Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Batman.

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"Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."

― L. Frank Baum

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Chapter Eleven

It tickled him how weirdly nice Bruce was being when every effort he made Harry rebuffed with cold indifference because while he had helped the only remaining Wayne he was in no way friends with the older boy.

Bruce however took that miniscule olive branch that had been used to poke and prod the enemy away as a sign that Harry was a prime candidate for friendship material, as if that was ever happening. The mere fact that Bruce was speaking to Harry had nearly given Alfred a conniption and while it had been rather funny to watch the perfect butler nearly drop the serving tray he would rather his grandfather remain healthy and very alive for the next several decades.

"I don't like him."

Another curious thing was that somewhere between the altercation with Dumb and Dumber in the school bathrooms and the two weeks that had passed Bruce had gained a new acquaintance in the form of a girl who moved like a cat and smelled like one from the alley.

She had no problem barging into the Wayne manor as she pleased and any attempts to shoo her short of calling the police had proven to be futile. Harry wanted to casually suggest rat poison in tuna but Alfred would give him those disappointed eyebrows and Harry would be morally forced to feel guilty. So like a stray cat that he believed she was Ms. Selina Kyle was hesitantly welcomed into the Wayne Manor as Bruce's friend, the poor guilt-ridden boy latching onto her as much as she did to him, his need for a friend possibly outweighing her reason for free meals and a warm place to stay.

"He smells weird."

Harry snorted and looked up from the book in his lap, eyebrow raised at the girl whose age sat between his and Bruce's, expression one of clear shock "I smell weird?" he wrinkled his nose in her general direction "Obviously your sense of smell isn't as amazing as you claim it to be."

If she had fur it would have bristled and Bruce looked vaguely uncomfortable.

"I suggest you use real human cleaning products and not just your tongue and saliva. Your pets may not mind but a civilized company will Ms. Kyle."

"Don't call me that, I said my name is Kitty or Cat." she hissed and Harry rolled his eyes heavenward because of course, he had to be associated if unwilling with someone who had identity issues.

"My apology Cat." her eyes narrowed as if trying to find where exactly he had laid the snub against her and Harry just smiled politely before closing his book and standing "I could try and find some bubble bath for you or would you prefer flea spray?"

He did not make it a habit of being crude to people, more so the fact that he hardly interacted with anyone other than those who lived in the manor but Selina Kyle rubbed him the wrong way, made him want to pluck her eyes from her skull just so she would stop following him around as if he were a fat mouse she was stalking.

She made it her mission to slip away from Bruce and tail him around and outside the house to the point he was missing practical lessons with Lucius and Bella and as tempting as it was to cast a spell at her to simply make her cease to exist the chance of the spell warping or even not working was too great so he was stuck with an apologizing heir and a suspicious girl who had an unhealthy obsession with cats.

Selina growled and Harry's smirk widened.

"How about if I claw your eyes out you little shi-"

"Don't call him that!"

Selina flinched and Harry raised a brow at Bruce who slammed down his own book onto the table with a resounding thud.

"But he-" Selina bit her lip when Bruce's glare intensified and that had to be the first time in a long time he saw anything other that guilt and self-pity displayed on the Wayne heir's facial features. "Fine." she snarled and crossed her arms over her chest, sulking clear and Bruce sighed and there was silence once again for all of five seconds.

"I am hungry though. You're a butler, aren't you? Make me something to eat."

"Cat what did I just say?" the girl rolled her eyes and twirled a lock of her brown curls around one finger "To not insult him, but I'm hungry and he is a butler. It's basically his job."

"But that doesn't mean you get to -"

"No, no it's perfectly fine. Ms. Kyle is correct. It is my job. Allow me several minutes to procure something for you in the kitchen." he smiled at her, feet taking him straight to the kitchen as he said he would go, the cupboards opening one after the next before he plucked a can from the fourth one.

Taking a small saucer from the rack he pealed back the metal lid and emptied the contents of the wet cat food in the plate, covering the tray before making his way back to the sitting room.

Placing the tray before the girl he smiled and left, lingering just within ear reach to hear her angry screech. It was not going to calm her temperament towards him any but he counted it as a win regardless.

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Walking around Gotham was a far stranger experience when a chauffeur was not being paid to carry them to and fro. Of course every city had it's underbelly, the poor side versus the rich side, the two sides of the coin no one on the better half wanted to acknowledge because they were too caught up in their own happy existence.

