Outsider Chronicles: Phantom Thief

Getting reborn as the Harry in a WBWL story is NOT fun. However, for all the pain I was put though, I think I came out best in the end. I'd have prefered to not have to go through hell, but its hard to imagine that I'll ever be trapped again when the Darkness itself is at my beck and call. Now, lets have some fun and steal everything thats not nailed down...and help stop the end of the world while I'm at it!

And we're back. Nothing to say, other than enjoy!

Chapter 4

Rose honestly what she was expecting when meeting Geist. Maybe she expected him to emerge from the shadows like a specter, or maybe be clad all in black or perhaps a tall, intimidating presence. She knew he had a reputation of being silly and more of a headache for the Heroes than an actual threat, but her preteen mind had conjured up all kinds of images of what the legendary thief would look like. That's why her initial reaction to the slightly short, thin boy with messy, black hair, slightly too large glasses and scruffy, baggy clothes that spoke of little to no interest in how they looked together. Then her mind switched from Cape mode to looking at Geist as Harry and she found herself much more impressed.

Despite looking rather nervus, he was still wearing a slight smirk and she could see a glimmer in his eye that made it clear that his Cape persona was not faked at all. Her opinion of her Father and other brother might be coloured by less than favorable stories from her Mother, but she could clearly see that Harry carried himself with none of the arrogance held by James and Brandon Potter. Confidence, yes, but not arrogance. All in all, he looked like a good person who she believed she'd soon be proud to call brother.

Lily and Remus on the other hand scanned the boy before them with the eyes of those with plenty of experience dealing with Capes of all stripes. The glasses and scruffy clothes didn't really enter into their examination, instead, they took in the way he stood, his expression and even the look in his eye, trying to determine whether or not Geist really was as harmless as he appeared. What they found was actually rather encouraging. He was clearly exedingly confident, bordering on cocky, and his eyes were to old for his young frame, but he seemed well adjusted. Naturally, you can't get the full picture of someone from a cursory glance, so they wouldn't be lowering their guard quite yet.

Harry cleared his throat.

"Um, well, I suppose its kinda pointless, but I guess I should introduce myself," he said, "I'm Harry, sometimes known as Geist."

That served to snap Rose out of her awkward nervousness. She let out a squeal and darted forwards and glomped Harry.

"Hi, I'm Rose!" she said quickly, "Ohmygosh, its so great to meet a real Cape and your my brother and…"

She quickly trailed off into barely legible babbling. Harry stared at his sister blankly, before looking up at Lily and Remus with a look of utter confusion on his face. That was to much and both Heroes felt their paranoia instantly vanish as they burst out laughing at the look on his face.

With the tension of the first meeting broken, we headed over to a free table and, after ordering, finished the introductions. I was rather surprised to find out that the handsome and healthy man with Mum was none other than Lupin, who looked remarkably healthy considering it was the full moon last night. We made small talk while waiting for the food to arrive, during which time I realized I was quickly starting to like my sister more and more. Yep, no way anyones hurting her on my watch! And if they try, I'll teleport them into the path of an Endbringer. Or the Slaughterhouse Nine. Not sure which would be worse...Focus Harry!

Eventually, the ice cream arrived and the conversation turned to more serious subjects. Namely who the fuck thought it was a good idea to hand me over to the old geezer.

"Your Father," said Mum shortly when I asked, "I was...a little out of it at the time and by the time I recovered enough to realize what he'd done, it was to late. There was very little I could do back then to force him to tell me where he'd stashed you and, much to my regret, I trusted him to have at least put you somewhere safe. If I had known he'd put you at the Dursleys…"

"Speaking of which, what did you do to them?" asked Remus, cutting off Lily, who looked like she was about to punch something, "No one can figure out what happened."

"I didn't Master them if thats what you're asking," I said, "I pulled them into my Darkness. Turns out, its really not good for people to be in my Hammerspace for more than a couple of seconds. I only intended to scare the shit out of them and by the time I realized something was wrong, they'd already gone."

Rose frowned.

"But in some of the video's of you messing with Heroes, you've teleported them through your Darkness, right?" she asked, "They always seemed fine afterwards."

"Thats because they never entered my Hammerspace," I said, "My Darkness is effectively a portal I can use to send whatevers engulfed in it from one point to another, either in this space or my pocket dimension."

"So when you've used it to cut things…"

"I actually remove a thin layer of whatever I'm cutting, yes," I said, "Thats why it seems like I can cut through anything."

