A young boy, about age 10, with messy raven black hair was running through a park. This child was not running for fun or pleasure, but for his life. His whale of a cousin and the whale's gang were chasing him, ready to deliver their after school beating upon the young boy. Shouts of "Freak!" and other such comments rang throughout the park. The boy with messy hair was scared. He just wanted away from all of this! His emerald green eyes squeeze shut as he hopes and hopes for some sort of miracle to save him from this tortuous hell. And then it happened. With a loud crack and the feeling of being sucked through a rather small tube, the boy was gone. The next thing he knew, he was in an alleyway, throwing up what little food he had in his stomach. After the huge bout of nausea faded, the boy leans against a wall of the alleyway, really tired. His emerald eyes gaze around, taking in his surroundings now that he had recovered from his bout of nausea. He gathered that he wasn't in England, that's for sure. Getting up on two shaky legs, the boy starts to move towards the street that he could see through his cracked glasses.
When finally reaching the street, the boy's emerald eyes widen in shock. The street was full of technology that he thought was only possible in some of his cousin's sci-fi books or shows. He was also surprised at seeing people with animal parts! Oh how his aunt and uncle would react to seeing this. Speaking of his aunt and uncle, the boy whips his head around to make sure that neither were around and he relaxes a bit. None of his horrible relatives were around which was nice but at the same time, that meant he had no where to go. Deciding not to attract more attention to himself, the boy moves backwards into the alleyway, only to bump into someone. He immediately jumps and turns around, starting to apologize.
"I'm sorry sir! I didn't mean to bump into you! I didn't know you were behind me!" the boy starts out saying. "Please don't hit me! It was an honest mistake!"
Now, Roman Torchwick, the man who this young boy bumped into, was very surprised by the boy's behavior. He had been walking through the alleys to avoid attracting attention to himself during the day, when he heard a loud crack. He went to investigate what caused the crack and in front of him was a small boy who puked up what looked to be his breakfast. He then watched as the boy looked around and seemed to be amazed at the world on the street. Roman also noticed that the puke had disappeared when the boy went to go look at the street and he realized something was different about this lad. So he had approached him when the messy haired child accidentally bumped into him.
"Now why would I hurt a cute little munchkin like yourself?" Roman asks, arching an orange eyebrow. The boy looks up and he was shocked to see how the man's eyes looked like his own and how vibrantly orange his hair was. The man wore a white jacket and bowler hat and had some sharp eyeliner that made the bright green eyes pop out more.
"Cause I messed up..." the boy says, looking back down at the ground. He looks up again when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"So what, you goofed and you apologized. Now, where are your parents? You shouldn't be alone in these sketchy alleyways on your own," Roman says. Now, he may be a criminal but even he wouldn't abuse a child.
"Dead," the boy says, voice now sad instead of panicking and he looks down before whimpering. "Please don't send me back to my aunt and uncle.. They're so mean..." he says. Roman looked around and thought for a moment. He could use this oddly powered kid later on, even if it meant dealing with raising him.
"I won't! Say squirt, what's your name?" Roman asks, prompting the kid to look up.
"Uh.. Harry James Potter," the now named Harry says. Roman nods.
"Alright Harry! You'll now be known as Harrison James Torchwick. And I'm your new dad, Roman Torchwick!" Roman smirks. Harry blinks and looks shocked.
"Wait.. You're.. You're adopting a freak like me..?" Harry asks, shock clear upon his face.
"Harry, Harry, Harry... You're not a freak. You're special, but not a freak. Your relatives clearly didn't appreciate whatever... gift it is that you have," Roman says, looking at the kid.
"You don't think my.. powers are weird?" Harry asks.
"You saw the people with animal parts, yes? So what makes you weirder than that, hmmm?" Roman says, leaning forward on his cane, looking at Harry more closely. Upon closer inspection, the ginger haired male noticed how bone thin Harry was under the baggy clothes that he wore.
"I guess I'm not that weird... Uh, what are those people called and where exactly are we..? This isn't England..." Harry asks, fidgeting with his hands.
"England? Never heard of that place. You're in Vale, and those people are called Faunus," Roman says. Harry furrows his eyebrows but accepts this.
"Alright, fair enough, whereto first?" Harry asks, looking up at his new.. dad. It was an odd thought but it was one that he could get used to.
"To get you better clothes, new glasses and take you to a doctor. No son of mine will wear rags. Also, how old are you kid?" Roman says.
"10. I turn 11 in a month," Harry answers.
"Perfect! Well, let's go Harrison! We got places to be and things to do!" Roman says, twirling his cane up to his shoulders. The raven-haired male nods and he follows the man with the bowler hat deeper into the alleyway, something telling him he could trust this man.
