A/N First off I do not own Harry Potter, obviously. Second, in real life I swear, quite a bit actually. I feel a 'fuck' or 'damn' explains the situating better that a 'oh shucks' of 'darn' sometimes and therefore I use the profanity. If it offends you, than this story, or and of mine for that matter, are not for you, go back and select the rating filter to G so you do not have to see any naughty words. That is why my story is ratted M, there are no lemons or anything, just profanity and adult themes. Third, I read a ton, fan fictions and normal fiction along with quite a bit of nonfiction. You will recognize some named and placed, some are intentional, Luca I did get from the Godfather, some of his best parts in the book were cut out of the movie for being too violent, so I took that, (I guess I need to say, I do not own The Godfather now) while others are unintentional, while trying to think of a good name for a father figure, I thought John was a good generic name, than tried several dozen last named that sounded good. John Bishop I thought worked, I did not copy the name of the British comedian, though he was once a gust on my favorite show, Top Gear, so maybe that is why it popped into my twisted head, but I have seen every episode from all 18 seasons, so that is unlikely. I really do now know. Just know this, it is intentional, I will say it. Finally, I live in the US, and while I have been to England and Scotland twice, I will fudge up their dialect, so sorry, my bad. Now, on with the show…

Ten Years Gone

Chapter One: The Streets

Harry had been on the streets for a while now, all he knew for sure is that he was literally thrown out of his house sometime during the summer when he was seven; He remembered he had made Dudley cry when Harry had been found playing with his toy. It wasn't even a toy he had liked, his fat cousin had broken it a week earlier in a fit and Harry had rescued it from the garbage, as he had no toys himself and desperately wanted something to play with. His uncle had thrown him in the truck his company car in the dead of night and drove for several hours laughing the entire way. Harry eventually felt the car stop and pulled Harry out by his arm and threw him on the ground. His parting words were, "You're on your own now you little freak, if you are not dead in a week consider yourself lucky, either way, if I ever see you again, I'll kill you myself." And with those words, he climbed into his car, did a U-turn and attempted to run him down. All Harry knew for certain was that two winters had passed since that day, and it was now spring.

Harry liked spring; it gave him freedom to sleep where he wanted in relative peace. Well besides dealing with the other homeless that would kick you out of your spot if they though yours was better. During the winters, Harry always sleep next to, or under on the real cold night, the air conditioning unit at a large grocery store. A friendly old bum had taken pity on the boy his first winter when he had found him one morning, nearly frozen to death. Steve, the old bum had been his one true friend that first year, and his only friend Harry had ever had. He explained that in order to create the cold air for the freezers the store used, the unit had to pull the heat out of the air and eject it somewhere. Steve taught him many tricks that winter, and they made a great team.

However, it seemed like everything else in his life, since it was good, it had to come to an end. A few months after they became friends, some drunken college kids found Steve and decided to go bum hunting. The five of them got carried away and beat him to death in front of Harry, while a sixth one held him back, telling him it was for his own good and they were simple removing their city of the trash.

Since that day, Harry had been alone, knowing that he could never get close to anyone again, as it hurt too much when they were taken from him.

Today, Harry found himself wandering the streets of Manchester, his stomach was twisting in pain, as he couldn't remember the last time he ate. He spotted a small café on the corner, he though it a good sign of the coming season, they hadn't had the outside set up a week ago. He paused and looked longing at the patrons enjoying a late lunch and the warm weather.

"Excuse me young man," Harry jumped as he was pulled out of his longing by the voice.

He looked at the source, and saw a young man, probably early twenties, looking at him. He was dressed in a nice finely tailored outfit that spoke of wealth and class. He started taking a step back, thinking he had somehow offended someone and was about to run again when the man spoke again.

"Don't worry young man, I was just thinking how boring it is eating alone, and thought you looked like a nice young man. Would you please join me for lunch?" Harry froze, everything he had learned told him to run and not trust a stranger. Everything he had learned told him that. But there was something comforting in the man's eyes, they reminded him of Steve, so he took a rare gamble and nodded.

"Wonderful, come around here that and join me," he indicated the chair across from him; "You can call me John."

He reached across the table and shook his hand, then singled the waiter to bring him a menu.

Harry could read some, but not all that great, but one thing he knew was that the food here was very expensive and he had little money, not nearly enough for the cheapest thing on it. His heart dropped and he looked down and spoke for the first time in months, "Sorry sir, but I cannot afford anything. I am sorry I wasted your time."

