"Potter!" Aunt Petunia screeched from the bottom of the staircase. "Get down here! Now!"
Harry Potter glanced at the clock on his beside table. It read 4:34 PM. Debating for a moment whether he should follow his aunt's orders or not, he finally decided that he had wasted most of the day lying about, and rolled off the side of his bed. Standing, he brushed a hand through his hair, making it stick up in several more places than normal.
"Potter! What are you doing, you good for nothing laze-about?" his Aunt screamed up the stairs at him.
"Coming, coming," he said, just loud enough for her to hear. He pushed his door open and made his way down the stairs. "What?" he asked, tiredly.
"Potter, I swear, just one more bloody owl like this, and you're out of here!" his aunt screeched at him, pointing to the kitchen window. Harry walked over to open the window and let the bird it. It flew in a couple of circles around the kitchen ceiling, making Aunt Petunia screech again, before it landed in front of Harry. He quickly untied the letter from around its foot and shooed it back out the window. Aunt Petunia glared at him.
"What?" Harry asked, thoroughly uninterested. His aunt merely narrowed her eyes at him before stalking into the living room, muttering about how those freaks should just send letters like normal people. Harry rolled his eyes at her retreating back before taking the letter in his hands and opening it. He scowled darkly at the parchment, as he recognized the loopy handwriting as Professor Dumbledore's. He was sorely tempted to throw the letter away, but opted to read it, unwilling to part from a possibility of information about the wizarding world.
Dear Harry,
Tonight at exactly 7:00 PM, Professor Snape will be arriving at Number 4 Private Dr. Please do have your belongings packed and ready to leave. You will not be returning to your relatives' house this summer. All will be explained when you arrive at Hogwarts. Hope your summer is well.
Albus Dumbledore
Harry fumed. Any other summer he would have given anything in the world to leave his relatives house, and, of course, the one summer he actually wanted to stay, he was forced to leave. He didn't even get a say in the matter. After what happened in the Department of Mysteries….
No, don't think about that.
And last year, in the Forbidden Forest.
Stop it! Nothing you say or think or do will bring them back!
Harry sadly climbed upstairs, and started to pack.
"Alright guys, training is over for today. You're free to go," Kakashi said, pulling his book out from his pocket.
"WHAT?!" the number one, hyper-active, knuckled headed ninja, Naruto, screamed. "We didn't even have a mission this week, Kakashi-sensei! And now you're ending training early? What the heck!?" Naruto crossed his arms and pouted.
"Yeah, Sensei, why's training ending so early today? We didn't have a mission last week, either," Sakura asked in confusion.
Sasuke just glared at everyone. Smiling, Kakashi started walking, waving a hand behind him. "I have some… stuff to do today. Training will be normal time and length tomorrow. I promise."
The three genin looked at each other in confusion. Seeing that Kakashi was gone, they parted ways and began their treks home.
"And you're sure you can handle this?" the Fifth Hokage asked.
"Hai, Hokage-sama," Kakashi answered.
"And you're fully aware of his needs?" the Godaime asked.
"Hai, it was in the mission briefing," Kakashi answered, becoming annoyed with her pestering questions.
"He'll be arriving tomorrow night at 7:00 sharp. I'll need to speak with him for fifteen minutes or so, but that will give you enough time to get here," the Godaime said, narrowing her eyes at the Copy-Nin, aware of his habitual lateness. "I do not want you to be late for this. I'm serious Kakashi. Understood?"
"Hai," he answered, trying to figure out at what time exactly would be slightly later than the Hokage would want, but not quite late enough for her to leap across her desk and obliterate him as punishment.
With one last knowing glare, she said, "Dismissed."
Within the blink of an eye, Kakashi was gone.
Mechanically, Harry grabbed some floo powder and threw it into the fireplace. Immediately, bright green flames erupted in the grate.
"Your destination is Konohagakure no Sato. I trust that the Godaime Hokage will be there to see you arrive," Professor Snape said, sneering down at Harry.
"That's not even English!" Harry exclaimed, outraged. "How am I supposed to- to- live?! I won't understand anything they say!"
"The Hokage, or leader, of the village you will be living in until your training is complete is giving you a year until you are to attend the local school. Until that time, you will be training with a person from their village that will teach you the language," Professor Dumbledore explained, walking up to Professor Snape and Harry.
"But- but-," Harry spluttered, at a loss. There was no way this could be happening. No, this was all some sort of joke of Professor Dumbledore's. He was probably trying to cheer him up after all that's happened.
"You must go now, or the floo will close up," Dumbledore said, smiling at Harry, eyes twinkling.
Harry glared at them, and yelled into the fireplace as best he could, "Konohagakure no Sato!" He stepped into the grate, and was swallowed by green flames.
