wanting to actually get into a physical fight with the two rotund men in purple Crow slid down the sides of the surrounding buildings, and with a solid thwack to the back of the pair's heads he quickly cuffed the unconscious pair to any available landscape that looked sturdy enough.

He turned back to watch Batman who was efficiently beating the tar out of a still laughing Joker, it was almost as if he couldn't stop.

A wild blow suddenly connected on the exposed chin of his newest partner, and Batman was sent tumbling into a wall, blearily trying to shake his head free of its sudden dizziness, great now all he had to do was break that stupid clown's nose.

Only trouble was, he wasn't sure which clown was the correct one.

The three blurry shapes advanced quickly on him, his concussed head still unsteady. By the time everything came back into focus, Crow had landed on top of the Joker, the unsuspecting villain knocked unconscious with the force of Crow's landing.

Tossing an errant lock of hair from blocking his vision, Harry crossed his arms over his chest, one foot placed unerringly between the shoulders, in case the Joker suddenly awoke. 

He watched Batman get unsteadily to his feet, still blearily shaking his head, before finally pushing a seemingly random button on his belt; the movement was followed moments later by the dull roar of the batmobile.

The vehicle stopped close enough to Batman to make Crow wince involuntarily, making his weaving way towards the car Batman gestured for Crow to sit in the passenger seat. 

Once they were in and the top had closed, Batman slammed on the autopilot just as a traffic jam's worth of police vehicles pulled into the courtyard quickly grabbing the unconscious heap of Joker from the ground before he had a chance to make a similar escape.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

When they finally pulled into the batcave, Batman was unwilling to move from the seat, but if his rather hazy at the moment memory served, falling asleep was a bad idea with concussions, couldn't remember why though.

Even as he began to drift off a soft rustle of fabric could be heard and than his eyes snapped open.

He gave a snarl that had sent thugs scurrying, it had no effect on the frowning youth that sat next to him. 

The little brat that had, had the nerve to actually smack him sharply on the shoulder, Harry was grinning at him, his mask taken off and his public personality now dominant, before twirling a small glass vial between his fingers offering it enticingly to Batman.

"This won't get rid of the concussion, none of these are much good for head injuries, but it will get rid of the nausea and pain, hiding the concussion from the conscious part of the brain."

Batman tried to ignore him, but the constant movement was beginning to make him feel decidedly ill. 

Finally he snatched it from Harry's grasp, or tried to anyways. His hazy vision made him overshoot his mark, neatly missing the liquid filled glass container.

Harry chuckled before removing the stopper, and gently tapped its edge against Batman's lips, persuading him to finally open his mouth and allow the potion to go down his throat. 

Although his gagging distaste made sure it wasn't a smooth trip for either the potion or its receiver.

"That tastes what I imagine rotting flesh tastes like."

Harry smiled humorlessly, "I have very little doubt that is because it probably did have some sort of rotting flesh placed in it while it was being brewed."

Batman's eyes widened dramatically before narrowing in irritation.

"I highly doubt that."

Harry shrugged, "Believe what you will."

The teenager vaulted easily out of the car, heading towards the large computer that dominated a single floor of the multiple levels of the huge cavern. 

He caught a glimpse of what looked like some sort of museum, before he was suddenly face to chest with Bruce Wayne, his mask now taken off as his mind began to clear from the affects of the concussion.

"Why did you come, to Gotham? I believe that you only gave me a partially truthful answer."

Harry snarled at him for a moment. "Paranoia, doesn't suit you Mr. Wayne, do try and restrain it."

Bruce loomed over him, in a manner threatening enough to force Harry to back up a step. Trying to hide his unease with a nonchalant toss of his head, Harry gave an obnoxious smirk, taken directly from his experience with the Malfoy family.

"I came to Gotham because, _Freaks_, tend to fit in around here. You get some nutjob with a mask, it kind of distracts from the skinny teenager lurking in the background. In short I would be a nobody here, nothing special."

Bruce gave a low growl of irritation although this was not contrary to what Harry believed placed at his feet, but rather at the feet of whoever had decided to give the boy such a derogatory name.

"Whatever you may believe, Harry, _Freaks_ as you call them, are more often than not people who are capable of things that no other person is either willing or able to do. So I could be considered a freak and while he was alive I have very little doubt that Einstein was considered a freak. 

But just because somebody is different doesn't mean that they are any more or less worthy of being acknowledged for their achievements."

Harry's sneer came back full force, "And I suppose that after that uplifting pep talk you want me to fall sobbing to the floor, ranting and raving about how wrong I am, and how you may ask me anything and I'll tell you."

Bruce smiled, "Nope, I will however say this, what the hell were you thinking, following me around Gotham, I have no doubt you've had training, but I doubt it prepared you as completely as you think it did."

"I've been training for all out war since I was eleven years old, and been taught guerilla tactics by some of the scariest and most paranoid men ever to walk this planet for three years. I am fully capable of handling myself in an aggressive situation, although I must ask if you are.

Concussed and on the ground as you were tonight, and completely ignorant of two purple behemoths coming up behind you less than a week ago."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Bruce bristled unwilling to admit even to himself that a boy nearly half his age was right about him. He had been distracted, the headaches had been a small part of it, but most of his problems stemmed from being unused to working alone after years of having Batgirl and Robin.

Not only that but he also missed Dick, the boy hadn't called him since telling him that he was going to go to the police academy. 

Bruce was sure he could find the number for the academy, but he was also sure that he would only do that if he felt that Dick was in a life or death situation. 

Being worried about his foster son, did not count no matter how much the boy's abandonment hurt him, pulling open scars placed by his parents deaths.

And Batgirl, his first apprentice albeit one that had forced his training on her, it was either train her or deal with an incompetent teenager trailing on his heels every night.

And only a few years later she to had left him, they had both left to fight the war against villainy although they had chosen different fronts, but they had made a difference both in the crime rate as well as Bruce's personal life. 

Filling it with more than just the subtle humor that Alfred was renowned for, but with actual gut busting laughter at times when he had truly needed it.

Harry cocked his head slightly when Bruce failed to answer his taunt, and the older mans face had slowly seemed to crack around the edges as he stood there in silence.

Seemed he'd struck a pretty deep nerve, with that last jab.

Hopefully he'd also knocked more sense into him, although he rather thought the blow Joker had given him had only prolonged the process of enlightenment. 

Finally Bruce answered him.

"I have been a bit preoccupied lately, unexpected changes forced me to once return to my original plans of fighting the villains of Gotham."

Harry looked at him face serious, not a glint of mockery left in his voice.

"You mean when your two teammates left Gotham, left you."

Bruce's face hardened. "They both had plans, plans that will give them at least a semi-normal life."

"Please," Harry snorted, "You feel like they abandoned you. A perfectly rational feeling since they did."

Bruce snarled, "And you know about abandonment because somebody was going to put you in an asylum?"

"Forget someone, I have an entire government after my head, although I do believe as the old saying goes, out of sight, out of mind. It's highly unlikely that they'll try and find me, and even more unlikely that they'll be able to figure out where I am if they do try." 

Harry's bared teeth just barely resembled a smile. "My _friends_ were trying to help them, although they knew that the man I killed was alive and killing innocents."

"Why would they do that?"

"Because Bruce, once I was thrown into the institution they would have free access to my money, which while not as plentiful as your own is nothing to scoff at."

Bruce pondered that for a moment, "Well than can't they still do that? Since you disappeared and all."

Harry's smiled turned evil, "Nope, I wrote to the bank that holds my vaults, the only person that can now enter besides me is Raven. Bit of a nasty shock for them I bet, hearing that one of the most hated teachers in the school had gained the entire Potter fortune due to the lunacy of its heir."

"_Potter_ family fortune."

Harry bowed with a flourish, "Harry James Potter, at your service, don't bother looking it up I destroyed all of the information on myself before leaving the country."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A/N

Here it is the end of the chapter it took me much longer than the others I'll admit but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop righting it. I know there was a lot of dialogue but Harry and Bruce, not to mention Crow and Batman are getting to know each other.


	7. Chapter 7

I'm updating as fast as I can, I'm starting this chapter right after finishing chapter six

I hope all my wonderful reviewers like my new chapter, even though personally the little brat gave me fits. So it's only about six pages but it's four in the morning and I want to give my readers something to enjoy as well as reach a stopping point so that I can go to bed.

Just rising up from his extravagant bow, Harry nearly leapt out of his skin when a calm British voice asked.

"It seems I need to bring down more food, since there appears to be a new partner in the cave."

Whipping around Harry smiled sheepishly at Alfred as he set the tray filled with a large sandwich and glass of water.

"Hello Alfred."

Alfred raised a single eyebrow.

"Master Potter. Will you need your uniform cleaned?"

Harry glanced uncomfortably at Bruce for a moment before straightening his back and throwing back his shoulders, as if to add steel to his spine.

"No, thank you Alfred I can do that myself."

"Very good sir, I'll go and make another sandwich."

Turning on his heel Alfred strode once more from the room, his small smile hidden from the other two.

He knew that both Bruce and Batman had needed something more than just an aging butler to help him in his constant struggle.

And while Batgirl and Robin had both helped him in different ways, Harry seemed to be doing the most. Unlike the other two, Bruce had to actually make a concerted effort to frighten the younger man even slightly.

Usually when the Batman loomed over someone they backed up until they hit the nearest solid object usually a wall, with Batman trailing close behind easily cornering his latest victim.

He had only done that to Robin once in the entire time that the boy had lived in Wayne Manor, the boy had managed to hotwire the batmobile and than proceeded to run it directly into the brick side of a WayneTech building.

Alfred had watched from the limo as a bedraggled Dick Grayson stumbled back towards Wayne Manor only to run directly into a scowling Bruce Wayne.

The expression on his mentors face had the teenager backing up so fast he nearly tripped over his own feet, and Bruce had continued to back him up directly into the limo.

No one spoke a word that night as Bruce began to get dressed so that he could salvage what remained of one of his most prized possessions.

Robin hadn't joined either Batman or Batgirl for two months because of that stunt; he was forced to stay in the cavern endlessly researching petty crimes.

Robin had been Bruce's ward for three years.

Harry had gotten under the Batman's skin enough in a week to force a similar reaction, from the older man. And what had a done, backed up a single step and then resumed taunting the much larger man.

Brave boy.

When Harry removed the rest of his uniform, Bruce was met with the sight of a still fully clothed teenager. Although whether or not the skin tight body suit could be called decent was another story.

When Harry began to carefully fold up his uniform and place it near the steps where he could easily grab it on his way back to the main level of the house Bruce's eyebrow raised, before a slight smile curved his lips.

"I would be much more impressed at your discretion if you had not just bludgeoned unconscious a pair of thugs, not exactly subtle," said Batman.

Harry smiled.

"I rarely have discretion and forget subtlety; I have about as much of it as a raging hippo in a china shop."

"You mean a bull in a china shop."

"Uh, yeah that sorry must be more tired than I thought."

Bruce frowned it was more as if he hadn't heard the expression lately, like someone used to speaking a foreign language, finding their native tongue difficult.

After giving Harry a hard eyed scrutiny, Bruce turned back towards the museum that had so fascinated Harry.

Harry slid up to stand next to the man, "Souvenirs?"

"Reminders."

"Of what?"

Bruce didn't answer for a moment as if unwilling to take his gaze off of the giant penny that lay leaning against the wall.

"Of why I do what I do, every night. Reasons why I should live to see another day."

Harry looked around at the possessions that this man had wrenched from the grasp of some of the greatest criminals in the world.

"Have you ever run out of reasons?"

The question was softly murmured, but Bruce heard the words nonetheless.

Glancing sharply at the teenager at his side, Bruce was unable to catch a glimpse of the boy's averted face.

When a warm hand landed heavily on Harry's shoulder, and easily drug him around so that he faced the older man.

"Only once, but I kept doing it anyways."

"Why?"

"Because," said Bruce with a brittle smile. "Who else would do it?"

Harry looked up at Bruce, his face strained and tense as if waiting for a reply to the unanswerable question.

Unable to look away from the unswerving gaze Harry could only absorb into his shaking body, the warmth that came from this azure eyes.

"Some things," Harry whispered brokenly, "Cannot be fixed."

Bruce smiled sadly in agreement before pushing Harry gently towards the museum giving silent permission to explore while he cleaned the grime of the streets from his skin.

Just when Alfred was about to return to the cavern, he heard the unmistakable sound of Master Dick's motorcycle, he successfully controlled the expression of worry that almost became apparent on his face.

Things were about to get interesting.

Just as he was about to turn around to warn Master Bruce of the return of his protégé, a gaunt man appeared out of the shadows nearly making Alfred drop the tray he was carrying although he managed to catch it.

Only allowing it to fall a matter of inches before snatching it once more from the air, he really must get over that reaction to the unexpected.

The man however threatening his dark appearance may have been seemed uncertain how to begin the conversation. Which boded well, Alfred thought for his chances of not being a criminal; usually those nasty blokes had entire sermons on their greatness memorized.

Although the man's intense black eyes eroded some of that hope to a degree, they seemed to glint maniacally, like a nightmare.

Alfred puffed himself up trying to look as threatening as possible only succeeding in managing to look much to Snape's hidden amusement like a self-righteous prig along the same lines as Percy Weasley.

"I warn you sir, this platter is very hard, and I am not unused to knocking the wits from any senseless enough to enter my Masters residence without permission."

"You, are Bruce Wayne's butler, Alfred?"

"Yes." Alfred had been waiting for many things to come from the thin lips, although sneered insults seemed to be the best bet for the cruel looking man, a polite question was not within his expectations. "And you are?"

The man hesitated for a moment, "I…suppose you could call me Lord Harry's…" he seemed to grope for the word. "Friend."

"Lord?"

As Dick Grayson dismounted his motorcycle, removing his helmet in the same smooth motion, he looked up at the manor which stood on the hill, as alone as ever.

He had come home, although whether or not he would have the tar beaten out of him remained to be seen. He had taken the cowardly route out refusing to call Bruce and not listening to any of the messages his guardian had left on his cell phone.

Although how he had gotten the supposedly untraceable number was a mystery only Batman knew the answer too.

Well and Batgirl of course.

Dick rolled his eyes, at the thought of his fellow side-kick, he was sure that during his absence Barbara had made every effort to make Bruce forget about him. Although they seemed to be in vain judging by the amount of messages Bruce had left him.

She was enjoying his absence he was sure, but Dick felt that he hadn't had a choice. The protectiveness of The Bat had been a true benefit when he had been younger, and needed to be rescued at times due to over zealous attacks on thugs that proved to be too much for his small frame.

But when he entered the manor, Dick was met by any of its supposed residents. The great hall remained empty of butler, bat, or broad.

The smirk that came to his face at that small bit of humor would have fit in better on a ten year old rather than a young man who in just a few years would be able to legally drink.

Even Dick knew that sometimes he was far too easily amused.

He also knew that if he ever called Barbara a broad he was likely to gain a couple of broken bones for his trouble.

As he pushed the hidden switch which allowed him to enter the Batcave from behind an armoire Dick was prepared to face a verbal battlefield with his mentor, with land mines hidden below words sharply edged with double meanings.

What he was not expecting was to have a physical attack launched at him moments after he had entered what he considered the safest place on planet earth.

Two bare feet connected heavily with his back, shoving Dick away from the door, and off of the ledge that led down to a seemingly bottomless crevasse.

Only the years of intense training saved him from death, Dick managed to grab hold of the edge of the floor and flip himself back up in a matter of seconds.

But those seconds had been enough for his attacker to be able to come around and attack him from a different angle. But this time Robin was ready, instead of letting the feet impact his back he swiftly spun around grabbing hold of a slender ankle.

And using his assailant's weight against him flung the body against a wall.

Shaking the pain from his limbs, and wishing for his body armor, Crow was still happy that he had remembered to don his mask when he had seen the unfamiliar silhouette entering Batman's domain.

As the two young men circled each other searching out weaknesses, Crow raised his head in the air as if searching for an elusive scent, the scent of the stranger's fears.

Robin watched all of this carefully doing his own study looking for the physical rather than mental weaknesses of his opponent.

And just as both teens lunged at each other, both were unceremoniously grabbed hold of by the collar of their tops, bringing them both to an abrupt halt.

As Crow once again dangled helplessly from the man's powerful grip he couldn't help but say.

"I hope this form of attention grabber isn't going to become a regular occurrence."

Now I'm exhausted I hope you liked it, but I absolutely must get to bad.

TaTa

Gussiegal5


	8. Chapter 8

Here we are my lovely readers, chapter eight. And it's a cheapy. Two reasons it's so short. I felt like the natives were getting restless for an update, and this is a complete remake of a different chapter eight that I had almost five pages done on.

Nobody will ever be reading that.

Lets just call it a mistake made by the part of my brain that had to much caffeine and not enough sleep in it and leave it at that.

The thing had to be destroyed.

Oh and I'm trying a different type of linebreak because in their infinite wisdom has somehow managed to remove all of my previous lines of hyphens. So here we go. Finally.

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When Bruce finally allowed both teenagers to regain their feet, both glared at each other

When Bruce finally allowed both teenagers to regain their feet, both glared at each other. With legs planted firmly onto the ground and arms crossed the two could be mirror images of each other.

That is if one hated ones own reflection anyways.

In unison both boys said.

"**Who's he?"**

"**What do you mean who's he?"**

When the pair finally finished their eery duet, the stopped to stare at each other once more.

When Bruce had heard the scrabbling sound of the pair fighting he had barely managed to pull on a pair of low slung cotton sleeping pants. Seeing that at least the overt hostilities had stopped for the moment he returned to the bathroom to finish changing into his pajamas.

When he returned he was slightly pleased to see that neither of the boys had moved from where he had placed them.

Harry seemed to have gotten over his irritation at being throttled yet again. And he ignored the slight bruising that was already beginning to appear on the pale skin of his neck.

The same could not be said for Dick his complexion had purpled more from the rough handling than from the choke hold. He had not expected to be attacked while inside the Batcave without the slightest warning. He had also not expected to be drug away from his opponent by the collar of his shirt.

By his surrogate father no less!

Bruce had no reason to ask why the pair had been fighting to him the answer was obviously a case of to little information on both of the boys parts. Although he did want to know…

"How did you know that he wasn't Alfred, Harry?"

Accepting that this stranger obviously knew about the Batman, Harry simply shrugged and answered as best he could.

"He breathes differently from Alfred."

"And you realized this before the door even opened?"

"Well I may have been trying to startle Alfred just a little bit."

"While the idea is admirable…" Bruce began.

"I do believe that nothing much will surprise me any more. Well except for your friend here, gave me quite a start he did." Said Alfred.

Turning at Alfred's voice Harry was shocked to see not only the butler but also Snape.

He strode forward arm outstretched in greeting to his friend, unwilling to show weakness in front of anymore people, Snape accepted a warrior's clasp to the forearm rather than bowing or kneeling.

"Back so soon, Raven? I had expected you to need at least a month in preparation alone."

"So I will my Lord, but I needed some of your hair samples to be sure that the…" he glanced at the avidly watching muggles. "Chemical is set to agree with your personal biological makeup you know how tricky getting various ingredients to not taint a base po…chemical."

Harry shrugged before easily pulling out a small handful only the slight wince saying that it was in any way painful. He was well aware that he could have simply cut off some of his hair but the DNA on the follicles would increase the potency of the potion mixture.

Snape bowed slightly when he was given the small handful which was quickly placed in a glass vial and stowed in one of the many pockets of his voluminous robes.

Turning on his heel Snape once more entered the shadows to apparate away although this time Bruce noticed that he didn't actually head for the door before disappearing, all he heard was a slight pop and his senses told him the man was no longer in the room.

Although now that he thought about it, before he had begun his studies Bruce was sure that he would have been quite a bit more upset, at the seeming defiance of both gravity and space.

But he took his cue from Harry, who appeared to know exactly what Raven had done, and while he wasn't actually amused by the swift retreat, Bruce could see a glimmer of softness in Harry's eyes for a second as he looked at the empty air where the older man had been only moments before.

When Harry shook his head he turned and as if to draw the unrelenting pressure of the three men's gazes away from him, he turned and looked at the newest person to enter the manor.

