A/N: thanks for all the reviews, I really want to know what you think of Harry's new friends so please read and review so I can kow what I need to improve. I thought I should post a new chapter to go along with the new year, I hope you all enjoy. Happy New year!
Reviews:
Anna Marie Raven: thanks for the review, I haven't watched Matilda in years, (such a sweet movie) but I wasn't thinking off Ms. Honey when I wrote Ms. Halliwell, I actually had her in my mind for a while. I have decided that I will bring Ms. Halliwell back, you'll have to keep reading to find out when and where.
Paul, shannyauburn, blah, pete magno & kind evilthanks for the review guys, I will try to update regularly. I would love to hear more from you.
Barranca: As Ms. Halliwell once said "When things seem to good to be true, it's usually becasue they are." glad you liked the chapter, keep reading and reviewing.
soccer freak 101: you're so sweet, thanks for understanding and the kind words. I am really trying to get as much as possible done before school starts back up. It's nice to see that people are really enjoying the story.
Stilico: thanks for the review, yes Harry will definitly be going to Hogwarts, you're going to have to keep reading to find out when and how.
Miss Ravenclaw: A lot of people were probably expecting "some dump with starving children" but I thought this would be better. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Star-A-Licious: I have never seen Danny Phantom so no Dozer is not Dash. Every new character in this story came staight from my head. Thanks for the review.
pstibbons: I am glad you're enjoying it. What is a portkey ship? I am trying to avoid reading any other "street kid" fics to make sure that they don't some how influence my writing. thanks for review.
Pick-Pocket 101
Harry woke up the next morning when sunlight hit his face through a crack in the thick curtains covering the window. It took him a moment to remember where he was and how he got here, but as he looked around the room it all came back to him, Con and Max, the long walk through the back streets, meeting the gang…..agreeing to become one of them, Harry remembered it all but still couldn't believe it had actually happened, it seemed too good to be true. He closed is eyes and turned over, trying to go back to sleep, but he couldn't help remembering something Ms. Halliwell had said to him 'when something seems too good to be true, it probably is.' Harry quickly pushed that memory to the back off his mind, he knew that thinking of people from his old life wouldn't help him, I am starting off fresh, he thought.
As hard as he tried Harry knew that he wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep, so he slowly began to extract himself from the warm comfortable bed. Glancing around the room he noticed new clothes sitting on top of the dresser near the door. He went into the bathroom to try the clothes on and found that they fit perfectly, the tags were still on it and Harry was shocked to see that they were expensive and brand named, the type of stuff aunt Petunia used to buy for Dudley. Harry had only ever worn Dudley's hand-me-downs and they had always been at least three times his size. Harry decided he was long over due for a shower, and even though the water was only lukewarm he still thought it was the best shower he ever had. Finally feeling clean for the first time in days, he quickly dressed and decided to go downstairs.
Harry paused when he got to the top of the staircase and saw Leaf, Con and Max sitting on the couches. Max seemed to be the mediator in a very heated discussion between Con and Leaf. Harry couldn't hear what they were saying and he didn't want to intrude but his curiosity got the better of him and he began to quietly make his way down the stairs. He didn't get far before Max noticed him and gave a very loud greeting, cutting off whatever Con had been saying. Con and Leaf quickly went quiet as Harry walked up to them but Harry didn't miss the pointed look Leaf shot Con. Harry immediately got the feeling that whatever they were arguing about had something to do with him, but he didn't get a chance to further investigate though.
"Max, why don't you show Lightning where the kitchen is," Con said without taking his eyes off Harry. Something about his tone told Harry that this wasn't really a question and Con wouldn't take 'I'm not hungry' as an answer.
"Yeah, he must be hungry." Leaf said shooting Harry a reassuring smile.
"Ok," Max said, as if she wasn't sure she wanted to leave them alone together. "Come on, Lightning." She said with a sigh. Harry followed along silently, wondering what it was he had just interrupted. All thoughts about Con and Leaf vanished as they entered the kitchen and Harry saw the food laid out on the table. There was a bowl of scrambled eggs a plate full of bacon and a tray of freshly baked biscuits.
"Hey guys," Link said, looking up from the newspaper to see who had just come in. Max handed Harry a plate and told him to help himself as she sat down next to Link.
