Steve: Well, folks, considering that it's Halloween and all I decided to give you a one-shot from my series: Tales of a Maho Shinobi. This piece takes place when Harry's eight years old. Pen-pen? If you would?

Pen-Pen: (Wark Wa WAAK arrk waark)

Hinata: Translation is "The author doesn't own Harry Potter or Naruto". He just owns this story, the plot and his insane plot-bunnies.

Steve: Please enjoy.

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Iruka is sitting at his desk while deep in thought about one of his students, not for the usual reasons though. 'I wonder what's wrong with Harry today? Usually he's more out spoken and mischievous, but today…' Here he takes another look at one of his favourite students. 'Today he looks like someone killed his puppy.' And sure enough, Harry is staring out the window sadly. Iruka then notices Naruto glancing at Harry with a sad look.

'Harry nii-san… Today must be so hard for you.' Naruto takes some comfort from Kyubi's whispers.

'Indeed. However Naruto-kun, your brother's strong. Today may be full of sadness and grief for him, but he always bounces back, not letting this particular darkness win.' Naruto nods before realizing Iruka's talking to him.

"Er… I swear that I had nothing to do with the exploding toilets!" Blinking at the random comment, Iruka sighs.

"Actually I wasn't asking about that, but thanks for the info." Iruka comments dryly, causing most of the class to laugh. However the frown he's wearing deepens as he notices that Harry isn't one of them. 'Okay, now I'm worried. Normally Harry would make a sarcastic comment about now, yet he didn't react at all.' Shaking his head, he turns his attention back to Naruto. "Anyways, I was wondering if you could stay for a bit so I could discuss something with you." Naruto nods as the bell rings. As the class begins to leave, Iruka nods towards Harry's direction. Getting the hint, Naruto turns to him.

"Yo! Nii-san, if you want you can go ahead." Nodding, Harry silently leaves the room. After he's gone and the door closes, Naruto looks at Iruka with an annoyed look on his face. "Ok sensei, what do you need to talk about? If you hadn't noticed nii-san kinda needs me today." Iruka nods.

"Actually, that's what I wanted to talk about." Seeing Naruto's confusion, Iruka allows him to see how worried he is. "Harry's been acting odd today… In fact he's been acting odd all week." Suddenly his eyes widen. "Wait! Now that I think of it, he acts like this every year. Did something happen around this time?" Naruto gives a mirthless chuckle.

"Yeah, something did happen." Feeling the curiosity coming off Iruka, he sighs. "Today marks the anniversary of his parents murder at the hands of one of his homeland's worst missing-nin, Voldemort." Giving Iruka a look, he continues. "In fact, his parent's died defending him when he was a just over a year-old." Iruka's eyes mist over as the pieces come together.

'I see… He's like I am on October tenth…' Iruka straightens as he hears a gasp from outside the window. Rushing over, him and Naruto are confronted by the sight of Hana and what will become the rest of the rookie nine (Minus Sasuke). Hana's eyes begin to tear-up.

"That… That baka! He shouldn't be alone today of all days then!" She jumps as she hears someone clearing their throat. Looking up she blushes as she realizes that she's been caught. "Eh hehe? Opps?" Iruka sighs before jumping down, Naruto following.

"You do realize that eavesdropping is rude right?" Hana looks away.

"Yeah I do." She then turns to Naruto. "I know that I shouldn't have been listening, but…" She takes a deep breath. "But I was worried and Harry wouldn't talk to me and…" Naruto interrupts her by raising his hand.

"Understood. Besides what's done is done. What remains is what we're going to do…"

0000000000000000 Sometime later 00000000000

Harry is currently sitting, watching the sun slowly make it's way below the horizon. He's so into his thoughts that he doesn't even notice the evening chill. He jumps a bit as a coat is placed over his shoulder. "Jeeze, You should really dress better if your going to brood at this time of year." Harry twists around the name of the person coming from his lips.

"Hana-chan?! What are you doing here." Her reply is to sweep him into a bear hug berate him.

"Baka. You shouldn't spend today by yourself!" She gives him a kiss on the cheek. "In fact, you should have told us why you've been acting down in the dumps." As her words registers, his head snaps up.

'Us?!' Looking around he notices Ayame along with Iruka and several of his friends, not counting Naruto and his familiars. "Gu… guys? Wha… what are you doing here?" Ayame makes her way to his opposite side and gives him a kiss on that cheek before joining him and Hana in their hug.

"We're here because we care, about you Harry-kun." His head slowly droops.

"Sorry, it's just that…" Harry takes a shuddering breath. "It's just that it's so hard, you know…" He looks away from them into the horizon softly mumbling. "It just hurts so much… that sometimes I wonder if it will ever go away…" At Iruka's sigh he turns and is confronted by a face full of understanding and sadness.