"Huh, I guess theres more to powers than I thought," said Rose.

I grinned.

"A lot more," I said, "Most of the time, Heroes and Villains aren't entirely honest about what they can do and what their limits actually are. Having a trump card is always a good idea."

"And whats yours?" asked Remus.

I grinned.

"Now why would I spill that?" I asked.

"Point taken," said Remus.

"So, what do you plan to do now?" asked Lily.

I paused as I took another bite of my sunday.

"Thats...a good question," I said, "I admit, when I set this up, I half expected to end up yelling at you and then vanishing, but now…"

"Your not going to come live with us?" asked Rose, sounding broken hearted.

"Whoa now, I didn't way that!" I said before my cute little sis could start crying, "Its just...I've been on my own and traveling around for five years now. I don't think I can just give that up at the drop of a hat."

Rose still looked upset, but Lily nodded.

"I understand," she said, "Just remember, you'll always have a home with us."

I smiled, a warm feeling filling my chest.

"Thanks Mum," I said.

Unfortunately, the warm and fuzzy atmosphere was shattered by an annoyingly familiar voice from behind me.

"Ah, there you are Lily!"

Mum and Remus' faces immediately went carefully blank, although that didn't stop me from noticing that Mum was apparently strong enough to crush metal furniture out of shape with her bare hands. Something to think about later. In the meantime, I turned to see who could only be James Potter. Unlike Lily, who could still pass as a woman in her late teens, James looked like he'd aged about ten years more than he should have. He was overweight, balding and had lost most of the good looks I remembered him as having from when I was a baby. He was wearing robes that looked like they were made of Acromantula silk to my trained thief eyes that did very little to hide his gut.

"And you found Harry as well," said James with a smile so fake I wouldn't be surprised if even a coked up Merchant would be able to call him out on it, "And…"

He trailed of when he saw Remus and his smile became even more fixed.

"Lily, who's this?" he asked, a hint of threat in his voice.

"I fail to see how any of thats any of your business Potter," said Mum, her tone frigid enough to freeze the toes of a polar bear.

"Well, you are my wife…" started James.

"EX-WIFE!" snarled Mum, "Get it through your fathead Potter, we. Are. Through! There is no way I'm ever going to get back with you! Theres more chance of me hopping into bed with a cave troll than that!"

James puffed up like a bullfrog and I decided to step in before he croaked.

"Honestly, if you're going to have a dick-fighting competition with a woman, you must have started out with the world's cruellest handicap…" I said idly, "Then again, I'm sure your used to tiny dicks from taking up the arse from that manipulative old goat. Say, is he an actual goat or is he really a wether?"

Everyone stared at me wide eyed with Mum looking like she wasn't sure whether to be furious or proud, Remus looking giddy at how I managed to insult both James and Dumbledore in one sentence and Rose looking like she was about to burst from suppressed laughter. James on the other hand looked furious

"Don't you dare talk to me like that!" snarled James, whipping out his wand and pointing it at me, "Do you know who I am?!"

I just yawned.

"You know, that would be intimidating...if you were actually intimidating," I said as I put my feet up on the table.

"Are you mocking me?!" roared James.

"Oh no, no no no no no...pffft, yeah!"

A dustbin lid appeared in my hand, just in time to block the spell the enraged Potter sent at me, before I slung the lid like a frisbee at the idiot, catching him full in the face and sending him crashing to the ground. Frankly, it was a good thing that the alley was mostly dead at the moment as it saved his dignity from receiving the same treatment as his nose.

"Well, my appetites gone," I said.

"Yeah, kinda a buzzkill, isn't it?" said Remus.

"I'm not sure if I should be annoyed or pleased," muttered Lily as she got to her feet, "But your right, I don't feel like eating with that making the place look untidy. Come on, lets go home."

"OK," said Rose, "Are you coming Harry?"

I smiled and stood.

"Sure, lets go."

Bit short, but thats as good a place as any. Plus, I inserted two Alucard quotes in, so thats good.

Before I forget, I think I should clear something up. While Harry Potter does exist on Earth Bet thanks to trading with Aleph, its not the insane phenomenon over there like it is IRL or even on Aleph. There will be people who know about it, but not every single Muggleborn will be aware of HP. Of course, the ones that are will still act like you'd expect, especially when they find out their in a WBWL story.

And with that, I'm done. Don't forget to leave a review on the way out!