An Elemental Potter Quartet

by InkyStake

When a magician waves a hand, there is an expectation of something to happen. Three people being shat out the back end of the world was far, far from even Sirius Black's most fanciful imaginings.

Disclaimer: The seas of space belong to everyone.

When a powerful 'magician' waves his hand, the expectation is that something inevitably happens no matter the skepticism of the grand audience. In this instance, the man cast in the part of the magician, known around this part of the Elemental Nations as Sirius-sama, expected nothing: no grand reveals, no magnificent trick, not even smoke and mirrors. He was only delaying the physical expression of his audience's belligerency and readying an opportunity for the old-fashioned hoofing it. So when something happened, both magician and grand audience were astounded into stupefied silence.

What exactly could you say when the air ripples and the universe spits three people out of its backend right in front of you? The rudeness of the action notwithstanding.

The three people were equally amazed – as anyone who leaped into the mouth of Death and was regurgitated out the other end would be. Maybe. The eyes of the red-haired male sharpened as he took in the perfumed, silk-clad throng of various females opposite them and then the equally perfumed and silked throng of men and women behind the display. His blue eyes landed on Sirius and widened. After a pause, he asked,

"What on earth are you wearing?"

Sirius' attention was torn from the chained and manacled individual kneeling and supported by the brown-haired woman. He flapped an indignant hand at the speaker and without further ado turned to the audience, who were starting to mutter. He raised his voice cheerfully and waved hands in the direction of the three intruders.

"Well, let me introduce you to my uncle's wife's nephew's nieces! The one in the chains is Arisa-chan! She's very accomodating, as you can see that she indulges her sister every once in a while. Her sister, who is the elder, is Amane-chan! Her authority is absolutely inescapable, don't you think?"

The three stayed silent as Sirius was the only one who knew the situation, though the lovely 'Amane-chan' was covertly glaring at him and there was a definite air of sullenness from a lower level, through the lengths of dark hair that covered the face of the chained 'Arisa-chan'. A manacle-stud dug into a nearby leg as its wearer could feel that the red-haired man, though his face was like stone from a lifetime of dealing with five older brothers, was internally smirking at his companions. His sudden flinch caught the eye of the assembly before them.

"And the other?" a considering glint showed in the eyes of the woman speaking. "Is he not your nephew, Sirius-sama?"

"Oh, no, no. Allow my delicate nieces to travel by themselves and without protection? Certainly not!" he said, outraged at the very idea. "He's the eunuch."

The two 'nieces' and their supposed uncle firmly didn't look in the direction the sudden miffed sulkiness emanating from the redhead beside them. There were enlightened murmurings among the gathered audience, who looked – to the wariness of the three – similar to the hostile gathering they left behind. Considering the fact that THAT collection of pompous Ministry flunkies had the idea that 'poetic justice' would be tossing the dangerous criminal Harry Potter after his dangerous criminal godfather into the mysterious unknown stone archway of the Department of Mysteries, their unease was understandable.

"Excellent. Will you be introducing your nieces to the court, Sirius-sama?" asked a severe-looking man, with a smile that looked somewhat forced. When a noble has five daughters and no sons, being thwarted in ambitious marriage-related politics can be a very very hard pill to swallow.

Sirius tapped his chin thoughtfully. "A week would allow them to rest from the journey adequately. We will talk then." He waved away the room and stood from his chair. "Come," he said to the displaced three and without further ado led the way out of the audience chamber, every inch the lord of the castle.

Once out of sight, Sirius grabbed 'Arisa-chan' into his arms, hugging and carrying 'her' at once. His steps quickened as he led them through the estate. The other two glanced at each other, wands out and hidden even as they followed. Sirius strode through the door of his private rooms and carefully placed his godson on the bed.

"I'm alright, you know."

"You don't look alright."

They were both well aware that Sirius knew exactly where Harry had been recently.

"How long?"

"Few months, not more than a year. No biggie."

That was a relief, at least. Sirius glanced at the doorway, where the other two hovered. "Come in and close the door. They can't hear us here." He shed the garish robes with a grimace and rummaged in a closet. He brought out an armful of nondescript brown cloth. "Here, put these over your robes. You'll stand out less."

Hermione studied him as she accepted a kimono. "You look younger."

"I know, right?" he grinned. "You look older."

"It's been eight years since we last saw you."

"Really? It's been three since I woke here." he sobered when a thought crossed his mind. "Guess ol' Voldy won, if you had to break out of Azkaban?"

"No actually, Voldemort died. It was the Ministry. They didn't like that Harry disagreed with their policies publicly."

"Bastards."

There was a knock on the door. They all froze, except for Sirius, who strode forward to slide it open. The sounds of the night garden filtered in. "We are ready, my lord."

The whisper carried inside to the three who were alert. Sirius straightened and quickly motioned to the three. "Come on."

"Sirius?"

"We can't stay here."

The urgency in his voice had them springing into action. Hermione helped Harry onto Ron's back. "We're leaving?"

"You have good timing," Sirius smiled at them briefly. "If you had come a day later, I wouldn't be here. About those chains..."

"Later, they're kind of tricky," Ron sighed.

"What's happening?" Hermione whispered as they followed the two men that had knocked on the door down dark corridors.

"It's a coup."

"What?" Hermione was agitated. "Against you?" She'd always been more discerning of the political environment. But this time, it was the fact that she was used to seeing the most garish and brightly-colored robes on the powerful people of the wizarding world. In this world, in this instance, that sense did not fail. That it was Sirius wearing those robes was something her mind decided to process later.

"Of course. One of the lords has been planning it for months now. We can't stay here."

"You're telling us later, right? I have the feeling now is not the time." She pointed at the four people perched on the roof opposite them. One of them jumped off and approached. The two men glanced fearfully at them then at Sirius. He reassured them with a wave.

"That was a very excellent jutsu you did tonight, Sirius-sama," came the quiet voice of the approaching man. "Quite unexpected."

