Outsiders

Disclaimer; I own neither Harry Potter nor Smallville therefore I take no credit for any characters or plots from either canon. I do however come up with my own additional plots.

Just an idea I got after buying my sister the forth season Smallville. For a change however I will be posting this under the Smallville heading since only parts of Harry Potter will be involved.

Oh yeah. This will be SLASH, nothing dramatic but it will be there and it probably wont be Clark/Josh. I don't know yet.

Chapter 1; Fitting in

"Joshua!" The fifteen year old teenager shot bolt upright in his bed as his uncle's voice boomed up the stairs. "I'm leaving and if I'm not too much mistaken unless you manage to get yourself ready in the next two minutes you'll be late for school!"

Josh looked to his nightstand and his eyes widened almost comically. His first day at a new school and he was going to be late. He was joining the school year late but he didn't much mind, he was used to it by now. Ever since his Uncle Kevin had rescued him from his abusive relatives at age eight they had moved from place to place, especially after Uncle Kev had explained his magical heritage and those that would want him to return.

Josh however had no intention of joining the world that his Uncle had described to him since he was happy in this life. Living with his Uncle free from his supposed fame given to him by his parents' deaths.

He jumped out of bed and threw on the first items of clothing that he came across, luckily that meant a pair of black combats and a red t-shirt from his clean cloths pile that had been dumped on the chest at the foot of his bed the previous evening in favour of spending the night with his Uncle before he returned to Metropolis.

It would be like this for as long as they stayed in this middle of nowhere town. There wasn't enough jobs in this town for medics with his Uncle Kev's experience so he had taken a job at Metropolis general and only come to Smallville when he could. Josh didn't mind particularly since he was used to being independent but he still wished that he would be able to spend more time with his surrogate uncle.

Josh glanced in the mirror to check his appearance, he'd rather start school late then arrive at a new school looking like he'd just slept in the streets. He vainly tried to smooth down his silver streaked raven hair which when straight just covered the tips of his ears and a high collar at the back. His eyes were as alive as ever, their emerald colour was one of the parts of his appearance he liked the most. And then the two parts of him he despised, firstly the three inch long scar that ran across the right of his throat just reaching the centre before it faded away and then the lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead that had a burn scar over it which at least he could easily hide with a dark green sweat band that only acted to mess up his hair further.

He never bothered to hide the scar on his neck since it looked like nothing more than an accident, the burn mark over a rather unnatural looking scar that adorned his forehead weren't as easily explained away so he hide them.

They were the reminder of his passed life and whilst he hated them it was their creation that had spurred an innocent neighbour like his Uncle Kev, the brother of a murdered muggleborn witch, to take action and then kidnap him when the local authorities turned a blind eye.

Josh tore his eyes from the scar and glanced at his watch realising that he had thirty minutes until he was supposed to meet his new headmaster and it was a half hour walk away. He darted into his bathroom to do his teeth, splash his face and anything else he could do in a rush before running from his room. He grabbed his bag on the way out of the house but it didn't yet have any book in it, only three sketchbooks, charcoal, pencils and wax crayons that he used to draw when he was bored.

They'd been in town three days now and last night his Uncle Kev had driven the route to school for him so that he could easily walk the route today. He had no doubt that he would miss a turning or get lost. He was freakishly observant and had a brilliant memory for details, hence why people told him his drawings were so lifelike.

It wasn't long before he was walking towards a three story flat-faced building that flew the Stars and Stripes above the door. Nobody was milling about like you'd expect so Josh knew that he had already missed the first bell. He walked into the door before glancing around to get directions. Luckily a sign on the far wall, next to a trophy cabinet, pointed all visitors to the right. Josh shrugged before following the corridor down towards a sign over a door stating 'Reception', another door after it declared the room behind it as being the Principle's office. Josh opted for the reception and walked through the ajar door.

He looked around the room at the three adults that milled around the office and a girl his age who sat on a set of chairs to the left. She had dark hair that hung down her back and a kind face. She hadn't noticed him though. He approached one woman who had just sat behind one of the desks and ran his hand over his hair in a self-conscious attempt to flatten it.

"Umm, excuse me?" He asked quietly to get the woman's attention. "I'm supposed to report to the Principles office." He said as she looked up.

"What have you done and which teacher sent you?" She asked with barely a glance. Josh frowned.

"Umm, sorry. I don't know what you mean." He told her apologetically. "This is my first day. My Uncle told me to come straight to see the Principle."

