Hmm. Interesting response to the previous chapter. While there's no guarantee that this will become a full fic, it's looking promising. But I have other potential ideas in the offing with this crossover, some more enticing than others...

REGAINING HOPE

CHAPTER 2:

RECOVERY

In one of the backrooms of the Up Over Bar, Angel luxuriated in the first proper shower she had had in years. She couldn't stay for long, water was at a premium on Elpis, and to have even a shower meant a big water bill, but compared to the automated systems within her medical bodysuit, designed for hygiene and medicine rather than anything enjoyable, it was a luxury. Still, she winced at the bruise she got when Harry collapsed, dragging him down with her, and causing her to hit a barstool on the way down. On the other hand, the hot water helped wake her up, and her exhaustion from her powers was abating.

As she shut off the shower and emerged, carefully walking out to avoid slipping, she found Moxxi waiting with a bundle of clothes. "Here, sugar. One of my part-timers had a similar size to you…aside from being barely outside being emaciated."

Angel took the clothes gingerly. While bothered a little in being naked in front of Mad Moxxi, the older woman had probably seen more naked flesh than the average ECHOnet porn connoisseur and certainly had slept with more people anyway. Plus, Moxxi's air was currently maternal, rather reassuring for the young Siren. "…Thanks. I'm sorry to impose."

Moxxi shook her head. "Not at all. Just helping you is sticking it sideways to your father. I managed to get Nurse Nina to come around for a house call. The boy, he's okay. Exhausted, and he looks like he's been in a hell of a battle, but he's in as good condition as you'd expect someone who had a fainting fit over being told what the year was. Did you find him in a stasis tube or something?"

"No. He…literally appeared out of thin air," Angel said, beginning to don the clothes. "Not by standard teleport, and there wasn't a Fast Travel station in my chamber. When it happened, I felt a resonance within me, not unlike my powers when I use them. Something similar happened when he somehow released my restraints. Moxxi, can Nina be trusted to keep her mouth shut?"

"She's a Vladof deserter. She can be trusted to keep quiet about you being a Siren, anyway," Moxxi said. "Roland and Lilith are here too. They left the bar to go get some supplies from Crazy Earl, but…"

"…Wait, Roland and Lilith are here?" Angel asked, running a hand through her hair. "Damn." She winced briefly, half-expecting the electric shock her father's collar would administer to her if she swore, but relaxed when she realised it wasn't going to shock her. "That…complicates things."

"Why?"

"…I was the Guardian Angel, the one that led them to open the Vault of the Destroyer." As Moxxi's gaze hardened, Angel said, "Look, my father basically forced me to manipulate them. You know how Eridium proliferated across Pandora's surface ever since the Destroyer was beaten back? That's why. But…well, they didn't take kindly to me manipulating them."

"And that's why, say, you came here to Concordia, and not, say, New Haven?"

"Dad also has a spy in New Haven: Shep Sanders. True, he may have contacts here, but I also knew you'd be here. I trust you, Moxxi. Not that I don't trust the Vault Hunters, but…you'd hear me out first."

Moxxi seemed to consider this carefully. Eventually, she said, "Okay. I'm not an idiot, Angel. I can tell that whatever Jack put you through, it wasn't good. You look like you could do with a good meal and a good sleep at least. But keep this in mind: I'm giving you a chance. Not chances, plural, but a chance. I don't let anyone fuck with me unless I want them to. That being said, I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt."

Angel nodded. "Thanks. I'm sorry to impose on you."

"You're not. Like I said, helping you will be my little revenge against Jack. Still…I'm not happy towards Jack. To exploit his daughter like this, and a Siren to boot…I knew something very nasty was lurking about beneath his charm, his good looks, and his hero complex. Death's too good for him. I'll smooth things over with Roland and Lilith. But what about Harry?"

"…I can't just leave him. He helped me escape. And…if he is telling the truth, if he is, somehow, from the 20th Century…"

"Then he's alone, without anyone he knew," Moxxi finished for her. "Most of this stuff, he's probably seen only on TV or movies, back when they didn't even have anything like the ECHOnet. Right, I'll help keep him safe until we can get you both off Elpis."