Sirius grinned at him. His body-double clone thing was something he'd been bleeding himself for years to make. What fun, that his teenage nightmares about a Black ancestor's research into homunculi would now ensure his freedom. "I'll take that as a compliment."

The man nodded. "Do you mind if I accompany you on your stroll through the gardens?"

Sirius' smile didn't falter. "You're needed here, Kasuga. There is a daimyo to protect."

"You are my lord."

"We both know that I am not a good leader of people. So I found one who would be a better daimyo than I am."

The man straightened and his eyes narrowed. "A bastard child will not -"

"She isn't."

Kasuga waited.

"You know her, I introduced you, remember?" Sirius said significantly and caught the slight widening of the man's eyes only because he was looking. "The proof is - well you know where it is, I imagine. This is my last wish as your lord, please protect her."

"You cannot disappear."

"I can. The lords are moving tonight. You know this. I am already dead. As for heirs, my nieces have no wish to rule a nation."

Kasuga looked pointedly at the redhead. Ron noticed. "Oh, don't mind me," he said airily. "I'm just the eunuch."

"Are you looking for reasons to keep me here, Kasuga?" Sirius asked lightly. "We need to be on our way."

Kasuga paused then nodded firmly. "I assume you have a ship? Matal will accompany you to the docks." His eyes wandered to the person on Ron's back. "Are you in need of a medic?"

"Thank you, Kasuga. No medic. We can manage."

The man inclined his head, leaped back up to the roof to talk quietly to his subordinates. One of them nodded and stepped off the roof to join Sirius' party. He nodded at her briefly and motioned to their two guides to lead again.

They didn't talk until they were out of the palace and into a covered wagon. The two guides bowed briefly and left quickly. Sirius took the reins and the wagon broke into a canter. "It won't be long. We just have to get on the ship." The ship was a merchantman, owned under a different name and registered in Marsh Country. There was no one to stop them as a large explosion suddenly lit up the sky behind them.

Sirius cursed, frowning. "Matal, you better go and help Captain Kasuga. They need you more than we."

The woman inclined her head. "Farewell, my lord."

"It's just Sirius now, Matal."

"Of course." She disappeared in a swirl of air.

"Someone has got to tell me how to do that," said Ron in awe.

~~~~~~~~~~oo00oo~~~~~~~~~~

"Where are we?" groaned Harry.

"Are we there yet?" grumbled Ron, in unison.

"I can't understand how you two can do horrifying stunts on brooms twenty feet in the air and still get sick on a simple boat ride," Hermione said as she placed a two glasses of a ginger concoction on the table beside them. There were some sections of peeled lemon and a small shallow bowl of salt already there.

"Not the same," muttered Ron.

"Good morning!" the door to their little stateroom slid open with an enthusiastic clack. Sirius beamed at the inhabitants a trifle smugly. The annoyed grunts and Hermione's exasperated glance at his cheery entrance only caused his grin to widen. "We're just week away from O'uzu Island, I'm sure your stomachs can acclimate by then. A few days on land and then we're off to Sea Country!"

"Surely we can get off at the island and take another ship to Sea Country?"

"Don't worry Hermione, no man on this ship will tell about us. I own it, see – won it in a card game with some old lord from Marsh whose eyesight was going. The captain is from Marsh Country too and doesn't really care about politics in other nations so he won't tell. 'Sides, I promised him first refusal on buying the ship."

~~~~~~~~~~oo00oo~~~~~~~~~~

A few days later, Ron knocked on the berth Hermione and Harry shared. Harry was still posing as 'Arisa', so they were roommates by default. The chains were difficult to hide and 'Amane' was still fuming about the reason they gave for 'Arisa-chan' wearing them. "Sirius says we're coming up on Moon Country."

Harry peered at him groggily while Hermione sat up on the other bed. "I thought we were going to some place called O'uzu?"

Ron shrugged. He watched as his friends swathed themselves in kimono and scarves and dragged themselves to the deck. Some of the crew were already there. Sirius saw them and waved them over. "Come on, you have to see this."

They arrayed themselves on the side of the ship facing the curving cliffs of a large island. "Moon Country sits on a peculiar kind of rock that is one of the reasons for its name. At this time of year, it's stormy in this part of the Countries, so you're lucky to be seeing it."

"You woke us up for rock?"

Sirius laughed. The clouds moved away from the moon and the crew smiled at the expressions on the traveller's faces. The cliffs glowed pearl under the moonlight. Every now and then a tendril of cloud would snake across the moon and the colours of the cliffs rippled with flashes of rainbow.

Hermione gasped. "Moonstone. An entire island sitting on a massive shelf of moonstone. Oh Merlin, they probably have enough to buy the entirety of England."

"Probably," Sirius shrugged. "If there were wizards here. But it's still a rare kind of stone even then. That and the fact that it sits in the middle of various sea-trade routes means that Moon is a very wealthy country. Powerful too. There's a rumour that the reason Sea Country isn't too prosperous is because the great-grandfather of Sea Country's current Premier once insulted the grandfather of Moon Country's current King. Despite Sea Country being ten times the size of Moon Country, its economy is barely enough to sustain the population. Moon Country has enough money to sustain a hidden village."

"Hidden village?"

"It's where you hide your ninja."

Harry and Ron looked up. "Ninja?"

"Be serious."

"I am Sirius. And also very serious. You saw Matal, right? Now imagine an entire town full of people with her abilities and used to do the dirty work of ruling a country."

"In other words," Ron considered the idea with a crease between his brows. "Their 'wizards' are used as thieves, spies, assassins, saboteurs, and mercenaries."

"Eh, more or less. But chakra is also used by a lot of the general populace, since everyone has it – ninja are just the ones trained to actively use it in ways that would kill people. Oh and the samurai too. Samurai also train in chakra combat."

"That's horrible."

"Yeah maybe, but civilization is weird around here – it's not like back in England. It's like they've mixed what people back home call eastern and western culture and then let it stew in this great big pot of a world. They make it work. Most wars between nations are hidden in shadow between ninja villages, so a lot of the civilians outside the villages are generally unscathed. It's not perfect, it just works for them, I guess."

