Title: And Now For Something Completely Different

Author: TardisIsTheOnlyWaytoTravel

Story Summary: Harry and Luna head to Gotham to visit her Uncle Alfred. Things don't go as anybody expects, least of all the supers of Gotham... HP/Batman crossover. AU.

Author notes:

So, this one gets a bit dark, but don't worry, it's back to the usual madness and comedy next chapter.

Chipmunki has done me a little Harry & Luna skoodle, which they inform me is a cross between sketching and doodling. Good to know. Check it out at

chipmunki. deviantart. com /art/I-Shagged-The-DarkLord-Slayer-126970978 (without spaces)

If anyone else wants to draw me a pic, just send me the URL for it.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

CHAPTER SIX

THE SUM OF OUR MEMORIES

Bruce did not look pleased.

"I see. Harry, can I speak to you for a moment?"

"Sure," Harry agreed, following Bruce into another room.

"Are you aware that those two women are infamous criminals?" Bruce asked sternly.

"Really?" Harry scratched his head. "Huh."

"I want them out of my house."

Harry gave Bruce a tolerant, faintly amused look.

"They're not planning anything nefarious," he pointed out.

"I don't care," Bruce ordered.

Harry shrugged.

"Alright, I'll finish things up as quickly as possible. But I'm not being rude about it."

He wandered back into the kitchen.

"Is there a problem?" Ivy inquired.

Harry waved the question away.

"Nah, Bruce is just a bit grumpy about me bringing people into his house. It's nothing, really."

Harley frowned.

"Gosh, he always seemed like such a playboy, but he looked real cross, didn't he?"

Harry grinned.

"He's a little territorial," Luna answered. She was going through the photo album. "He subconsciously feels that Harry is undermining his autocracy but isn't sure how to act about it because Harry is not only an equal and a professional rival, but also dating me, the niece of the man who is the closest thing he has to a father."

The two women goggled at Luna while Harry snorted.

"Harry knows, of course, but he doesn't let people realise exactly how intelligent he really is."

"Hermione worked it out in sixth year," Harry remarked. "She hit me. Before that it was really only Albus who'd clued in." He shook his head. "I had the strangest relationship with that man."

"You did," Luna agreed.

"You both seem to be pretty good at reading people," Ivy said slowly.

"Unusually so." Harley was watching the two intently, her perky demeanour subsiding a little for once. "The two of you come from a difficult background, don't you?"

Harry gave a small smile that didn't touch his eyes. They looked grave.

"You could say that. Growing up wasn't easy for either of us, for different reasons." He looked at Ivy. "So, I don't suppose you're free for lunch later this week? I'd like to get to know you a bit better, but without treading on Bruce's toes."

"That would be great," Ivy agreed.

o0o o0o o0o

After the two supervillains left, Bruce walked back into the kitchen and sat down next to Harry.

Harry raised a mildly curious eyebrow.

"When we had that discussion of the wizarding world, you briefly mentioned the erasing and altering of memories," Bruce stated.

"Ah." Harry shifted to get comfortable for what he was sure was going to be a moderately long conversation. "I thought you'd bring that up again."

"Nothing can excuse such an act," Bruce insisted. "No matter what the reason."

"Generally speaking, I agree with you." Harry looked straight into Bruce's eyes. Bruce was struck by the fact that Harry's own eyes looked suddenly old, and haunted.

"But the things they made people forget during the war... imagine being forced to rape members of your family. To murder those you loved. To see the bodies of those you care about resurrected, mindlessly, and employed against you. To see the most twisted, sick things the human imagination can come up with made a reality. Magic can do practically anything, within limits; imagine what could be done with it by a truly malevolent, monstrous being. To remember those kind of actions? To be tormented by them for the rest of your life, knowing that at any time some psychopath could do the same again and you would be powerless against them… It's a living hell that would drive most mad."

Harry's eyes were glowing pits of green, sickly and bright and full of entropy. Bruce stared into them in horror, unable to look away.

Then Harry snapped his eyes shut and tilted his head back in the same motion, putting his hand to his forehead as though to sweep his hair back, but left the hand in place.

For a moment he stood rigidly still, frozen, and Bruce didn't dare say a word, or move.

Then Harry's hand dropped and his eyes flickered open, back to emerald green.

Bruce nearly collapsed at the wave of relief that rushed through him. He was used to dealing with strange and dangerous situations, but this one had felt so unearthly, and every instinct had been telling him he was in big trouble.

"You saw it, didn't you?" Bruce asked quietly.

Harry laughed bitterly, his usual light-heartedness compacted into something harder.

"I saw most of it. Had a connection to the big bad Dark Lord in my mind, you see. When I slept, I saw everything he did." He closed his eyes. "As though I did it."

The last had been a near-whisper, but Bruce heard it clearly all the same.

He wasn't sure what to say, or what to think. He didn't think playing around with someone's memory was right under any circumstances – but the situations Harry had described were horrific.

"I'm sorry."

Harry looked at him, smiling faintly, with eyes that had gentled.

"Yeah, well, it's all past now, isn't it?"

He stood.

"Well, I'm going to see if Luna wants to go shopping," he said cheerfully. "See you later."

Bruce sat by himself in the empty kitchen, and wondered, not for the first time, if Harry was completely nuts.

-

END CHAPTER