"So, who are you anyways?"

Dick's mouth dropped for a moment before he regained control of his facial expression.

"Well, up until a couple of weeks ago I lived here."

Harry's head cocked for a moment eyes squinting as if trying to see something.

"Oh, so you're Robin, I overheard something about you from Commissioner Gordon." His eyes narrowed. "Something about both you and Batgirl leaving rather abruptly."

Dicks face flushed for a moment before the full content of the sentence leaked in from his ears to his brain.

"What do you mean Batgirl left; she swore that she would be around to pick up the slack that my leaving would make. I had no intention of leaving you alone Bruce." He swung to look up imploringly at his adopted father, face sincere. "Honest, she seemed really excited to be staying, said she couldn't wait to be rid of me so that you would need her more."

Bruce seemed slightly puzzled before both his eyes cleared and his face paled.

"The letter."

Turning so quickly on his heels that he nearly fell, Bruce raced towards the poles that allowed easy access to the entire Batcave and as he fled up back into the public mansion above he left three gaping men behind him.

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As Bruce ran ungracefully (for him) up the stairs he remembered the day that he had received the letter that Batgirl had sent to him.

_While Robin had just left for his supposed whirlwind adventure around the globe, Batgirl had remained behind, always in the thick of things as always, ever eager to help._

_Later he would wonder how he could have been so blind that the letter that she had apparently sent to him came as a shock._

_Dear Mr. Wayne_

_While you have been very good to me, allowing me to tag along on your excursions, I have no doubt that my continued presence will always be more of a nuisance than a help._

_It has therefore been my decision to join a small group of rogue soldiers in the rainforests of the Amazon. They are being forced to hold off a much larger group of white business owners (and their hired guns) in order to protect what is left of their homeland._

_They're land was sold without their knowledge or consent, and is therefore at least to me, invalid._

_Please don't try to contact me I believe we both know that this is for the best._

_Yours truly,_

_Barbara Gordon_

The pain and rage he felt, that she had simply abandoned him so completely for a group of strangers had torn a vital chunk from both his heart and his brain.

As he finally reached the doors that opened up into his bedroom, his breath was short from emotion rather than exertion.

He had thought that both of his protégés had abandoned him almost simultaneously, but with Dick's belief that Barbara had fully planned on staying with him, changed his entire perspective.

If she had not planned to leave voluntarily, than someone or thing must have made her leave involuntarily.

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When he returned once more to the cave, the men had moved both young men leaning up against the wall, and Alfred busily sweeping away any daring dust that had managed to land on the artifacts from Batman's Villains.

When Bruce finally stood once more in his previous position all three were crowded around him, all eager to find out what had upset the usually stoic man.

As Bruce read the letter aloud the three others listened intently searching for something to tell them if the letter was real or false.

"The minute I got this letter, I checked the writing against the sample Barbara gave me when she started assisting on a regular basis. Everything checked out, as well as the information about her plane ticket and destination." Said Bruce.

Alfred calmly waited for Bruce to finish what Dick was sure was the longest sentence he had ever heard the man say before arching a single eyebrow and saying.

"If you don't mind me saying sir, I do believe that you were acting like a moron."

Bruce gaped at him for a second before sputtering, "Wh.wh…How am I a moron?"

"I did not say that you were a moron, I said you were acting _like_ a moron. In what way does this letter sound even remotely like Miss Gordon? A simple question. The answer, not at all." Said Alfred.

Harry rolled his eyes before raising his hand for permission to interrupt, when that gained neither of the two arguing men's attention, he cleared his throat loudly. Nothing. Finally he smirked evilly at Dick and smoothly and calmly walked off the edge of the precipice.

This quickly garnered both men's attention.

_Tbc_

A/N

Well yet another cliff hanger. I hope people don't think this story is going to fast. Don't worry I have plans for a couple of adventures.

Read and Review.

And to my newest catch phrase.

_**To Peace, Love, and Caffeinated Beverages!**_

_**May they always reign supreme.**_

TaTA muchly

Gussiegal5


	9. Chapter 9

Although all conversation stopped, noone was able to panic for more than an instant when they heard the gentle thump that mean

Hope everybody likes my latest chapter.

Chapter 9

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Although all conversation stopped, no one was able to panic for more than an instant when they heard the gentle thump that meant that Harry had managed a safe landing on one of the ledges below.

Although since each ledge was directly under the other, it must have required both balance, talent, and luck for the boy to be able to step directly off the ledge they stood on and end up on the ledge below.

Or magic.

Harry smirked at as Bruce quickly flipped himself around and under the edge landing only feet from his newest charge. And if the red color which was rapidly rising up his neck was any proof he was absolutely furious.

"And what exactly did you think you were doing idiot boy."

Only Batman would have noticed the miniscule wince that the derogatory title forced across the younger man's face.

And he was firmly entrenched in his Batman persona, due to the sudden rush of adrenaline that flooded his body

He stopped himself from continuing to yell, it would only serve to widen the chasm between the two that still existed from the moment Harry had seen something unwanted in his face.

Although one of his team members was once more with him, the sight of Dick brought mixed feelings to Bruce's heart.

On the one hand, the sight of his adopted son gladdened him immensely but the tall slender young man, no longer seemed to mesh as well in the cave.

He was and always would be more of a bird than a bat, and such creatures needed daylight to thrive, something that both his habits and his darker personality simply couldn't provide.

And although he personally could not see it perhaps in some way Dick and Robin had both been drawn to the place in which hopefully both sides of his personality could thrive.

But the boy in front of him was different from Robin. His personality was a crossover between sarcastic jerk and insecure teenager, much like Bruce had been at that age. Batman smiled internally at himself; actually, he was still like that.

Just as Harry began to stare at him oddly for his long silence, it was broken but not by Batman's voice.

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Alfred had hurried to the elevator as he saw his employer follow his newest ward over the edge. While the fright had eventually worn off to the point where he had ceased to gasp every time Master Bruce had made yet another improbably feat seem like a normal occurrence, and of very little importance compared to the things that mattered most to him.

That didn't mean that his heart didn't grapple with his stomach every time his young master did do such a thing.

When he saw that both men were unharmed, Alfred abruptly turned on his heel and swept stiffly into an adjacent storage room.

Finally able to break his self imposed silence now that his focus had been broken, Bruce opened his mouth to say…something. He wasn't quite sure what, but he knew he had to say something.

Harry beat him to it.

"Do I have your attention now, oh mighty Bat."

Dick exited the elevator just as he heard the sentence.

"Don't you dare insult him. Batman is worth a thousand of you."

Harry turned to meet him, squaring off with the slightly taller and slightly heavier male.

"I'll say what I want to whomever I want, worm chewer."

"Not to him you won't, carcass eater."

Bruce watched this silently, desperately trying to hold back on the laughter that threatened to leave him uncontrollably thanks to the cocky wink that Harry threw at him.

Hell, the boy wasn't even angry.

The same he noticed with growing displeasure could not be said for his oldest ward, the boy was practically fuming.

"Dick!"

The boy immediately turned to face his teacher, subconsciously following the orders of the voice which he trusted most in the world.

"Can you not see he has you right where he wants you?"

Dick opened his mouth to protest, only to close it again a moment later when he realized just how unaware he had been of anything but the younger boy.

"A good way to get killed is to lose your focus not only what the person you are confronting at the moment is doing, but also the entire landscape around you, and any future foes you might have to worry about." Said Batman.

He was repeating himself verbatim from a lecture he had given Dick less than a year ago when he had become so angry at the man he was chasing he never noticed the fact that while birds could fly, he could not. At least not without a grappling hook and some cord, which he was without because it had been knocked out of his hands earlier.

Dick shuddered just thinking about, if it weren't for Batman's speed and dexterity he would have ended up a bloody smear on the pavement stories below him.

As it was they had lost the suspect and had only managed to capture him after he had committed two more robberies.

Seeing that he had managed to get his point across quite vividly, Batman turned to the other boy, with a slight smirk on his face.

"Are you naturally a sarcastic snot or were you given lessons in how to annoy the hell out of people?"

Harry smiled back his face gleaming with the accomplishment of a job well done.

"I had two of the best teaching me for nearly six years, albeit one was slightly more err acerbic than the other." Replied Harry.

While the two were staring at each other, both peripherally aware of everything but focusing only on themselves, Dick had a moment of stunning clarity, so stunning in fact that he could not contain the expletive that soon followed his revelation.

When three pairs of eyes turned towards him, two sending reprimanding glares his way as Alfred exited the small side room he had entered in such haste.

Fighting down his blush Dick smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry, I had a sudden…thought. Nothing do to with anything I'm afraid. Umm I've really got to go. I'll be back later tonight to see what we can do about Batgirl, but at the moment I need a place to crash."

At these words he turned hopefully to Bruce for a moment and was met with an agreeable nod on his part.

Turning he fled up the stares unwilling to face any of the curious eyes. He had to think about what he thought he had seen in the faces of both his mentor and the newest member of the bat family.

Bruce watched him leave before once again turning to his young charge unnoticed his eyes softened to a degree that he was unaware of, the softness was actually returned although neither of them seemed to notice how the other's expression changed when they were looking at each other.

They were to busy arguing with each other.

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It had been a very long time since Minister Fudge had slept peacefully through the night. Every time he closed his eyes the man was met with horrific nightmares of bloodied human remains sprayed across the walls of a chamber which seemed to focus all of its decorative attempts on depicting various forms of serpents.

He had entered the room just as Harry Potter had regained his feet, however unsteadily, after committing one of the most horrific murders that Fudge had ever seen.

And although the boy had attempted to lie about the presence of Lord Voldemort, Fudge was absolutely certain that this was merely a cover story to try and hide the boys true intentions of actually starting where Voldemort had left off fifteen years ago.

The boy was a menace and he must be stopped.

But the child either had outside help or he was more intelligent and crafty than Fudge and the rest of the government had given him credit for. Not a day after he had escaped from the cell that he had been placed in Harry had disappeared off of any magical radar that Fudge had access to.

He had simply disappeared, and he hadn't used any magic since that they had been able to find, the alerts that would sound if he did so were powerful enough to allow a single person to be tracked all over the world via their magical signature but it was as if the boy was a squib.

Impossible in and of itself, Fudge had felt the innate power that the boy held, had felt the quivering control that barely restrained it from lashing out at anyone the boy found to be in his way.

Cedric Diggory

Ginivra Weasley

Both attacked although luckily the youngest Weasley was able to trick him into stopping whatever magical attempts he had made on her after managing to get the phoenix to come and assist her.

And the boy, killed by Death Eaters indeed, it was no doubt yet another elaborate ruse that the-boy-who-lived had used to gain sympathy and support from the masses of the wizarding population.

Fudges eyes narrowed, he would find the boy, and once he did nothing would stop him from doing his duty for his country.

Or getting someone else to do the duty, no use exerting himself to much.

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The disappearance of Severus Snape was also a major worry, although not to the Minister. Minerva McGonagall now headmistress of Hogwarts, had not noticed her lack of a potions master until a student had entered after his classes had ended for the day, saying that his teacher had not been present for the entire forty-five minutes that the students waited for him to appear.

As she began to search both the castle and the surrounding forest for his magical presence she began to notice several odd things.

Firstly his room had once been a hotspot on the map that the headmasters and mistresses of the past had used to study the magic that lay within Hogwarts.

The only thing that didn't show up were electronics brought by the students at the beginning of the year, and that was only for a short time as the muggle technology absorbed enough power to become faintly visible.

His quarters were now empty of any and all magical items except for a single faintly glowing speck which seemed to be all that the man had left in his rooms.

She truly hoped the foolish man hadn't gone and killed himself or some other such foolishness, after all good men ( no matter how mean and bastardly they may appear) were hard to find on the entire planet let alone the corrupt empire that was the wizarding world.

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When she entered Snape's quarters, Minerva noticed the unnatural emptiness of the usually cluttered living room, all of his possessions had been carried from the premises within a single trunk.

And propped up on the mantel of the fireplace was the one magical item that he had left behind.

The sight of the letter both eased some fears and caused others to pop up.

_Minerva_

_Consider this my resignation._

_Severus_

That was all that he had left her a single sentence, that was all that she truly needed from him. Minerva had been waiting for years for Snape to finally crack, his growing frustration both at the students and the restrictions that were placed on him grew to the point of a near constant friction, more often than not completely infuriating the temperamental man and causing nearly every spine in the vicinity to melt into liquid.

The man was scary, there was no other word for it.

And Merlin help her she would miss him.

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A/N Hello all, hope everybody enjoyed this much delayed chapter.

TATA

Gussiegal5


	10. Chapter 10

Snape was standing almost directly over a bubbling couldron, he was ever so slowly adding a single piece of hair at a time

Well I'd apologize but it's been a pretty stressful weekend. My ipod was brutally murdered (darn you white screen of death) but more importantly does a happy dance. My big brother got MARRIED!! So I've been away from a computer for three days, I was starting to into withdrawal. So while it's an excuse for a few days the rest of my excuse goes to school and work so hope this chapter is worth the wait that I have caused all my readers.

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Chapter 10

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When Alfred had left the room neither of the men noticed his absence until some time later. They had gone from having an argument about Harry's recklessness, to a even more heated argument on the particulars of a simple black thread which Batman had lifted from a break in that he had managed to get to before the police had shown up.

Batman had only been gone for around thirty minutes when he returned with it.

He insisted that the material had not belonged in the same room as all of the other more colorful fabrics and so must belong to the intruder.

Harry refused to be budged in his belief that the woman could not escape some sort of black fiber in her life and some could very well have fallen from some of her clothing or even been brought in on her shoes when she entered her apartment from the streets of Gotham.

They had done numerous tests on the innocent thread, determining it's type (cotton), dye color (ink black, 22) and it's probable uses (mainly clothing, and some of the more inexpensive types of window drapes).

In short all of their testing had served only to narrow down the list to a marginal degree. Conceding that neither of them would be able to discover anything more useful about the thread both headed back up to the main level of the manor.

No other alarms had been noticed on the batwave and so they had headed up Bruce only slightly the worse for the wear because of the beatings he had taken both from Catwoman and the Joker.

The thought of the ease with which they had accomplished this galled Bruce to no end, he had slipped since the loss of his two protégées.

His eyes narrowed, well the loss of one and the desertion of the other. But he would do everything within his power to return Batgirl to the cave.

The ringing sound of the doorbell echoed through the entrance of the house, Bruce changed his course mid step to answer the door, well aware that Alfred was likely to be sound asleep at this time of night. And also very aware that, that fact wouldn't stop Alfred from doing his job in the least.

Although Alfred's dignity would be sorely tested in the cotton nightwear he preferred.

Easily skipping the last seven steps Bruce slowed before opening the door, his expression easily morphing from the usual blend of the businessman and bat which he was used to holding when comfortably ensconced in his own home, when he opened the door the visitor was met with the empty smile and empty eyes of Brucie Wayne, brain dead billionaire extraordinaire.

The smile faltered slightly, a deliberate move on the subconscious mind that controlled the living puppet he considered Brucie.

On his doorstep stood a gracefully aged woman, her hair pulled back into a tight bun and her outdated clothing ironed to perfection.

The sight that had made Brucie falter was that sitting silently on her shoulder was the pearly white form of an owl.

His eyes remained on the bird for quite some time before he remembered that he had not spoken a word of greeting to her, he opened his mouth to do so.

Only to be interrupted not by the woman but by a quiet snarl behind him.

Turning quickly around Bruce was only able to see the retreating shadow of the newest member of the house as Harry whipped around the corner at a dead run.

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While he had been on the edge of sleep Harry had heard the door opening, what he had failed to hear was either Alfred's customary snobbish greeting to an uninvited guest or Brucie's irritatingly cheerful salutations.

He had come around the corner expecting almost anything. Monkeys beating up on Alfred wouldn't have surprised him as much as the sight of a woman who looked almost identical to Minerva McGonnagall. Although something had seemed off.

As he sat behind the door of his bedroom, Harry tried to compare the woman past and present in his memory.

The only real difference that he could see was in the woman's eyes.

The Minerva McGonagall that he had known had always had eyes that shined with an inner strength, they seemed to hold all of the worlds secrets in them. But the woman at the door, her eyes had seemed almost tired, no dead. They held no joyous gleam, only the darkness which his own jade had gathered through the short years of his life.

It would seem something had changed.

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Brucie turned once more to face the stranger at the door. The woman was no longer looking at him though, her eyes remained fixed for several moments on the top of the stairs.

So apparently this woman knew Harry. His eyes narrowed for a moment as the bat side of his personality came to the forefront for a moment. If this woman had in anyway harmed his… his what? Friend? Partner? Yes, partner, only in fighting at this moment, but someday…

Quickly Brucie reasserted himself, as Bruce pulled the bat back into the dark depths of his subconscious.

Brucie rolled his eyes slightly before focusing once more on the old woman. Jeez Harvey had it good with only two personalities to contain, however poorly.

Her eyes had returned to the tall man just as his expression returned to that of Brucie, she was only able to catch the tail-end of the dangerous expression that the now bland face had held.

It would seem that this man was not all that he appeared to be.

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A/N

Don't think of this as a full chapter because it isn't mostly because it's late I'm tired and I'm to drained at the moment to go through with the emotional turmoil I'm about to start.

Hope my fans enjoyed this little snippet.

Goodnight.

Gussiegal5


	11. Chapter 11

When it seemed that the woman was not going to say anything in response to the fleeing boy, Brucie managed to pull up a convin

Well folks, yesterday was an exciting day in history for me. Yesterday was my last day of high school EVER!! I was pretty much running around like a chicken with its head cut off because of everything that I needed to get done.

But it's finally over. I hope everybody including me but mostly my fans, have a wonderful summer and hopefully I'll be able to update on a regular basis.

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Chapter 11

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After seeing the reaction that Harry had to the now startled looking woman, Brucie smiled once more into her face before finally speaking.

"While it's an honor to have a guest at my home if you would be so kind as to come at a later date. I'm afraid it's a mite early for us to be up and my butler is grumpy when he is forced to awaken before his scheduled time. Good night."

And without further ado Brucie Wayne airhead extraordinaire silenced McGonagall for the first time, although he thought, if her reddening expression was any clue it would not last and he would have to deal with her again at a later date.

Little did Bruce know that McGonagall was doing more than fuming, if it hadn't been for Harry she would have burst through the doors, ready and willing to take Harry back by force if necessary.

And nothing was going to stop he…

Where was she?

Why was she here?

McGonagall looking puzzled and irritated turned and left the dirt alley that she had entered only moments before. She was sure that she was doing something important.

Giving a final shrug she apparated back to the Hogwarts gates and back to the piles of paperwork that she wasn't sure she would be able to complete if she had a hundred pairs of hands to help her let alone get them done by herself in three weeks.

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Harry slid slowly down the wall after he returned from leaning out the window. His wish had drained him of any ready magic that managed to seep into his grasp; hopefully it would replenish itself in a matter of hours.

As Bruce walked briskly up the stairs he saw the slightly shivering form of his newest ward, once more restraining both the raging Bat and the gooey Brucie he slowly sat down next to the younger male.

"Mind telling me who that was?"

Harry's voice was muffled from his face being cradled by his crossed arms but Bruce could still here the telltale sound of Harry's breath catching, before resuming at a much faster pace.

He quickly knocked the boy's arms away from his face before pulling Harry up underneath his arm in a protective embrace, allowing the now sobbing Harry to lean into his chest.

The pair must have stayed like that for a good half an hour before the boys tears slowed enough that he was able to unwillingly inch away from the steady support of his mentors shoulder although Bruce was pleased to note that he had not pulled himself away from the muscular arm which had wrapped easily around the too thin shoulders.

When Harry next spoke his voice was so quite that Bruce strained to hear the words.

"When I was a year old my parents were murdered by an evil man, that is not the complete story obviously, but I will get in to why they murdered in a moment…" Harry proceeded to speak about his upbringing with the Dursely's the trial of having to live in a neighborhood completely devoid of people who were willing to associate with him.

Harry smiled bitterly, "Hell, even my teachers wanted nothing to do with me. I remember one particularly memorable moment, I was in second grade."