Upper Gotham where the skyscrapers were polished by the almighty and the bravest window washers had clean sidewalks, expensive cars, and private schools. The contrast to Lower Gotham was pathetic.

Stepping over a pile of shit - human or animal he couldn't tell and then jumping over yellow liquid he was hesitant to call water was more of an adventure he was unwilling to participate in. Harry also could tell the life of maids and three meals a day made him a little more than comfortable with the rich suburban life.

Abuse and death by freezing temperatures excluded.

Before back in the orphanage feces and urine on the ground would have made him not bat an eye, homeless people gathered together for warmth wasn't unusual because he was practically one of them. Witnessing two men fight for a can of unopened mystery food with no label had been his life on some of the rougher days - he had lost every time.

The stench was unbearable but he refused to press his gloved hands to his nose. This had been his life just a few years ago and while it was not now he refused to be a fucking snob.

Exiting the alley Harry looked around the neighborhood at the peeling buildings, abandoned factories, prostitutes on the sides of the road and then at the horny men who picked them up for the fun time of a few dollars and he supposed a new life in the end.

It was a shitty existence but they were living nonetheless and had it not been for Alfred he would have been another corpse in the backroom of the orphanage, thrown ontop of the decaying bodies of the children who hadn't survived and would be added to a mass grave when the ground had thawed.

These people were forgotten by all except those who lived in their world, Upper Gotham wasn't aware they existed much less breathed and that disconnect was what made the rates of crime spike on the other end of the city.

People were angry, frustrated and needed to vent.

Criminals were just people who had given up hope in change.

A scream echoed from the alley way across the street and Harry followed after it as though he was being summoned by the blood-curling screech of help and pain. Stepping lightly, the old loafers barely making a sound he peaked around a corner and stared at the man who held down a struggling woman, one of the prostitutes from the previous corner.

Wrinkling his nose as he rutted against her, in her, a knife held to the pale neck and the grunts almost animalistic to his ears as she whimpered. His skin crawled when the man came to completion with a shudder and Harry felt thoroughly disgusted when whatever he emptied in her came spilling out.

"P-please let me g-go n-now… pl-please…"

There seemed to be a moment where the assailant considered her plea, the knife at her throat moving away a few inches before it was brought back down again and Harry watched as the wall she was being pressed against was painted in red. It looked as though someone had taken a dripping wet paintbrush and let gravity do the rest.

Her body crumpled to the dirty alley floor, hand futilely trying to keep her life essence from escaping and Harry was vaguely fascinated how in under a minute she went limp, dull blue eyes staring upward and expression terrified.

Being too caught up in something was never good, or at least that was what Ms. Robbins said, and he supposed she was right. He hadn't noticed he had stepped out in the open to watch the display until the man turned around, half-hard cock still hanging out through his fly and the bloody knife held loosely in hand.

Facial expressions told a lot about humans where words failed and the man's expression was far too calm, eyes a bit crazed and neck flushed red from the post-coital rush or maybe it was the rush of murder. Regardless, Harry summarized, this was not the first time he had done something like this.

"You're pretty, too pretty for someone from 'round here." the accent was heavy, a southern drawl that sounded fake and Harry watched the muddy shoes take a step forward.

"Want ta' play lil boy? I'll gotta take your eyes though… I don't like 'em. Com'ere will ya?"

Blinking slowly Harry remembered just why he had taken a stroll down into the backwaters of Gotham. Getting away from Kitty was the main reason because with her always casting suspicious glares at him, following and watching he couldn't practice.

Looking back to the dead hooker and then to the man whose dick was almost fully erected again he smiled, the curve of his lips making the man's confidence falter a bit.

"Why you smilin' huh? You excited to die kiddo?"

Harry ignored him and looked up to his left "Will he do?" he asked and paused as though listening to someone before turning to the right "It hardly matters if he isn't pretty Bella. Priorities."

"Who the fuck you talkin' to kid? You tryin' to mess with me?"

Harry turned his head to the left once more "The point was for me to gain experience, to practice so yes I would hope so." an angle to the right "No Bella. Jesus."

"Hey!"

"I did not really think that far ahead, the aim was to get rid of Cat but I suppose this is a gift of sorts. Why practice on dummies when we can practice on a live subject."

"Hey!"

"Fine, let the body be seen, it won't matter anyway."