Angel nodded, before she asked, "Moxxi…can I ask you a big favour? Can you keep secret…who my father is from Lilith and Roland?"

"Why's that, sugar?"

"I know you want to kill him, but you'd pick your moment. In addition, Dad's got a body double, who's pretty much an innocent. He was just some desperate university student and would-be actor Dad roped into a contract to pay his bills. If Roland found out, or even Lilith…they'd try to kill Dad."

"…And you don't want that to happen to him, right?" Angel didn't expect the acceptance in Moxxi's tone. As she met the older woman's gaze, startled, Moxxi smiled sadly. "I know how that feels, Angel. As much as I hate my father for what he did to me and my kids, some part of me still loves him, or at least the man he was before he tried to force my daughter to become the Hodunks' latest brood mare."

Angel was surprised by the acceptance. "So, you won't kill him?"

"I didn't say that, sugar, only that I'll try not to shoot him in the face on seeing him. Especially if the Lost Legion is attacking Helios. Innocent lives are at stake, after all. I'm not an idiot. Jack and that asshole Tassiter may be real pieces of work, but not everyone at Hyperion kicks dogs for their paycheck. So I'd swallow my pride and work with him if it was to save lives. I've swallowed worse. However, you'll have to come clean about your role as the Guardian Angel sooner rather than later to Roland and Lilith. I think Roland will listen, and once Lilith hears something about why, she'll understand. I'd say you were a prisoner of a Hyperion employee who used you to get them to open the Vault to trigger the proliferation of Eridium. It's the truth, after all."

"…Okay. You can tell them that if you want. But after that?"

"…I don't know. But he put you through hell. I can see it. You still love him, even as much as you hate him. But does he love you?"

"In his own way. I just…I remember the tears in his eyes when he put me into that chair. He didn't want to do it."

"…I believe you, but it was still wrong. Anyway, finding somewhere safe for you will be difficult. Even if Jack died, there's still substantial bounties on Sirens. If I had to choose a place…it'd be Eden-6. Montgomery Jakobs' underlings may have done some dodgy things on Pandora, but the man himself is said to be a man of honour and integrity, and so is his son, Wainwright. Anyway, seeing as you're decent, let's go and see your new friend."

"We've only just met."

Moxxi gave Angel a smile. "And yet, he cared about you enough to rescue you, like a knight in shining armour. Let's go see Sir Galahad…"

Harry wasn't sure what to expect when he opened his eyes. If he was able to think consciously during his, well, unconsciousness, he'd have hoped to wake up in a bed in the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts, with Pomfrey clucking over him, and Hermione and Ron either in the nearby beds, alive and relatively well, or hovering nearby, waiting for him. Because then, it would mean what he just experienced was a bad dream.

Instead, what he got was a rather dumpy woman with, bizarrely, that weird haircut Princess Leia wore for most of the first Star Wars film. She spoke, with what sounded like a thick Slavic accent, "Ah, you awake. You take easy, da? You have nasty fall. Nina fix you."

NURSE NINA

Scariest Healer Since Florence Nightingale From Fate/Grand Order.

Harry stared at this bizarre apparition. "Sorry, what?"

Nina peered at him, before remarking, "Confusion not result of concussion. I check. Now, Moxxi said I check girl with you."

As if on cue, the door opened, and Moxxi and Angel, the latter wearing a shirt and jeans, entered. Harry felt his heart sink, realising that reality was a cruel bitch, or else he was stuck in a nightmare. "Hello, sugar," Moxxi said. "You gave me a scare with that funny turn of yours."

"This girl I check?" Nina asked, indicating Angel. Moxxi nodded, and Nina began looking her over, consulting a scanning device she held in her hand. "Third time I examine Siren," she remarked.

"Third time?" Angel asked.

"First time on Partali, when on leave," Nina said. "Young girl, name of Amara. Second time, yesterday, when Lilith come to Concordia. You know, Vault Hunter. One who kicked Atlas' ass, da?"

"Sirens?" Harry asked.

"Human women with special powers. See those tattoo-like marks on her? They're what mark her as a Siren," Moxxi said.