"I wish that I could say that it does, but that would be a lie. Sometimes… sometimes it hurts so much that your heart feels as if it's slowly dieing, doesn't it?" At Harry's nod, he sighs as he looks into the past. "In one way, I'm luckier then you in that I had several years with my parents before they died… In others, I'm not so lucky, in that I know what I missed out on." Here he concentrates on Harry. "Believe me when I say that I went through some thing similar… still do in fact. But I think that their proud of you Harry, never doubt that." Harry lightly sobs.

"How… how can I know that? That their up their proud of me?" Hana's and Ayame's arms tighten around him. "I can't help but think that their disappointed in me, in what I'm becoming…" This time it's Sakura who comes over.

"Harry, look at me." When he doesn't she raises his chin with her finger. "Look at me. I, myself is positive that they do." Here her look softens. "I known I'm proud of you." Ino simply scoffs.

"As much as I hate to, I got to agree with forehead on this one. For once." Shikamaru is the next one to speak.

"Che, so troublesome." he shakes his head. "Their probably watching you now, with pride in their eyes." Chouji comes over and pats Harry on the shoulder.

"Yeah (Munch) what (munch munch) he said." Chouji states while eating some chips. Hinata comes over and gives him a hand to get up. Looking at her in askance, she gives him a gentle smile.

"I think you should come and see something Harry-kun…" Slowly her and the others guide him out of the clearing. As they slowly walk, Harry notices them in black formal Kimonos. He rapidly blinks some tears away, grateful for them lending him strength.

'Thanks guys…' Eventually they reach their destination, coming out from a stand of trees, their greeted with the sight of the Hokage and the Shinobi council members standing in front of the Memorial stone. "Ojii-san?" Chuckling at how he refers to him, Sarutobi gives Harry a sad smile while puffing at his pipe.

"Harry, Iruka and the others came to us earlier and gave us an explanation of what exactly happened all those years ago and why your so sad on October 30. I remembered an old Law and… well… we took a vote." Harry's eyes become slightly larger as he guesses at what the Hokage's talking about.

'They… they didn't…' He makes his way to the Memorial stone and is confronted by two names inscribed there. 'Evens-Potter Lily, Potter James' Seeing those two names on the same stone that holds the names of so many of the village heroes, he collapses. 'They did… They really did…' Tears running down his cheek, he feels a hand on his shoulder. Looking up, he sees the Sandaime looking down at him with a grandfatherly smile.

"Harry, while your parents weren't of this village, the Will of Fire truly burned in them. Therefore, by my decree they have been placed with the other heroes of our village in a place of honor… as they deserve." Harry leaps at him, hugging him tightly as tears of sadness, grief and joy run freely down his face. It is at that point that Row begins to sing a song full of emotion, helping to free the trapped feelings as Harry says the same thing over and over in thankfulness.

"Thank you, thank you all…"

0000000000000000 Later that night 0000000000000000000

Harry is sleeping when a light touch brings him slightly out of his slumber. Opening his eyes he's confronted by the sight of a slightly transparent red haired, green eyed woman softly stroking his cheek. "mo… Mom?" Harry asks believing it to be a dream. He than catches sight of a messy, black haired man with hazel eyes and glasses who's also slightly see through. "Dad?" The women just shushes him.

"It's okay Harry… Mommy's here and so's Daddy. Just go back to sleep, you're safe now… We'll just stick around and watch you for a bit, okay?" She smiles as James adds his two Knuts.

"Yeah, Prongslet listen to your mom now. We'll keep watch." Both look on with sad, yet happy looks as Harry's eyes slowly close.

"I… I just (Yawn) hope that I make you two proud of me…" James's answer brings a happy smile to Harry's face.

"Don't worry kiddo, you've done that and more…" To him, James couldn't be prouder of the man his son's growing into. He looks on as hi9s beautiful Tiger-Lily sings their son a lullaby that allows him to fall into a deep, trouble-free sleep. After a few minutes of watching Harry's chest rise and fall, they both hear chiming declaring it to be four O'clock. James reaches over and places his hand on his wife's shoulder. Come on now, Lil's. It's time to go." Lily looks at him with a tear streaked face.

"Now? But, but we haven't had enough time!" James reply is simply to shake his head. "O… Ok, just let me say good-bye then." She reaches over and gives Harry a kiss on his forehead while James ruffles his hair causing him to sigh happily in his sleep. "Good night my baby boy and… sweet dreams." Getting up she buries her head in her husband's chest, softly sobbing as she fades away.

And after that night, whenever Harry would feel like giving up, he would get a strange feeling… That somewhere his parents were looking at him with pride. No longer did he have serious doubts about that, despite forgetting what occurred that night…

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Halloween is a magical day. For it is the one day a year when the veil between the worlds of the living and those of the dead are at their thinnest. It is a day when, if you listen closely, you might hear the voices of departed loved ones come across the gulf. And, if your lucky, you might even feel their presence watching over you, letting you know that they will always watch you through the good times and the bad, even if you don't know they're there. Here's wishing you a safe and happy Halloween.