"So wealthy countries generally have hidden villages," Harry murmured. "Does that mean your country is rich, Sirius?"

"Er, no. The country is good economically but not everyone wants a hidden village – some of the smaller countries contract their ninja work to hidden villages in other allied nations – which is why Horseshoe Country is allied with both Demon Country and Key Country, both which have ninja villages. But not all ninja live in the hidden villages either. Kasuga and Matal are part of the same clan – their entire family is sworn to serve the Horseshoe daimyo and his family as long as the family line exists."

Ron blinked. "Like house elves?"

Sirius barked a laugh. "Ninja house elves. That'll be something."

"Is that why they let you go?" Hermione frowned. "I mean, you're the king – they call it daimyo? - of a country. And they just let you leave."

"Part of it. Kasuga is unlike the rest of his clan in that he puts the well-being of the country above the well-being of the daimyo's family. The clan heir is his older brother, so he's pretty high up in the heirarchy I think. Only he and a few others will know we're still alive. It's also because he knows who I want as my successor and I gave him the documents that will install her as daimyo. No one will be able to gainsay it. The country will be better under her leadership." He grinned at Hermione weakly. "If Kasuga's older brother were the one to stop us, we'd be dead. Barashige holds honor very seriously but he's not a bad person – I think he knew my plans and sent Kasuga instead of going himself."

"It's likely he thinks of you as a fail-safe, if there is another coup – you seem to have a lot of those." Ron murmured.

Sirius made a face. "Hope he does think that. Else there would be an assassin on our trail. I did leave my duties after all. They would come after me to wipe out the stain on my house's honor."

The four went thoughtful at that.

"What is moonstone used for anyway?" Ron asked, to break the silence. "Apart from rune-carving?"

"Potions and alchemy, mostly."

"A number of rituals use it – some of the really useful ones were forgotten because you don't see a lot of moonstone that is naturally magic-infused, like these cliffs."

"So there is magic here?"

"Of course, or Matal would not have been able to do the shunshin – the disappearing thing. It's stronger too, I think. Enough that a good percentage of the population can use it wandlessly. What do you think shinobi use? When you said the ninja were their wizards, I thought you understood that."

"You called it chakra, even when speaking English."

Sirius shrugged. "It's what they call it. Oh, by the way, you'll need to get used to speaking the language. Bad things happen when you switch between English and Elemental – they'll think you're possessed and exorcist techniques are really painful."

"Elemental is the language? Why can we speak it?"

"It's like Japanese, but I can't really call it that, since we're not in Japan so I call it Elemental maybe Elementalese? The good thing is Babel never happened here, so every country speaks the same language or a dialect of it. As for why you can speak it, no idea. You have to learn to get used to the writing too, even if you understand what they're saying."

"Babel?" Harry asked. "Like in the Bible? The tower to the sky or something. They were punished by having them all speak different languages."

"Exactly."

"Why Elemental?"

"The five largest countries around here are called Wind, Earth, Fire, Lightning, and Water. Those are also the five basic elements of this world. When it comes to political, economic, and ninja power, they're the most influential. Even as far east as Horseshoe, there are countries that contract ninja work to those five. So when I first came here, I just got used to calling this place the Elemental Countries. They call the continent that too."

Harry who had been staring at the cliffs that were diminishing in the distance, perked up suddenly. "I don't need a wand?"

Sirius answered him. "No. It's hard though and it's different from the way wizards use magic."

"But I won't need a wand," Harry hummed happily.