"So…not a witch, then?" Harry asked.

"Sirens have been called witches by the ignorant over the years," Moxxi remarked. "Many fear their powers, and others covet them."

Nina chose that moment to frown. "You scrawny girl. Need to eat more. Health okay, but not great." She turned to Moxxi. "No emergency treatment needed, though. I keep her secret, da?"

"Thanks, Nina. I appreciate it. I'll see you later, okay?"

"Dosvidanya," Nina said, before leaving.

Harry stared at her, and then at Moxxi and Angel. "…Oh God, it wasn't a nightmare," he muttered.

Angel and Moxxi both gave him sad smiles. "Sorry, sugar, but life isn't that kind," Moxxi said. "Just remain calm, and…"

"How can I remain calm?!" Harry suddenly snapped, all the stress from his disastrous fifth year at Hogwarts, from being kept in the dark throughout the summer, to the teachers' seeming apathy towards Umbridge, Snape mind-raping him to supposedly teach him Occlumency, Voldemort's visions, the disastrous attempt to rescue Sirius that turned out to be a trap…he'd had outbursts, but now, it was like a dam had collapsed. "I can't remain calm! If what you're telling me is true, my friends are dead, and I can't…I can't…" He put his face into his hands, and began sobbing.

After a while, he felt someone sit next to him on the lounge. He looked, and found Angel. "…I'm sorry. I really am."

"And so am I, sugar," Moxxi said, sitting down on a couch opposite them. Harry was struck by how maternal the rather saucily-dressed woman was. "So…if what you asked was correct, then the last thing you remember was being in London on Earth, in the 20th Century. I'm sorry to say this, but you're a very long way away from home."

Harry stared at her blankly. "And this place is?"

"Elpis, the moon of Pandora. Specifically, its one and only city, Concordia," Moxxi said.

"It's a long story, and we've only got time for the short version," Angel said. "Pandora was colonised over a century ago by various corporations, mostly Dahl and Hyperion. Dahl in particular used penal labour for their mines. But things didn't work out as well as they should."

"Pandora, bluntly, is a shithole of a world. Only the foolish or the desperate would come here willingly. Aside from minerals, the only thing worth anything were Eridian artifacts. The Eridians were an ancient race of aliens who had an empire spanning much of this galaxy…only, they upped and vanished overnight. Then, some decades ago, a Pandoran native called Typhon de Leon discovered something called a Vault on Promethea."

"A Vault?" Harry asked.

"A cache of alien technology and weaponry," Angel explained. "Promethea is run by the Atlas Corporation, and they reverse-engineered the tech, becoming the biggest corporation in the galaxy virtually overnight. Typhon became something of a celebrity. Movies were made about him. Of course, Atlas decided they had a monopoly not just over their Vault, but any other ones, as there were indications in what Eridian writings could be deciphered of other Vaults elsewhere in the galaxy. Rumours began spreading a few years back that there was a Vault on Pandora, around the time Dahl pulled out and left Pandora to its own devices, abandoning the colonists to their fate."

"Long story short…friends of mine were led to that Vault by Angel, who was being manipulated at the time, so she tells me," Moxxi said. "It had some huge-ass alien monster called the Destroyer, which wiped out the Atlas forces who tried to open the Vault first. The Destroyer was beaten back. But they were understandably annoyed in being led around to a Vault that was only filled with, and I quote my third husband on the matter, 'tentacles and disappointment'."

Harry shot Angel a look, who returned it. "I wasn't exactly a resident of that chamber willingly. Only guilt at my mother's death kept me there. I mean, aside from my restraints."

Harry considered this. For all that he hated being lied to, the fact that when he first met her, she seemed in distress spoke to him. And if Moxxi seemed to accept her, he'd do so. "…Well, what powers do you have?"

"It varies from Siren to Siren, but my power is Phaseshift. Basically, it allows me to influence electronics with my mind. I can effectively hack any computer system, but I do have limitations," Angel said. "But…what about you? I don't know much about you, save that you sound British, which doesn't mean much out here, you claim to come from the 20th Century, and have powers of your own."