"Anything good?" Max asked Link as Harry sat down with a pile of food on his plate and started to inhale the food like there was no tomorrow. He ate two biscuits and half his plate of eggs within two minutes and all Max and Link could do was stare at him in amazement.
"Slow down Lightning, the food isn't going anywhere." Max laughed
"He eats like Dozer," Link said disbelievingly. "How are we going to feed two of them?" he wondered.
Harry could feel the blood rush to his cheeks, "I haven't had breakfast in a while." he muttered, as he slowed down to a normal pace.
Link just shook his head then answered Max's question, "Nothing worth it, although I do like this watch Mr. Frank Adams has on, we may have to pay a visit to the Upper East Side tonight." He said with a grin, looking down at a picture in the local paper. Harry glanced up at them with a questioning look. "The thing I like most about the rich, Lightning, is whenever they get something nice and valuable they always love to flaunt it. If they could just keep their mouths closed we wouldn't even know they had most this stuff. Take Mr. Adams here for instance," he gestured down to the paper. "That watch he's wearing must be worth at least a thousand bucks!" Link exclaimed.
"We always find our best marks in the local paper," Max added wistfully
"It's like they're begging use to take it." Link said with a slightly bitter tone, "And we are always happy to help them out." he let a mischievous grin spread across his face. Harry just stared for a moment, unsure what to say, part of him was outraged, how can they be so harsh about a person they never even met, that man never did anything to them, he doesn't deserve to have his things stolen from him… But he really didn't want to disagree with them out loud, unfortunately Link noticed the strained look on Harry's face before he could cover it up, "What's wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing…" Harry said with a forced smile, they didn't buy it though and Harry couldn't think up a good lie so he told them the truth, "It's just…that guy never did anything to any of us." Harry said quietly hoping that they wouldn't get mad at him.
"He may not have done anything to us, but nobody gets that type of money without stepping on a few people on the way up….we're just returning the favor." Link said rationally, as if that justified stealing. Harry still didn't agree but he kept his thoughts to himself. After a moment Max and Link just continued talking as if he wasn't there, Harry didn't mind he just continued eating.
"There's nothing else interesting in here." Link said as he continued glancing through the pages, and then as an after thought he added "And they still haven't found the person that caused the orphanage fire."
The fork froze half way to Harry's mouth, he felt all the blood drain out of his face "Orphanage fire?" he asked, forgetting about the food in front of him.
"Yeah," Link said, "There was this huge fire at St. Peter's orphanage a few days ago, completely burned the place down. A few people got out but most of the kids were still inside, they were all killed." Link said grimly.
Harry slowly lowered the fork; he had completely lost his appetite. Max must have noticed the horrified look on his face "You alright Lightning?" she asked. Harry just gave weak nod, unable to speak. Max raised a curious eyebrow, but Harry wasn't paying attention, they're all dead…. He thought.
"They'll catch who ever caused this fire," Link said when he saw that Max wasn't going to offer any comforting words, "And even if they don't, whoever's responsible is gonna have to live with that guilt for the rest of their life." Harry stood abruptly and started walking towards the door. "Where're you going?" Link asked, surprised by Harry's sudden departure.
"Bathroom." Is all Harry could say as he quickly walked back to his room, he was barely able to stop himself from running. He quickly closed the door to his bathroom and locked it before sliding down to the floor. He felt like he couldn't breathe, like someone had sucked all the air out of the room. His thoughts were running wild but he kept coming back to the same conclusion 'it's my fault, it's all my fault! The walls seemed to be closing in around him, and he still couldn't breathe. 'Those people….they all died because of me, the masked people were after me, it's all my fault! If I had just stayed and given myself up they would all still be alive, Stan, Mrs. Sanders...it's all my fault! Harry quickly pulled himself up to the sink and started retching until there was nothing left in his stomach. He felt himself regain a little control as he splashed water on his face, no...this isn't my fault...I didn't kill anyone! I did what anyone else would have done…I pulled the fire alarm.…and I tried to get Stan out of there….there was nothing I could do for Mrs. Sanders…I did what anyone else would do, this isn't my fault! Harry repeated it in his mind, it's not my fault, it's not my fault, it is not my fault, but there was still a small voice in his head telling him, yeah you did what anyone else would have done, you ran and left all those people to die Harry pushed it to the back of his mind, where he was keeping all his other repressed memories, until he couldn't hear it anymore.
