Chapter 1 -
Thomas Wayne was a man who was fairly good at handling himself under pressure, he was a surgeon and a businessman after all, not just that but best at both of those fields. He had saved a great many lives as a doctor and had added to his already impressive family fortune as well. He had passed each and every exam since he was a child with flying colors, wowing both teachers and fellow students, and he had passed those exams with pure ease. Getting his driver's license didn't bother him, nor did getting a job. No, the only things that had ever made him feel nervous were related to his wife.
The first time was when he had asked her out on a date, before her he could have easily gotten any girl with his words alone but she came along and he was unable to speak and needed an entire week to build up the courage to ask her out. Things had slowly gotten better and better from there and eventually he experienced his second memorable moment of nervousness and asked her to marry him, he was glad beyond words when she had actually said yes.
Right now, Thomas Wayne, was more nervous than he had ever been before. The reason why is because he was sitting in the waiting area while his wife was giving birth in the next room, he kept glancing at the doors. Waiting for news, hoping for it to happen as quickly as possible so the wait would stop torturing him. He didn't know if his wife would gift him with a boy or a girl, she had told him that she didn't want to know, that she was happy to be surprised by either.
"It will be alright sir." Alfred Pennyworth's voice brought Thomas out of his thoughts. Alfred Pennyworth, the loyal Wayne family butler, driver, house keeper and friend, spoke as he patted Thomas's shoulder. "Your wife is a strong woman, have faith that everything will be alright."
Thomas was grateful for his friend's words, he truly was, but right now he was far too stressed to respond. He shook his head and ran a hand through his perfect combed hair as he sighed. A few moments later he felt he was finally ready to say something and was about to when suddenly a nurse walked up to him.
"Mr Wayne." The nurse said as Thomas and Alfred stood up.
"How's my wife?!" Thomas asked quickly. "Is she alright? Is she...
"She is perfectly fine," The nurse cut him off before he could get even more worried, she gave him a bright smile. "she's given birth to a lovely and healthy boy."
"I told you she'd be fine sir!" Alfred grinned as he clapped Thomas on the back.
"A boy?" Thomas breathed out, seeming to have not noticed Alfred for the moment. "I have a son?"
"You do," The nurse nodded, still smiling. "if you are ready then I can take you to come and see them both."
"Yes, that would be wonderful! Please do!"
Harry tried to open his eyes but failed to do so, his whole body shivered. He was cold, sweaty, tired and a million other things, most were not positive things. Harry heard voices, but they were too loud, he could feel somebody holding him. The funny thing was that they were holding up in the air with just two hands, two incredibly cold hands but still, Harry tried to move but paused when he realized that his body felt different. Harry suddenly felt himself wrapped up in something that covered him from his neck to his toes, he then felt a very large pair of hands be placed under him, one hand holding him by his lower back and the other holding his head up, judging by the size of the hands Harry realized that he was either incredibly small or being held by a giant, he didn't really know which was better. A short while later Harry heard a voice speak.
"He is so beautiful," A female sounding voice spoke, the person who it belonged to sounded very happy. "look at him Thomas." Harry barely managed to open his eyes to look up at the person who was holding him, it was a woman who probably would have looked even more beautiful if she wasn't red faced and covered in sweat. She had a thin yet pretty face, blonde curly hair and a pair of dark green eyes that could be mistaken for another colour if you didn't look carefully. As of the moment she looked like she had won the lottery.
"That he is," Harry heard another voice and saw a man in a suit lean into view, he kissed the woman on the head and looked down at Harry. The man was a handsome man with a strong jaw and black combed hair. "he's the best gift you have ever given me Martha." The man said to the woman as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"He's also your gift to me," Martha smiled at him. "what do you think we should name him?"
"Well, any chance we call him Thomas Junior?" The man said, half joking.
"Naming him after yourself?" Martha raised an eyebrow.
"It was only a suggestion," The man, Thomas, said defensively. "we'll come up with something." He added before he looked down at Harry with a smile. "Look at his eyes dear." He said softly as he gestured to Harry's eyes.