_Little Harry had always stayed in the back right corner of every class that he had been placed in since he had come to school. It was the farthest point he could find away from Dudley who sat in the front row left side because of his lack of attention, so that the teachers could keep an eye on him._

_But on the first day of his second grade class, the teacher that swept into the class had enchanted Harry. Her hair shone a deep red, and her dark brown eyes sparkled with fun._

_Her name had been Miss Denning, and Harry had, had his very first crush._

_Unable to stop himself, Harry had crept to the front of the class, although still on the right side to stay away from Dudley. _

_And at first it had been as if his school days were perfect, she had greeted the entire class warmly, seeming to accept the large group that she had to deal with, with good grace._

_But as time went on Harry began to notice something peculiar._

_No matter how many times he tried to answer a question it was as if Harry wasn't there to her. He didn't seem to exist._

_As the best behaved of the children, Harry should have been praised, instead he was zealously ignored. _

_Except when he actually did step out of line, he certainly got a reaction from Miss Denning._

_Something that would have gotten another student a stern glare placed him in the principal's office trying desperately to explain that he had accidentally dropped a book on the floor. He had not as the rest of the students and his teacher said, thrown it deliberately to the floor._

_The warmth that he had felt at Miss Denning had dissipated as he fully realized just how much she had been willing to overlook because of simple words on the part of his aunt and uncle._

_The principal had been told by Harry's aunt and uncle that even at this young age he was a habitual liar without a conscience; he was inclined to believe the pair before him. _

_Certainly they were not the most attractive couple, but he had seen them around town and they had always seemed the picture of normalcy and trustworthiness._

_Harry had been punished with two detentions, the first for slamming the books, the second for lying about doing so._

_His schooling had only gotten worse from there._

As Harry spoke about his years at school, Bruce knew that the teenager was probably leaving more than a little bit out of the story.

He was correct; Harry failed to mention some of the beatings that he had taken from several groups of children, all of whom were stopped though without reprisal for their actions.

He smirked slightly although there was that one kid that Harry had managed to place an accidental jelly-legs hex on. As far as he knew the boy was still slightly wobbly on his feet, a good ten years later.

Of course the boy had been kicking him in the stomach to the point that if he hadn't been able to heal himself even unknowingly, Harry could quite possibly have died from internal bleeding.

But he had a feeling that if he told that story not only would he have to restrain the much larger man from going out looking for the young man, but would also have to stop him from doing permanent damage to a person who had well and truly learnt his lesson.

As Harry began to speak of the strange letters that he received, and how they had been addressed to his room rather than the house.

As the tale slowly unraveled before Bruce's eyes he did what so many other people had failed to do in young Harry's life. He believed him. Bruce had seen things in his travels, inexplicable things why should that not continue to be true even outside of his areas of expertise.

Although the thought of Harry being tortured by some racist pigs was enough to set the Bat inside the man to prowling around in the confines of his mind.

He wouldn't let these people get a hold of Harry ever again, even to his last dying breath.

This seemed to calm the Bat which was hustled back into its compartment, allowing Bruce to once more gain control.

Magic huh? An interesting proposition, the variety of things that could be done with simply the wave of a wand was truly amazing, although all three faces of Bruce felt that in some ways, the wizards cheated. They used magic as a crutch, using it to replace physical prowess, sturdy buildings, and even allowing unneeded dangers to be presented to children simply in the name of dangerous convenience.

And it explained the mystery behind Ravens disappearing and reappearing act.

When Harry finally stopped speaking the sun was beginning to turn the outside world a somber shade of a gray. Looking hesitantly into the face of his much larger mentor, Harry saw calm acceptance, as well as an unwavering belief in the facts that his student had presented to him.

Although Harry stood on his own two feet once more Bruce was surprised when instead of simply withdrawing as was the boys habit he was given a light hug. One which while not lasting more than six seconds showed the first steps that Harry would take on his road to healing the wounds that a life time of damage and abuse had wrought on him.

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Knowing what he did now, Bruce almost stopped what he had been planning for Harry. But the experiences that Harry had told him about also convinced him that Harry deserved a chance to at least try and gain some friends among his peers.

And after explaining to Harry his reasoning, something which would have shocked any other person that had heard it, Harry allowed himself to be signed up to join a private school, one with strict codes of conduct, and a reputation for the teachers fairness. As well as its unusual practice of separating it's students by ability and not by age.

Given that Harry had not been in a normal school for five years Bruce had procured the tests which Harry would have to take to be placed in the proper classes.

And although Harry seemed to be slightly behind when it came to history and any of the classes that had to deal with muggle life, he had managed through years of learning both from Raven as well as from books to keep up with the rest of his studies particularly excelling in the science and math portions of the tests.

He was accepted without question into the school, although the Manor received an e-mail that warned of dire consequences should Harry be caught stealing again.

So now as Harry rested in a leather chair in the library, he nervously began to go over the next day's schedule.

He was going back to school.

He was about to have a panic attack just thinking about it.

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So there we have it folks chapter eleven came out pretty quickly because I had an idea of where it was going hope everybody likes it.

TaTa

Gussiegal5


	12. Chapter 12

Yay another chapter and another late night

Yay another chapter and another late night. Guess who's a night owl. Anywho not much to say about this chapter except that I hope everybody likes it and doesn't think that it's to cliché or to I don't know sickly sweet. Hopefully there will be more action in my next chapter but this one is just a kind of background setter for the rest of the story. We will soon find out where Batgirl is (looks furtively around) just as soon as **I **figure out where Batgirl is : hehe you know I just make this up as I go along. Well that's enough from me. Enjoy!!

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Chapter 12

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As Harry was dropped in front of the gates that lead up to the large brick building, only his personal pride, allowed him to hide his feelings from the world at large and Alfred in particular.

His even strides led him ever closer to the door that seemed to loom ever more threatening as he came closer to the building. Letters engraved in the stone above the school proclaimed it the _West Gotham Academy._

Any person who saw him at that moment would have seen the same calmly stupid expression that Brucie had perfected and which Harry had adopted hoping that if he didn't bring attention to himself, than he would be left alone by the teachers.

His façade helped to cover up the faint trembling that had struck his fingers which were easily slipped into pockets to hide the crack in the picture he was showing.

But before he was able to enter the school a man who had previously sat unnoticed on the railing stood in front of him.

Unable to completely contain his start of surprise, Harry tried to turn the motion into the appearance of a stumble. Although judging by the contemplative look on the man's face he had not succeeded completely.

Giving the man a wide grin, as if inviting him to join in on the humor that was his clumsiness, Harry shoved a hand in the mans face, hiding the distaste that he felt at allowing a stranger to touch him.

He had to restrain himself from violently wrenching his hand back when it was enclosed in a warm grip.

"Hello sir, I'm Harry Potter, new student."

The man arched an eyebrow before releasing Harry's hand, his eyes following the unobtrusive wipe that Harry had given his hand before once more placing it in his pocket.

"Hello Harry, Charles Buxton, guidance councilor."

When the car had pulled up to the sidewalk Charles had noted most of its more obvious details, the thing practically smelled of money.

The chauffeur opening the rear door had of course helped him along to this conclusion.

Charles didn't truly know what to expect after reading the file that had been given to him the previous day on the newest student at West.

He had not been pleased to note the total lack of information for the five years between the teenagers eleventh birthday and his sixteenth. It was as though the child had disappeared off of the face of the earth in Britain and than suddenly popped back into existence in the U.S.

So when the scrawny boy had climbed out of the car he noted the same silly expression on his face that Brucie Wayne was well known for, even to those who had only like Charles seen him on the news.

Any councilor worth his pay could see the barrier that the false stupidity represented. And he knew it was only a mask for the two men because of the backgrounds of both.

Bruce Wayne no doubt suffered from mental trauma gained on the night of his parent's murder. And no matter who believed the council was running Wayne Industries, Charles could see the abrupt turn around that the Industry had shown once it had regained its namesake.

And no matter what any other person thought, the teenager in front of him could not be completely brainless. Harry had survived on the streets for quite some time before being caught; many others would and did succumb to worse things than pick pocketing.

In short the boy was a survivor, and if he had, gained a legitimate job, Charles had no doubt that Harry would have continued to eke out a living on the rough streets of downtown Gotham.

And Charles had looked through the tests that were required for entrance into the school. And while it was obvious the boy was slightly below average it appeared more that he hadn't been taught it than that he hadn't learned it.

Given enough time and perhaps some tutoring Charles had no doubt that Harry would soon catch up. But he had another worry. It was obvious not only that Harry had suffered abuse from his adoptive family, and why the British government hadn't thrown the lot of them in prison was beyond him.

No police reports had been filed but enough hospital visits had firmly entrenched the belief into Charles mind.

No boy, no matter how rowdy should be able to break various appendages three times over the course of a single year.

Giving himself a mental shake Charles forced his mind to focus on the actual person in front of him, the boy was studying him with a quizzical expression on his face, the blandness of it failed to hide the intensity of the eyes staring back at him.

Seeing the emaciated frame of the boy along with the defensive posture reminded allowed him to focus on the person in front of him and not simply the information true or false given to him.

Harry tilted his head slightly his expression confused, "What's a guidance councilor?"

Charles smiled at him, "The person that's going to examine your mental health and decide if you need any assistance that I cannot give you."

Harry's empty smile went up a watt. "Oh, I'm just fine, happy, go-lucky, and breathing."

Charles face was expressionless as he replied, "Well, one out of three is better than none."

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Batman had given Harry a light pat on the shoulder to send him on his way before going back down to the batcave, dragging Dick along with him.

Placing the still sleepy man in front of the computer, Batman ordered Robin to find any information that he could about the whereabouts of Barbara Gordon.

Once Robin had started on that Batman quickly headed over to gently place the letter in the scanner, which copied not only the picture but also took a small sample of ink and studied and compared the handwriting with the sample that she had written for just such an emergency, what felt like a lifetime ago.

Even as the pair went over their respective sets of information, the silence between them seemed to grow to an almost physical presence between them.

As usual it was the more emotionally free of the pair that broke it, although his words did little to reduce the tension.

"I didn't mean to leave you alone except for Alfred, I really did believe that Barb was staying with you." Said Dick.

"I think," said the frigid tones of the head of the Batfamily. "That, that fact is perfectly clear. Although it would have been much easier to swallow if you were up front with me rather than telling me that you were going on a trip."

Dick winced slightly before answering, "I was a coward; I didn't know if I could stand up for what I felt if I stood face to face with you."

"If you didn't feel that you could stand up to me when it came to what you wanted in life than perhaps you have not thought your career choice through completely. Perhaps you are not as sure as you believe you are."

"It's hard for a sapling to hold out against a wild fire Batman, that doesn't mean that it wants to get singed."

"If I am so harmful to you that you compare me to a burning flame than perhaps you should not have come back."

Spinning in his chair, Dick got to his feet and stomped over to the older man. Poking a finger into the massive chest, Dick hissed, "I was trying to not be a coward, and I don't want to abandon you Bruce, godammit I think of you as a second father. All that means is that I hate disappointing you, and I knew that my decision would do just that."

Batman stiffened for a moment before the softer lines of Bruce could be seen from underneath the cowl that covered the top half of his face.

"And because I think of you as a son, I would and am still willing to stand by you no matter what your decision. And if I felt that your choices were not fully thought out than I would tell you so. Like I am right now.

If you truly want to be a police officer than I won't stop you that's not what I am objecting to, although I do believe that you will most likely die of exhaustion from working long days and longer nights. Why do you want to work at Bludhaven. The cities more corrupted than Gotham, and about as safe as an airborne plague."

Relaxing back into his normal debate stance rather than the angry one he had been in moments before Dick replied.

"That's exactly why, I want to make a difference Bruce, a difference like you made in Gotham and don't try and deny it. Crime rates have gone down nearly thirty percent since you started. Just going to some safe little town like Metropilis would bore me within the year, plus I'd be damn uncomfortable. I may be more bird than bat but that doesn't mean I'm not nocturnal and that doesn't mean that I like the whole goody two shoes thing that those kinds of cities have."

"Well than," smiled Bruce, "I hope you're ready." His face slipping once more into that of the Batman he changed topics abruptly. "Now get back to work."

The silence that remained after that final sentence was once more filled with the old comradery that the pair had once shared and was comfortably familiar rather than the tense atmosphere which had previously held sway.

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A/N I hope everybody liked it.

Read and Review PLEASE

TaTa folks

Gussiegal5


	13. Chapter 13

When Harry entered the small room, his first instinctive glance included both slightly ajar windows as possible escape points,

Hopefully everybody enjoys this my latest chapter.

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When Harry entered the small room, his first instinctive glance included both slightly ajar windows as possible escape points, as well as the door directly behind him that they had entered through.

He turned his full attention back to the man that had immediately sat down in the desk, his eyes narrowed before quickly widening them.

Charles's stare had remained unflinching watching the roving eyes of the newest student, and he saw where they had gone. He also saw when the mask of stupid affability came back full force to the face of his newest patient.

"I take it this friendly idiot look is a new one for you?"

Harry's face didn't so much as twitch out of his chosen persona,

"Watcha talking about?" Harry cocked his head to the side slightly trying the same look that had worked on Snape once, well had almost worked on Snape once.

It had been a near thing really, then and now.

"Very well," said Charles, "I'll let that rest for the moment. Why are there no documents stating where you were during the school years between your eleventh and fifteenth birthdays?"

Harry's expression if it was possible grew even vaguer; although Charles noted a distinctively nasty expression appear in his eyes for a moment.

"My aunt and uncle felt that St. Brutus's Academy for Incurably Criminal Boys was the proper place for a kid of my talents to be sent."

"Yet I contacted the Academy and they have no record that you had ever been sent there or were even listed to go at all."

"Perhaps they lost the documents that recorded my presence there but I assure you I was at the school most suited to my abilities."

"But you have never stated that you actually went to the school merely implied that your relatives wished for you to go there."

"Nor have I stated that I did not go to that school in fact I pointed out that they could have lost my documents."

"But you never specified who "they" were only that they might have lost your documents."

"Do you always read too much into the words of your patients?"

"I prefer to think that I am the first person that is fully capable of translating their unspoken as well as spoken words."

"Thanks so much but I already have a confidant I have no desire to add another to the list of people who think that they know what's best for me although they have no idea what I desire or need."

"Well than don't think of me as your confidant…"

"I wasn't I have already assigned you to the list which deals with interrogators."

"There is more than one person on that list? I was under the impression that you had never received any form of counseling before."

"I wouldn't call theirs or your methods of information extraction counseling."

"Than what would you call it?"

"Excruciatingly stupid questions asked by people who think they know everything but in actuality know nothing."

"Careful there Harry, your mask is slipping."

"That would indeed be relevant to me if I were wearing a mask, _Charles._"

"Not too fond of familiarity are we Mr. Potter?"

"Only with those I'm not familiar with, Mr. Buxton, if you must use my first name I suppose Harrison would suffice.

"But not just Harry?"

"No, never just Harry." Harry smirked. "At least not for you."

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"Batman!!"

Batman was behind Robin's shoulder before the word had fully exited the younger mans mouth.

He needed only an instant to read the relevant information and head towards the upper levels of the mansion, he needed to get Harry. Batman had a feeling that his newest partner would be the person to speak to about the Bermuda Triangle.

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Still in a face off moments after Harry's statement, the pair was interrupted by the appearance of a head peaking around the door.

"Charles, I know you can't hear the bells in here but they went off about five minutes ago."

"Thank you Sharon."

Harry's head whipped around at the voice and he headed immediately for the door, after the secretary had finished her sentence.

Charles eyebrows rose slightly when Harry gave a thankful nod to her, allowing the woman to exit the room first before he followed behind her.

His behavior was almost deferential towards the secretary.

It would seem that the boy had been taught manners at an early age from his relatives, question was, why had continued to follow the rules of etiquette long after he had rebelled against everything else his family had obviously taught him.

An interesting contradiction, one of many the boy seemed to hold.

As Harry exited the academy he was met at the door by his guardian, his face beaming with excitement and his empty eyes shining.

Charles watched through the window at the interaction between the two, how Harry seemed to gain some true sparkle in his eyes at the sight of the older man. And from the expression on the elder's face which seemed happier albeit just as empty it seemed the feeling was mutual.

Interesting, he mused, the two seemed to feed off of each other, Harrison following Brucie's lead in some ways, Brucie watching and learning from his younger compatriot.

He wasn't completely sure that, that was healthy but on the other hand, it was the most alive that he had seen his patient the entire day that they had spent arguing back and forth at each other.

Even the boy's mask hadn't completely hidden the numbness hidden behind the glazed eyes. The boy was emotionally damaged, he had no doubt, but so was Bruce Wayne. Maybe to jagged edges could meld and create a smooth seam. Charles smiled he supposed he would have to see, as for the future, he could hardly wait to have his next session with the mysterious and complicated Mr. Potter.

The first words out of Bruce's mouth as they were escorted into the car by Alfred were, "So, what do you know about the Bermuda Triangle?"

Harry's smiled dropped off of his face at the words. "Nothing good, why?"

With a sharp twist of his wrist and neck Batman tossed him a thin file. "Because," he said having already lost the smooth silk tones of Bruce, "That's where Batgirl is."

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When Batman reentered the Batcave, Robin noticed the absence of Crow immediately his questioning glance was met with silence, although since the man wasn't actively growling under his breath Robin assumed that the boy was getting information from somewhere and would be down in a matter of time.

His assumption was proven five minutes later when Harry appeared at the top of the stairs, waving a book that had to weigh at least half of what he did, although he didn't seem terribly bothered by its weight.

Seeing Robin waiting next to Batman, Harry froze for a moment before sending a questioning glance of his own at the older man. When he was met with a shake of his head, Harry gulped for air for a moment before telling Robin.

"Before I tell you anything about what I know about the Bermuda Triangle, I have to tell you something else."

When Robin heard the story for the first time, he was unwilling to believe in any of it for a moment. And then he remembered all of the weird, fantastical things that he had learned over the course of his life. The circus had prepared him for a lot of things but aliens hadn't been one of them, and if he could handle J'onn than he could handle the knowledge that there was hidden life on his own planet, an entire society cloaked from the view of the _muggle_ world.

His only response was that of placing his hand on the shoulder of the newest member of the bat family and saying.

"Well, I guess if you're going to stand out in this crowd you really do have to be different."

Even Batman gave a slight chuckle at that before allowing Harry to place the book on the table.

After placing it on a table that all three of them could work around, Crow placed his hand on the book and stated slowly and clearly, "The Bermuda Triangle."

After removing his hand the trio watched as the book opened itself and began to flip to the correct page of information that Harry had asked for. Robin's eyes had continuously risen from the moment that Harry had walked through the door with a fifty pound book in his arms, at the moment if the pair standing beside him could have seen his eyebrows they would have seen them gathered up as far as he could stretch them and he was still trying to go further.

Though since both of them seemed to think of this as normal, Robin decided that he could just go with the flow, and then he returned his focus onto the page which the book presented to them.

And judging by the rapt expression on the other two men's faces, they could read it. Allowing them to finish reading it, Robin waited for an explanation, and he was not allowed to wait for long.

Seeing his confusion at the text, Crow began to read out loud. Swiftly converting the ancient Gaelic text in his mind.

"_Al Snyder, famous both for his potion, equus curatio, or horse healing, as well as his madness in entering the muggle world, chose to go to the Bermuda Triangle in search of a rare herb that would he believe assist him in the creation of his next potion that of the equus mutatio. _

_His loss while deeply felt by the Wizarding world is offset by his apparent fixation with that of the muggle world, while it is unknown his exact occupation it is obvious that…_

Blah blah blah, some more stupid information that they got wrong and ah here it is,

_While it well known that disappearances often occur within the Bermuda Triangle the reason for this was placed in the very groundwork's of the wards surrounding the area. A common Confu charm allows most to turn around before they are too far in to the area to be damaged by the next stage of the wards. The magic is capable of shorting out all forms of muggle technology, crashing ships and destroying airplane engines._

_The reasons for these wards is to protect the island which is centrally located while its true purpose is unknown the island is believed to be the base of operations for a wizarding militia, all that remains of Grindewalds (pg. 13245345) great forces._

And I can tell you in much simpler terms who Grindewald was so I see no need to continue reading. While he was alive Grindewald made a pact with a German man, I believe that the world calls him Adolf Hitler? But the wizards knew him by a different name, die Tollheit Wolf, or The Rabid Wolf.