"No, pup," Sirius agreed, smiling in response to one of the few happy looks that his godson had since that night they had left the palace compound of Horseshoe Country.

~~~~~~~~~~oo00oo~~~~~~~~~~

Ron spent his days practicing his Elemental, speaking with the crew and learning the ins and outs of many of their jobs. Once he'd proven that he was a hard worker and wouldn't be a liability, the crew was a little more welcoming of their passengers. Hermione spent her days grilling Sirius on every subject about the Elemental nations. Sirius spent most of his days dodging her as she reminded him of the many days he had to memorise every single detail about Horseshoe Country, its allies and enemies, its culture and traditions, most of which he tried to forget as soon as he learned it. Harry took to sleeping most of the day and the three others took turns watching, shaking him awake from the nightmares. When he was awake, he helped the cook, made easier because 'Arisa-chan' was very good in the kitchen. The crew was very appreciative.

When they got off the ship in Sea Country, they were all heartily tired of the ocean and in somewhat high spirits at finally stepping on land again.

"So!" Ron rubbed his hands together gleefully. "That was fun. What are we going to do next?"

"You spent most of the time complaining," Harry pointed out mildly.

"Yeah, but now that it's behind me, I can see that it was a very rewarding experience."

His two friends glanced at the ship still looming behind Ron. Hermione raised a brow at him.

"Alright, so maybe I'm not going to go on a ship again soon, but it was my first time on the ocean, you know."

Sirius came up to them. "Sorry Ron, we're not stopping here for long. So, where do you want to go?"

Harry blinked at him. "This isn't where you planned to stop?"

"No. The captain won't talk but that doesn't mean his route can't be traced. If Horseshoe wants to find me, they won't send an army so I want to confuse the trail as much as possible. No way I'm going back there. There were discussions on breeding me, can you imagine?"

"We crashed into one of those discussions, I assume."

Sirius shuddered. "Thanks. I was running out of things to keep the she-hyenas at bay."

"Wouldn't one of the five great nations be most effective? They're the biggest ones, right?"

"Yes, but if something happens I don't want to get dragged in the middle of political bullshit with behemoths like that. Come on. I got us a room at the local hotel."

The local 'hotel' was a five storey rickety structure that looked like it was going to stumble off its stilts and into the ocean at any moment. They looked at Sirius. He shrugged. "It was both out of the way and very popular."

They looked at the people around the hotel – they definitely wouldn't stand out in the crowd. The room was large and the sleeping area was parted from a small space with tables and chairs by dint of painted screens.

"This port is one of the busiest in Sea," Sirius explained as they arrayed themselves around the table after throwing privacy and obfuscation charms around the room. "A lot of merchants come through here so we aren't worthy of comment." He unrolled a map of the Elemental nations and tapped the far southern islands. "This is us."

"Is that a meteor crater?" wondered Hermione as she saw the unnaturally circular configuration of the ocean north of it. Sirius shrugged and Hermione made a note to check the history and legends of the area later.

"I was planning on making my way to Water Country – they're actually in the beginning stages of a civil war right now and it's easy to walk in."

"You planned to live in the middle of a war?"

"It was a theory," Sirius said defensively. "And I wasn't going to live there, just lose my trail inside it. Obviously I'm not going through with it now – the plan was only for me."

"You think too little of yourself, Sirius." Hermione said quietly. "We all know that if you went there, you wouldn't have been able to keep yourself from helping."

Sirius looked at the three younger people looking at him. Ron and Hermione looked at him steadily, without wavering. Harry was frowning at him. He chuffed with dark silent laughter. "Aren't we a pretty bunch of idiots. I did say it wasn't happening, alright?" No it wasn't. Before, he had little to live for. Now he had found it, for the second time in two lives. He wasn't going to stupidly get killed again.

"Anyway, my best plan was to keep traveling. But it's a good idea to have some place to rest too."

"A home."

"Exactly."

"Anyway, technology here is really odd. They have electricity and some electronics but they don't really use it much – its expensive. A lot of the rural areas are still stuck with medieval technology. There are trains between the large towns but no personal motor vehicles. They use carts and carriages. The shinobi generally run to where they want to go."

"Electricity in a feudal society? That's so..."

"Illogical, right? It may have something to do with the fact that one of their basic elements is lightning."

Hermione shook her head at that. Her list of things to look up was getting longer and longer. But this moment, they had to think about where to go next. "So a place with some convenience that is also out of the way wouldn't be to hard to find if we're willing to compromise. It's not like electronics were big in the wizarding world anyway. Also, we can use magic."

"You've noticed that it's harder to use your wand? That's because the air is saturated with chakra. It's like the difference between flying and swimming – more resistance. Our world was old in magic and that meant our magic was more refined; the magic here is young and rebellious."

"That means we have to start working on our wandless magic as soon as possible, right? Because the wands could stop working?"

"Exactly. Or blow up; what do you think happen to my wand? I'll teach you things I've figured out but unless you find a shinobi to teach you, and that's unlikely, you'll have to create your own techniques."

"Blow up?" All of them stared at Sirius.

"Yeah, I was trying to animate my roses so they growled at intruders. What? It was funny."

"Until your wand blew up."

"Right. Oh speaking of wandless, you can still learn to do the things you know how to do without a wand. I promise you, if I didn't know apparation I would have been stuck in that country forever with some insane woman trying to have my child. Stop laughing, it was hell."

~~~~~~~~~~oo00oo~~~~~~~~~~

"Is every country named for something connected with its general geography?" Hermione asked after some time of re-hashing where they would go.

"Not just geography. For example, Fang and Claw have hunter and warrior cultures and also a lot of wolves. Wind has mostly deserts and a lot of wind, Demon has a history of demon-hunters – I think the place is a weak point in the dimensional fabric."

"Demons?" asked Hermione skeptically.

"You've seen ghosts, haven't you? You also know that dementors suck something out of a human body that most people call a 'soul'. Now the question is, where does the soul go when a person dies and what sort of beings are there? While we're on the subject, what do you think a dementor is?"

"An extradimensional being that needs souls to keep within the dimension it is in."

Sirius looked at her. "Been reading Unspeakable files?"

"Yours, actually."

"Heh, right. Then you know that it doesn't matter what people call things. It only matters that the things are there."

"And how do you kill them," finished Ron.

Sirius laughed. He clapped the redhead on the shoulder. "Your great-grandfather was actually the one to recruit me, you know?"

"How about here?" Harry pointed at a peninsula.

"Tea? You only want your fix, don't you?"

"Shut it, Ron. You're telling me you don't want to go to a country that has a national culture involving tea? So much that the country is named after it? Come on. It'll be just like England."

"Well, it's not bad. There are a few ninja clans in Tea Country but they keep to themselves mostly. It's bordered by Fire and just a few days by ship to Wind, which means excellent trade opportunities and quick transport across the border. Excellent. Also the beaches and resorts are top class, the southern part is especially famous for vacationers."

"So what do we do after we get there?"

"Well, you know, the usual. Find a place to live, get a job, try to have some fun. I sold the ship to the captain so we have some cash."

"Oh," said Hermione. Her best friends looked at her, that particular tone of 'oh' usually indicating something extremely interesting. Hermione looked embarassed.

"Hermione?"

"I...I just forgot about it, with the excitement of everything." She turned to Harry. "I was...the Ministry declared you dead a day before they tried to push you through the Veil."

Ron sat up. "You went to the Goblins."

"I...there were some things that happened in Gringotts that can wait until later. But the thing is, they threw me out with this. I don't know what's in it, but it could be useful." She dropped an old-fashioned silver watch on the table, disconnecting the chain from her robes.

"They threw you out of Gringotts?"

"Goblins don't like to be hurried apparently."

"A watch?" Harry asked, wondering what the build-up was all about. "I mean, it looks expensive, but it can't buy us a house or something."

"I lost you half your gold!"

Harry blinked at her, then shrugged. "I never knew what to do with it anyway. No harm done. Teddy never knew it was there so he won't miss it."

"I left you in Azkaban for months!"

"I'd rather stay there a few more months if it means that I don't immediately get caught again once I get out. You did say you had a plan."

"My plan left everyone we loved behind!"

Harry quirked a brow. "You planned to jump into the Veil? The Weasleys agreed to this?"

"No, that happened because we didn't get to you in time!"

"Apart from us being dead in Britain, it went fine. For me at least. As far as I can see, the ones who should be mad at the present circumstances are you and Ron. You left your families behind."

Hermione looked away.