This time she did look right up at him. She looked him over, obviously trying to assess his character through his appearance which for Josh was never a good way to start since he always looked rather unkempt. She obviously agreed with that statement as she frowned at either his sweatband or his unruly, streaked hair. Josh wasn't sure which and honestly he didn't care.

A voice interrupted her before she could speak. "I'll take him." The dark haired girl from before spoke up making Josh jump in shock at the sudden intrusion. The receptionist frowned further but made a dismissive gesture all the same. "Come on." She beckoned to him and he followed her back out into the corridor and to the next door along. She knocked once and a muffled response from inside granted them entry.

She went in first and Josh followed her. The Principle was a rather intimidating man that reminded Josh strongly of a Principle he had had before moving here who had taken an instant dislike to him and kept it regardless of Josh's good grades and attentive behaviour.

"You'll be Joshua Ackervey then?" He asked him, though his gentler tone countered his harsh appearance.

"Yes Sir." Josh nodded before continuing sheepishly. "I'm sorry, I'm late. I had to walk in." It wasn't exactly a lie or even an excuse but it was true none the less.

"That's fine." The Principle told him before introducing himself and then looked to the girl who had remained behind. "I'm afraid I am rather busy at the moment. "This is Lana Lang. Luckily she has the same class schedule as you and this period free and has kindly offered to look after you for the day. Be sure to come see me at the start of next week so I can see how you are fitting in."

This seemed to amount to a dismissal from the older man since the girl, Lana smiled at him and nodded her head towards the door. He follow her out and paused beside her in the corridor.

"I'm sorry to cause you any inconvenience, Lana." Josh told her as soon as he could. "I could find my own way around if you'd like to go." He offered with a slightly crooked smile.

"Oh!" She seemed shocked that that was what he was thinking. "No, don't worry. I'm happy to show you around. You just stick with me today."

"Don't you have something better to do then show the new kid around?" He said as she started down the hallway. He had to jog slightly to catch up.

"Not really, we have to be in school during our frees and I would do more or less anything to avoid my friends in the torch." She explained with a grimace.

"What's wrong with your friends?" Josh asked. He only had a few friends and never went out of the way to befriend somebody since he always had to leave eventually anyway. He still kept up with a friend he had met in Metropolis but he was rather hard to contact since he got around a lot and never had a phone. So he was confused as to why she would so offhandedly avoid her own friends.

"No. Don't get me wrong, I love my friends but one of them is kinda obsessed with her job as editor. She likes us to write in the school paper and I don't really have the patience for that sort of thing." She told him with a quick glance.

"What is your sort of thing then?" Josh asked. Normally he never asked so many questions but she was a likeable person. Plus she hadn't judged him by his rather rebellious appearance yet which was always a good sign.

"Well, I like horse riding." She offered. "I also run the Talon."

Josh looked at her with a slight frown. "Sorry, what's the 'Talon'?"

"It's a coffee shop in town. It serves really good coffee, you can just sit and relax with your friends." She explained.

"How did you manage to run a coffee shop?" He asked confused. "Aren't you a bit young?"

"My partner is Lex Luthor, he deals with all the legalities." She explained.

"Right." Josh muttered. "Well I'm not that much of a coffee fan myself."

"That doesn't matter, we serve all kind of drink." Lana explained hastily. Josh didn't respond. "How about that tour then?"

Josh looked at her for a second wondering if she was seriously going to give him a tour. He had been to ten different schools in the last seven years and never once had the assigned student actually wanted to take him on a tour. "You're serious?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course I'm serious!" She seemed surprised that he had been so blunt.

"You actually want to bother to show me around?" She nodded slowly as if to a small child. "You're strange." Josh muttered quietly but by her smirk he knew that she had heard him.

"It's a small town, we don't get to meet new people very often." She said as she started walking away.

"Lucky you." Josh muttered bitterly before following her. He walked beside her for the next hour as she showed him around the school, to the gym, locker rooms, his own locker, the cafeteria and lastly, though reluctantly to the torch.

"This is the Torch." She said as she walked through the door ahead of him. He followed her as he had for the last hour and saw that three people were within. A girl with shoulder length blond hair was working on a computer by the window. Two boy stood to the side muttering to each other two quietly for him to hear. One was taller than most with unruly black hair, slightly longer than his own but of the same shade and with the same lack of neatness. He wore a rather unflattering plaid shirt and jeans whilst the other, a dark skinned, shorter boy with shaved hair wore more fashionable clothing.