He is believed to have chosen to torment the _impure_ among my kind in the same manner as yours. Although," Crows smile was grim, "I believe there was a one hundred percent death rate as they were never rescued. His men would have been just as focused on answering magical medical mysteries as their muggle counterparts. Meaning all of those muggles which have disappeared over the years have either been killed in the crash or taken to the facility to be examined."

Both men had paled significantly at his announcement though Robin had a question.

"Why would she even head too the Bermuda Triangle, it doesn't make any sense, she was supposed to stay here?"

Still looking slightly pale Bruce held up a rubbing of what had obviously been a quickly scribbled note on a piece of paper.

_1318 French Court Road, Arcahale_

"This," Batman said, "address is located in Haiti; specifically the city of you guessed it Arcahale it's the address of an old friend of Barb's from her years as a gymnast. The girl was found dead around the same time that Barb disappeared. She was probably heading there to find out exactly what had happened to her friend and took a short cut through the Bermuda Triangle, any more questions? Good. Now, Robin and I are going to Haiti to gather more information on Barb's friend's death. There is a three day weekend coming up in your new school, Crow, we will wait until then to enter the Bermuda Triangle so that we may hopefully have some protection from the wards effects."

Crow's chin rose slightly in acknowledgement before replying, "Will it be alright if Raven comes along, he is much more versed in wards." He smiled, "Plus, he's a mean son of a bitch, we might need him in a fight against dark wizards. I can't think of anybody who has a larger repertoire of nasty and dangerous curses."

Batman nodded slightly, trusting his newest partner's judgment when it came to the man in question.

"Very well, it's settled, Bermuda Triangle in a week, Haiti tomorrow."

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Cool it's done, have a nice summer.

TaTa

Gussiegal5


	14. Chapter 14

As Harry stepped into the small room his eyes darted around unable to find the fast becoming familiar form of his councilor

I hate it. For some reason this chapter seems like utter crap to me but hopefully everybody else will like it.

So enjoy.

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Chapter 14

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As Harry stepped into the small room his eyes darted around unable to find the fast becoming familiar form of his councilor.

Not seeing anyone at all in the room Harry slipped into his seat. A less restrained teenager would have taken the time to see everything that he could while he was alone. But Harry had been taught both paranoia and stealth when it came to finding out more about strangers that came into his life.

If he were to start looking around when he had no idea what he was looking for something was bound to be moved and its movement noticed.

Besides, Harry smirked to himself, he had already pretty much memorized the contents of the room, the only places which remained a mystery were the drawers in the councilors desk and the door which led to a small room of some sort.

He waited for nearly ten minutes before the older man rushed into the room, looking thoroughly breathless and unkempt.

Vapid expression firmly affixed Harrison smirked at the panting man in front of him, allowing a vicious gleam to enter his eyes before making a comment.

"Problems?"

The councilor noted both the smirk and the gleam and decided that with some of the boys nastier emotions already pulled to the foreground, he might be able to pull more from the teen that day than ever before.

Ignoring the boys question for the moment Charles asked one of his own.

"How do you like living with Bruce Wayne?"

Harrison chose to ignore the return question as well, easily picking up a heavy round paperweight, flipping it from one hand to the other and watching the councilors eyes follow it worriedly.

"I would prefer if you would put that down."

"And I'd prefer to be almost anywhere but here, but I guess neither of us can get what we want."

A sudden chirruping sound brought Harry's head around, and almost without thought he gently placed the clear stone back where he had found it. A small animal squeaked at him from a cage that hadn't he was certain been there before.

He stood up and went directly towards the small creature, it seemed to draw him. Looking in it's eyes it was as if he knew everything about it, all of it's memories and experiences as well as those passed down the generations were at his disposal.

"She's a Sugar Glider."

The councilors voice forced a start out of the engrossed teenager, and Harrison was once more forced to come to the foreground of the young man's mind.

"Ugly little rat."

Charles smiled as the teen flopped once more into the chair. Despite the disgust that the boy had tried to put into his voice, he had seen the interest in the gentle little creature that seemed to follow the boy with its eyes wherever he stood in the room.

Taking his seat as well Charles was about to resume their conversation, or at least attempt to start one when the familiar head of the receptionist popped into the room gesturing for him to come out of the room.

"Excuse me for just a moment Harrison."

"Whatever."

The instant the councilor had exited the room, Harry once more stared at the Sugar Glider, which waited for his command. He could feel its willingness, no matter what he asked she would do as he asked.

_A lord of the dark is not, a dark lord. He is capable of binding together all parts of humanity towards a single purpose, he controls not only all of the creatures of the night, and the underground, but also puts back in their place the people who go beyond the rights of any human being. _

The words of his friend allowed Harry to recover from the shock, and he suddenly remembered the small bat that had seemed to simply appear, right when he had wanted to send his missive to Snape. Hedwig had always been able to do the same, uncannily aware of when she was needed by her young master.

Well he'd better stay away from earthworms, Harry snorted, he did not want to get into what it felt like to be a hermaphrodite with no brain and a limited number of nerve endings.

Hearing approaching footsteps, Harry scrambled back to his chair just in time for a pale Charles to enter the room.

"I'm afraid where going to have to cut this short Harrison."

Harry rolled his eyes, oh the shame.

"It would seem that Mr. Wayne has called you in because of a family emergency."

Instantly the boys face stilled losing any hint of silliness for the first time in front of Charles.

The boy was on his feet and out the door before Charles could say any more.

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As Harry leapt into the waiting car the first thing that he noticed was the exhaustion that seemed to line the usually smooth face of his mentor.

"Things did not go as planned in Haiti."

Harry remained silent waiting for the older man to either tell his story or start the car. When the engine rumbled to life, he knew that he would have to wait until they had reached the cave for him to be able to find out what had happened.

Entering through the ground floor grandfather clock, the pair quickly made their way down to the computer and waiting Robin.

A waiting Robin swathed in bandages who lay complaining fiercely at the scolding butler who forced what looked like his fifth potion on the younger man. Potion's given to him by a scowling Snape.

Harry winced, all of Snape's potions were foul tasting to teach the recipients a lesson about being injured.

From what he could see of the trembling figure Robin had been subjected to at least a minutes worth of the Cruciatous curse, perhaps more.

Turning to the brooding shadow that the Bat had become at the sight of his partner thus laid low, Harry slipped closer to his mentor who had over the weeks that they had known each other become so much more than just a mentor.

Alfred smiled slightly when he saw the slight form lean gently into the much larger man, who's arm almost unconsciously wrapped around the slender shoulders.

Soon now, he was certain of it.

Soon they would both realize.

Shaking his head the elderly man returned to his ministrations once more.

No time for that now.

As the final potion was practically forced down the now struggling mans throat, Alfred wiped his fingers clean of any of the random splashes that he had been hit with before turning once more to go up to the main floor of the Manor.

"I'll just leave you to your rest young Master Dick."

"I am going to get you for this Alfred, make no mistake, don't think I don't know who decided to tie me down to the cot."

"Yes, of course Master Dick, whatever you say."

When Robin finally collapsed into an exhausted sleep helped along by the Dreamless Sleep potion that Alfred had given him last.

Reluctantly pulling away from the warmth that Bruce's body seemed to produce on command, Harry raised his head to meet the older mans eyes.

"So, I take it things didn't go as planned?"

The Bat quickly overcame the softer Bruce and all body heat seemed to dissipate instantly replaced by the usual gloomy coolness."

"We were attacked nearly the instant that we stepped foot in Ba…Barbara's friends apartment. They were quite obviously wizards, and also obviously incompetent buffoons when it came to physical combat."

Harry's smirk was vicious. "Most wizards are without their wands, it will reduce 95 percent of them to mewling terror."

The Bat's own glare was equally sadistic. "I'll remember that."

Crow asked, "What were they wearing?"

"Does it matter?"

The well duh look the Bat was gifted with at that moment made him feel like he had just been reprimanded again by his second grade teacher.

"Different, groups of wizards have different uniforms."

"Ah, well than they wore crimson robes with silver linings."

"No masks?"

"No they wore hoods over their faces, none of which came off no matter what Robin and I did."

Harry's expression was grim. "Well now at least we know for sure that they are indeed remnants of Grindewalds forces, or more probably their spawn."

"Flashy sorts you wizards."

"Your one to talk."

"At least I pick a color that doesn't make one nauseous on sight."

Harry looked slightly perplexed although he was happy that Bruce had once more pulled to the fore.

"What color?"

"One of those wizards wore, I kid you not paisley, I mean how could they, with the crimson robes a serious crime."

And here's Brucey!!

The swift mood changes told Crow what the man himself could not. He had been seriously upset that Robin had been injured to the point that he would need such obvious care and rest.

Bringing his mind back to the topic at hand Harry asked.

"Speaking of garments, did they appear to be surprised by your uniforms?"

The Bat seemed to fight his way to the top once more, before he answered.

"No, it was as though they were expecting not just someone to enter the room but us personally."

"That." Harry's brow furrowed in thought. "is most definitely not good."

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A/N I yah folks hoped you all enjoyed it. But I need to get off of the computer right now. It's storming really bad where I live, and I don't want to get electrocuted through the computer like my brother did once.

TaTa

Gussiegal5


	15. Chapter 15

The trio had abandoned the boat just outside of the wards that defined the area surrounding the Bermuda Triangle

Here we are, this chapter has a bit of action in it, but don't worry the next chapter I'm going to put a big heaping pile of action in to it. Or at least I'll try. I've never been one for writing the big battle scenes. Oh well at least I have a general idea of what I want to happen. Enough rambling, enjoy.

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Chapter 15

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The trio had abandoned the boat just outside of the wards that defined the area surrounding the Bermuda Triangle.

Raven had managed to get them through without setting off any of the alarms by taking out one of the three focus stones and replacing it almost instantaneously with a duplicate that he himself had created.

This allowed the three to slip through a small hole in the wards, it would be nearly impossible to discover unless the wizards were cautious enough to actually study a piece of magic which lay close to a thousand feet below sea level.

It was a good thing that the Batboat was so adaptable to varying depths of water.

As the thoroughly cloaked (mechanically) and shielded (magically) boat sliced through the icy water all they could do was wait.

Most of the fish population had either moved to less dangerous area's or been eaten by the island's inhabitants.

Reaching the point where the boat would have to leave the safety of the dark waters to go on, Batman and Crow huddled around Raven as the man performed a multi-apparation for the first time in nearly five years.

The power drain hardly even fazed the dark wizard, his magic oozed out invisibly and took some of the excess that constantly flowed from his young masters own body.

And if the magic seemed to become brighter when around a certain cynical Bat, who was he to say anything. If the pair didn't figure it out for themselves than that was hardly his fault. Snape snorted, he was too old to have the when a man loves an older man talk.

When they finally reached an intersection the three men were faced with a decision. The hallway led in two different directions, and most of Batman's more advanced technology had been left in the cave.

The wizards had taken nearly three hours to convince him that not only would they be destroyed by the magic, they would also be able to set off some of the more advanced wards that weren't hindered by the shields that they had placed around the less advanced boat.

A boat which they had helped protect not only with their magic but also by a bout of such powerful wishing on Harry's part that he nearly collapsed afterward.

It improved nobody's mood when they were forced to search the dark cavern for nearly an hour, looking for a boat that seemed to move every time they came close enough to board.

Finally Harry had stomped his foot in frustration and much to everyone's surprise appeared directly in front of him. If Batman wasn't above all a logical man he would have almost said that the boat waited in eager anticipation for its riders to climb on and point it in the direction of the Bermuda Triangle.

And if the controls seemed to be moving slightly on their own what of it, if he couldn't be logical Bruce decided he could at least ignore the inevitable explanation that any of his many questions would raise.

He really didn't want explanation's just yet; he could wait for say, the next apocalypse. Although, he reconsidered his choice of thoughts, knowing both his and Harry's track records he wouldn't be to surprised if they would face just such an event sooner rather than later.

Putting that out of his mind for the moment, the Bat focused on the matter at hand, not allowing his mind to do anything but what he required it to do.

After he had petulantly allowed for his toys to be left behind, he had immediately begun quizzing the pair on how the wizarding world kept in contact with each other.

Harry had hesitantly handed him a mirror which he said his godfather had given to him before he died; Bruce refrained from commenting on its battered and slightly cracked appearance. Turning he had seen an identical mirror in the hand of Raven.

Still unsure as to the purpose he had been instructed by Harry to say, Raven, into the mirror, and much to the Bats shock he was face to mirror with the image of Raven it even allowed communication through it so that two people could be allowed to speak through it without the benefit of muggle technology.

When Bruce had inquired if their was a third mirror for Harry, the teen simply smiled and replied that he had no intention of leaving a muggle no matter how talented alone on a completely magical island.

But if he was forced Harry admitted he could probably catch an animal to carry a message for either of the two men.

Raven's gaze sharpened when Harry glanced up at the bats which fluttered about above them, remembering the prophecy just as well as Harry.

But the Bat would not give up.

"I insist that you take one of the mirrors how can you be so sure that there will be any sort of animal you could catch on an island which has been inhabited by people who enjoyed causing people and animal's pain.

Finally looking pained himself, Raven removed a small bat from his pocket and handed it over to a pleased Crow, who carefully gathered the tiny creature into his arms allowing his affection for the small being to fill its heart.

The little creature had clung to its Lord, flooding the teen with memories and information about the cave that he had gathered through the radar that it used to fly about.

As a reward Harry pulled a small vial from one of his pockets, in it was a small collection of various insect breeds. He pulled a mosquito out by its wings, although later the Bat would not have been able to figure out how he had managed such a feat, and handed it directly to the eagerly gaping bat which gulped it down before falling asleep.

The little creature had been well fed in Raven's massive pockets filled with odds and ends of all sorts of insects that the bat would normally not have tasted, all sorts of magical insects.

And as Harry would soon find out, as he took his place as the Lord of the Dark, he would find that any creature that he adopted as a helper would slowly change, becoming something perfectly suited for its master.

Once the bat was in one of Harry's own pockets he turned to a close faced Raven and promised.

"I will of course return the little helper as soon as we return from out mission, I may be his master, but you are his friend. He was not completely happy to be leaving your presence."

Looking happier than he had a moment ago Raven gave an abrupt nod before entering the boat trailing behind his master.

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_On the island:_

As the trio stepped onto the shore they were met by a small group of wizards, who were patrolling the edges of the small island.

They had not been expecting trouble and so had been goofing off; no one had been able to enter through the wards without setting it off since Grindewald himself. The unsuspecting teens never stood a chance.

Each member of the trio took two wizards easily making their choices based off of where the person stood.

Batman took the right side.

Crow took the center.

And Raven took the left.

Batman flung a simple batarang at his pair, knocking them off their feet and into the sand where he easily took an arm to each of them, choking off the blood to their brains and into unconsciousness within moments.

Crow had noticed his mentor never killed anyone if any other way was possible and so he had allowed himself to follow the older mans lead. He was personally sick of killing, but that didn't mean that he couldn't do something to these young men.

A fist to his abdomen told Crow that he hadn't been concentrating enough on his own battle and so he allowed his body to swing into action. Tucking himself into a small ball he used his body as a bowling ball to his two chosen victims, allowing his magic to bring stones into the area right where their faces landed, knocking them out instantly.

Raven took even less time to decide his course of action, he simply flung a widespread stupefy staring in disgust as the supposed guards didn't even attempt to defend themselves before being hit by the spell.

And after quickly tying all six of the men together Raven attached a small bow to each of them.

"Potion"

And with a swirl of magic they were portkeyed to one of the dungeons in Spinners End where Snape would be able to pull any useful information from the teens that they had so easily taken down.

But he could only do this so many times before the numbers would be too great and at that point they would be placed in the dungeons of Harry's heretofore unvisited lands in Scotland. It was unvisited because of its proximity to Hogwarts and its general disrepair.

Well Crow shrugged, he would have had to go there at some point anyways no reason to get bent out of shape because it was sooner than he had hoped it would be.

As they moved on the elder pair followed Crow, the teen had the assistance of not only his magic but also an overabundance of luck.

He also seemed to be the only one of the three that had any idea of where they were going.

When they reached the end of the hallway and it split in two directions, Crow barely paused before waving Snape to the left and than he and Batman went to the right.

Moments before Ravens protest could be uttered, the ex-spy saw the blackened eyes of his Lord, and he had only ever read anything about such eyes in obscure literature that he had managed to pull from the ruins of one of the old pureblood homes. One of the darkest pureblood lines that had ever existed, Invisus, they had been killed off over the years by assassins and family feuding.

The book gruesomely entitled, _Liberi of Nex_, or _Children of Death_ had described several of the rarest talents of wizarding children, most of them had to do with abilities which could be used to kill those that were considered a threat to them, but one spoke of a most singular talent, one that only a Lord of the Dark could carry.

The teenager didn't precisely have foresight, but something similar. He could not know what would happen because of his decisions; Crow simply knew which decision would allow what he wanted to happen, to happen.

When he was like this Raven knew that no mistakes would be made, but he also knew that the power was quite draining and Crow would not be able to keep it up for long, or the boy would begin to lose power and consciousness rapidly.

Raven almost smiled when the darkness quickly gave way to the normal jade color in the boy's eyes, he had only wanted to know which direction they should go. The simpler the question, the easier the answer, who should go right, and who should go left. There were only three answers as opposed to any number of questions with an infinite number of answers.

And so the trio split, no one knowing what lay ahead of them, but all knowing that they would have to fight for their lives as well as the lives of a teammate that only one of them had ever met.

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Hope everybody liked it.

R&R please

TaTa

Gussiegal5


	16. Chapter 16

Snape's presence remained undiscovered not only because he unconsciously remained silent as he walked through the halls, but a

Hey ya'll here's the next chapter. I absolutely despise it I kept rewriting the blasted thing until finally I just said forget it and wrote down the best that I could. I hope it's not that sucky. Hopefully the next chapter will be better.

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Chapter 16

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Bruce had seen the blackened eyes of his young colleague, and while he might not have seen much magic throughout his life, he had seen oracles and prophets. All of them had the same air of all-knowing all-seeing.

Usually it annoyed the hell out of him, but at this moment in time, all he cared about was getting to Batgirl and than getting off of this accursed island and away from people who were capable of inflicting damage so easily on his compatriots.

As the pair swept down the hall, neither bothered to try and creep along silently, the hall was mostly empty with a distinctive lack of guards that had Batman quickly losing any respect that he might have felt for the supposedly evil scientists that believed themselves to be so invincible because of their magic that they failed to take precautions that even children at play used on a daily basis.

So when they finally came to a door that had a bored looking sentinel standing outside of it, the pair wasted no time knocking the unfortunate man unconscious. His body being eased to the floor rather than simply letting him drop. The care was used for the sake of silence rather than any sense of regret towards the violence that they had inflicted on the man.

The door while locked against sort of magical persuasion, yielded easily to Batman's lock picking techniques.

When trouble finally hit the pair neither was expecting the form that it took.

Although Crow would both curse and bless the unexpected attack later in his life, at the moment that it happened his only reaction was fear.

As Crow entered the room first and his face blanched to the palest white before he collapsed to his knees for a moment.

Because standing in front of them were two perfect replica's one of Batman and one of Raven.

Both sneered at the trembling teen, and than silently turned their backs to him. Batman had never seen anything like it before but when his partner began to silently sob he stepped in front of the fallen form.

And was met with specters from his nightmares.

On the floor lay three bodies, his parents and Alfred, as though all three had been murdered that terrible night, leaving him alone in the world, completely and utterly alone.

When the forms shifted one more time, Batman's fixed gaze was drawn from the newest horror to meet the eyes of a grim faced Raven.

Two young boys seemed to huddle on the floor between the three pale associates. One Batman recognized as Crow another seemed to be his antithesis. The promise of a height not yet reached, His entire body a ghostly coloring with white blond hair and mist gray eyes setting off his even paler skin marred by the many marks and bruises that the pair seemed to have.

