Disclaimer: All rights belong to J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, and S.E. Hinton, author of The Outsiders.
Warnings: future slash, meaning boyxboy, characters might be OOC, timeline in Harry Potter series is shifted
One of the Gang
"And he made her hair blue!" Ponyboy recounted excitedly. Darry shook his head as Soda exclaimed "really?" excitedly.
"Nah, that's impossible, Pony."
"It's true! I saw it! It's like magic!"
Steve scoffed. "Please. There's no such thing as magic."
Ponyboy ran ahead and turned around, walking backwards. "But it really happened!"
"I believe him," Johnny piped in softly next to Dally.
"Yeah, Steve! Don't be such a downer!" Two-Bit threw his arm around Steve's shoulder as the group continued to walk around the neighborhood.
They stopped when Pony halted abruptly, causing each to stumble to try not to crash into the person in front of them.
"Hey! What's the hold up?" Steve grumbled, annoyed at Pony.
The redhead didn't answer as he watched Harry literally thrown out of a house, landing with a painful thud against the floor. He winced when Harry slid against the unforgiving cement, tenderly caressing his own hands in sympathy.
Tense with fear, Harry braced himself as he was thrown out of the house, scraping his palms and knees against the unsympathetic ground.
"Stay out, you little freak! Don't come back 'til morning!"
Harry flinched as his uncle slammed the door.
"Well, that wasn't very nice, was it?"
Jerking his head up, Harry's green wide eyes looked at the rather large group in front of him, shivering in slight fear in remembrance of Dudley's own gang of bullies.
An older blond with friendly eyes moved forward and lifted a hand. Harry flinched again, thinking the other would hit him. When his offered hand was left hanging in the air for an extended period of time, he dropped it to his side awkwardly. Harry gingerly lifted himself up and backed up slowly.
Ponyboy stared when Harry regarded Sodapop in a suspicious manner. Before all of them could do anything, the brunet turned and hi-tailed it out of there.
Two-Bit whistled. "Boy, can he run! Almost as fast as you, Pony!"
"That the kid you talkin' 'bout?" Dally raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah," Pony said slowly. "His name's Harry."
Sodapop stared at the rapidly disappearing figure in the late summer afternoon. "Was it something I said?"
Darry placed a hand on his younger brother's shoulder. "Nah, he's probably just scared by ya."
"Me?" exclaimed Soda in a disbelieving voice.
"Soda couldn't even hurt a fly!" his best friend teased.
The blond shoved Steve's shoulder playfully while scowling good-naturedly.
"Think his family beats him, too?"
With that, everyone sobered up at Johnny's comment. Dally threw an arm around Johnny in comfort.
Darry sighed, suddenly feeling weariness drape over him. "I don't know, Johnnycake, but we'll keep an eye on him from now on."