"I said hey you little shit-" he took half a step forward before he paused, the smile on Harry's face wider now, hand out stretched towards the man whose penis had wilted a bit at the display of a child talking to himself it seemed, and Harry would marvel at just what could turn the man off but he couldn't summon a brain cell to care.

Pale green light materialized from the palm of his hand illuminating his fingers in it for a split second and if the man could feel the rush that was coursing through his body at that very moment he would have come again.

"Let's see if it works." he murmured and the rapist slash serial killer took three steps back, the display of magic though foreign was enough to trigger whatever flight or fight instincts he had. Harry grinned. "Run if you want to."

He watched as the man turned tail and fled, long legs taking him further and further away now the alley.

"Confringo."

The surge of power rocked him backward by a step and Harry watched fascinated as the green light took on an orange hue, like lightning, it shot towards the fleeing man and then as if a grenade was set off Harry watched him explode.

He had never seen a human being explode before. The splatter of meat and blood that painted the walls and floor was gross yet weirdly artistic as if a street artist decided the theme of the day would be gore. Walking towards the point of detonation he stopped, green eyes staring at the finger that was an inch away from his loafers.

Tilting his head to the left he rolled his eyes "It's not my fault the spell was too strong. How was I supposed to know it would be so powerful when it barely made a spark back at the manor… well duh, now I'm glad it hadn't."

Turning to the right his smiled, a light flush coming to his cheeks as he ducked his head at the praises Bella was singing to him before retracing his steps and leaving the scene of two crimes. If the story made the news they would find the body of a dead prostitute and the few remains of another human.

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Bruce wrung his hand together and glanced at the younger boy who had his spoon raised half way to his mouth, the green eyes he had hated so much from the beginning staring right back at him.

"Excuse me?"

Bruce cleared his throat again "I said that I'm leaving Wayne Manor, well Gotham too but I… I have to go."

Harry set his spoon down, the pudding Alfred had made apparently forgotten for the moment. "Why."

Bruce shrugged "I need to repent."

"Repent…" the drawl was disbelieving and he shrugged again.

"You may have forgiven me -"

"I haven't."

"You may not have forgiven me, but I don't think I can sit here and act as though I hadn't done those things to you."

"You've been doing fine for the past three years."

Bruce flinched and he shrugged again, a habit Alfred would be scowling at had he been present. "I know."

"So why the change of heart."

"You."

The expression shifted from disbelieving to indifferent and Bruce could see the moment the younger boy lost interest in the conversation, his hand moving to take the glass of pudding else where.

"Wait! I'm serious! It was you who inspired this. What you had said back when - back when you helped me in the school, your words stuck with me."

Harry paused, eyebrow raised "And what exactly did I tell you that would inspire you to leave and repent?"

"You said that not all villains are the ones society notices. People like them, people I considered my friends… people like me. We're wicked and selfish and dangerous and no one notices because we were taught how to smile pretty and flash money. And I know I was raised better, my parents made sure I wasn't a snob and an asshole and I have no excuse for what I did to you but Harry… I can't live with myself anymore - not the way I am right now. I feel dirty. Inside and out. I need to wash away this-this thing that I am and come back a new person. Someone who wouldn't stand around and watch an innocent kid be beaten and worse."

Harry just stared and Bruce took that as a prompt to continue. "I need to be more like you. Who helps trash like me without hesitation. I don't want to be this Bruce anymore. I want to be someone my parents and Alfred would be proud of. I need to be someone they would be proud of."

He watched as Harry hummed and brought the spoon to his, taking the smooth pudding into his mouth and after a minute had passed Bruce realized the other boy was not going to speak.

"Well?"

Harry sighed and leaned back in the chair "What do you want me to say? Don't go, Bruce, You'll be fine Bruce, I believe in you, Bruce. You do realize I could care less don't you? As long as you don't do some stupid crap that will make Alfred cry over your dead body you can politely screw off to whatever jungle you plan to go and find yourself."

The Wayne heir swallowed and nodded. He hadn't expected much because while Harry wasn't overly hostile he was passive aggressive and with good reason, Bruce knew this but still, it stung just a bit.

"Korea."

The blank expressed made him shrug again "It's North Korea."

"Well I'm sure you'll tan beautifully." the sarcasm was maybe something he wouldn't miss.

Bruce took a flight the next evening.

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