But it was their eyes that truly frightened the Batman for there was no life in them. None of the spark that spoke of intelligence of awareness of the surroundings, it was as if they had been broken beyond repair.

Finally Batman heard a softly muttered enchantment and the pair turned into two puppies gleefully bumbling around constantly running into each other before a single derisive laugh from the dark man seemed to corrode the image and until finally there was nothing left.

"I _hate_." said Crow almost conversationally. "Those bloody things."

Batman turned to the eldest among them mouth opening to question when it was answered.

"Boggart, they show people what they fear the most."

"Ah, purely magical being I take it."

"Indeed."

As the trio attempted to recover from the unexpected attack they were able to form a rough outline of the hallways which they had been walking through which seemed to follow a circle, which was than filled with rooms.

Which explained how Raven came to be in the same room at that moment, because he had not been with the other two he was given enough time to prepare himself before his greatest fear was presented to him, Crow's newest ability had led them down the correct path.

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None of the men had needed an explanation for the fears of their comrades, they needed no explanation. Although Raven had been surprised when he had seen that Harry feared his own rejection as much as he feared Bruce's, in a way he felt flattered that the boy felt that close to him.

Although he would have to drill into the boy's skull how impossible it would be for the pair to willingly leave him. Although that opened the can of worms that was the possibility of leaving him unwillingly, he would try his hardest to survive for his lord. He had very little else to live for.

Before he could completely finish the thought, Raven was nearly knocked off of his feet by a brilliant red light, and that was all he knew for quite a while.

Crows spinning kick broke the wizard's jaw that had just stunned his friend; another kick shoved the man directly into a wall an unexpected push of magic allowed brought more power to both blows. The man never stood a chance.

Panting both from physical and magical exertion Crow leaned anxiously over the fallen man. When none of his attempts to get his magic to comply worked, he finally had to concede that the man would simply have to remain unconscious until the spell wore off. Although Crow was quite certain that he had at least lessened the time that this would take.

Gently tossing the man over his shoulder Batman easily carried the tall man in a fireman's carry, as they continued down the hall, he was confident that nothing could stop the man he was carrying for long.

And soon enough the lanky body began to revive, although the only reason that Batman new that it was so was that the warm breath that had been brushing his hand had begun to quicken as the man regained consciousness.

As quickly as he had been knocked out by the spell whose loss of strength allowed Raven to rouse just as quickly.

Disgruntled, for two reasons Raven was mostly angry with himself for being caught off guard because of his internal machinations. But the indignity of being carried like a bag of potatoes also factored into the length and furiousness of the strides he now took.

The next guard that they were about to pass was not only knocked unconscious by Raven, he was also given a swift kick in the side that brought down on him a couple of scolding glares from the two men with him.

As they continued along the interconnected passageways all three of the men stopped at the same spot of a blank wall, six eyes measuring the average distance between the doors had immediately noticed the discrepancy when they faced the blank wall.

Concentration and a sharp rap with his wand opened the hidden door at the command of Raven.

What they found was what they had both hoped and dreaded.

The woman seemed impossibly tiny curled up in the corner as she was obviously expecting some sort of attack. Her leather and Kevlar costume was bedraggled and dirty as was the gaunt face of the pretty redhead.

The first person to break the silence was ironically enough the one most used to keeping a steady stream of it.

"Batgirl."

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Barbara Gordon had run the gambit of emotions since she had been kidnapped. She had started out relatively calm in her cell, searching and studying, desperately trying to find a way out of the 10' by 10' room constructed of some sort of quarry stone. The main problem was that there didn't seem to be any sort of door leading out of the room so she had to search for the point in the wall that had the hidden switch that would allow the door to open.

But she soon came to realize that the switch was located elsewhere in the building and would only open for certain individuals. For stone the walls may have been but there were several grates which allowed air ventilation to keep her from asphyxiating or dying of heat stroke.

All though that didn't entirely rule out death from boredom, Barb had caught herself not only counting the stones on the walls, ceiling, and floor, but also drawing a small hopscotch game on the floor.

She tried to keep in shape but there were only so many push-ups and sit-ups one could do before going completely out of ones mind.

Although she still giggled to herself about the first time that the door had appeared in the wall and the man that was her would be torturer was knocked off of his feet, his skull crashing into the sharp corner made by the newly appeared door and causing him to lose consciousness, theatrical arterial spray and all.

Frankly Barbara was surprised the man had managed to survive at all. She had been in the middle of an attempt to do a back flip which required her to launch off of the wall if she wanted to get enough lift to manage the trick without using her hands or seriously injuring herself.

Although she had to admit, his head had served as an admirable launch pad.

Her enjoyment hadn't lasted long, she was quite sure that something had happened after the unfortunate man had been dragged away. The only problem was that she couldn't remember a blasted thing about it.

One minute she was exercising in her cell, easily switching from one hand to the other for her push-ups the next she was curled up in the straw that had been placed in the corner to serve as a scratchy uncomfortable bed.

This had happened at least four times to her knowledge, possibly more if they had taken her at a time when she had been asleep in the first place.

The fact that nothing seemed to have happened after these blackouts did nothing to sooth any fears that the young woman had in fact she had become more and more spooked as time went on and she never saw anybody, or at least didn't remember meeting anybody.

As she huddled in the corner, her thoughts returned to both of her families, both blood related, the other bat related. She had wondered why her mentor had never shown up, she was sure that he would have figured out where she was by this point. Though since she didn't know where she was perhaps that was stretching it a little bit.

As she heard the doors open she began to shake expecting at any moment for yet another blackout to take place. When nothing seemed to happen for a good thirty seconds she hesitantly raised her head.

The deep voice monosyllabic and gravelly was the most beautiful thing she had ever heard when it rumbled from the throat of the Batman.

"Batgirl."

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A/N

Well that went better than I expected.

Hope everybody liked it.

TaTa

Gussiegal5


	17. Chapter 17

Oh yeah this chapter went much better than the previous one, I hope there aren't as many glaring mistakes although I did appre

Oh yeah this chapter went much better than the previous one, I hope there aren't as many glaring mistakes although I did appreciate people telling me when I mixed up Crow and Raven in the last chapter as well as the ten feet verses ten inches stuff. So I fixed those mistakes.

Although now I just got a review about my German translation means "The Rabidity Wolf." Rather than "The Rabid Wolf." Head to desk. Well I'm not gonna change that one but next time I'll be sure to ask that particular reviewer the correct way to say something.

So cookies for nlblake.

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Chapter 17

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Batgirl came to her feet quickly, although the younger masked man had to quickly grab her before she fell back to the floor.

Her first look into his face revealed a stubborn jaw line and not much else; the opaque lenses on his mask hid both the color and the shape of his eyes.

His black hair was roughly tousled as though he ignored it in favor of more important things.

She took all of this in as well as the amused twitch of his mouth, before pulling out of his grasp.

Standing unsteadily on her own, Batgirl sneered at the boy in front of her, who was actually slightly smaller than she was.

"I don't need your help little boy, who the heck are you anyways?"

The boy's nose wrinkled or at least his mask scrunched up slightly, "Jeeze, Batman, are all of your protégé's jerks?"

Batman's voice was amused as he asked, "You realize of course that statement would also include you."

"Well, yeah," stated the younger man drolly, "but I was totally an asshole before I met you, jerks an improvement."

A muttered, "No kidding." Brought Batgirls head around and she was face to face with an unmasked man in a dress. Although she reconsidered, it was more of a robe, still the man did what few could he scared the hell out of her.

His eyes narrow and dark stared haughtily through her, his rather large nose was crooked in several places showing previous breaks and his sallow skin served to show off his one good feature, his teeth though slightly crooked shone a pearly white from between twisted and sarcastic lips.

She edged away from him, the man was creepy.

Although she had to admit, when Batman truly came to the mental fore he could give this man a running.

"And who's he?" she winced even as she said it, hearing the little girl whine that entered her voice whenever she was upset.

The sallow man smiled, "I'm a nightmare."

The boy snorted, "More like a bad thought."

"Ah perhaps but whose bad thought."

"I'd say only a person of supreme wit and utter madness could ever think up a creature such as you."

"It's true my mother was clever and my father insane so perhaps there is a grain of truth in your statements. But only a very small grain."

"Oh I see you have layers."

"Yes."

"Like an onion."

"Ye…where the hell did you get onions out of this conversation."

"Oh you know here, there, and a movie I saw once."

"You my lord are without a doubt a childish monster."

"That'll do donkey, that'll do."

The scary man not quite so scary anymore threw his hands up in the air and stalked away. Robes blowing and stride lengthening.

Batgirl could barely suppress her gasp at the barely heard.

"Drama queen."

That her mentor let loose with before easily picking her up and tossing her gently over his shoulder, apparently unwilling to let her walk on her own.

Although she gave an irritated sigh, Batgirl knew better than to try to explain to her mentor that she was perfectly capable of moving in any direction that he pointed her at. The only reason that she had been unsteady was that both of her legs had fallen asleep and had needed time to regain circulation.

He wouldn't believe her.

She rolled her eyes sheesh a girl tells one little white lie and all of a sudden she couldn't be trusted. She remembered the night that she told her first lie to the Batman's face.

"_Oh for goodness sakes, I'm perfectly fine, able to walk and unwounded."_

_Batman had slowly turned from her suspicious that she wasn't telling him the whole truth. _

_She had been shoved through a window from yet another maniacally laughing criminal, although at least it wasn't the Joker, she hated that clownish menace._

_Still high on adrenaline, it took her several moments to notice the six inch piece of glass sticking out of her thigh. Unwilling to let Batman see any sort of weakness she braced herself against a nearby wall before pulling the glass out with a barely concealed gasp._

_She was not going to leave Batman alone to handle everything, not when he didn't need to anymore._

_Hiding a limp with every step, Batgirl struggled to keep up with the fleet footed man in front of her as they rushed after the fleeing thief._

_Her leg had held up until the man had been knocked unconscious and tied to a convenient light pole. As Batman began to walk towards the waiting Batmobile he heard rather than saw Batgirl stumble and than fall to the ground._

_Turning around he none to gently threw the prone figure into the Batmobile, grumbling to himself about sidekicks and over confidence._

_After she had healed to the point that she could once again train, he had kept her training and off of the streets._

For weeks, she had been bored out of her mind and ready to bite just about anything that got in her way.

Making herself as comfortable as possible on the muscular shoulder, Batgirl allowed herself to stick her tongue out at the boy trailing behind them.

His only response was a vicious smile that brought goose bumps to her arms and a chill down her spine.

God she wasn't sure if she liked Batman's new friends, they were damn spooky.

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As Raven had taken point, sort of, Crow had decided that with the woman over his shoulder Batman was slightly indisposed to deal with wizards. It had absolutely nothing to do with the thrill he got when he turned Batgirls skin a pasty white after giving her the best Voldemort smirk he knew.

The one that had just reeked of manic insanity, Crow had seen it to many times not to be able to mimic the ugly grimace easily.

They were rescuing the little bitch for god sakes. The least she could do was show some gratitude.

He was walking far enough back that when a wizard guard attempted to attack the seemingly unsuspecting Batman, Crow was able to easily knock the man out with a blow to the back of the skull.

Pinning another portkey on the downed guard, Crow barely even broke stride.

Although he noticed with no little amusement the disappearing body had widened the woman's eyes and forced her mouth into an o of shock.

"What the… what did you do to him?"

When it was obvious that no answer was forthcoming, Batgirl lightly pounded on Batman's caped shoulder, all she received for her trouble was an uncomfortable jostling as her mode of transportation allowed his shoulder to drop for a second. Her body forced to uncomfortably free fall for an instant before landing once more on the broad shoulder.

If that wasn't a 'shut-up' she'd never heard or insinuated one before.

So once more falling silent, although this time easily restraining herself from childish faces, Batgirls brain chose without her input to continue studying the young man in front of her.

All of his movements, his grace and seeming poise marked the slight man as a predator. His eyes hidden as they were by the lenses still seemed to notice everything, he seemed to see everything just that one instant faster than average people would notice. He turned his head that much quicker when any form of movement was seen in his peripheral vision.

Although his costume hid most of his skin from sight, Batgirl was intrigued at the slender scar which was wrapped cruelly around the pale neck, as though someone had strangled the boy to the point of near death before finally stopping.

And flatter, broader scars could occasionally be seen at the boy's wrists, where manacles had obviously hung on too thin wrists for a long period of time.

A quickly seen snarl on the boy's face abruptly stopped Batgirls perusal and she restrained herself to counting the floor stones as the older man carried her easily over them.

While she had been studying him, Crow had been doing the same, easily seeing the affects of the psychological wounds her torturers had obviously subjected her to, the young woman's body seemed to almost vibrate with the tremors that struck her, and of which she seemed to be almost unaware of.

Although when she caught sight of her trembling hands she unconsciously tightened the grip she had on his billowing cape, taking comfort from the familiar coolness of the leather, warming under her hands.

She had not been allowed to keep her mask, although she had no memory of how she lost it, although judging from the soreness of her body afterwards as well as one of the few times that she was able to regain control of her body before she was dumped into the straw. And the sound of the mans crunching bones followed by his howls of pain had given her comfort while she had sat huddled and shivering in the corner of her small cell.

It was one of the only things that had kept her going.

She smiled slightly, well that and the thought of what Papa bat would do once he found and rescued her. Although she didn't really want to think about what Batman would do if he ever somehow discovered what she called him when he was in one of his overprotective, uncommunicative moods.

Which she pondered was pretty much forty percent of the time that he was Bruce and a hundred percent of the time when he was in his bat persona.

_Tbc._

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A/N

Here you are my precious readers, now I am going to bed. I had to close at my job tonight which is always a pain in the butt. Although I got home at around midnight so I guess it's my own fault if I'm tired tomorrow considering it's now three. Whee seven hours of sleep as opposed to my usual ten.

TMI?

Sorry, I'm a little bit out of it. Well R&R this chapter please, and I will hopefully take heart and write another chapter just as quickly.

TaTa

Gussiegal5


	18. Chapter 18

Striding down the hallway, Raven had quickly cleared his mind of his anger, unwilling to allow his emotions to rule over the j

New chapter 'woot' Hope ya'll like it, although I can't say that I do.

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Chapter 18

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As they raced down the hallway, the men didn't bother to portkey any guards that they discovered on the way simply knocking them unconscious in the quickest manner possible.

Everything had gone far too smoothly for a rescue they were all waiting for the other shoe to fall and something horrible to happen to them to slow down their escape.

So the group was none to surprised when a door seemed to appear beside them and opened by itself. The sight of the very large snake headed directly towards them convinced all but one of the group to attack.

Stepping in front of the poised Batman, Crow pulled his shoulders and straightened his shoulders trying to look as commanding as possible.

Desperately hoping that at least this ability still worked he began to speak, or rather hiss.

"_Halt!"_

The Basilisk looked almost comical as it skidded to a stop just feet from the slender figure. Crow crossed his arms over his chest before saying.

"_You dare attack the Lord of the Dark?"_

Looking unsure the snake lowered its head slightly before gazing directly into the darkened eyes of its lord. The unwavering and still very much alive gaze of the boy convinced the snake that he was indeed who he said he was.

Bowing before its lord the Basilisk began to speak.

"_My apologies my Lord, I was unaware that a new master had been chosen, I will be certain to tell any other snakes that we are once more under your care, and I do hope that you will take the gift of a small amount of my venom, to make up for my attack."_

Dipping his head slightly in an unknowingly regal manner Crow pulled a glass vial from a pouch and extending it towards the still geneflucting head which immediately stilled before allowing a two drops from each fang to fall with unerring accuracy into the now full vial.

When the door once more closed behind the giant head, Crow was barely able to return the vial to its pouch before he was picked up once again one handedly by Batman who's face had paled to the point that the blue of his veins could be seen pulsing furiously across his jaw.

"Oh." Said Crow, innocently smiling up at the furious older man, "Did I forget to mention that not only do snakes like me, but I can also speak to them."

"Yes," ground out Batman, "You forgot. And if you ever _forget_ something like that again I'm going to shake you until your eyes pop out of your skull."

Still smiling albeit much more gently, Crow dipped his head in acknowledgement of the warning before being placed on his feet once more, pulling his uniform once more into place before continuing their interrupted journey.

Batman couldn't help but smile wanely at the muttering Raven who while not as frightened by his Lords antics had still been rather shall we say startled by the appearance of a Basilisk that could have eaten the one that had resided in the Chamber of Secrets.

Straining his hearing Batman heard.

"Oh yes of course, we have the unmitigated bad luck of running through a labyrinth with incompetent guards slowing us down every step, than a bloody snake, but no not just some normal fucking snake it has to be a Basilisk. But than Harry "I'm not lucky I'm just that good." Potter talks to it. And not only does he manage to intimidate it although how he did so since snakes are creatures of the day and not the night will remain a mystery until I can beat it out of the boy, but he also gets a vial full of the most toxic and rare substances on the earth. If he hadn't been here, I am quite certain we would have been eaten, but than we probably wouldn't be here if he hadn't been here. So than not only did he get us into this mess he also gets us out of it. Typical just typical…"

The monologue continued in hushed tones for the entire length of the hall that they were running down hoping that they would be able to at least get out of the building before something else happened.

Only steps away from the door that would lead them once more to the beach that they had landed on, both Batman and Raven came to an abrupt stop when they heard an unearthly noise behind them.

Spinning on their feet, with Batgirl only able to give a quick squawk of protest the pair watched as Crow ripped his mask off, revealing once more the blackened eyes that he had shown them when they had entered the building. Only placing his mask on after he had been able to pass on the information that was needed to the two men.

The blackened eyes needed to see the world fully to watch the possible futures pass before them.

Without blinking Crow pointed a shaking finger at another empty wall space. Although now that it had been found a simple archway with no door appeared before the four sets of eyes, Batgirl craning to see around her carriers shoulder.

Suddenly words began to tumble out of Raven's mouth, drawing the attention away from the still entranced Crow.

_Chosen am I, as the voice of the mortal god._

_Chosen is the girl to rip away his public façade._

_Chosen is the Bird to become his brother._

_Chosen is the Bat to become his lover._

_Chosen is the butler, the true believer._

_To become their one and only receiver._

_A broken doorway which leads them away._

_Is not to be visited until another day._

_But when we enter learn they will of Sauron's evil will._

_And join we will a group of hero's sent to kill._

_The madness which festers in those lands._

_Will be eased by this joining of hands_

_The island children will die on the morrow._

_Because of the hatred, the fear, and the sorrow._

_For they have caused pain and stolen the life for their greedy toll._

_Losing all sight of their parent's goal. _

When Raven had finished speaking Crow's blackened eyes receded once more to the familiar emerald green.

Both seemed to shake themselves and than headed once more towards the exit, a speechless Bat pair following in their wake.

Batgirl was silent because of her shock and Batman's silence could be traced to his rueful acceptance that he had perhaps bitten off more than he could chew when he had decided to protect the young man that now padded three feet behind him as though nothing untoward had happened.

Although the information that he now held would have made him hesitate just a bit more before rescuing the boy.

Glancing back at Crow, Batman quit hiding from himself long enough to think, he would have hesitated for barely a millisecond.

Something about the boy compelled him to trust Crow with everything, and if Raven's words were truly a prophecy than he knew exactly what the boy would someday mean to him.

His eyes held for a second to long and the beautiful gaze connected with his own, holding a sparkling ember of the future.

Even that hidden flame washed a wave of heat through the older man before he forced himself to once more look where he was going.

No use stumbling over his own feet, that would no doubt irritate the young woman still slung over his shoulder, the young woman who had noticed the look that Crow had given her mentor.

Not sure what exactly she could say at that moment that wouldn't get her in trouble, Batgirl closed her slightly agape mouth closed with an audible snap.

And if she had paid any attention at all to the face that she was studiously avoiding, she would have seen the pale skin go slightly pink as Crow realized exactly what he had done in and full view of a near stranger.

Finally exiting the building the small group hastily headed towards the boat that they had left behind, stepping into the cockpit Batman casually tossed Batgirl into Crows arms, before starting up the engine.

