I don't own Naruto or Harry Potter

Chapter 1.

As the sun rose over Kohan, Naruto found himself staring out over the village for the top of the Hokage Monument. He was sitting on top of the carving of his father's head. Taking a long drag on his cigarette, thinking about the war, felt like that was all he did lately.

'Sakura-chan' he solemnly thought about his dead teammate. 'So many things I wish I could have done differently. Mabey Sasuke wouldn't have left, and you'de still be alive.'

"It's not your fault Naruto" came Shikamaru's voice. "You can't blame yourself for Sasuke's choices, he chose to join Orochimaru, he opted to join Tobi, he tried to kill us all. He killed Sakura, not you."
Shikamaru was staring at Naruto; they seemed to have this same conversation everyday.

"I can still see his Chidori going through her, the look of pain on her face, the sneer on his."

Shikamaru could still hear the pain in Naruto's voice; it has been seven months since that day, six for the war was over. 'He's getting worse, not better' he thought as he lit a cigarette of his own.

"She took the smirk off his face, along with the rest of it." A brief smile could be seen on the blond's face before he broke out in sobs. "She always did have a mean punch... she died in my arms Shikamaru... I couldn't do anything..." He turned to look at Shikamaru tears in his eyes. "How am I a hero when I couldn't even save the girl I loved."

Shikamaru let out a sigh, it wasn't worth arguing when he got like this, and he was getting like this more often. 'I can only hope whatever this assignment Lady Tsunade is sending him on can help him move on.' "Lady Tsunade want's to see you, she's sending you on a mission."

Naruto stood up using the sleeve of his coat to wipe the tears from his eyes. He nodded to acknowledge that he had heard him before slowly making his way to the Hokage's Tower.

At the Hokage, Tower Tsunade was thinking of Naruto and how to help him. Despite the sessions with Inoichi Yamanaka, Naruto wasn't doing any better. He said there were too many memories with his teammate here. Teammate, singular, after years of Naruto still seeing Sasuke as a teammate and brother. Even after going to Orochimaru, to Tobi, Naruto still saw him as such. It took that bastard killing her student to break him of that. He still believed people could change for the better. But now he believed in only that second chance, he gave Sasuke way too many, and it cost him.

She looked back at the letter on her desk with a sigh. She wasn't sure the village could afford to be without Naruto for almost a year. Then again, if Inoichi was right, it would be long till he broke completely. She knew from personal experience that if he broke completely, they would lose him anyway, and she owed him for helping her get past her grief the chance to fix himself. She just hoped that sending him to that school would do more good than harm.

A knock at her door brought her back to reality. She knew that it should be Naruto "come in." Tsunade turned to look at the door; her hands moved to fold over one another near the small of her back. Naruto walked into her office in a more subdued manner than she was used to, gone the ball of energy. She looked him over his eyes were bloodshot, with heavy bags under them. He was wearing the same outfit he wore when he fought Pain.

"You wanted to see me Baa-chan" came Naruto's soft voice. She found she couldn't even get upset at that name. She steeled her resolve, she didn't know how he would react, but this was the best chance for him to work through his grief. "Yes, thanks for coming quickly. I'm sending you on a mission; it will take almost a year. You're going to represent the elemental nations in the Quadwizzard Tournament."

Elsewhere at the Burrow, it was mid afternoon, and Hermione Granger had just received a letter from Professor McGonagall. Her two closest friends next to her, Harry to her right and Ron to the left. The letter came as a surprise to the trio; the letter was addressed to her but seeing the curious looks of her friends read it out loud.

"Dear Ms. Granger

I hope you have been enjoying the summer. I have a favor to request of you, this year something will be happening at the school and Hogwarts will be hosting visitors from other schools. I regret to inform you that I am unable to divulge much about why they will be joining us at this time. Most of our guests will be joining us until October thirtieth. However, one will be our guest for the full year at our school. Unfortunately, our education system and his are different he will need to buy school supplies. I have included a copy of the list sent to him; it might look longer than it should. It is a list of required materials for first through the fourth year, minus duplicates of course. He will also need help catching up to the fourth year curriculum, as he will be joining your year. He will be waiting for you at the Leeky Cauldron tomorrow Saturday, August twentieth at ten a.m. I apologize for the short notice, however, due to events at the Quidditch World Cup, I am unable to do so myself. Remember this will be the first interaction he has with the British Magical Community.

Thanks

Professor Minerva McGonagall

After reading it out loud, she looked it over again just to make sure she didn't miss anything. It was short notice, but she could understand. The only thing that stood out as odd was that Professor McGonagall would send a just student.

"There will be Aurors everywhere in Diagon Alley" spoke Arthur Weasley startling the trio. "So there will be nothing to worry about. Besides, at your age wouldn't you fell more comfortable with someone your age showing you around. Harry, Hermione, and Ron couldn't help but nod in agreement with that statement.

The day seemed to go by fairly quickly after the letter had arrived. Most of their conversations were either about why they would have guests at Hogwarts or about the boy that Hermione would be helping out for the near future. Unfortunately, they couldn't come up with anything plausible on either topic before it was time for bed.

As Hermione was lying in bed, she couldn't help but worry what new dangers would this year bring. Why did they always seem to get dragged into something life threatening? Was this new person going to be a friend or another enemy?

A.N.

Thanks for reading the first chapter of my first story.

I hope to have the next chapter up within two weeks. Please let me know what you think. Until next time. WRR