Harry was getting his feet and about to leave, when John lightly reached across and gently put a hand on his arm, "Oh, my boy, what kind of person would I be if I invited a guest to a friendly meal and let them pay. No, that wouldn't do at all, please sit. What would you like, if it isn't on the menu, just let me know, I know the owner and we can whip up anything you could ever want."

Harry was floored, he hadn't been to any restaurants in his life, but he was fairly certain that it was unusual to be able to order anything, especially if it wasn't on the menu. He looked up and said the first thing that came to his mind, "Um, I like spaghetti…"

John leaned back and let out a great roar of a laugh, "Ha, a man of my own heart, one of my favorite things in the world, although my doctor tells me I need to lay off the carbs so I need to cut back on the pastas. No mater, the best Italian restaurant is the entire city is just around the block, and I think I may just change my mind too, besides, what do doctors know." he casually singled the waiter over, "My good sir, if you would be so kind to run over to Luigi's, get us some baked Ziti for myself, and an order of baked spaghetti for my young friend here, extra meatballs, and I think some cheese sticks for us too. Besides that, if you would be so kind to get us some cola too, that would be wonderful." Harry saw a hundred pound note in his hand as he reached out and shook the shocked man's hand.

After he left, he smiled broadly at Harry and asked some harmless questions, like Harry's name and age, and enjoyed some small talk. Harry found this curious man extremely easy to talk to and had a great sense of humor. Over the next hour, the two new friends enjoyed a pleasant conversation and Harry enjoyed the first hot meal in memory and ate till he thought he was about to burst.

As they were finishing, a strong burly man in a black suite leaned in and whispered something to John, He stood, and nodded to the man, who stepped back and scanned the crowd. "Well Harry, it seems business calls and unfortunately I must head back to the office. Look, when I saw you, I was drawn to you for some odd reason; you seemed like a kind young man who had been dealt a bad hand in life. I want you to take this," he handed a business card to Harry, "if you need anything, come to this address and ask for me." He paused shortly, "Scratch that, I would like you to meet me here in two days, say noon, we will have lunch again and discuss some important issues. If you do not show up, I understand, but it is my hope that you will be there."

"It was truly a pleasure Harry; I hope to see you then." And with that, he tossed down yet another hundred pound note for the tip, and smiled at Harry before taking his leave, climbing into an expensive car driven by the other man.

A while later, Harry left, noticing the looks of discus he was receiving from the other patrons and decided he had worn out his welcome.

After a while of walking the streets again, thinking how nice it was to be full, he came across a strange sight, in a back secluded alleyway, Harry saw a black car that had been shot up and two men struggling with a third, a fourth was on the ground unmoving. With a shock, he realized the man on the ground was the man that had taken John away. In a horrifying moment, he recognized the third man as John. The two strangers finally forced him to his knees and one was laughing at him while the other had a gun leveled at his head.

Damn, just his luck, Harry had let his guard down and befriended someone and now he was about to lose him too.

Without thinking, he charged the man with the gun, catching the gunman off guard and knocking him back a step. It was the distraction John needed, he reached back and pulled a knife out of his pant leg and lunged forward, ramming it into the other man's neck. He spun around just in time to see the gunman sucker punch Harry then threw him into a wall. He heard a loud snap and saw his young friend drop and curl into a fetal position, holding his arm.

John saw red and tackled the thug, knocking the gun out of his hand. He fought the man for several minutes with his fist before finding the gun and ending the man's miserable life.

Frantically he spun around and saw Harry, tears in his eyes, yet not a single sound coming from him. He bent down and gently rolled him over, looking into his eyes, "Thank you my dear friend, hold tight while I get us out of here." He reached back into the car and pulled out a phone and placed a call.

Harry watched as John talked quietly in the phone, checking the bodies of the three dead men all the while, the two that attacked him he searched for ID's finding them and pocketing them. However, when he got to the third, Harry watched as he gently rolled him onto his back and crossed his arms before saying a pray for him. He then gently cleaned the blood of the dead man's face, closed his eyes and whispered, "Goodbye my friend, I will get revenge for you."

As he was gingerly getting back to his feet, two cars skidded to a stop at the end of the alley. Three heavily armed men got out and ran to them. John looked at Harry and smiled, "Don't worry, these are my friends, and they will get us out of here."

Two Years Later

Harry was sitting at the table in the dining room in the middle of an extremely serious battle of wills. Across from him sat his opponent, Luca, a bear of a man who scared the shit out of every person to have ever laid eyes on him. Every person that is, except young Harry Potter. The second Luca first saw Harry, two years age in that dirty alley after Harry had saved the life of his boss, Harry had the man wrapped around his finger. Everyone joked that he would follow Harry around like a lost puppy, and for the first time in his life, Luca didn't mind the jokes one bit. Harry was like the little brother he never had, and he would do anything for the little runt. That is how the toughest enforcer in the British underground found himself in the middle of the staring contest to end all starring contest.