Furious Batgirl tried to escape the younger man's arms only to be held firmly in place not only by his surprisingly strong arms but also a growl which rumbled through his armor, the menacing vibration actually causing the young woman to freeze long enough for her to be placed in the backseat next to a still smirking Raven.

Crow easily hopped into the front seat, the roof of the boat coming over them moments after he landed.

And without further ado the entire group, Raven and Crow smirking, Batgirl pouting and Batman glowering all left the damned island as fast as the boat could go.

Crow snorted for a moment before removing his cowl, ah just another day in the life.

_Tbc._

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A/N

Here it is slightly shorter than my last update but I hope I got a lot of information. Cookies if anyone can figure out where they'll be going in the sequel that I'm planning. Although to be sure that this story isn't done yet so perhaps I got a little ahead of myself. Oh well.

Hope everyone enjoyed the bad poetry.

R&R

TaTa

Gussiegal5


	19. Chapter 19

Alright peoples, here's the thing in this chapter there be my first real attempt at a slash scene hopes you likeys. And if you don't like slash than why are you reading this story? So be nice please I was trying really hard. Although I think I came across as sort of schmoopy. So enjoy ya'll.

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Chapter 19

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Hours later the small group entered the batcave, Batman had to lift a deeply sleeping Batgirl from the backseat as not even her fear of Raven had been able to overwhelm her exhaustion for long.

Placing her on a nearby table Bruce removed the cowl breathing a sigh of relief when he allowed his most intense persona to once more slip to the back of his mind. Usually only having to keep it up during the night he was able to control the more intense urges that the dark mindset thrived on, but he had stayed their for nearly thirty-two hours and he was more than ready to leave it behind, before he lost control.

As he turned once more to study the prone form of his eldest student, he was interrupted by the gentle throat clearing that had early on in his life meant an automatic halting of whatever he was doing.

Turning to face the man he considered his surrogate father Bruce barely contained his groan at the sight of the tuxedo which was handed to him despite his protests.

"You of course remember the benefit that you will be hosting tonight Master Bruce."

The protests stopped soon after as he choked on a laugh when he saw Harry being dragged over by the scruff of his neck and handed a similar outfit.

Robin grip while not as powerful as Batman's would certainly hold the smaller male as long as Harry didn't perform any sort of magic on the grinning older boy.

Who wasn't grinning quite so widely after a vicious electrical shock ran up his arm making his muscles relax against his will. Although even this wasn't enough for Harry to get away, as he turned to flee he nearly ran directly into the outthrust black and white tux.

Sighing in defeat he snatched the offending garment out of the still sober faced butler before following a resigned Bruce into the locker room.

He was absolutely certain that he imagined the duet of giggles that followed him into the small room.

Before he could so much as squeak a protest, Harry found himself pinned against the wall with a heavily breathing, now half clothed Bruce blocking any sort of escape. With a bracing hand placed on either side of the much smaller males head, he allowed his head to fall for a moment onto the teens shoulder.

Pulling it back up his blazing eyes completely froze the startled young man, "If you ever do something so foolhardy ever again, you won't have to worry about prophecies or insane escaped convicts."

Shaking himself from his state Harry shoved ineffectually against the older mans unmoving shoulder, his own eyes beginning to glow with temper.

"Oh and why's that are you going to ground me until I'm a hundred, your not my father or a father figure so back off mister overprotective."

With an uncontrolled snarl Bruce slammed his mouth against the younger mans, shoving his tongue into the boys mouth when his surprised gasp opened it for him.

Harry only realized that Bruce's hands had been removed from the wall when one grabbed him on his ass and pulled him up so that the pair was face to face and the other gripped his hair in a possessive fist.

He ripped his mouth away from Harry's just long enough to say, "Damned right I'm not your father." He said before plunging back into the heated kiss.

If Harry had even shown the slightest sign of protest Bruce would have stopped immediately but to his utmost pleasure the boy actually leaned into the kiss wrapping both of his arms around the muscular neck as their tongues explored each others mouths stroking teeth and testing flavors, and without his knowledge his legs wrapped around Bruce's waist.

The only reason that Bruce finally pulled away from the intoxicating mouth was because of a dire need for oxygen that he was sure was shared by the younger man. Pressing his forehead against Harry's Bruce closed his eyes as he panted trying desperately to regain the breath that he had lost.

When he finally gained enough control to speak it was in a harsh whisper that actually forced a small whimper from Harry's still constricted throat he never loosened the death grip that he had on Bruce's neck as he listened.

"Your mine, I'm going to have to wait two years to have you completely, but make no mistake all of you is mine. The prophecy said Chosen is the Bat to become your lover but make no mistake as much as you are mine, I am yours, and we are more than something as simple as lovers."

Pulling the long hair of his young love back he forced the teen to meet his eyes and the intensity in them seared the younger man to the soul.

Wrenching his hair from the others grasp, Harry bit viciously into the shoulder drawing a sharp hiss from Bruce as he drew blood.

Still gasping Harry answered. "You need to understand something as well, I'd die for you."

He licked the seeping wound for a moment soothing the injury that he had just caused. "I'd kill for you."

He drew the elder into another kiss before pulling back for one more statement. "But I will not hide behind you. I am perfectly capable of handling large snakes as well as other far more dangerous situations." Than he smiled sweetly as he met the narrowing eyes of the man he was wrapped around. "Of course that doesn't mean that I wouldn't welcome your assistance in said situations."

When the face in front of him softened slightly Harry allowed his legs to relax enough that he was able to stand on the floor once more.

Bruce smiled slightly before finally saying. "I suppose that's the best I can get when it comes to you."

Harry smiled cheekily, "Yep."

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When they came out of the locker room neither of the pair thought they showed any sign of what they had been doing and both were dressed impeccably in Armani.

Herding the grumbling pair into the elevator Alfred said, "Not to worry sirs while I am sure that you are worried about Miss Barbara I can assure you that Master Dick can take more than adequate care of her until we can return for her."

Harry had to force himself to stay on the opposite side of the small lift afraid that if he didn't his actions would force the middle aged butler to drop forward dead from shock.

Although much to Alfred's amusement it was Harry that had to catch himself against a wall before stepping out into the hallway after Alfred said.

"Master Bruce, I believe you might wish to get a band-aid with some antibiotics on it for your shoulder before it becomes infected, as bite wounds have a tendency to do so."

While Harry hastily swallowed his gasp of shock, Bruce allowed a rumbling chuckle to escape him before switching into his Brucey persona and elbowing Harry until the teen's blank stare showed him that Harrison was once more fully present.

Brucey stepped directly into the crowd, people parting like the Red Sea as he strode cockily down the stairs and directly towards a small group of men that either owned or were influential in much of Gotham.

Planting a buffoon's smile on his face he prepared himself for the humiliation that he was about to subject himself to.

Or not.

A very tall, very pretty blonde intercepted him before he could reach the small group. He gazed at them longingly for a moment before returning his gaze to the icy blue eyes that awaited him. Even if he had actually been as unintelligent as Brucey pretended to be he would have cringed at the fury that awaited him.

With arms crossed over her chest and her high heel tapping, the woman stood silently for a good thirty seconds.

_Aw hell_, thought Brucey, _alright great detective here's an easy set of questions. What's her name, what did you do to piss her off, and how can you fix this without causing a scene that will give me an even bigger headache._

Fumbling around in his mind, frantically searching for a name and coming up with nothing he finally decided on.

"What's up doll?"

And then he winced as her glare seemed to triple.

"You don't remember me do you?"

Uh oh, retreat, retreat, Bruce looked around frantically searching for some means of escape. The group of men that he had been headed for were all staring at him with amusement on their faces, so no help there. He was positive that Harry had removed himself to a far off corner to hide until the benefit had ended.

When he caught sight of the stiffly aloof Snape heading towards a corner of his own, Bruce breathed a sigh of relief.

Two quick steps away from the rapidly advancing woman had him safely placed behind the irritable former Potions Master. A barely murmured, "_Help me."_ Had him turning to face the woman with an ill tempered growl, the things that he did for his Masters, wait a minute Masters? As in the plural, great just when he thought things couldn't get any worse.

Although he did have a convenient muggle to take his frustrations out on, Snape's snarl turned into a dangerously content smile as he turned on the woman.

"Can I help you Miss…?"

"No you can't help me; you can however get out of my way."

"Now why," Snape practically purred. "Would I want to do a silly thing like that?"

"Don't test me, I'm in the mood for murder, and if I can't get my intended target than I won't feel bad about taking you out first."

"Two things in response to that statement, firstly I would dearly love to see you try and kill me, better men and women have tried and failed, and secondly who are you going to murder if I do step aside?"

He followed this by moving to the side and allowing the now startled woman to notice that while Severus had kept her busy Bruce had managed to slip away without her noticing.

Searching the room for him, she failed to see his form although if she had looked closer she could have seen his silhouette entering an out of the way alcove which was already occupied by the slender form of his newest ward.

Growling in frustration she turned back to the man that had stopped her from tearing that ignoramus millionaire a new one. Studying his face she smiled slightly, the man couldn't be more than thirty-five and he already had grumpy old man written all over him.

While his features were far from handsome, with his beakish crooked nose, he was interesting to look at, plus his vitriolic attitude could probably be quite a bit of fun to poke with a few sarcastic verbal jabs.

Allowing herself to relax, she searched for a proper conversation starter other than the afore mentioned, I'll kill you.

"So…what's your name?"

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When Bruce entered the alcove his not so silent sigh of relief had Harry laughing quietly. "You realize of course, that this means that you oh Severus one?"

Bruce smiled, "Yeah, I figured. So his names Severus than, you've always referred to him as Raven."

"Well, figured you deserved to learn more about us now."

Bruce through an arm around the smaller figure to pull him into a one armed hug in silent gratitude before slipping out of the cove now that Severus seemed to have the woman under control.

When he actually made it to the small group intact he breathed another small sigh of relief before blushing at the grins that he was getting from both the Mayor and the Commissioner.

"Having problems Wayne?"

"Yeah well you know I get around, you can't expect me to remember every pretty face that comes my way."

Rolled eyes met the cocky statement as Brucey once more took the mental wheel and his other two personalities sat back and waited for the humiliation to start.

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Well that went well. I was stuck forever on where I wanted to go now that they were back from the Bermuda triangle and than I got this image stuck in my head of Bruce backing Harry up against a wall and it all kind of came out from there. Sorry if I rambled and I hope you like my OC I don't know what I'm going to do with her but I figured she'd be kind of fun anyways.

Well R&R

TaTa

Gussiegal5


	20. Chapter 20

Snape searched the room but there was no escape, finally he allowed another one of his sneers, patent pending, to twist his fa

Long time no update? Sorry, I was out of commission for a while. I had an allergic reaction to a wasp sting and my hand swelled up like a balloon. I really had no desire to type one handed, sorry.

This story is nearing the end but have no fear there is a sequel on the horizon.

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Snape searched the room but there was no escape, finally he allowed another one of his sneers, patent pending, to twist his face.

"I fail to see how that is any of your business."

"I'm just intrigued that's all. It's not everyday that we see the illustrious Bruce Wayne being assisted by anybody that isn't almost as rich and powerful as he is. Well aside from his butler that is. My name's Alli by the way."

"You wound me. I do not look like a rich and powerful man? I suppose you could call me Snape."

Sensing a sore subject, Alli swiftly angled her questions in a different direction.

"So how did you meet Mr. Wayne?"

"Yet another topic that is none of your business, but I suppose you could say that we have mutual interest in his newest ward."

"Mr. Potter?"

"That is the name of his newest ward, is it not? Enough, go bother someone else."

"Why would I do a thing like that, your far more interesting than any man I've met in this room so far."

"That doesn't say much for the other men."

Spinning on his heels Snape turned towards the alcove that he had seen Harry and Bruce enter and joined the still skulking Harry there as they watched an over the top Brucey play the crowd.

Even as he had his own group in silent stitches, all they could see on his face was earnestness, as though he couldn't understand why everybody in the near vicinity was trying not to laugh.

Turning to face Harry, Snape was shocked to find himself unsurprised when he saw the possessive gleam that had entered his young master's eyes as he watched the older man.

When he finally spoke, Snape's voice was uncomfortable and stiff, "You know the wizarding age of majority isn't eighteen it's seventeen."

Even as he spoke, Snape saw Harry's face lose all color as his head whipped towards one of the few father figures that was still alive.

"What are you…uh…we aren't… I mean…"

"Calm down Harry, I have no problem with Bruce. He's good for you."

"But how, I mean even if I'm legal at seventeen in our world, that doesn't mean that he won't get in trouble in this world for that."

Snape's smile was neither sneering nor false as he replied. "Actually you become legally emancipated at seventeen in both worlds, because of your age and because you are the only remaining member of a pureblood family that needs to have a legal Lord as soon as legally possible in both worlds."

Harry's eyes lit up for a moment before dimming once more. "I don't turn seventeen until the end of July. That's almost a year from now."

"I would say milord that, that is better than over two years."

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Brucey and Harrison thanked guests as they left the charity event, both having to sink deeper into their appointed masks to keep up their charade.

As the last one left, Harry gently tugged on Bruce's collar bringing him down to the short teen's level, where he received a vice like hug around the neck before Harry bolted for the stairs and for his bedroom.

"Night Bruce, I have to talk to that psychiatrist tomorrow morning."

Bruce was halted from going after him by Snape, who snagged the sleeve of his jacket before the man could go more than three steps.

"At the moment, I do not believe that Harry wishes to speak with you."

Turning on the much smaller man Bruce's voice and words demanded an explanation. "What are you talking about, why is he acting this way. He was completely different when we…"

His voice trailed off as he realized who he was talking to.

Snape could barely refrain from smiling, the older man's expression was eerily similar to that of Harry's only hours ago.

Although Bruce was able to regain control at a much swifter pace than Harry had.

"I may have passed on the information that at seventeen Harry will be a legal adult in our world and emancipated in yours."

Although he managed to restrain at least his mouth from bursting into an uncharacteristic grin, Bruce was incapable of restraining the brightness that entered his eyes.

Snape smirked at him before walking away. "Down boy." The words were thrown over his shoulder as he exited the hallway and headed towards the small area that he had allotted for his apparation point.

Moments before he would have disappeared with a pop, a gentle hand tapped Snape's shoulder. Turning inquiring eyes towards Alfred, Snape raised an eyebrow.

"It is not necessary for you to leave the manor every night sir, I am quite certain that Master Bruce is more than willing to give you a room to call your own."

Snape stiffened with wounded pride and was only barely able to keep his voice civil as he answered.

"I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, my home is perfectly acceptable to me and it is a mere apparation away. So although I _thank you_." These last words ground out from between clenched teeth. "I assure you that I am comfortable in the arrangement that we have now."

"Very well Snape, have a good night."

Snape tilted his head in acknowledgement before allowing himself to disappear with an almost silent _pop_.

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Even as he lowered himself into the ancient leather armchair, Snape reached for the small booklet that he had been going over for the past month. Looking over the work that his young master had done amazed him, the leaps that the boy had made in logic allowed him to use his knowledge both of the magical world but also the muggle.

After nearly an hour of studying the papers Snape finally regained his feet and headed directly towards the room that took up nearly the entirety of his small home. The lab had everything that any potion's master could ask for, some bought with his teachers salary, and still more bought from the profits he made with the patents he held on several types of potions.

As he gathered the materials necessary to start the first batch of finished product, only Snape's eye's alight with excitement betrayed his joy at the process over which he had spent many days and nights.

His chosen path had never been a trial to him, even as he was creating poisons for Voldemort, he brewed its antidote beside it for Dumbledore. It was hardly the potions fault for being what it was so why should he feel anything but pride when he created something new.

Hours passed and even as the day began to dawn Snape began to bottle up the potion that would hopefully allow Harry to at last regain a small portion of his magic.

He couldn't wait to see his master's expression.

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As Harry dragged himself once more into the school building he resigned himself to yet another boring day of having to deal with Buxton. Still tired from the night before it was easy for him to slip into the Harrison mode, allowing any intelligence to fade from his expression and losing the, until now, almost military posture.

He really did not wish to speak to the man, it seemed as though every time that he did so something bad happened.

He completely blamed Buxton.

Finally entering the cheerful room once more Harrison found it difficult to keep his personality to the fore, Crow wanted to make a rather maniacal appearance in front of the psychologist. Well perhaps less Crow than that much darker entity that fought to come out whenever Harry truly began to feel like he had lost control of either his life or the situation that he was in.

He needed to keep that particular personality to a minimum. People would end up dead otherwise and all of his other persona's agreed that, that was very bad.

Mostly because they were quite certain that none of Bruce's persona's would be at all happy with him.

A flicker of movement in the corner of his eye brought Harry's head around to face Bruce who had managed to enter the building without a sound

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Charles Buxton had been casually leaning in a corner of the hallway away from most prying eyes and able to see most of the hallway. So he had seen the change in his patient, seen the obviously intelligent if tired eyes fade once more into dull passivity. The ramrod straight spine soften into the indolent lean of a teenager looking out to impress the world with his laziness as well as his lack of usefulness to society.

The boy was a talented actor, Charles eye's widened when Bruce Wayne entered the building a moment after the boy had and with an almost imperceptible flick of his head drew the teen over to him.

Leaning down so that he could whisper into the teen's ear the billionare's brilliant blue gaze caught Charlie's a moment after it began to sweep the room. Whatever Bruce told Harrison it returned some of the stiffness to those slouching shoulders and with a seemingly playful shove Harrison sent Brucey on his way.

Only to grab his shoulder and pull the much larger man back down to his height and whispering something fiercely into Brucey's ear.

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It took a great deal of effort for Harry to restrain himself from allowing himself to melt into the heat that Bruce's body gave off. Although that effort was helped greatly when Bruce's muttered words finally worked their way through the fog that had covered his brain.

"Buxton is standing in the corner on the right side of the hallway. I know it's been a long weekend but I do expect Harrison to put on an exemplary performance today for Mr. Buxton. You here me Potter?"

Harry's bright eyes peaked out behind their dull Harrison facade long enough to force a sharp exhalation of breath from the spellbound Bruce.

Pushing Bruce away was Harry's only defense against the sudden rush of heat that seemed to emanate from his chest.

But the sudden loss of broad shoulders blocking his vision and protecting him from the world was to much for him to take for long.

Grabbing Bruce's shoulder Harry pulled him down so that Bruce's ear was level with his mouth.

"Bruce, I don't want you to think that I in any way have regrets about last night, and I can't wait to explore you more thoroughly."

Bruce's eyes had darkened at the swiftly spoken sentence, but only a slight rim of topaz showing that he had blue eyes remained when Harry gave a purposefully heavy pant that wafted wet warmth across his sensitive ear.

Forcing his body away from the teen's Bruce had to beat a hasty retreat before the fascinated looking psychiatrist could catch sight of what else Harry had done to him.

Harry watched the usually collected man practically bolt out of the building, finally shaking his body slightly to release any of the tension that had crept into his body once he had caught Bruce's spicy clean scent.

Turning towards the small office, Harrison completely ignored the still lurking man, acting as though he had no idea that the man had been standing there the entire time that he had been talking to Bruce.

Relaxing into the comfortable chair that awaited him, Harry prepared himself allowing the fog to overcome his mind, so that his responses would be natural. His mind already exhausted from his weekend gave in easily to the prodding and sank into gentle passivity. No deep thoughts until Harry had allowed himself to sleep off any affects that his few hours of rest hadn't taken care of the night before.

When the door finally opened, Harrison's head lolled to the side allowing him to gaze uninterestedly at the man who was even now staring at him as though he hid all of the secrets of the universe in his brain.

Barely restraining a sigh, Harrison braced himself for a long day.

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_Later that night..._

As Batman and Crow swept through the skies that night, both had to make a conscious effort to keep a reasonable distance between each other. It was almost like they were to magnets inexorably pulling each other towards each other one moment but than one managed to flip out of his daze and pull himself away long enough so that he didn't crash into any walls or signs.

As they searched the streets trying to find any disturbances that needed to be taken care of, Batman abruptly switched gears turning sharply enough that Crow had to scramble to keep up with him.