"Look, Harry, mate," Ron began, fingers combing through his hair anxiously. "When you were arrested, we tried everything to get you out. George told me mum was afraid we were going insane. I know Hermione's parents weren't talking to her. These last few months there's been a whole lot of speeches and propaganda, enough that you would be hunted for the rest of your life if you escaped. We weren't about to leave you alone. There was a chance that Fred and George were already outside the Ministry, waiting for our signal. But Hermione also said there was a chance that 'veil' also meant 'gateway' and we wouldn't be dead if we passed through. We chose what chance we took."

There was silence at that revelation. Harry stared at his friends, something warm and stormy within his chest. He cleared his throat, blinking back what were definitely not tears.

"So, what is this, if it isn't just a pocket watch?"

Hermione smiled tremulously and Ron gave a brief grin. Sirius smiled wistfully at them all and answered. "It's a timekeeper. It keeps things for all time. Basically, eternal storage, or at least until the enchantments on the watch wear out which if done properly they would keep for a thousand years, more if it's passed down from magical to magical and absorbs enough magic." He looked closer. "This could be one of the Potter heirlooms. You could buy an island for what it costs to make one of these. If you saw the display at Grimmauld Place before we junked everything, there was one timekeeper there as well."

"Do we open it?"

"Not yet. Who knows how it opens? It could spew out everything in it at once. These things can hold an entire manor's worth of items."

"So, are we agreed on Tea Country?"

"Well, if we don't like it, there's an entire continent of other places."

"True."

~~~~~~~~~~oo00oo~~~~~~~~~~

"Oh, let's go to Tea Country. It'll be just like England. There'll be crumpets and china cups and criminal organizations after our arses."

Harry glanced at Ron, mildly offended. "The yakuza are Sirius' fault."

"Actually, Tea Country is more stringent with documentation than others," Sirius said cheerfully as he crawled on the wooden beam beside them. "So the fake papers have to be really good – that means criminals."

"Can we have this argument after we get away from the stab-happy, fireball-throwing criminals?" whispered Hermione urgently.

They inched forward under the eaves as footsteps sounded on the roof above them, the boss of the port city's crime elements hoping for a second payday by turning in Sirius and his charges for their bounty. After all, people looking for a second identity have to be hiding from something, it could be profitable.

"Let's never do that again," sighed Harry, his muscles still weak from months in prison, after they cautiously watched the city they had landed in fade behind them. He slumped against the cart. Sirius glanced at him in concern from under the woven-reed hat he had appropriated from an inattentive farmer. Ron, walking beside the ox, pulled at the similar hat that was hiding his flame-red hair and tugged firmly at the ox harness to direct the large animal. The port city was very kind to newcomers, it seemed, if the newcomers were without scruples.

"Why couldn't we have conjured up identification?" Hermione groaned. A knife had nicked her arm when they had been surrounded and the boss demanded various things, money the least of them.

"I didn't know what the documents looked like," Sirius said. He pulled a sheaf of papers from his sleeve. "Here."

Harry leafed through them. "Sirius, this is for four women."

"I just wanted to know what they looked like. Also, there might be chakra verifications on official documentation. If there is, we just need to change the names and photographs."

"How long have you been planning this again?"

"Since I became daimyo, of course. Sitting in tedious meetings all day gives a man time to think."

"Oh," Hermione said idly, flat on the bed of the cart and staring up at the sky as Sirius bandaged her wound. "That's what he meant."

"Hm?"

"That disgusting toad of a criminal. He thought you were smuggling prostitutes in and wanted a cut of the profits."

Sirius sputtered. Harry laughed as he passed the papers to Ron.

"We should change these before the next town," Ron hiked a brow at the photographs, which showed actual women. "These photos are conjured?"

"Of course! Allow my delicate nieces to subject themselves to ruffians in that yakuza dive? Certainly not!"

"I thought you said the more delicate work was impossible without a wand."

"I borrowed Ron's. The lovely blonde who made the papers also can't quite remember what I looked like."

"She wouldn't have remembered anyway," retorted Harry.

"I will have you know that this Padfoot is very worth remembering." He tucked in the end of the bandage, checked that it was tight enough and patted Hermione's uninjured arm. "That's you done."

Hermione nodded in thanks and pulled out the map of Tea Country she'd bought in port. "North doesn't seem to have many cities. How about here?" She asked, tapping a name northwest the Tea capital of Degarashi. "It's a large town and it's near the main trade route to Fire. It's also fairly near the one of the smaller ports – there should be at least some ships there to Wind, right? Since Tea is just east of their capital city?"

"Sure. A lot of Wind's economy is from trade as despite their massive land area, they mostly have desert. Tea Country is one of their major trading partners. I hear Wind's sand dumplings are especially favoured here."

"Sounds like a plan," Ron nodded. "Any towns near here? We should ditch the ox soon."

"Yes, just follow the road. It looks close, so we'll probably see it."

"Hm, I wonder how much we can get for the animal?"

"Can't we just leave it there?"

~~~~~~~~~~oo00oo~~~~~~~~~~

"I think next time, we should let someone else talk to people instead of Sirius."

"What? It may be a bit rundown, but it's a good price. "

The house Sirius had found was built up against a cliff. It was squat and the listing was exceedingly charitable in describing it as 'sprawling'. There was a thick wall made of mud brick surrounding it. Describing it as 'rundown' was optimistic.

"It needs a lot of work," Harry said diplomatically.

"It needs a wrecking ball and a sledgehammer."

"Now now, Hermione. I always wanted to build my own house. Besides, it's out of the way and the view is terrific." Sirius breathed in. "Can't you smell the potential?"

"I can smell something alright."

"It smells like one of the twins' portable swamps."

"Oh," Sirius beamed. "I was told there was a man-made pond on the property!" He looked around and spotted a break in the underbrush. "That way, maybe."

Ron followed him.

They pushed branches away as the overgrown path manifested itself. Ron batted away a couple of mosquitos as they saw the pond. "Whoa, no. I think 'swamp' is a better description than 'pond'."

"Okay, that one I agree with."