Harry contemplated this, as much as he didn't want to, given that it reminded him of what he had lost. The truth was, the Statute probably didn't mean much out here, assuming that they were telling the truth, and they were thousands of light-years from Earth. And given what they said, Sirens were publicly known. So, eventually, he said, "I'm a wizard. My name is Harry Potter, and I was born in 1980. My parents were murdered by a warlock terrorist calling himself Voldemort, and, well…it's a very long story. I don't want to tell all of it. The last thing I remember was…I was engaged in a battle in a top-secret magical facility beneath London. My godfather, he…he ended up being cursed. He was about to fall through an archway with a veil across it…but I intervened, and fell through instead. Then, I woke up in Angel's chamber."

Moxxi peered at him, frowning. "Hmm…even if you're not telling the whole story, it's somewhat unbelievable. Still…you seem to be telling the truth."

"Seem to be?"

"Sugar, I'm not a reliable lie detector, or else I wouldn't have three ex-husbands, but I'm good at telling whether people lie, more often than not. And believe me, I've seen some very unbelievable shit. But I can see the pain is very real. The moment you thought you weren't in the 20th Century, you had a bad reaction. Still, it's probably best to keep your abilities quiet too. Angel, because she's a Siren, is in danger of being either kidnapped for either being controlled as a pet Siren, or vivisected. If magic exists, then wizards and witches keep themselves hidden for a reason."

Harry felt an absurd surge of relief, and he got up, and walked over to Moxxi, before hugging her. "Thanks for believing me."

"I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt, sugar. It's not quite the same thing. But if what Angel told me is true, then you did a good thing in getting her out of there. That says a lot about you, especially on a shithole of a world like Pandora, or Elpis for that matter. Most of the population are bandits, or Scavs on Elpis. They wouldn't think twice about raping, killing and/or eating Angel, and not necessarily in that order. Even those who aren't bandits or Scavs would have probably tried to demand a reward first, or else walked away. You're a hero, Harry."

At this proclamation, Harry chuckled sourly, the sound bitter and twisted. "I'm not a hero. I couldn't save those who mattered to me most."

"Sugar…it'd be better to fail at doing the right thing than to succeed doing the wrong thing. I'm admittedly a hypocrite when it comes to that, but…if nothing else, you saved Angel. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll have to go back to the bar and ensure that B4R-BOT isn't shirking his duties. Damned Claptrap units. Stay here for now. I'll send in food later, and a couple of ECHO devices. Then, we'll see about getting you off this frozen lump of blue ice." And with that, Moxxi left.

"…Well, looks like we'll have to wait," Angel said.

Harry sat back down next to the teenaged Siren, and sighed. "Yeah."

"…How are you holding up?" Angel asked.

"How do you think I'm holding up?" Harry said sharply, before he winced. "Sorry, it's just…"

"You learned you're a long way away from home, and your friends are dead?" Angel then winced herself. "Sorry, that was tactless."

"No, it's fine. I'm not exactly tactful myself," Harry admitted. "And at least you're trying."

Angel nodded, and an awkward silence fell between the two teenagers. Angel then broke it. "So…wizard, huh?"

"Yes. How do you think I unlocked your shackles?"

"What else can you do?"

"Quite a few things…but they'd be dangerous here." Looking around, he spotted a book on a nearby shelf, and murmured, his hand out, "Accio, book." It promptly flew into his hand.

"Neat. Though I wouldn't read that if I were you," Angel said, nodding to the cover, which showed a rather saucy picture.

Harry grimaced, and put it on the coffee table. "Yeah…fair enough."

"…Thanks for helping me, Harry," Angel said, giving him a tired smile. "I never thought anyone could help me. But you did."

Harry nodded, and he had to admit, it felt good to have some thanks for what he did for a change, unlike the fickleness of Magical Britain. But…that only served to remind him of what he left behind. Had his friends fallen to the Death Eaters? And was there anything he had left to live for?

He honestly didn't know…

CHAPTER 2 ANNOTATIONS:

So, Angel's beginning to come to terms with her freedom, and Harry's trying to come to terms with the fact that he's stranded in the future. But how long will they remain at liberty?

No numbered annotations this time.