Looking up into the mirror Harry said it once out loud, "It isn't my fault." He dried his face, waited one more minute to get himself back in order, and then walked out of the bathroom. He slowly walked back down to the kitchen, trying to figure out what he would say if anyone asked what had happened to him. He realized that it probably wouldn't be an issue as he walked into the kitchen and saw all 5 of them sitting around the dining room table waiting for him. They all looked up at him when he walked through the door and Harry got the feeling that he was once again being sized up by them. After a moment of uncomfortable silence Con finally announced, "Time to start your first lesson, Lightning."
Harry soon found out that his first lesson would be pick pocketing. Con led them all into the living and room and began to explain the basics of what he calls 'one of the most basic means of survival', Harry wasn't so sure he was ready for this, but as Con began to explain he found himself hanging on every word, as if he were telling some fantastic story. "Pick pocketing is easy, non-violent and one of the quickest ways to get money for food and things if you're in a jam. If done properly, a good pickpocket can make more in a day than a stick up man can in a year. Everyone you see is a mark; mindless teenagers, Mothers with kids, the elderly, the man sitting next to you on the park bench and distracted tourists are all potential targets." Con paused when he saw the horrified look on Harry's face.
It had all sounded very interesting to Harry until Con started talking about the potential marks, 'mothers with children? The elderly?' Harry thought disgusted, but once again the voice in the back of Harry's mind said 'if it's what I've got to do….it's not like he's telling me to specifically target old lady's and moms, he's just saying that they are potential targets…it's nothing personal….'
"The one thing you have to remember, Lightning," Con said, emphasizing Harry's new nickname, "It's not personal, it's just business." Harry was surprised at how similar his own thoughts were. He slowly nodded and Con continued, "The one thing you must have to be a pick pocket is patience, you have to be able to wait for the right mark, and the right time to strike. Once you have the right mark wait until he's distracted, which should be easy enough, people can only focus on one thing at a time. It's always best to do this in a crowded place, where a simple bump will go unnoticed; you slip your hand in and relieve them of their valuables, but you always have to pay attention to the people around you. You never know when curious eyes might be watching……….
After Con was done explaining the basics, Link and Dozer demonstrated a few ways to lift things off a mark. Link would bump into Dozer and lift his wallet without pausing, it seems easy enough, Harry thought, but looks can be deceiving. The first time he couldn't get the wallet out of Dozers pocket. When he finally managed to get it out properly he completely forgot that he was supposed to be stealing and started to jump around happily. The next time he managed to get it out he accidentally dropped the wallet right in front of Dozer as he was walking by. On what seemed like his hundredth try Harry was so frustrated it felt like the wallet jumped out of Dozers pocket and into his hand, but Harry didn't pause, he kept walking like he was supposed to until he reached the other side of the room. "Yes! I did it!" he exclaimed as he turned with a triumphant grin towards the others.
Everyone sitting on the couches wore bored expressions and Dozer gave a sarcastic round of applause "Way to go. Now we get to move on to jewelry."
Two hours later and they were on their way to test out Harry's new skills in the real world. Once they all felt that Harry finally mastered the art of pick-pocketing they led Harry down to the basement to show him their 'escape tunnels', which turned out to be a hole in the basement floor that led down to a water drainage system. Leaf explained that these tunnels led all over the city and connected to the sewer system. They were the safest way to travel if you were moving stolen merchandise or if you just wanted to go unnoticed.
They brought flashlights with them to light their way and Harry paused for a moment to look at some graffiti on the wall that Con had just been studying.
"It's a street name," Dozer informed him as he walked past Harry. Harry spent another moment staring at it but it still seemed like a random drawing to him, he jogged to catch up with the rest of the group.
"It looked like gibberish to me," Harry said when he caught up.
"Of course it did," Link said looking over his shoulder at Harry, "It's made to look that way. It's actually the name off the street we're walking under."
"Why couldn't they just right it in plain English then?" he asked confused, that seems like a lot of trouble to go through just to write a street name, Harry thought.
"Sometimes one of the sewer drains will get clogged up and they have to send sanitation workers down here to unclog it. If they saw street names written all over they would know that someone was using these tunnels regularly, but if they see graffiti they just figure its random gibberish gang writings." Max explained. That makes sense….kind of, Harry thought.