They made their way back to the house. Harry and Hermione were examining the outer stone facade. Harry looked up as they neared. "I think there was a fight here. These scorch marks – they look like spellfire. It looks like this place has been abandoned for years."

"Hm," Sirius shouldered the door open. "Maybe more of a fixer-upper than I initially thought." They trooped inside cautiously. "Check the rooms. Don't go alone."

There wasn't much to explore. The front room of the ground floor was one large space and the back half was bisected by a three meter hallway into two large empty rooms. The upper floor was also bisected by a hallway though this one had four rooms on either side of it, as Harry and Sirius saw when they went to join Ron and Hermione. "I think the only reason the house hasn't fallen to pieces is it's made of stone."

The upper floor was partially open to the elements, and not by design. The roof had fallen in and part of the inside was exposed.

Hermione was looking out one of the windows when they found her. "You're right about the view," she smiled as they came up to her.

From the window, she could see the distant gleam of the ocean. Their location was elevated and part of the town was visible, most of it obscured by trees and mountainside. Above them, the sky was deeply blue and she could see birds whirling with the air currents.

"It's great, isn't it!" Sirius looked around in satisfaction. "We can get started with your wandless magic learning as we build the place."

The others looked at him. Ron leaned out of a doorway. "You planned this?"

"Possibly," he drawled with large innocent eyes. "Now, before we order building materials, who wants to work with me on a floor plan?"

~~~~~~~~~~oo00oo~~~~~~~~~~

"Okay, students."

The others looked at each other and in varying degrees of disgruntlement, answered, "Yes, sensei."

"The first thing you should know is that chakra is everywhere. It is infused in everything – the rocks, the trees, the people, the very air is bursting with chakra. You can't get away from it." Sirius paused and looked at them to impress upon them this grand fact, then continued, twirling a finger at an imaginary blackboard. "This is the one single majorly major difference it has with our world. Earth had a fairly limited pool of magic – in the entire world, there were less than a hundred million people out of numerous billions that could manipulate it. In this world, everyone has the ability to manipulate chakra."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were listening with rapt attention. When he got down to it, Sirius was a charismatic teacher. He knew Harry was intently listening because he was interested in getting a measure of this new magic. His godson had loved being a wizard. Hermione was staring at him intensely because, well, she was just rabid for new knowledge. Ron had a tiny crease between his eyebrows and Sirius could see the question in his eyes. "Ron?"

"What did you mean, when you said this world's ma...chakra is young?"

Sirius grinned. "Aha! Yes, I did say that. It means, that it is only within the last few thousand years that human beings learned to harness chakra. I did a bit of digging on this and most countries have a similar legend on how it came about, recent enough in the past and widespread enough that a number of people think that it is history. But I'll tell you that story later. Because the use of chakra is a recent discovery, this world's chakra currents are unlikely to be as refined as the currents of magic on Earth."

"Refined?"

Sirius expected Hermione's question. "People have been using magic for millions of years. Have you heard the story of Rik the Wise?" Ron nodded. Hermione and Harry didn't. "Well, it's in the wizarding histories, the ones they don't teach anymore since Hogwarts was created. It says the gods granted ol' Rik the ability to defend his nation from the giant wingless dragons that roamed the land and the flying creatures that could blot out the sun overhead. He created a ritual in suplication of the gods and called down a great ball of fire from the sky to defeat his foes."

Hermione paled. "That's...the dinosaurs went extinct a hundred million years ago. It's theorised that a massive meteor fell from the sky and created an Ice Age – the dinosaurs couldn't survive the climate change and most of them died out. How can it be possible that the first wizard created the Ice Age? I'm fairly certain human beings as a definite race are not more than two or three million years old."

Sirius shrugged. "Those are the stories. It could have evolved over the years. But that does not matter. What matters is that magic has had millions of years to adapt to the whims of magic-users. Chakra hasn't and I bet you that every chakra-user here has to fight the entire world just to use it in their techniques. If using magic is like going to the cellar and pouring out a glass of pumpkin juice when you're thirsty, using chakra is like having a pumpkin and trying to extract the juice with your bare hands." He grimaced. "I had to learn that the hard way when I lost my wand. The chakra here resists many spells that use wands, possibly also because the wandwood is less magical than their counterparts here. The curious thing about chakra-users is that they've managed to make focuses out of their own bodies."

"You said chakra infused everything," Hermione mused. "And it's stronger here, if more unrefined than magic. The people are that magical?"

"But Sirius," Harry pre-empted his answer to Hermione's question. "We're not from here. Doesn't that mean that we aren't chakra-infused like the natives?"

"Ah, you ever wonder why I, of all people, became daimyo of Horseshoe?" There was a silence. "Hah! I can hear your uncharitable thoughts from this small distance," Sirius pointed a finger at the three accusingly. "How can you ever think it so?"

"Sorry," mumbled the younger three.

Ron leaned back on his arms and stared up at the sky, a deeply thoughtful look on his face. Sirius left him alone to take his thoughts to a conclusion. He had suspicions on the directions the young man was thinking but gods and godly influence was a discussion for later. He grinned at the other two and answered.

"The people here are that magical," he nodded. He pointed dramatically. "In fact, I could cut a branch from that persimmon tree and it would be more magical than your wand!" He ignored their doubtful looks. "Okay, that's not really true. But don't worry, my students! Soon, you will be as magical as the people here!" He gestured to himself proudly. "I got this rocking body from a few months exposed to this world! And I got ready-made relatives to go with it too but that's not as awesome."

Hermione blinked. "Osmosis?"

Harry's brows rose. "That simple?"

"Er..."

"Osmosis," Hermione bailed Sirius out. "We're outsiders and it's like the world sees our difference then attempts to equalise us with the natives by infusing us with chakra to make us similar. That means we could be related to anyone here."

"Exactly. It was horrifying to look at the daimyo's portraits and see that I looked the same. It was like living in Grimmauld as a teenager again. At least the portraits didn't talk or I would have gone insane."

"Is that why you're starting to grow a beard?"

"Well, I used to have a moustache. A beard would be cool, like that Jedi, Ben Kenobi! Maybe not quite that bushy though. It'll make me look old."