Moments later he to saw the reason for Batman's suddenly faster pace.

High above them, pointing into the air the Batsignal lit up the night sky drawing the pair of them like moths to the flame.


	21. Chapter 21

I'm sorry if everything looks a little wonky. I'm using my new computer and it only has textedit on it. Which isn't useful when your trying to figure out how a chapter will look.

But anyways here's the thing I might be disappearing for a couple of weeks so that I can focus on my studies. My first College classes have started and I want to be sure that I can handle things before I start playing around with my fanfiction again. I think that there's only one or two more chapters in this story before I begin on the sequel, which will probably start off directly where this ends.

Disclaimer: Characters aren't mine but I do claim the plot. Although, if the creators of Harry Potter and Batman want that and the quarter that is currently residing in my purse their welcome to both.

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Chapter 21

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Commissioner Gordon, stood anxiously on the roof of Police Headquarters his eyes straining to catch sight of the man that he had seen grow in the last weeks. Batman had gone from a threatening ghost of his former self into a man that would once more strike fear into the hearts of the criminal minded.

Although he doubted he would tell either Batman or the thugs that he apprehended it was because that the man's entire demeanor had brightened, well relatively speaking, although Gordon hadn't seen either of the Bat's two young trainees lately to give a logical reason for this sudden cheerfulness.

The Commissioner smirked slightly well perhaps cheerful was overstating things a little bit. But he had seen a definitely softened edge to the usual stern mouth that could be construed as an almost smile, or his imagination.

Hearing a soft sound behind him that was usually missing when the Batman landed the Commissioner was given only a moment to notice it before he saw the shadow that had appeared in front of him. Reminded once more of a gargoyle at the sight of the masked man, Gordon barely repressed the start when a much smaller figure alit next to the Bat.

"Your brood appears to be growing Batman."

Gordon wasn't sure what he was expecting from the newest member of the Bat family, but it certainly wasn't the cold smile that he got for his efforts. The other two had been seemed very light hearted joking with both Batman and each other. The teen in front of him seemed to have a similar personality to that of his new mentor.

Batman swept in encompassing hand between the two before saying, "Commissioner, this is Crow, Crow, Commissioner Gordon."

"Good to meet you Crow."

The smile disappeared from Raven's face as he studied the older man for a moment before nodding his head in greeting.

"What seems to be the problem Gordon?"

"Joker has gotten loose from Arkham Asylum."

"This is a surprise how?"

Gordon jerked slightly in surprise at the teens sarcastic question, his voice was quite a bit deeper than he was expecting and he thought that at one time the boy might have stuttered as his s's seemed to lisp slightly adding a snakeish quality to the short sentence.

"What's surprising is that someone else actually assisted him in his escape, although nobody seems to know who she is. She isn't one of the Jokers usual assistants."

"What," drawled Crow, "Tweedle dum and Tweedle dummer still not up to snuff. Aww the shame."

Gordon had a hard time repressing a smile at that, there was the tone he had been waiting for. Although he had to admit there was something almost sinister about the way that the teen had said, which made it lose some of its humorous edge.

Although if he hadn't been watching for it Gordon was sure that he would have missed the barely perceptible twitch that Batman's lips gave before returning once more to neutrality.

What was harder to miss was the brief spark of something that lit up Crow's face when the teen noticed the almost smile on Batman's face.

Gordon's eyebrows rose ever higher, so not as similar to the previous trainee's as he had thought. If Gordon had not known Batman for nearly a decade he also would have missed the way the pair seemed to bump shoulders, almost leaning against each other. Although Batman's cloak worked quite effectively to hide most of their bodies from his view Gordon was still able to get enough of a glimpse to realize that.

Forcing his mind to get back on track and away from the image of the Batman in any sort of relationship, Gordon explained what had happened.

"Witnesses, the ones that weren't gassed said that Joker called her Bella. Also said she cackled like a hyena. Ring any bells?"

Although he tried to hide it desperately Gordon saw the shock go through Crow as though he had stuck a screwdriver in the wall. The teen's entire body recoiled and he seemed to draw in on himself, almost huddling under the Batman's cloak.

Although he didn't so much as glance at Crow, Gordon saw the arm that had formerly hung at the vigilantes side disappear. Although he couldn't be certain, Gordon's first and correct thought was that Batman had slung a comforting arm around the trembling teens shoulders.

"Where were they last seen?"

Gordon looked down for a moment than answered, "They were seen heading out to the open ocean heading south." when he looked back up both figures were gone from his sight.

Only slightly muttering to himself, Gordon let himself back in the police station, unwilling to admit that Batman's exits were comforting in a way. He only left conspicuously if something was wrong.

This had been one of the first times in nearly a year that the man had simply left with no fanfare.

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Batman had not been willing to allow Crow to leave under his own steam and before the teen knew what was going on and before Gordon had looked up, he had picked up the teen. Holding Harry close to his body with one arm Batman headed directly back to the Batcave. It was doubtful that Crow would be able to accomplish anything else tonight and he also needed to gather information on the whereabouts of the pair.

"Who is she Crow?"

"Please Batman not now, soon, but not now."

"Very well."

Judging by Crow's reaction Batman had every reason to believe that Bella was a person who had been a part of his wizarding life. Also considering his reaction, she was obviously someone to be wary of, his soon to be lover was not spooked to this degree easily at least not while in full Crow mode.

His concern for Crow grew as no protest was forthcoming to the manhandling that he was taking. In fact Batman was sure that even if he had let go with his arm, which he had no intention of doing, Crow would have stayed tightly clinched to his side, all of Crow's limbs were wrapped tightly around his waist and shoulders.

Landing in the Batcar proved to be problematic as Crow refused to be removed from his side, finally Batman was able to shift the teen so that Crow sat on his lap. Never lifting his head the entire time that he was moved Crow simply burrowed deeper into the folds of the cloak and Batman's arm.

Batman was tall enough that he was able to see over the top of Crow's head but he was unwilling to drive one handed and he refused to let go of the still trembling body.

Finally he reached slightly and tapped the autopilot button allowing him to first remove Crow's mask and than he enclosed Harry in a hug that would have cracked a less powerful beings ribs.

When he was at last able to relax Harry found himself unable to keep his eyes open, all he could feel was the safety that seemed to encase him when he was Batman's arms.

When Batman felt the trembling finally cease and the slight body become dead weight in his arms he to was able to relax and change the hug into a cradle for the sleeping teen.

Entering the Batcave, Batman wasn't surprised to find that Alfred was not there waiting for them after all they had returned much earlier than usual and were not expected.

Removing his kevlar armor turned out to be much trickier when juggling a body and it took Batman longer than usual to remove all of them. Leaving him in briefs and socks, and after removing both the ungainly and the explosive objects from Harry, Bruce finally let himself fall asleep in the bed that had been placed in the cave for late nights.

He fell asleep spooned protectively around his much smaller love.

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_In Dick's bedroom_

Although he was half asleep, Dick was instantly awake when he heard the door to his room open late in the night. The only things that kept him from leaping to his feet were firstly the complete disregard to stealth that the intruder was taking and secondly the absolute comfort that he felt being once more stashed between the silk coverlet and the velvet blanket.

Opening his eyes all he could see for a moment was the shadowy silhouette of his partner of six years.

Barbara slid into bed next to Dick unable to express the emotions that had forced her to flee her own bed and join him in his own. But than she thought as Dick gathered her close and easily returned to sleep. She didn't really have to explain anything at all.

_On the boat_

Although both occupants of the boat were currently headed directly towards the Bermuda Triangle neither of them was particularly happy to be in the other one's company and if Bellatrix Lestrange hadn't shown a remarkable resistance to Jokers, laugh toxin, and Joker to cruciatious it would have saved everyone a lot of time and effort. But they were and so it was that the pair were currently facing off in a battle of wits.

"You, hyena faced harpy!!"

"You, dung covered mudblood!!"

Well relatively speaking of course.

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Hope everyone enjoyed this long delayed chapter. The only reason I'm submitting this now at 2 in the morning is because it sounds like theirs a group of rather loud rather drunk college students singing in the hallway of my dorm. Fun fun.

Hopefully this is good night to ya'll and I'll have another chapter out soon by at the latest the end of next month probably much sooner.

TaTa

Gussiegal5

End of Chapter.


	22. Chapter 22

Surprise, surprise. I've updated really fast for me. But to be honest this chapter wrote itself although I'm still not very satisfied with how parts of it came out. Oh well.

Enjoy.

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Chapter 22

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When Alfred walked into the darkened nook that Bruce had chosen to roost in the night before his expression failed to change in the slightest. Although if anyone but he had been conscious they would have perhaps seen the warm light that entered his eyes for a moment.

Bruce was sprawled across the bed his arms wrapped tightly around Harry who lay on his chest. Harry was small enough that he could comfortably lay on Bruce's broad chest without touching the mattress. His arms were wound around Bruce's neck and his legs entwined with the older mans.

Gently laying the quilt over the two men, Alfred wasn't surprised to find himself the object of intense scrutiny as Bruce awoke without so much as a start.

Two pairs of eyes met over the black shock of Harry's hair, one wary the other full of warmth and understanding.

Quirking his lips at the man he considered his father, Bruce closed his eyes once more and fell back asleep.

After quietly picking up the abandoned pieces of armor

Alfred left the room leaving the pair to their sleep.

Nearly three hours later Harry began to stir in Bruce's arms, his deep sleep abandoned for a horrific memory turned nightmare.

_Nightmare_

_As Harry ran along the cobblestone streets of Hogsmeade all he could hear was the pounding of his heart and his gasping breath._

_The buildings he passed were a blur unimportant to him all he was thinking was. Faster, go faster you fool before she catches you._

_But even with all his years of fleeing from Dudley and playing Quidditch he could not escape the forcefully flung red curse that crashed into his back._

_Harry fell to the ground writhing as the cruciatous took its toll, forcing screams of agony from his mouth. His fingernails drew bloody furrows in his arms as he desperately tried to remove what felt like acid from his very blood._

_Now he could hear neither his heart nor his breath only the screams that he could not restrain and the ever louder shrieking cackle that identified his tormenter before he ever laid eyes on her._

Wrenching himself away from the comforting warmth that had surrounded him the whole night through, Harry was barely aware of Bruce's hands restraining his own arms as he had been attempting to wound himself in an identical manner to that in his dream.

"Bellatrix Lestrange," Harry gasped his eyes widened and once again an eery pitch black, "_Immodica ira creat insaniam."_

Moments after he had spoken, Harry collapsed once more into sleep.

Rapidly translating the Latin in his head Bruce couldn't restrain the shiver that crept down his spine.

Excessive anger creates insanity.

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The small bat that was currently snoozing in Snape's Armoire was awoken not by its instinctual knowledge of sunset but rather by the muffled boom that came out of the room that led directly off from his pets living room.

Taking flight unwilling to allow any harm to be done to his pet, although if he was in any sort of danger the small mammal wasn't quite sure what he was going to do about it.

Nothing but insects and other bats seemed to find him in the least disconcerting and he was quite sure that he had heard the female that his Master and pet had rescued coo as soon as she caught sight of his fuzzy body clambering out of his pets pocket.

One could only be grateful thought the bat that he had only met the single female of the species thus far. He was certain that he could manage to at least stay inconspicuous if another female showed up.

When it finally entered the room it took the small bat a moment to recognize his pet, even with echolocation to guide him and his newly improved vision thanks to his Master the bat could distinguish his pet from the sticky liquid that seemed to have covered him completely from the wall because of his very prominent protrusion from his face.

Landing on his pets shoulder the bat tried to clean up his pet a little but just as he swallowed a mouthful of the gunk something very strange began to happen.

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While bottling the potion which Snape had been quite sure was stable he had watched with horror as one of is own hairs fell from his head and gracefully came into contact with the completed potion.

The resulting explosion had nearly knocked him off his feet, and if he had not made a rather ungainly dive for the floor Severus was quite sure the he would have had a rather large chunk of lead cauldron sticking out of his body in some way.

When the room finally ceased to clatter, he shakily regained his feet. As he stared in stupefaction at the mess that the seemingly simple potion had made of his workroom, Snape didn't have the presence of mind to stop the small bat that had landed on his shoulder from eating some of the potion.

The poor thing fell off of his shoulder and directly onto the table beside him, its tiny body quaking as a peculiar transformation began to take place.

When it had finally completed what he potion had begun Snape didn't even bother to gape, he simply grabbed both the amazingly intact bottle of completed potion and the body of his now much larger familiar and headed directly for the floo.

His master was about to learn something new about his potion.

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_On the boat._

Neither of the boats two occupants could manage any more insults at the moment. Both were on either sides of the boat leaning over the edge and desperately trying to keep what little they had managed to eat down.

The Jokers usually white face was at the moment tinged an unhealthy(ier) looking green the storm that had struck the small vessel had set the waves around them into a chaotic frenzy and forcing his stomach to follow suite.

Bellatrix wasn't doing much better than the muggle, she had performed the only charm that she knew that reduced nausea, unfortunately it only gave her temporary relief and she was soon just as ill as she had been before, and unable to perform the spell again as they were to close to the wards surrounding the Bermuda Triangle.

Hearing Joker gagging just as fervently behind her gave Bellatrix only a small amount of satisfaction.

Merlin she needed to get off this fucking muggle contraption.

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As he began to prepare the batboat so that they could return to the island that they had just escaped from.

Although if he had known that a set of amused green eyes was watching him perhaps he wouldn't have grumbled to himself quite as loudly.

"We save Barb, come back and now we have to return once again to the same frickin island in the same frickin week..."

Harry's chuckle stopped Bruce in his tracks as he realized that he was being watched by his young love. Hiding the blush that threatened to appear on his cheeks, Bruce turned to face the still laughing Harry.

Harry was leaning up against a wall arms crossed over his chest. Stepping away from the wall and dropping his arms, Harry made his way towards the older man, never slowing until he had stood on tiptoe and hugged the man around his neck.

Bruce hesitated only momentarily before grabbing Harry around the waist and pulling him into a bear hug that threatened to take the teen off of his feet.

Harry's grip never lessened as long moments went by, and Bruce's grip stayed just as strong as his love began to sob into his shoulder.

Although he managed to stay nearly silent through his breakdown, Harry was unable to stop the shudders that ripped through his body as the shoulder he was crying on grew damp with his own tears.

When he finally calmed, Harry waited for the questions that Bruce would surely have.

He wasn't disappointed.

"Harry, who is Bella."

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A/N

Hope everybody liked it. Maybe I should threaten to not update for weeks again. It seems to make me want to type more.


	23. Chapter 23

My brain hurts, I'm just so happy its Friday. I plan on doing absolutely nothing tomorrow, well except maybe finish the final chapter of this story which if I'm not mistaken is going to end with 24. But have no fear soon after that I plan on writing the sequel.

So enjoy this the second to last chapter of Duality.

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Chapter 23

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Even expecting the question, Bruce's words made Harry's body go rigid for a moment before he began to speak.

"Bellatrix Lestrange, a witch in all meanings of the word both muggle and magical, the people she hasn't killed are locked up in insane asylums."

Even though Bruce couldn't see Harry's face he could almost feel the helpless rage that consumed the teens mind as he thought of the woman that had no doubt removed at least one very important person from his life.

"She killed my godfather, or as good as anyway."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that she managed to knock him into a portal that supposedly lead directly to the underworld."

"If you're not certain that it leads to the underworld than perhaps it was just a portal into a different world not necessarily that of the dead but perhaps one that lead to an alternate world."

When Harry looked up at Bruce his smile twisted though it was allowed Bruce to loose a small bit of the tension that had steadily grown in his body as Harry had sobbed.

"Yeah, but what if that world is worse than this one?" Hesitating for a moment, Harry finally pulled away from Bruce and walked towards the book that seemed to have all the information that the Lord of the Dark would need.

Bruce followed the boy as he headed towards the book so he was able to hear the words that Harry barely murmured as he stroked the book.

"This book was given to Raven by my mother, she felt it only necessary that he hold it in trust until I became old enough to properly understand some of its more useful properties."

Allowing the boy to switch topics Bruce easily kept up with the explanation.

"Which are?"

"Not only," continued Harry, "is this book capable of finding any information on a topic if it was ever written down, but it can also serve as a _Grimoire _for a witch or wizard with enough knowledge and power."

Opening the book to a page that seemed to appear in the middle of a chapter, Harry began to read out loud from the text which had written itself in the hopes that it could help its master find what he sought.

Bruce watched in fascination as a strange hissing noise came from his young loves mouth no discernible words were present. At least none in any language that he had ever heard.

_Write in text the knowledge I need_

_Is he dead or does he breathe?_

Looking over the teens shoulder, Bruce watched with concealed wonder as words began to appear on the previously blank bottom of the page.

_You will find who you seek._

Harry's eyes rolled as he stated absently, "Well, that wasn't cryptic or anything."

Before Bruce could reply a loud _BANG!! _ had both men diving in opposite directions. Looking up from their positions, Harry behind the Batmobile and Bruce was crouched in a shadowed corner behind a stalagmite.

Both watched as a rather savage looking Raven strode into the cave holding what looked to be a rather large ball of fur.

As both Bruce and Harry emerged from their hiding places, Snape could barely restrain his laughter.

"A bit high strung are we?"

Harry ignored the glib tones from the older man his eyes never left what the other man held, but Batman's glare would have forced a lesser man back a step.

Severus just smirked at the glowering man.

Both mens heads snapped in Harry's direction when they heard the soft coo that his voice had made.

Bruce's eyes widened as they caught sight of just what Harry was even now pulling from Snape's arms.

Although the creature was still recognizable as a bat it had grown to the point that it required Harry to use both arms to pull the bat away from Raven, as well as two to cradle the shivering creature in his arms.

Humming gently, Harry didn't see the gentle warmth that had entered the usually cool blue.

As Harry soothed the frightened animal he gently sifted through the little ones memories seeing everything that had happened from the moment that the bat had left its roost.

Placing the now calm bat on a nearby ledge which allowed it to comfortably position itself upside down on the lip of the rock.

Harry's face was upset at the thought that he had harmed the gentle animal that had helped them all so much.

"I didn't realize that my potion would have such an effect on him I mean the change it physically changed him yes, but it changed his mind also. The potion shouldn't have had this effect on him."

"Harry all that the potion was supposed to do was allow you to extend something like a power cord to your magic. You simply did the same for him. All living things have magic some more than others, and not all can reach them without some sort of assistance."

Snape's reply was uncharacteristically gentle even when dealing with his young master.

Harry's face brightened for a moment, "You mean," he said slowly, "like familiars."

Snape's expression was pleased as he nodded, "Yes, only I believe that you have gone one step further along those lines."

Bruce had been listening with interest as the two wizards conversed on a subject completely alien to him.

A rare thing indeed.

Harry nodded in agreement as he watched the not so little creature fall asleep. "He is very intelligent, much more so than he was, and rather than magnifying your existing magic I believe that he will be able to refine it."

Bruce hated to halt the discussion that he had been listening avidly to but for all that he wanted to hear what else the pair could figure out about the bat he also knew that if they didn't leave soon then Joker and Bellatrix would reach the island before they could do anything about it.

When clearing his throat received no response, Bruce finally stopped the pair when stepping between them he lifted Harry up and flung him onto his shoulder carrying him towards the Batboat and leaving a gaping Severus in his wake.

"Although I find your words intriguing I do believe that we should be on our way if we are to have any hopes of catching up to the pair."

Harry slumped comfortably on the broad shoulder not insulted in the least, Bruce's strength served only as a reminder to the teen of the safeness that he felt when in the others presence.

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Signing the last paper on her desk Minerva McGonagall heaved a sigh of relief that turned into a groan when seconds later she heard the characteristic tapping that signaled an owl at her window.

Seeing the elegantly scripted address on the envelope pulled another groan from the usually stoic woman. She would recognize that writing anywhere, after all she had received enough poorly written assignments from Percy Weasley to know it at a glance.

This could mean only one thing, Minister Fudge.

Ripping the envelope open, Minerva's eyes scanned the pompously worded message.