"They're green, but they're so much brighter than mine." Martha said as she looked at his emerald orbs. "They're so beautiful, I can't imagine many women who wouldn't find them beautiful. "
"Indeed," Thomas agreed. "he will be batting ladies away with a stick when he's older." He said in an odd voice.
"I can only hope that that is not jealousy I detect in your voice."
"Pride." Thomas said without without missing a beat.
Harry would never have claimed to be the smartest person alive, but even he could tell that he was not in his own body, or not in his old body. He was a baby now, on the one hand that bothered Harry incredibly as he had lived through a lot and didn't want to go back to going through school again, but on the other hand this could be great, it was an opportunity for him to lead a new life. Hopefully this one didn't involve death eaters and evil soul sucking demons and dark lords. He knew that if he wanted to enjoy it then he might as well do so, after all he remembered what she had told him.
From what Harry could tell, Martha and Thomas Wayne were the names of his new parents, and from what he could tell they were fairly rich seeing as they had a butler and an expensive looking limo. The butler's name was apparently Alfred, he was clearly British if his accent was any indicator, he had a fairly lean body and some nice combed black hair.
"Alfred, take us back to Wayne Manor please." Thomas said when they had gotten into the limo, Harry could not help but pick up on the fact that the word 'Manor' was used. Just how rich was this family?
"Right away sir," Alfred nodded before he started up the limo and began driving. "shall I assume that you wish to host a party to celebrate your son's birth?" Alfred asked.
"Perhaps," Martha replied. "but not today and definitely not tomorrow." She sighed tiredly.
"Yes," Thomas agreed with her. "perhaps later this week or next week."
"I'll make a note of that," Alfred replied. "tell me sir, have either of you two settled on a name yet?" He asked.
"Not as of yet." Thomas replied.
"If I may make a suggestion, 'Alfred' has always been a favorite name of mine." Alfred said, his lips curving upwards slightly.
"Well we will take it into consideration." Martha chuckled.
Harry was right now more embarrassed than he had ever felt, the reason behind that was because he had just spoiled himself, apparently he didn't yet have the same control of this body as he had with his old one. Which was why Harry was currently lying down while Alfred was getting ready to change him, Harry hoped that the Wayne's were paying Alfred well for this.
"Alright Master Wayne," Alfred sighed as he looked Harry in the eye, he chose to call him 'Master Wayne' until a name was decided upon. "I don't look forward to doing this anymore than you look forward to me doing this, but hopefully we can both just get this over with, alright?" Alfred asked, not really expecting an answer, which was why he was surprised when he saw what looked like a nod from the baby, but he brushed it off quickly as a figment of his imagination, there was no way the baby could understand him.
Harry yawned, his body was still that of a baby's which meant that unfortunately he got tired quickly, Harry promised himself that he would start training up his body as soon as he was physically able. As of right now Harry was being held in his mother's arms while many guests walked around the manor and greeted Martha along with Thomas and offered their congratulations. It had been a week since Harry was born and the Wayne's were hosting a party to celebrate that fact.
Martha Wayne was dressed up nicely and was wearing a very pretty blue dress with silver earrings and a beautiful pearl necklace, Thomas Wayne on the other hand was dressed in a tight fitting but fashionable black suit.
"Oh my goodness, he is so adorable." One old and rich woman cooed when she saw Harry. "What have you named him, if you don't mind my asking?" She asked Martha.
"Harold Wayne." Martha smiled brightly.
"Oh, why Harold?" The woman asked.
"We were looking through some names," Thomas began explaining. "he doesn't react to any of them but all of a sudden the name 'Harry' comes up and he starts giggling and laughing and trying to clap his little arms." If Thomas looked at Harry then he would have seen him glaring at him for calling his arms little.
"So we've settled with Harold," Martha said. "a nice name, it's also the name of Thomas's father."
"Yes," Thomas nodded. "I'm sure if dad was still alive then he'd be doing whatever it took to spoil young Harry." He said with small smile, while it saddened him that his father was not present, he was just thankful for what he had.
Later that night Harry woke up, he was hungry, thirsty and barely avoided another incident where he ruined his diapers, he was getting stronger and gaining more control of his body day by day. He knew that he couldn't really walk yet, but damn if he didn't do a lot of that once he was able to. Not being able to walk was beyond frustrating, he was a dark wizard catcher and one of the most powerful wizards ever to exist, and yet here he was in diapers.