Suddenly, as if sensing weakness, Harry smiled and raised one eyebrow. It was the death blow, and Luca knew it the instant it happened. As much as he fought it, he felt the laughter rising in his chest. A quick snort escaped as he fought the rising storm, but it was no use, the damn broke and be burst out in the loud bark of laughter that before two years ago, he never knew he was capable of, yet with the runt around, Luca found himself laughing all the time. Yes, Harry had him, that of one thing that was certain in this chaos filled life he lived.

Finally, He got back under control and glanced at Harry and almost lost it again. The rug rat was leaning back in his chair with the cocky grin on his face, looking like the fox that got into the chicken coop.

"I thought you learned your lesson Luca," both men looked over to see John leaning against the door jam, "What did he get you for this time, you already have to clean his room for the next month, what now."

"He is going to have to go to the next Manchester game in a Liverpool jersey!" Harry said getting up and running to hug the man he thought of as a cross of a brother and best friend.

"Dear god, you know, you are going to get someone killed." John laughed as he returned the hug.

Just then one of the guards at the compound came in and told John there was someone here to see him.

Frowning, he looked down at this boy that meant the world to him and said, "I know I just got back, but let me take care of this and then we will go to Luigi's, OK?"

"Yes!" Harry released him and jumped up with excitement, "Can Luca come too?"

"Naturally, we have to gloat over your victory don't we?" He heard Luca moan as he smiled and roughed up Harry's already messy hair and left to great the visitor.

Entering his office, he quickly appraised his guest; in front of him was a server looking lady in a sharp formal shirt suite. Despite her age, which was up there, she had an air around her of power and control, something that said this was not someone to mess with. However, she also appeared extremely fair and someone he could trust. Knowing that he had a gift of being able to appraise a person, he knew this was no enemy.

"Hello, ma'am, I am John Bishop." He said as he stepped forward, extending his hand, "I was told you would like to discuss something with me and Harry."

"Yes, it is a pleasure Mr. Bishop, I am Minerva McGonagall, the Deputy headmistress at Hogwarts School, and I was hoping we could discuss Harry attending my fine school. I was hoping we would be able to discuss this with him present."

"Yes, you see there is a slight snag with that, you see, nothing personal, but I am extremely protective of the boy, and would like to discuss everything with you before bringing him in."

"I understand sir, in fact, it seems your entire household is taken with the young man, and I am more than happy to discuss everything with you first. In fact I must admit it; after everything the boy has been through I am glad he is well cared for."

"Now, I must ask, would you mind if we took this out of this stuffy office and outside, I just got back from a flight and could use some fresh air?"

"Certainly Sir"

Moments later they had relocated to a table on the balcony overlooking the large garden, in which they saw Harry sneaking up on Luca with a water balloon. They both watched as he lunged out and hit Luca in the back of the head, then taking off laughing with Luca chasing after laughing making threats to throw him into the pond once he caught him.

Minerva smiled as she observed the carefree attitude of the boy, and the reaction he was bringing out in John and the man in the garden below. Yes, she thought, no matter what these men may be, they cared for the poor boy and she could see he was happy here and well loved.

John shook his head and motioned to the two chairs on the end of the balcony.

Once seated, he started on the offensive, "I do not know what kind of school you want to take Harry to, but I must warn you, he already has the best tutors money can buy, plus he is well cared for and loved here. It will make many people here sad if I sent him away. Most important, it would pain me to be away from him." He paused, and waited a second before asking, "Do you know who I am?"

"Yes, Mr. Bishop. I am well aware of who you are. You are, if I may put it so blunt, a crime lord. To be exact, a captain in a group that acts mainly as mediators between families, and when things get bad, your group, known as the misfits, are known as the deadliest strike force in Britain, able to wipe out entire crime families with one tenth the force. So deadly and efficient, you rival the British SAS. Yet you are known to be exceedingly fair, and use force and violence as a last resort. You also have somehow managed to keep away from the despicable areas that have been the downfall of other families, such as drugs, gambling and postilion. You are, if I may be so bold, a moral group of criminals."

"A teach you say, I bet the SAS themselves have only a third of that knowledge, and couldn't prove any of it. I also like the description of us as moral criminals; I may have to use that in recruiting posters." He said with a lopsided grin.

He studied her for a second, "Are you religious ma'am?"

