The city was bright and full of activity. Outside the wire fence of St. Brutus's, the sun shone clear and the people all seemed to be absurdly ecstatic. There were rows of stores along the street with shiny objects glittering in the windows, tempting Harry with their newness. He stopped for a moment outside a clothing boutique and contemplating splurging on a nice set of new jeans. "Ready for this 'un?" Jack grinned, straightened his collar, and rushed into the crowd to slam directly into an elderly woman standing on the opposite side of the street.

"Oh my goodness!" Harry could hear her squeal as she fell, bottom to the sidewalk.

Jack stilled in his tracks and let out a loud gasp. "I'm very sorry, miss! I didn't mean to- here, let me help you up." He extended a hand to her and gently pulled her to her feet. "I'm terribly sorry, but I lost my younger brother in the crowd not two minutes ago, and my mum'll skin me alive if anything 'appens. Bit queer in the head, ye see. Hardly even blinked before he was gone. Are you alright? I didn't ruin your pretty dress, did I?" He flashed wide blue eyes toward the woman, appearing boyish and flustered. She smoothed her hands over the loud flower-printed housedress fondly and smiled.

"I'm fine, dear. But you should really be more careful where you're going. Now where did you last see the boy?"

"He was right over…" Jack let his eyes wander over to where Harry was now leaning against a light post. "Oh thank God!" He sobbed dramatically, pointing a finger directly at him. "There he is! Oh thanks for your help, miss, and again, I'm very sorry for knocking into you. I'll be more careful, I promise. Harry! Harry, over here!" Harry shrugged his shoulders at him, confused. He had been listening in, but certainly wasn't prepared to play a part in Jack's little charade.

"The poor thing looks terrified!" The woman cooed in sympathy. She reached into her purse and pulled out a few hard candies. "Here. Give him these, and tell him he shouldn't be running off, not when he's got such a nice, responsible older brother there to watch over him."

Jack smiled sweetly. "Thanks, miss. I'll be bringing him home right away." He nodded his head in thanks and ran over to Harry. "Brought you a candy, ickle baby brother," he whispered close into Harry's ear before grabbing his hand and marching him down the street and out of the woman's sight.

"Are you mental?" Harry snapped. "What were you doing?"

"Making some money." He grinned and pulled a foreign looking leather wallet out of his pocket. "Got some candies too. She must have been 'sweet' on me, eh?" He laughed and stuffed the wallet back into his pocket. "Wanna candy?"

Harry shook his head but Jack tossed one at him anyway. "Whaddya mean by 'queer in the head', you stupid prat." He tried to look angry, but was actually mildly amused. "Shoulda told me you were going to come at me like that."

"Oh come off it, Potter. You know it was brilliant. Look, I'll even give ye some of the money when we get back. Eat the candy and let's find a new one."

"How 'bout you're the queer one this time…." Harry had only muttered the words under his breath before an arm came flying toward him and swatted the back of his head. "Fine, fine! New one!"


Harry waited patiently as a middle aged man continued to argue with a nearby shopkeeper to the point of distraction. Just a moment more and he would make his move. He glanced out of the corner of his eye at Jack, who presently had his arm about the shoulders of a pretty girl, with his hand inching ever so close toward the girl's open purse. The girl looked thrilled to be on the receiving end of his attentions. Jack returned Harry's look and shot him a wink. Jack was a cocky git, and Harry seemed to have lost his luck. He turned his focus back to his target, who now was standing with his back to Harry- it was now or never. He stalked forward, but found himself stumbling over a small child that had wandered into his path, knocking the both of them down to the ground with a loud thump. The middle aged man turned to witness the spectacle, and Harry knew the whole thing was ruined. His irritation grew as the child's hand reached to tug on his arm as he tried to pull himself to his feet, each pull seemingly punctuated with a whimpering sniffle.

"D'you mind?" Harry asked as he tugged his arm away from the little boy.

"I was watching you and now I lost my mum." He whispered, wiping at his eyes.

"Well, shouldn't have been watching me, then, should you?" Harry crouched down to bring himself to the boy's level as he eyed him suspiciously. "What didja see? Why were you watching me anyway?"

"Be-because." He sniffed. "You're Harry Potter."

Harry jerked awkwardly. "How do you know my name?"

The little boy's mouth dropped open slightly, forming a tiny, round 'O'. "Because you're famous." The excitement of meeting such a person seemed to negate his tears as he took a step closer to Harry. "Can I see your scar?"

Harry absent-mindedly pushed the fringe up from his face and exposed the thin scar on his forehead. "How d'ya know about the scar-thing?" Perhaps his parents were friends of the Dursleys… but they would hardly call him famous. Infamous, more like. An embarrassment, but worthy of introducing into the conversation to attract some pity and admirations of such Christian charity.

"Go find your mum, kid." He said, and began to move away from him.

"Can't. Please help me find her. You can meet her. She tells me stories about you lots of times." The boy grabbed onto his arm again.

"What's she tell you? Warn you to be good, or you'll end up like stupid ol' Harry Potter and be sent to St. Brutus's? Off!" He shook the boy's handaway violently. "Find somebody else to bother." Tears started to fill the little boy's eyes again. Harry turned on the heels of his trainers and left the child crying on the sidewalk, but he had taken no more than a few steps before he heard a woman's voice shouting, "Thomas, there you are, sweetheart."

Harry made his way down the street and looked around for Jack desperately, he couldn't have gotten far. Then he saw it- sitting half-open on a park bench, just waiting for someone to take. Harry toyed with the idea of playing the game out properly, sitting down by the girl, maybe starting up a conversation and then casually dipping his fingers into the purse to reach for the ready wallet. But he was never very good with subtlety, that was Jack's department. Harry was fast, Jack was clever. They worked better as a team, but with Jack nowhere to be found…. Harry crept up behind the bench, deftly snatched the purse up in his hand, and ran.

"Stop! Thief!"