"If they think its gang writing, then why don't they send somebody down to erase it?" Harry asked that's what they always do when there's gang writing on a building, He thought rationally.
"This writing has been down here for years." Leaf pointed out, "Besides what would be the point in repainting a bunch of sewers?" Harry hadn't considered that.
"If you ever need to ditch the police just come down here, it's like a maze." Max advised him.
"But don't come down here alone, not until you can read the street names," Con told him seriously. "It would take us hours to find you if you got lost down here, and you don't know your way back to the house." Harry just nodded solemnly.
When they finally reached the right street Max climbed up the ladder under to lift the manhole cover and look around outside. "You never want to come climbing out of a tunnel when there are people around. Trust me, it's not something you want to try to explain." Link said quietly.
"It's clear." Max said, and they all quickly climbed out and replaced the cover. Harry looked around and saw that they were standing in a deserted alley.
"Let's go." Con said with a smirk at Harry. They walked out of the alley and quickly blended with the crowds, anyone watching would have thought that they were just a bunch of kids hanging out after school. They walked to an outdoor shopping center a few blocks away from the alley and began to mix with the crowd. Harry noticed Link bumped into a man and kept walking, when he saw Harry looking he shot him a wink and then disappeared into the crowd. Harry looked around him and realized that he and Con were now standing alone, I didn't even see the others leave, he thought as he tried to spot them in the crowd.
"Now Harry, let's see how much you've really learned." Con looked around as if searching for someone, "See that man over there?" he said pointing to a guy who was just putting his wallet back into his pocket. "That's you're first mark. He's got at least fifty bucks in his wallet. Got get it." Con said it as a challenge.
"I'm not sure I'm ready for this," Harry said suddenly feeling very sick.
Con put an encouraging hand on Harry's shoulder, "We've taught you everything we can about pick pocketing. You have to figure the rest out for yourself. Now go." Con said giving him a slight push forward.
Harry felt like he was going to faint any second. That would be an excellent start, He thought as he got closer to the man. I can do this, he thought as he tried to recall everything he had just spent the last two hours learning. Wait for him to get distracted, Harry thought as he stood back and watched the guy. It didn't take long before the man was completely distracted by something in one of the store windows. Go now, said a voice in his head that was begining to sound more like Con's voice than his own. He felt his feet start to carry him forward seemingly of there own accord, he was working on automatic now. Harry got within inches off the guy and then accidentally bumped into him, his hand slid into the mans pocket and he felt his two fingers slide the wallet out and quickly slip it into his own all within the two seconds it took for him to bump into the guy and walk past him without so much as an "excuse me". Harry tried not to start running, he could hear his heart pounding in his throat, he just knew that he was going to feel a hand grab his shoulder any second, but the guy never came and Harry inconspicuously slipped into a shoe store as if he had been aiming for it all along. He quickly found a chair and tried to calm himself down, he could feel the adrenaline pumping through him, as he looked around and then slowly pulled the wallet out of his pocket. He looked inside and found nearly 6 hundred dollars, a few credit cards and the guys ID.
"Good job." Harry nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard this and looked up to find Con standing over him with a small grin "How do you feel?"
"I…I…it felt…" Harry stuttered trying to find the words to describe what he was feeling right now, it was like nothing he had ever felt before, except maybe those times when he used to make strange things happen but that had always been accidental, this was…. different.
"Amazing?" Leaf supplied from behind him. Harry looked around and saw that all the others had joined them in the shoe store and once again he hadn't noticed them.
"Yeah," Harry said with a slight grin, "It felt amazing." Harry wasn't sure that was the right word for it, It does feel good….but it also feels bad. That doesn't make any sense. He told himself, I just made more money in the past five minutes than I have in my entire life! His con voice told him . I just stole from a man, who knows what he was going to use that money for! He thought of the family the man might have at home. Yeah, who knows what he was going to buy? I certainly don't. He thought of all the frivolous things that man was probably going to spend the money on. The voice in his head was definitly starting to sound like Con's, isn't it better for it to go to the poor? It asked in a sarcastic tone.
"How much did he have?" Link asked, jumping over the back of the chair to sit next to Harry. Harry just handed him the wallet and let him look for himself.