_Headmistress McGonagall_

_It is with all due and proper respect that I request any and all information regarding Mr. Potter. While I in no way intend to harm the young man, thanks to his now magicless state he is in violation of the fifth law (Paragraph 3, asterisk four). _

_Which states that any and all people having no magic and unrelated to any living member of the magical community will be Obliviated and placed in the custody of the muggle government._

_Minister Fudge._

Even as the words forced a growl from between her tightly pinched lips, Minerva tore the letter into pieces before tossing it in to the crackling fireplace which merrily ate the small tidbit that its creator had handed it.

The nerve of the man well she would just see about this.

Although Albus Dumbledore may well have had greater magical power, when it came down to it, he had not dared for many years to face his second-in-command.

He may have been more powerful, but the things that now pacing woman could think of were in their own way a sort of power, one that far outstripped his own.

As the portrait of Albus Dumbledore watched the woman, he happily sucked on a lemon drop and the twinkle in his eyes while still clear had to make way for a new sort of gleam to enter his painted eyes.

As he watched with a sort of gleeful anticipation, the portraits smile only grew wider and wider.

Mid stride, Minerva halted, the anger that had forced her magic into a mini frenzy had unlocked a none to securely closed gate in her mind bringing back the memories of the night that she had attempted to see Harry.

"Why that sneaky little brat..."

Turning to give the still smiling former Headmaster a glare that he only twinkled more merrily at.

"Where is he?"

"Why Minerva, what would I a mere paint stroke of my former self be doing with the exact knowledge of where both Harry Potter and Severus Snape are at this very moment?"

"Albus Dumbledore! You tell me this very instant, or so help me I'll buy paint thinners."

"My dear why would you want the last of my personality to be driven from this world?"

"Oh I wasn't going to erase you, however that lovely box of never out lemon drops is in very real danger."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Watch me old man."

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A/N

Well so it took me a very long time to type this up. My classes have been crazy. But while I was sitting in the rain waiting for my bus an epiphany hit me. I knew exactly how this story was going to end, and how the sequel is going to start.

TaTa

Gussiegal5


	24. Chapter 24

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Chapter 24

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Even as the batboat pulled up into the sand the men in it saw a boat that had obviously belonged to Joker.

How many purple and green boats have you seen?

Batman sighed as he looked at the battered object. "The knock knock jokes drag that boat past comical and directly into sad."

Harry looked askance at both the boat and his partner, "Batman, it went to sad long before the jokes."

Snape's mumbled growl brought the pair around as he saw the dastardly duo drag a cackling guard towards the water.

Or at least Joker was doing the dragging while Bellatrix looked on in mild amusement, a feeling which quickly disappeared when she saw the two masked men and the traitor.

Her malevolent hiss would have done a wet cat proud.

"Snape!"

She had barely spoken the words when she thrust her wand in his direction. "_Avada Kedavra_, blood traitor."

Raven managed to dodge the sickly green curse although it came near enough to hitting him that he had to hurriedly pull off his cloak as the spell had hit the cloth and was even now spreading across its black expanse.

Even as the cloak hit the ground he let loose a curse of his own. Although judging by the thoughtful look on his Lords face he would soon be teaching the younger man about the rather painful bone crushing curse that he had used.

Eager little sod.

Bellatrix's shriek of pain told the group that his spell had been a direct hit, and even at that moment the crazed woman stared in agonized disbelief at the ruins that had once been her wand hand.

Her convulsive grip had managed to crack her wand, which was even now leaking a rather suspicious looking black liquid.

Dropping the ruined device on the ground Bellatrix dove forwards and managed to get her damaged arm wrapped around Crow's slender waist, her other holding a dagger to his throat.

"Hah, you fucking blood traitors no better than stupid Sirius and in the end just as dead."

Before she could slit Harry's throat a deep rasping tone seemed to be pulled from his usually tenor vocal chords.

The three people able to see Harry's face all froze in shock as his eyes even through the opaque lenses could be seen to blacken to that of the darkest night.

"_If we are dead Lady Lestrange than what does that make you_."

The deranged womans eyes widened impossibly, even as Harry's voice returned to normal he continued speaking.

"And that you frigid bitch was a rhetorical question."

Before she could move away from the boy who had killed her master the blackness crept out of the boys eyes and in a macabre parody of tears began to creep down Crow's face.

When they reached the wrist holding the dagger one of the trails seemed to slide onto the woman. With an agonizing effect, Bellatrix's shrill screams were only silenced when the second tendril of black spun around her throat.

Bellatrix was dead the moment that she hit the ground although her grip remained firm on the dagger it never nicked the teens pale flesh.

Joker had watched all of this without so much as a twitch but the moment that her body had hit the ground he could no longer contain the fit of giggles that struck him at that moment.

Even as he ran towards the building that Belly had promised would hold everything that he ever wanted, the giggles would not stop. Dodging both curses and batarangs Joker found that his new found fear of teenagers actually lended his feet a certain swiftness that would have been lacking if it had only been Batman running him down.

But like a pack of wolves the trio hunted down the cackling figure closing in on him, and finally cornering him inside of the building all six eyes fixed only on him, tracking his every movement even as frantically searched both his mind and his pockets for a way of escape.

Finally he broke, Joker lunged directly towards the waiting three and somehow managed to get through, although to say that he was unscathed would be a lie.

Leaving strips of clothing and skin behind Joker flung himself at the closest door, the door which happened to be the one that the Lord of the Dark had pointed out to the other two men on their previous trip inside the inner sanctum of the once powerful Grindewalds fortress.

Both Crow and Raven shared a knowing glance while Batman tried his damnedest to look inscrutable. Maintaining ones dignity while attempting to pummel a clown could in and of itself be laughable.

When the three men entered the room albeit with quite a bit more caution than the permaclown before them, only Batman remained puzzled as to two questions.

Where had Joker gone?

And what the heck was that arch with a tattered cloth on it doing directly in the center of the room?

Turning to glance questioningly at the other two Batman was for a moment forced to pause because of the differences between the two expressions that met him.

Snape's face had paled to the point that his sallow skin had turned a milky white with two high points of color on his cheeks. His mouth was pulled back in a grimace of both fear and disgust. Fear which was obviously held for his master and disgust at the portal which stood so innocently in front of them.

Harry's face on the other hand was a mixed bag. On the one hand he appeared apprehensive about the room that they had entered but that was swiftly turning to joy. His head was cocked at a slight angle almost as though he heard something that the other two couldn't.

The lenses on his mask still held black in them, though less than before it had attacked the woman who had attempted to kill its master and as yet another tear like strand appeared both of the older men tensed themselves for a trauma that would never come.

It appeared to be whispering in Crow's ear, its own singular sentience now beyond question at least for the three men that had witnessed the black magics particular feats on that day.

It seemed to be coming out more and more as its master matured into physical adulthood, as though it gained in power as he aged.

Before the two men could make a decision on their course of action it was taken forcibly from their hands.

The two had been so focused on the strand that was still speaking to Harry that they were only aware of their own strands when one managed to wrap around Batman's neck and no matter how he struggled it refused to come off. Seeming to burrow deeper and deeper into the skin leaving behind only a seeming tattoo around his neck forming into a sort of collar.

Severus's own strand was doing the same and although he had every desire to blast the thing from the mortal plane, he trusted in his master enough to believe that Harry would not allow him to be harmed, and certainly not his soon to be lover.

When Harry's attention returned once more to the room in which he stood, it took him only a moment to notice the twin collars that the grim faced pair even now were tugging at.

Well perhaps twin would be a lie, Bruce's collar seemed to be of a much more ornate nature, twisting and curving in such a way as to add protection to the once vulnerable throat.

Severus's strand had lowered itself in such a way that it not only protected his lower neck but also covered a fair portion of the man's chest. Creating a fair approximation of armor around the vital organs, of the violently cursing man.

Harry's smile was soft as he watched what his magic had wrought.

"Oh hush Sev, he's only doing that to protect you, on my orders."

"He?!" The question came out rather strangled as a moment later Snape pulled out the front of his robe and looked down it.

"I can most assuredly protect those without any assistance from you, you pox laden construction."

It seemed that even magic couldn't stand up against Snape's vitriolic temper, at least in some matters, if Snape's relieved sigh was any sort of evidence to go on that is.

Batman had ceased to struggle as soon as Harry had stated his involvement in the matter. He didn't like it but he could see that the younger man was dead set on his course of action and refused to give in.

The boy could give lessons to a mule on obstinancy.

Snape of course was right up there as well and he wasn't moving an inch until everything was clarified to his satisfaction.

Lenses once more an opaque white, Harry smiled somewhat sheepishly at the two men.

Reaching out to gently stroke the portion of Batman's cheek that was accessible from underneath his mask.

"It would seem that I'm not the Lord of the Dark."

Snape's snort expressed enough disbelief on the matter that no words were necessary.

"But rather," continued in unperturbed Crow, " I am a vessel capable of controlling that which is truly the Lord of the Dark."

Batman's rasping voice caused a shiver to run down Crow's spine as the man spoke. "So you are saying that you have been possessed by a creature capable of bringing all of the creatures of the night together."

Crows face broke into a rather self-satisfied smile. "No, I am saying that each successive generation has had a Lord of the Dark and that each person has placed with their dying breaths all of their magic and memories into a single magical construct, which has over the years become sentient enough to discuss with me the possiblity of being allowed to take over the world."

"An idea which," Crow continued after taking a moments breath, "I most swiftly vetoed."

"All of the powers," murmured Snape a distinctly Slytherin gleam in his eye, "as well as all their memories. You would have almost no chance of being defeated if you did attempt to take over the world."

Harry's face lost his smile, "But if I attempted that than I would no longer be the Lord of the Dark but rather a Dark Lord which is something that I think all three of us would protest to."

"Besides," Harry said, "I can't take over the world we have to go through the Veil."

That announcement led to such a cacophony of sound that Crow was nearly forced back a step, it seemed that they were most displeased with the information that he had just given them.

When both men had spent most of their surprised ire and had ceased to yell at him, Crow began to explain.

"You do remember the prophecy don't you?"

Snape's tone and expression were both sardonic as he replied, "Which one?"

Chosen am I, as the voice of the mortal god.

Chosen is the girl to rip away his public façade.

Chosen is the Bird to become his brother.

Chosen is the Bat to become his lover.

Chosen is the butler, the true believer.

To become their one and only receiver.

A broken doorway which leads them away.

Is not to be visited until another day.

But when we enter learn they will of Sauron's evil will.

And join we will a group of hero's sent to kill.

The madness which festers in those lands.

Will be eased by this joining of hands

Harry stopped there, as all of the other parts of the prophecy had come true Snape almost sighed although he did have two questions.

"Fine, that prophecy. But if we are to go into that where are Batgirl and Robin? The prophecy speaks of them as well. And where the hell did that cackling maniac go?"

Harry's answer was cheerful to the extreme although it seemed to have a rather disheartening effect on the others.

"I'll answer them backwards kay?" without waiting for an affirmative Harry began. "Joker is standing about three feet away having the life choked out of him by Batman."

Spinning on his feet Snape finally realized exactly why Batman had been so silent for most of the conversation. Not to say that he was ever the soul of words but his silence had been rather unnerving with all of the strangeness occuring around them.

Jokers pale face was even now turning a rather unattractive shade of lavender as Batman refused to allow any oxygen to reach his lungs. When he finally lost conscious, Jokers limp form was abandoned to lie motionless on the floor.

"And secondly," said Harry, "or is that firstly... ah well anyways, we are about to have company including both Batgirl and Robin in 5...4...3...2...1"

Just as Harry spoke the last word the door behind them was thrown open with enough force to send it slamming once into the wall and when it not unexpectedly swung back it left a slight dent in the stone walls.

Framed in the archway, standing straight and proud stood the imposing figure of...Minister Fudge. Flanked by two rather surly looking Aurors who looked none to happy to be taking part in an attack on a famously known killer as well as the two very imposing men which stood near him.

Severus Snape alone was enough to freeze the pair of them in terror. Both of them were young enough that they had, had him as their potions professor and both remembered him with terrified loathing.

And although neither one would say it aloud, both of them were even more frightened by the gigantic man in the mask who appeared to be just now leaving the remains of his latest victim behind.

Although Batman had never before met the man that stood sneering at them, he had never the less met more than his share of this particular type of man. In both business and bat suit.

If the over proud bearing on the officious looking man wasn't enough to tell him that the man was a bureaucrat who thought far to much of himself.

Although judging by Harry's rather enthusiastic response to the man, he was no more a friend to his young love than Joker was his.

Harry could not quite cover his disgust at once more standing face to face with the corpulent figure of the Minister of Magic.

He had though to well away from the man forever once he had escaped to America but it seemed that he was never going to be completely rid of the incompetent man and his lackeys.

Although he would pay good money to try and find out just how Fudge had known that he was going to be here.

His face wiped clear of all expression Harry allowed his darker mental counterpart to come to the fore. They had been sharing the spotlight while they explained the magic.

When Crow opened his eyes, closed as he pulled himself from the mire that was Harry's rather unstructured consciousness.

Harry threatened to give Crow a headache before withdrawing fully, allowing his frantic thoughts to die down as he sank into a sort of sleep which allowed him to shut parts of his brain down whenever he chose to.

Before Crow could so much as open his mouth all three of the invading gentlemen were shoved none to gently into the room by a rather irritated looking Minerva McGonagall recognized by everyone and if the only man in the room that didn't straighten his spine and check to make sure that their clothes were neat it was Batman.

His spine was already rigidly at attention, and he had to forcibly restrain his hands at his sides by latching onto his belt. He might not have had a true mother since he was very young but he had known and loved enough women to recognize a lioness when he saw one.

His thoughts were only confirmed when instead of ranting immediately she reached forward and gently straightened Crow's hair slightly.

"It's nice to see you Harry, although I must say I do believe that your companions dress sense has been wearing off on you."

Crow's grin was crooked and warm, as he replied, "I have to fit in Professor, peer pressure and all of that."

Giving one last gentle pat, Minerva moved on, and Batman was forced to bite his lip to restrain a smile when she patted a rather red faced Snape on the shoulder.

"Severus, so good to see you again, perhaps next time you wish to retire you can leave me more than a note, hmm?"

"I promise." Snape said easily keeping his face free of humor, " the next time that I retire from a job teaching dunderheads and incompetents, that I will most promptly tell my employer exactly what I think of them before I leave the premises."

"Thats all that any of us can hope for Severus my..."

"If you call me your boy, I will be most displeased. As you have not thus far grown a beard nor do you have atrocious fashion sense, I will thank you kindly to not repeat his words."

"Dear." finished Minerva calmly before turning to face a red faced and gaping Minister with all of the aplomb of a Scottish woman about to go on a rampage.

"And you Minister Cornelius Fudge, what exactly do you think that you are doing here. I believe that you are very far from your jurisdiction as the English minister of magic."

Trying desperately to appear confident Fudge threw his shoulders back only managing to bring his considerable paunch more into focus.

"I will have you know that when it comes to chasing down dangerous criminals that the American government backs me fully in this endeavor."

"Which is?" The question was more of a demand coming from the considerably taller woman who's hands while on her hips looked to be almost tempted to change that and place them around the now sweating mans neck.

"Why the captor of one of the most dangerous dark lords of our time. Harry James Potter, heir apparent to You-Know-Who."

The growl that erupted from not one but three throats actually had Fudge stumbling back several feet trying to hide behind the hulking figures of his auror bodyguards.

They were no longer there.

One had only moments after he had entered the room behind the minister had been knocked off his feet by a silent spell that Snape had let loose on him. Unable to move or speak other than to breathe the man fought desperately to unlock his frozen limbs from the advanced form of the body bind spell.

The other auror had been rather jealous of his compatriot. He had found himself desperately grabbing at his own throat to try and remove the kevlar covered hands which were even now threatening to remove what little access to oxygen that he had.

His eyes rolling in fear he stared into the sightless gaze of the masked man. When the man finally spoke it was the tone more than the words that had the man dropping into a dead faint, years of service to the ministry not-with-standing.

The words rasped out through a threateningly lowered voice caused a shiver to run up the spines of the rooms occupants.

"How long do I have to hold you before I convince you of your mortality."

Snape rolled his eyes slightly, oh and he was a drama queen.

Moments after Batman dropped the now limp man to the ground, both Batgirl and Robin startled Minerva when they seemed to just appear next to Batman.

Turning to the manically smiling Crow, she consciously put the other three masked occupants of the room out of her mind and pulled the boy that she had hoped still lived.

Crow's body stiffened in shock at the sudden physical contact from a teacher that he had feared would hate him just as much as the rest of the wizarding world had seemed to.

Minerva refused to let the boy go for a full five minutes she just held onto his slowly relaxing body until he allowed some of his weight to rest against her body as he began to hug her back.

When she finally released him it was with visible reluctance as if she was afraid that if she let him go he would once more disappear from sight.

Straightening her robes and waving her wand to tighten her bun once more, Minerva turned on her heel to once more face the now cowering Fudge.

She was unable at first to see why he was cowering, nobody appeared to be doing anything to him. Snape was tying up the two Auror's, the two brightly colored youths were watching his wand with interest and not a little bit of calculation. When she finally looked at the large man that she had assumed was Bruce Wayne, Minerva herself nearly recoiled.

The expression on the masked mans face was feral. The white lenses covering his eyes seemed to glow with an unholy light. Although the rest of his face was in shadow he somehow managed to give the impression of looming directly over the man he was focused on.

As he seemed to flow forward, the bottom half of his face had slight smile which seemed to show quite a bit of teeth for its size.

A slightly irritated clearing of the throat from Crow, had Batman stop and resume his usual gloomy mien.

Seeing the man who must have been at least double Crow's weight and a good foot and a half taller listen to him Minerva tried hard to hide the smile that bloomed on her face when Crow found himself flanked once more by his two protectors.

"Harry, would you like to introduce me to your friends or are you going to attempt another memory charm?"

Smiling sheepishly Crow waved his hand at the three other masked people, "The bat family. Batman, Robin, and Batgirl, and no I don't believe I will try that again, It was less a charm and more a wish then anything else. No true magic remember."

The arch look that McGonagall sent his way brought a blush to Crow's pale cheeks.

"What do you consider true magic, Mr. Potter?"

"Oh," Crow continued cheerfully, "It's not what I consider true magic it's what Voldemort considered true magic."

"I knew it..." interrupted Minister Fudge, " You were in cahoots with You-Know-Who, I knew it all along you see Minerva I told you the boys a traitor."

"Oh shut up." snapped Crow, and with a flick of his hand Minister Fudges ranting was cut short although his mouth kept moving for a good thirty seconds before he realized that nobody could hear him.

"So, now that you believe that I'm in, what was that word you used, cahoots with Voldemort you agree that he did indeed return for at least a little while. So all of those trials and all of those sentences that you laid on me for copycatting Voldemort were well and indeed false. You just didn't want to own up to the fact that Voldemort was back and you weren't going to do anything about it."

Minerva's own smile turned vicious as she realized that she had enough evidence to not only have Fudge removed from his position as Minister but also enough to probably send him to Azkaban for the crimes that he had committed.

Although she tried to hide her glee, the smirk on her face made sure that every conscious occupant of the room new just how happy she was at the news.

Before Minerva could completely drag the men out of the room, Crow's still somewhat questionable power duration for his spells failed him, and the soon to be ex-Minister Fudge was knocked to full conscious as his body hit the ground with a squelch.

HIs fury allowing him the strength needed to do wandless magic, Fudge every last shred of his remaining energy in the curse that he sent directly at the group in front of him.

Minerva's own Stupefy laid him out once more, but it was already to late.

All five of the group had been swept into the veil, which fluttered for a moment after their entrance, seconds later, the bat squealing in panic at the loss of both his master and his pet flew in as well

Seeming to whisper at the frantic witch, who was desperately sprinting towards it the veil halted Minerva in her tracks.

It whispered for at least fifteen minutes before allowing her to once again move.

Her expression sad, Minerva whispered, " I hope your right. They all deserve the chance to be happy."

Turning away Minerva gathered the fallen men in a net of magic and allowed them to float along behind as she left the chamber and then the island.

Once more the chamber stood empty, the gate within no longer blowing its tattered rags but stilled. Until its magic was needed once more.

_Fin_


End file.