Harry really needed the toilet, the problem with that was he couldn't really go on his own, so he had to chose between crapping himself or calling for help. Harry was not proud of it, but he cried, he cried until somebody came. He really hoped he'd grow up quickly.
"Alfred," Martha said as she calmly sipped on some tea while Thomas sat next to her and alternated between reading his newspaper and eating his breakfast. "can you please go wake Harold up? It's time for breakfast."
"I am aware Madam, I am the one who makes it." Alfred said with a small smile. "I shall go and fetch him." He said before turning and walking towards Master Harold's room, or Harry as he preferred to be called. Right now the boy was about three years old, Alfred also thought that Master Harry had clearly inherited his parents brains as he was an extraordinarily fast learner. He had picked up on reading very quickly along with basic math's and Alfred would often catch him reading educational books, mostly based around science and math's.
Alfred did not really have any experience caring for kids before Master Harry so he was not really sure what to judge him against but even without that knowledge he could still tell that Harry was very smart. And that filled him up with pride, because while Harry might not have been his biological child, he had spent a good amount of time caring for the boy.
"Young Master Harold," Alfred said as he entered Harry's room and found the three year old lying on his stomach in bed. "Harold," Alfred said as he walked up to Harry and gently shook him. "it's time to wake up."
"Don't wanna." Harry mumbled into his pillow.
"That much is clear but it is time for breakfast." Alfred replied. "Besides, your mother has asked me to wake you up and I value my job and life too much to disagree with her."
"Chicken." Harry taunted as he yawned and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.
"No, just smart." Alfred argued. "Now I will be giving you ten minutes to go to the bathroom and go downstairs for breakfast, if you are not down there by the count of ten then I will be back up." Alfred said in the firmest voice he could, produce he then turned and walked away.
"Wuv you too Alfred." A sleepy Harry called just as Alfred had reached the doorway. Alfred stopped in the doorway, his lips curled up slightly before he walked out and closed the door.
Harry sighed as he got out of his bed and stepped down, he looked around the room. It was a massive room with a larger than necessary bed that was placed opposite the door, on the left of the bed was a trio of giant windows. Under the windows were boxes full of toys, Harry had always put them back into the box after playing with them, much to the delight of Alfred as it made his job much easier. On the right of the bed was a desk, Harry did his preschool homework there, well he didn't really count it as homework since it was so ridiculously easy for him. The room also had several pictures of himself in various places such as on the wall, including a family picture.
Harry honestly enjoyed this room, the first ever room he could remember was a cupboard under some stairs while his second room was a small bedroom that was mostly used to house all of his fat former cousin's old toys. While this life might have had a rocky and rather stinky start, it was still a great life. He had his own room, he had books that he could read without fear, he had toys that he was allowed to play with and he had a family that actually loved him.
It might have been difficult at first but Harry had grown to seen the Wayne's as his family, Thomas was a hard working father who still made time for his family and Martha was a caring mother who was always willing to spend time with him, if that wasn't enough then Alfred was basically his second father or at least a great uncle. Harry would always love James and Lily Potter, his original parents who had bravely sacrificed themselves for him, but he now saw Martha and Thomas as his parents too.
Next to the box of toys was a large full length mirror, when Harry looked into it he saw his three year old body in adorable blue pajamas with brown dog heads all over. Harry still possessed his partial metamorphamaugus ability, which meant he could change his hair and eyes but that was about it. His face was thin and cute, his eyes were still that beautiful shade of emerald green that had made him so popular on his old world, his raven colored hair at the moment was supporting the classic 'Potter look' which meant it was wild and going up in many different directions.
Harry yawned once more before stretching and then making his way to the bathroom, Harry was far more tired then he usually was, that was simply because he had been up practicing wandless magic last night. Unfortunately when Harry arrived on this world his wand didn't come with him, meaning his magic had to be wandless if he wanted to use it, and yesterday was his first time practicing it since he didn't feel like his body was ready for it before. The problem with wandless magic was that it was far harder than people think it is, it was not something that could easily be learnt and it took years just to learn a single spell and even then it's extremely tiring without constant practice. Harry had been attempting 'accio', AKA the summoning spell, he barely managed to move a book a few centimeters, if he wanted good results then he'd have to keep practicing constantly until he was able to do it without being tired.