His dear 'students', even Ron, took a moment to imagine what Sirius looked like with a moustache. Ron and Harry snorted. Hermione shook her head.

"You know the oddest things about the non-magical world."

"Eh, I was stuck in Grimmauld and bored. Me and Remus snuck out a couple times to watch movies. But, my young students, we are off-topic! Like I said, chakra-users don't need wands but the more physically fit you are, the stronger your chakra. That's why you are going to practice the basic wandless levitation while clearing out the debris from this house!"

The students groaned feelingly. Sirius beamed.

"First though, we should get some perimeter charms set up. Even though the whole world knows about chakra, some places still don't like what they call bloodline talent users."

"I can do that," Ron stood up. He walked inside the house to see what suitable material was there.

"Sirius, what are bloodline talent users?"

"Some families with a particular chakra talent can pass the trait down within family lines. Like with Slytherin and parseltongue, Blacks and metamorphmagi, the Boneses and necromancers."

"What? Bones? Like that sweet girl Susan Bones?"

"That sweet girl Susan Bones had a great-uncle who would grind your ancestor's bones to dust and use it in spells that would make the Unforgivables look weak. Not to say she wasn't sweet, of course, but these were family magics and you don't really control who gets them. They call them bloodtraits here."

Ron rejoined them with four pieces of broken brick. He took a nail and started chipping runes into them. He'd heard part of their conversation and took up the thread from there. "Rumour was," he said, concentrating on the design he was making. "Voldy killed Amelia Bones for her blood – needed it for some ritual or other. Dad said he killed the necromancer great-uncle too."

Hermione peered over at the rune ward Ron was chipping into the brick. "You've never taken Runes," she remarked in surprise.

"Er, yeah. Didn't really want to. But Bill's job was cool, you know, except he said Runes didn't really get interesting until NEWT years. I used to read his books when there was nothing to do at the Burrow. I was planning to get an independent NEWT after the war but you know things happened." He shrugged.

"Did I hear Ron saying he was planning on studying for NEWTs?" Harry said in teasing surprise. "This just has to be a different world."

Ron tossed a piece of brick at him but there was a smile on his face. Sirius barked a laugh and came over to look at his work, peering over his shoulder with Hermione.

"So what are you doing?"

"This is a simple perimeter ward. It'll hold for a day or two. I don't want to do something more complicated since I don't know if runes have power here. Their gods may be different."

Hermione blinked. "Gods?"

"Yeah, you know, it's in rune theory. The language used in by ancient wizards in runes is the language of the gods, that's why ancient runes are important. It's too powerful for a human to speak, so the characters have to be written. Though there are stories of witches and wizards who could breathe or sing the runes. Most of the most common runes are symbols that depict a particular phrase or idea in the language of the gods. The language was lost because people hoarded it over the millenia and when they died, their knowledge died with them so our runework isn't as powerful as the ones the ancient wizards used."

"I thought all the talk of gods was figurative. Like Baldr for light and peace and Urth the giant for the past. When you say gods, you mean literal deities? Heaven and Hell?"

"Sure. You know there is an Age of the Gods in wizarding history right. Around the time of Rik the Wise."

"There's that name again," Hermione said, curbing her curiosity to better see Ron's runework.

Sirius scratched his growing beard. "Come to think of it, we should all learn a bit more runes. It's one of the few magics that worked well for me here."

"What runes are you using, Ron?"

"The usual for alarm and detection."

"Aren't the stones a better material to carve? They're already flat anyway."

"If we were in Britain, yes. Naturally occuring mediums generally are the best for runes if you want to use ambient magics to power your work. But if this is a young world, we're safer with brick until we can see how the native runes are worked. Magic, or chakra rather, is strong here naturally, so the stone may entirely reject the runes and blow up. Brick is safer because it's been fired – I'm hoping most of the natural energy in the material has been destroyed and it can take foreign energy. I'll be powering these with my personal magic until we can figure out something better."

He paused as he tried to accurately carve the runes on brick and kept talking as his concentration deepened. "Our runes are derived from ancient languages that are in turn derived from the lost single language that our ancestors and our gods used in the past. We don't know how the gods in this world are addressed, even if the fact that we speak the language so easily since we came means there has to be a connection with our old world. Sirius said the magic here was young, so the probability that the gods are active in the world is high. Also, I'm pretty sure one of the merchants at port mentioned Benzaiten – if that is the goddess I'm thinking about, our universe must not be too far out. Sirius said the runes work, so now we have to determine whether the gods of this world can accept extensive use of a different Celestial language in their domain or if the Celestial language of our world is the same as the one they use here."

He scratched the last rune with a satisfied smile and looked up at the intent stares of his companions. "What?"

Hermione was looking at him like she'd never met him. "It's just that we never knew you liked runes. Why didn't you say anything?"

"Er, well, I didn't want to do the homework?" He knew it was the wrong thing to say the moment he finished speaking.

A fire lit in Hermione's eyes. "All those years we could have been doing Runes together. I never got Runes as well as Arithmancy, you could have been helping me if you weren't so..." her hands neared Ron menacingly.

Ron looked in alarm at Harry who was watching with an amused grin. His eyes narrowed on his friend. "Harry likes maths," he blurted out and watched gleefully as Harry paled and Hermione paused in her advance. "I saw him reading your arithmancy book like it was Quidditch through the Ages!"

"What."

"It looked interesting, is all," Harry inched back from Hermione with wide eyes. "I thought it was another book!"

"He told me geometry and economics were his favorite classes," Ron said without a qualm.

"What."

"I told that to you in confidence!"

"You also told Luna that I was planning on asking Lily Moon out to dinner. She wrote that whole article about redheads and flitterwumps or something and how we're alike because we go crazy when the moon is full."

"You did date Luna too, and her name also means moon."

"She warned people to watch out for redheaded freckle-snouts and their unusual mating practices. I couldn't get another date for a month!"

Harry and Sirius fell over laughing. Hermione looked at them then at the glowering Ron and wished, not for the first time, that she had closer female friends. "Men."

But she knew her friends were hiding their academic talents from her now. They won't get away this time. Harry saw her smile and abruptly stopped laughing. Ron glanced at her and paled.

Sirius snickered.