All three looked up as they came in. "Is this the new kid?" The taller boy asked.

"Yeah. Everyone meet Joshua Ackervey." She gestured towards him and smiled at him comfortingly.

"Just Josh please." He muttered with a dip of his head.

The girl stepped around her desk. "My name's Chloe, I'm the editor of the Torch." She gestured at the shorter boy. "This is Pete," The boy nodded at him before Chloe continued. "And this is Smallville's own farm boy, Clark Kent."

Josh nodded at both boy's before Chloe led him to a chair under the window. He looked at the chair but realised that everyone was still standing so he turned and sat on a table that ran along the windowsill. "It's nice to meet you all." He said when they all looked at him weirdly.

"So, why you moving into town?" Pete asked him as he moved to claim a table in the middle of the room. Chloe rolled her eyes as the boy cleared a pile of papers to make room.

Josh shrugged slightly. "My Uncle works in Metropolis but wanted to live out in the countryside so he brought a house here."

"You're from Metropolis then?" Clark asked him from where he remained standing.

"Not really. I've moved ten times in the last five years. I was only in Metropolis for six months." Josh told them. He hated moving so often but he knew that his Uncle Kev was only looking out for him.

"That must be tough!" Pete said with a strange grin. "Does your Uncle travel into the city everyday then?"

"Nah." Josh shook his head. "We've only been in town for three days but he's just going to come home on the weekends. He works in the hospital."

"You're staying on your own?" Lana asked surprised.

"Yeah, why?" Josh didn't wait for an answer. "I can look after myself."

"Yeah, that's why you were late for your first day." Lana chuckled at him.

"I'm always late, I'm predictable that way." Josh returned her grin.

"Right, we've only got ten minutes till class starts and I've got to finish this." Chloe interrupted them all. "So you lot be quiet for a while." She ordered them bossily. Josh's eyebrows raised and he looked at Clark, Pete and Lana questioningly but only received resigned looks.

They settled to different tasks around the room and Josh, seeing that he had nothing else to do, pulled out his diary sketch book and opened it to the next blank page. He had two other books that he always carried. One was just a random sketch pad whilst the other was always kept locked and kept his secrets but he never liked to leave it alone in case he forgot what it contained.

He pulled a couple of pencils from his bag and started drawing. He was interrupted by Clark a few minutes later and looked up from the outlined sketch of the front of the school. "What's that?" Clark asked.

"It's the school." Josh said after removing the second pencil from his mouth.

"I can see that." Clark muttered amused. "I should've asked why."

"It's a diary." Josh told him.

"Most people write words in diary's you know." Was the response.

"Well, luckily I'm not most people." Josh told him. "Nobody can read my sketches like I can so their true secrets will always be hidden. Look."

Josh skipped a few pages backwards to a drawing of their new house. In front of it he'd drawn his Uncle with his arm around his own shoulder. "That's really good!" Josh jumped and dropped the book as Lana spoke up again at his shoulder.

"Jesus woman, don't you ever knock!" He gasped out getting a laugh from Pete and Clark. The latter passed him back the book and Josh frowned. "You caught that? You must have really good reflexes. Pete stopped laughing as Clark just shrugged. "Thanks." Josh said as he tucked the book back into his bag.

XOXOXOXOXOX

Josh's house

Josh opened the door just as the phone began ringing. He dropped his bag on the wooden floorboards and lifted the receiver.

"Hey there, Josh." His Uncle Kev's voice spoke.

"I didn't expect to hear from you this soon!" Josh told him happily. "How was your first day?"

"Oh you know how it is." Uncle Kev sighed. "It's the same everywhere, the new doctor has all the tough jobs. How was your first day?"

"I just got home actually. It was ok I suppose. They're a strange bunch but I suppose that's because they are a small town school." Josh told him.

"Did you make any friends?"

"Not really." Josh told him before hesitating. "Well there were a few that I spent the day with but it was only really because the Principle told this girl to show me around for the day because we had the same classes and then her friends tagged along but I don't think any of them are really interested in making new friends."

"You never know though." His Uncle reminded him and got a non-committal grunt in response before continuing. "What are you going to do tonight?"

"I was thinking about going into town. The medical centres on the way so I can always pop in on the way. The girl that showed me around owns a coffee shop in town and told me I should stop by." Josh told him.

"Are you going to volunteer at the medical centre again?"