"Wow, Good pull." Max said looking over Links shoulder. Con took the wallet out of Links hands and looked through it. He quickly pulled the ID out and threw it in the nearest trashcan, he gave all the cash to Harry.
"Always dump the ID as soon as possible." Con said quietly. Harry looked down at the cash in his hands, he had never held this much money in his hand in his life, "The cash is all yours." Con said as an after thought. He continued to look through the wallet and took out the credit card before handing it back to Harry. "Ready to go back out there?" Con asked
"Ready as I'll ever be." Harry replied, while slipping the wallet back into his pocket and standing up. Harry followed Con out of the store, ready to find his next mark.
They left the shopping center with at least 3 times as much in their pockets as they had when they first walked in. Harry was just relieved that they were going home, he had spent the last 4 hours feeling more conflicted than he has in his entire life, he knew that what he was doing was wrong but he knew that he couldn't back out after that first pull. He made a decision and now he had to go through with it. Harry was pulled out of his thoughts when he nearly slammed into Link who had stopped walking directly in front of him.
"Check it out, it's Frank Adams!" Link laughed "And he's wearing the watch…this is just too good." Harry looked over to see the man Link and Max had been talking about at breakfast waiting to cross the street towards them.
"It does look nice," Dozer said checking out the obviously expensive watch on the man's wrist.
"Since this is Lightning's first day out, I think he should do the honors." Con said to the group as the street lights began to change. "Go for it Lightning." Harry looked around at the group, they all seemed to be wearing encouraging and slightly intimidating smiles and he knew that they reminded him of something but he couldn't think of what it was. Harry remembered the speech Con gave when they first brought him to the house, he said that Harry could say no at any time but looking at them now, he knew that saying 'no' wasn't really an option, not anymore. They began to move forward with Harry walking behind all of them and quickly coming up with a plan. At the exact moment that Harry and Adams were about to cross paths Harry tripped and accidentally knocked into Mr. Adams arm. To Harry's surprise and utter terror Mr. Adams actually stopped to make sure he was okay and for what seemed like the longest moment of Harry's life he felt sure that Adams would look down and notice his watch missing, but after one heart stopping moment Mr. Adams continued walking. Harry got to the other side of the street where the rest of the gang was waiting for him.
"Dude, I totally thought he was gonna bust you!" Link said excitedly as he clapped Harry on the back.
"Yeah, so did I," Harry admitted shakily as they continued walking.
"Lets see it," Max said with a mischievous grin. Harry pulled the watch out of his pocket and handed it to Max.
"It's gotta be worth a grand, at least." Link said looking down at the watch with a look of pure greed on his face.
Harry just couldn't stop thinking about what had just happened he stopped to see if I was ok, I lifted his watch and he stopped to see if I was ok, Harry thought with an overwhelming guilt coming over him. So what? His Con voice said, he wasn't a bad guy like they said, he wasn't some selfish self-absorbed rich person like they made him out to be. He thought, just because he wasn't a jerk this time doesn't mean he isn't one normally, I have no idea what that guy is really like, and it doesn't matter, what's done is done! His Con voice said ending his mental argument.
"I think it's time we head home, Lightning must be exhausted." Leaf said, Harry wasn't sure if she was be sarcastic or not but he really was tired.
When they finally got back home Harry went straight up to his room and pulled out one of the nicer wallets that he had pulled and stashed put a hundred dollars into it then stashed the rest of the cash under his mattress and laid down. He looked at his new wallet and wondered who it used to belong to. A picture stuffed into one of the pockets caught his eye and he slowly pulled it already dreading what he was going to see. The wallet belonged to the first man he stole from, he was standing on a pier with two children and a women who could only be his family. He had robbed a man who had a wife and kids. Harry felt like he was going to be sick again, he quickly got out of bed and pulled out as many of the wallets he could find. /by the time he was done looking through them he'd found out that most of the people he's just taken from had families. This is not what is signed up for, he thought guiltily. Yes, it is. I wanted them to teach me everything they could and that is exactly what they are doing, his con voice told him cynically. Harry got back in bed and tossed and turned for hours. The exhaustion finally overcame him around midnight and as he drifted off to sleep he realized what the gangs smiles reminded him of…….wolves. A pack of hungry wolves.
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