For the rest of the day, Roman took Harry to the various stores he could visit without getting the police or a Huntsman called on him. The first thing was to get Harry out of the disgusting rags he wore and into something that actually fit and looked nice. Roman let Harry pick out whatever caught his fancy saying that money was NOT an issue. After Roman's insistence, Harry picks out some really nice looking outfits in a few different colors - various shirts in red, green, blue and black, and various nice looking pants in blue, black and grey. Once Roman paid for the clothes, Harry changed into a red long sleeve shirt and a pair of black pants. Roman nods in approval and he takes the bags and brings Harry to his home, well hideout.
After showing Harry around the place, the criminal takes Harry to the doctor he normally had to check him out. The doctor, Doctor Verde, tells Roman that Harry was suffering from abuse and neglect and would take a long time to heal properly unless his Aura was unlocked. After explaining what Aura was and what it did to Harry, the lad accepts the doctor's proposal as he wanted to get better and not be reminded of his past with his relatives every time he looked in the mirror at his scrawny form. With Harry's permission, Doctor Verde unlocks his Aura and a dark forest green envelopes Harry as his Aura unlocked. A weird black fragment was forced out of Harry's scar but even with the Aura, it did not heal it. Roman the doctor were a little confused at what it was but shrugged it off as it seemed like that it would not be an issue any longer. Doctor Verde did look a little weary after unlocking Harry's Aura but he motions for Harry to follow him to get his eyes checked out. Harry does the eye test as asked and waits with Roman while Doctor Verde disappears to get a pair of glasses for Harry. Fortunately, there were glasses with Harry's prescription. Once everything medically was all set and paid for, Roman takes Harry back home.
"Alright Harry. Do not be alarmed if you see odd people coming in and out of our home. They are my business partners so don't worry too much about seeing them, alright?" Roman says, walking with his son. Harry nods.
"Alright. While you're working are there any chores you'd like me to do?" Harry asks. He figured that he should probably do something to keep his new father happy. Roman blinks.
"Chores? Why would I make you do chores? You're a kid. Have some fun! Do whatever you want, that isn't something like cleaning or cooking, and try not to break anything. If you do, just tell me," Roman says. "Of course, if you're hungry, go ahead and cook something but don't think you need to prepare dinner for us."
"Are you sure...? I don't mind cooking..." Harry trails off.
"I'm certain kiddo. Cooking and cleaning is the adult's responsibility, not the child's," Roman confirms. Now Roman had to admit that he was pretty angry with whoever raised Harry as they were clearly horrible people. He had a feeling that Harry's relatives were not of Remnant, which was an odd thought to him, and boy were those assholes lucky as he would make sure none of their bodies were found if they existed on Remnant.
"What do kids do for fun?" Harry asks, snapping Roman out of his train of thought.
"I've seen kids run around playing games with each other, go to various stores and browse. There's a sweets shop that's close by that's pretty popular," Roman answers. He opens the door into the hideout and lets Harry enter first. He closes the door behind him, locking it. "Though for the rest of the day, we're just going to relax as it is getting pretty late!"
"Ok," Harry says, nodding. He follows his dad to a room that had a nice TV and a comfy dark green couch. He sits down once his father had and turns his head to the TV. It was a lot nice than what the Dursley's had and that caused a small smile to appear on his lips at the thought of having something nice than the Dursley's. Roman flicks on the TV and searches for something appropriate for a 10 year old to watch that wouldn't bore him to death. A cartoon gets thrown upon the screen and the two settle into a comfortable silence, enjoying the cartoon, which caused a cute giggle to emit from Harry every now and then. A thought occurred to Roman about twenty minutes into watching TV.
"Harry, I just thought of something you could do if you find yourself bored with nothing to do," Roman says. Harry immediately looks the ginger, curiosity in his emerald eyes.
"What's that?" Harry asks, tilting his head.
"You remember Aura right?" Roman asks, Harry nodding in confirmation. "Well, Aura has many uses but you don't automatically get to use those abilities. So, I want you to train with your Aura and of course I'll help you with it. Also, you know your cool powers? Maybe try to tap into that and learn how to control it as well."
"Ok! That sounds like it could be fun!" Harry says. Determination had replaced the curiosity in Harry's eyes, causing a smirk to appear on Roman's lips. Harry was determined to get control over his newfound powers as since he now had a say in what he could do with his life.
"Alrighty then. We'll start tomorrow," Roman says, smirking even more. This was starting to become one of Roman's best choices yet and it gave the Boy Who Lived a new life.