"I might as well. You know I like to help if I can." Josh told him. "I might as well make the most of it."

"That's true." His Uncle chuckled. "It is your thing after all. I'll be home Friday afternoon so be good. I love you."

"I love you too." Josh smiled even though his Uncle couldn't see his expression before he hung up.

XOXOXOXOXOX

The Talon

Josh paused outside the coffee shop and glanced through the door. There was a moderate crowd inside the building but that didn't bother him since most would ignore him anyway. Still large crowds in a new setting creeped almost anybody out. He pushed open the door and headed towards the counter at the far end of the room. Pillars stood within the oval shaped room and a cordoned off staircase circled the curved back of the room to the top floor.

He paused at the counter patiently as Lana finished serving a cup of coffee to another customer before turning to him. "Hey, Josh!" She smiled at him kindly. "How about a drink?"

"I'll have a hot chocolate if you've got it." Josh told her and handed her the money needed. He waited as she made it for him and took it with the proper gratitude.

"Why don't you go and sit with Chloe, Pete and Clark?" Lana offered. Josh turned slightly to see the group sitting on a curved bench against the wall with drinks on the table. They were happily laughing and joking together.

"Nah, that's ok. I'll get a table." He turned back to Lana with a small smile.

"They wont mind." Lana told him, "Every new kid needs a helping hand to start with."

"They seem to be happy and I'm sure they don't want me disturbing them." Josh told her. It was one thing he hated every time he moved, there were always a few that took pity and tried to help him fit in even though they didn't really want to. "Besides, I need to fill in this application. Do you have a pen I could borrow?"

Lana reached to the side of the till and passed him a black biro before speaking, though she had given up on trying to get him to sit with her friends. "What are you applying for? A job?"

"Not really, I just offered to volunteer at the medical centre but they need me to fill in a normal application before they can accept." Josh told her. "I do that in every place I've been."

"Why?"

"I like to help when I can." He shrugged, "You wouldn't understand. It's a normalcy thing." He told her before turning towards an empty table on the other side of the room to her friends. She wouldn't understand since she always had familiarity around her. When you moved at least once a year you looked for things that were the same in all places and for Josh that was volunteering at the hospitals or animal clinics.

He sat on his own for a while, periodically going between studying those in the room, drinking his slowly cooling hot chocolate and filling in his details on his application. He'd drop it back in on the way home. He'd spoken to one of the doctors on his way into town and she'd excepted his help when she had heard that he had helped out at other hospitals, retirement homes and clinics. No doubt she would call one of his previous hospitals doctors to check up on his story but she had gladly welcomed somebody around that would just talk to lonely patience, make sure they ate and were given the time to realise that somebody cared.

Once he finished his application it went into his bag and his diary came out. He sneaked glances of the three across the room as he sketched them and Lana who he added to the scene as if she wasn't serving customers but instead just relaxing with her friends. He knew from the way they reacted together that they had known each other all of their lives but he also noticed that Chloe had a small thing for Clark though she probably hadn't admitted it and that there was a certain tension between Pete and Clark that he guessed wasn't usual in their friendship.

Clark rather obviously had a crush on Lana and by Chloe and Pete's reactions that day it was obviously to everyone and not just the observant Josh. He had managed to capture most of that in his drawing and was studying it when a shadow fell over him making him look up. He didn't bother to hide the sketch since the person had already undoubtedly seen it and it didn't matter to him since his private sketches went into his locked book still in his bag.

Chloe stood over him with a small smile as she appreciated him sketch. "You know, I don't have an artist for the Torch and I'm in dire need of one."

"Are you just informing me of that or do you have something else to say." Josh said as he closed his pad and put it away.

"I'd like you to draw for the Torch, you'll get extra credit." Chloe offered.

"Sorry." Josh looked up at her again before standing. "I don't draw for anybody but myself." His sketches were his release. His Uncle and his sketches were his life and he wasn't about to allow hundreds of people to scrutinise either one. He moved around her and walked to Lana who had just recently sat to chat to Clark and Pete and presumably Chloe before she had come over. "Thanks for lending me the pen." He told her as he handed the biro back and turned to leave.

"See you tomorrow." Lana called out as he walked from the room. He half turned back to her and nodded to her with a small smile.

Before he left he heard Pete speak. "Does he have a problem or what?" He also heard the sound of a hand smacking his arm and he smiled again before the door closed behind him.

XOXOXOXOX

End Chapter