A few minutes later Harry had done his daily morning bathroom routine and exited the bathroom before nearly walking into Alfred.
"Ah Master Harold, you are quite fortunate, I was just about to call you." Alfred replied. "Now come on, it's time for breakfast." Alfred said before he turned and walked away.
"What have you made?" Harry asked as he followed after Alfred.
"Cereal," Alfred answered. "chocolate cereal." Alfred added, for the most part Harry liked to eat healthy foods for breakfast but he would occasionally indulge in less healthy but more tasty options.
"Yum." Harry smirked as he and Alfred arrived in the kitchen where Thomas and Martha were eating.
"Hello Harry," Martha smiled when she saw him. "good sleep?"
"It was fine." Harry answered as he sat down at the table, a few moments later Alfred placed the cereal bowl down in front of him. "Thanks." Harry said before he began eating.
"Alright," Thomas checked his watch. "it's time for me to go to work." He said as he stood up and planted a kiss on his wife's cheek before ruffling Harry's hair. "I'll see you both later." He smiled before walking out.
"Sometimes I wonder who you got your messy hair from." Martha said as she ran a hand through Harry's hair, for the life of her she couldn't work out how the boy could have messy and wild hair one minute and beautifully combed hair the next.
"I don't know," Harry shrugged. "just blame Alfred."
"What does Alfred have to do with your hair?" Martha raised an eyebrow, as did Alfred who was standing behind Harry.
"Because it's always the butler." Harry replied. "That's what a lot of stories say."
"Perhaps one day it might be." Alfred said under his breath as he rolled his eyes.
Later that night Harry had snuck out of his room and managed to silently creep from his room to the kitchen, Harry had decided that if he was going to practice magic then he could do with a snack to provide himself some much needed energy. Thankfully he still remembered his old training so sneaking into the kitchen was pretty easy for him. Harry had managed to grab a few snacks including an energy bar, he was about to leave when he heard a yawn and footsteps.
Harry sighed before he quickly turned invisible. Alfred walked into the kitchen, he took some snacks himself before exiting. Harry followed him out the kitchen but then walked off to his room, once he got back into his room he turned visible. He was glad that he had his invisibility cloak, well it was no longer a cloak since it was fused to his body, but still glad for it. Not that he needed it all the time, he was perfectly capable of sneaking about without being detected, if he couldn't do that then he would have been one of the worst League of Assassin leaders ever.
A.N: Hi guys, hope you liked the chapter. What did you think? Good? I just want to address a couple of things:
1) First I want to discuss Harry's 'code', normally Batman has a 'no kill rule' and in a lot of my stories I've made Harry a 'kill them all/Punisher' type of character. For this particular version I am going to go for a 'only kill if he absolutely has to', like if he doesn't have to kill then he won't but if he see's no alternative then he will kill.
2) Throughout the story I may try and use more American words, for example I used diapers instead of nappies, but do forgive me if I go back to my regular English as I am not American, I'm British, not even posh British, like live somewhere where there's a lot of litter and smokers British.
3) In terms of powers, this Harry will have access to a few wandless spells and some runes and that will be it for the moment as I don't really want to make him very powerful as I think a lot of the likeability behind Batman is that he has to do things the regular way. Harry's magic just gives him some extra help.
4) In terms of pairings, I haven't really settled on a pairing yet. I think there is just so much to chose from, I mean Wonder woman, Selina Kyle, Talia, Supergirl or even an OC character (character that I've made up). I will be giving the matter some thought though.
5) This won't be based off any single version of Batman, in this story I will be taking inspiration from various Batman sources, for example costume from the Arkham games, Batmobile from the TV show and gadgets from the films.
6) Yes, before anyone asks, I do plan to go back and discuss Harry's backstory in later chapters.
Alright, well that's that done, tell me what you think about the story. Feel free to leave suggestions, anything from how to improve it to story ideas. Thanks and feel free to leave a review.