"Mr. Bishop, I assure you that I am just a teacher at a very special school, yes, but still just a teacher. As you can see I do not like to mix words and tend to be very forward. I can honestly say, I know what you do, but I only care for the safety and well-being of my students, and as Harry is a potential student, he is included in that. I can clearly see that he is indeed well cared for and loved here, so I have no hard feelings against you. I believe you to be a honorable man. As for your other question, no sir, I am not religious; may I ask why you ask?"

"I grew up in a rough area of town to an abusive father who was a drunk that use to beat my mother and myself. At the age of ten, I ran away and lived on the streets, falling into a life of crime. My path was leading to an early death, when I was arrested and sent to a catholic boarding school. The head of the school was a strict nun by the name of Sister Marry. She took me under her wing, made it her mission to teach me right from wrong, to save my soul if you will. She told me that what maters isn't the law, but doing what is right, sticking up for what is important, and helping others. In fact, something reminds you of her and I feel like I can trust you. When I graduated, I started this group here, under the blessing of a crime boss I knew from my days on the street. We quickly proved ourselves and our methods. We eliminated drug traffic and drug abuse in our area, we quickly negotiated a peace between two rival families, and also made the involved parties agree to slow the use of drugs in their areas. And we did this with a mixed group that didn't fit in anywhere else. We do not care where you are from, or your ancestry, just that you are hardworking and dedicated."

"Don't get me wrong, I know we are no saints, we are brutal, we are killers, and we are criminals. But we are also the force that keeps the gangs from an all-out war, endangering innocents and robing families of their sons and fathers."

"But we had started slipping, getting greedy and careless. Then Harry came along. He is out moral compass, our guide. He saved my life one day, and became a part of me. I would say he is a true friend, but he is more. I love him like a son, or maybe a little brother. I will do anything for him, I will die for him. So, now that you know that, tell me, why should I send him away to your school?"

"Because I knew his parents, I loved his parents, I taught his parents in our school. The day they died, was the worst day of my life, I cried for Harry and his parents. Lily was like the daughter I never had, James was the son I never had. When the headmaster insisted Harry live are those sorry excuses of people that where his only relatives I argued against it. I said there were better options, better people. In truth, I wanted to take him and raise him as my own, teach him about the wonderful people that were his parents. But the headmaster insisted, and who was I to disagree. They would have wanted him to attend Hogwarts."

"You see Mr. Bishop, John; it is a school for Witchcraft and Wizards. Harry is a wizard and can do magic, but he needs to learn to control it, we will teach that."

And so it began, over the next five years, Harry spent the school years at Hogwarts excelling in classes, making friends and getting into all kinds of trouble. On holidays and breaks, he returned to Manchester to live with his adopted family. While only John and Luca actually knew the truth of the school, every summer, the young prince returned to his friends, telling wild stories of adventures and misdeeds to everyone who would listen. One thing Harry knew, this was his home, and this was his family, and he would do anything for them.

While Harry became close to a small group, including Hermione, Neville and the Weasleys, all was not well. One aged old headmaster grew concerned with Harry and the crime family raising him. He felt that they were a bad influence on him and tried several times to get him removed from their care and placed back with his Aunt and Uncle. While unsuccessful, mainly due to his deputy headmistress interfering, he still ignored the good in him and allowed Snape to convince him that Harry was indeed going to go dark. One thing he knew was this time he was going to stop him before he became a threat. After all, he had learned his lesson with Voldemort.

A/N Ok, Here we go, this is one of about eight stories I have been working on but it is the one I feel the most comfortable with and have the best chance to actually finish so I am posting it first. It is un-beta so I do apologize for any errors as I am sure there are some. Please, I am new to this and will quite posting and just write for myself if I get too many nasty comments about little stuff. So if you have a concern or criticism, feel free to send it to me but try to be polite about it. If you are a dick and hurtful or just hate my stories, just do not read my stuff, simple as that.

More pleasant shit now, I will try to post around once a week or so, I work around 60 – 70 hours a week and there is nothing consistent about it, so I will not have a set schedule for you, sorry about that. I currently have about ten chapters done, I think, or about 30K words, I know that one, and feel I am just started so I think it will be well over 100K, and that is a conservative estimate, I have no real goal, just when I feel it is done it will be, thou Harry and the Bishops have a lot of people to deal with. Please review, like I said, I am knew to actually sharing my stories, I have been told I don't play well with others, so I need encouragement that they really do not suck. Thanks, and next up, "The Set Up", or whatever I decide to call the chapter.

Oh yeah, the bum is Sea Sick Steve, and the air conditioning thing is actually from a story he tells of when he lived on the streets and next to one in the winters. Check him out too, one interesting musician.