~~~~~~~~~~oo00oo~~~~~~~~~~

"This is starting to feel like Grimmauld Place all over again," groaned Ron as he stacked crumbled bricks onto the knotted piece of canvas that he was using to haul them out of the way. The brick he was levitating faltered and crashed onto the floor. He sighed and stretched out a hand to it again, concentrating. It wobbled upwards and toward his pile.

"Except without your mother or Sirius' mum or Kreacher screeching at us every now and then," Harry agreed as he carefully made sure that it looked like he was carrying part of the caved-in roof out of the house and not levitating it. They had to keep most of their abilities concealed from prying eyes until they could defend themselves or at least learn to run from ninja and bloodline hunters.

Most of the house was now cleared of debris. Harry put down his load into the non-reusable pile and stretched his back, breathing in the cool late afternoon air. He was enjoying the physical exertion and the proximity to nature was intoxicating after ten months in Azkaban prison. Not to mention that the first day they started clearing out the house, he was so tired that the nightmares were much less distinct than usual.

"I think there's a cellar here!" Hermione's voice had Harry turning. Ron dropped his load on Harry's pile with a grunt. They shared a glance and walked around to the side of the house. Hermione was crouched beneath a deciduous tree that Sirius assured them was a persimmon. The tree had grown too close to the house in the years it hadn't been trimmed. Hermione looked up at them. "See where the ground is just a tad lower?"

"Rectangular," Ron saw the area she was describing. "Are you sure it's not a grave?"

"I thought so too, but..." She tapped the ground hard with a stick and a distinctly wooden and hollow sound reached their ears. Harry picked up a not-too-rotted plank and started scraping at the ground Hermione had indicated. What was unmistakably wooden planks were uncovered. Ron picked up what used to be part of a window frame and started helping. They scraped off many a year's accumulation of mud and leaves and other detritus.

"What do you think's in it?"

"It's most likely empty. The rest of the house was, after all."

Ron uncovered what looked like a handle and reached to try and open the cellar. Unfortunately, he had braced himself on his piece of window frame and the cellar door couldn't take the weight. His eyes widened as his support sank. He pushed himself away from the hole that suddenly opened beneath him.

Hermione gasped even as she and Harry grabbed for their falling friend. She caught part of his robe and Harry grasped his arm. Their redheaded friend hung half into the rectangular pit. He wriggled most of himself out with the other two's help. "And here I was thinking at least this house wasn't trying to kill me."

"When did Grimmauld try to kill you?" Harry pulled his friend up higher from the hole.

"I know it didn't like me. Ever wonder why Tonks kept tripping over when she came in?"

"Just because Tonks is clumsy doesn't mean the house had got it in for her," said Hermione exasperated, as she dusted Ron off.

"I just know. The wards and whatever dark magic inside it must have warped that damned house elf and the portraits in it."

"That can happen?"

"Definitely in the old houses. There are ways of cleansing the house of magics, but Grimmauld was left alone since Sirius' mum died."

The other two looked at the hole in bemusement. Harry sighed. "You couldn't have told us that after we got done checking out the dark cellar under the ground that nearly ate you?"

"Oh...like Herms said, it must be empty, right?"

A rustle sounded from within the pit of darkness. Ron inched back and the others followed, staring warily. Harry glanced at the old plank he was still holding then tossed it into the hole. There was silence, then a chorus of chirping and a cloud of darkness burst from the cellar. The three instinctively threw themselves behind the persimmon tree's meagre protection.

Ron and Hermione had their wands out and Harry was trying to call up a wandless banisher. Then the swarm of darkness shrieked and swerved out over the treetops. Ron threw his hands up. "Even in another world, we're tormented by bats from the dungeons? Great."

Harry snorted. It was true. The cloud was definitely made of bats. They watched the things pour out of the hole in the ground. It was a few more seconds before the last of the main swarm finally lost itself in the distance.

"That was a lot of bats," muttered Hermione, staring at the few stragglers that flapped nearby. "How big do you think the cellar is?"

Harry peered down into the dark hole and saw stone stairs leading down. "This can't be their usual exit. There's a cave around here somewhere and your cellar's connected to it, Herms."

"I've told you two not to call me that." She paused. "Maybe we should leave exploring this cave until tomorrow? It's getting dark anyway."

"Yeah, I'm going to start the campfire."

"Hope Sirius gets back with the food soon."

~~~~~~~~~~oo00oo~~~~~~~~~~

Sirius drew a big square in the dirt with a stick as the others crowded around. "The top floor has eight rooms, two of those on the left side of the house are open to the elements," he summarized as he drew lines to show the layout. "These would be living areas, so start planning your rooms. We could take one each of the existing rooms or knock down some walls and have two each if we need a bigger space."

"As long as my room isn't near Ron's. He snores like a passing train."

"Oi! That's what silencing charms are for."

"We can't use wands."

"There are silencing wards."

"We did a portable silencing ward as a prank once," Sirius mused. "That dirty snotrag Gerius walked around screaming silently and talking in gestures for a week before he figured out the runes were carved onto his precious precious silver torc. Who wears a torc these days anyway, much less to class?"

"We can put a bathroom between your rooms." Hermione sighed. "How much work would it be repairing the roof?"

The others started studying the plans again. Ron answered. "I don't think it needs too much. The whole building is made of stone, the roof is similarly sturdy. A bit of re-tiling maybe. It doesn't leak."

"Apart from that big hole on the right side."

Hermione tapped the part with the hole in the roof. "We could use that part as a balcony. It's got a really nice view."

"Oh yeah, remove the destroyed roof until this wall and we've got a nice open space. Or we could remove part of the walls and let the roof be held up by columns. We could make a nice closed balcony. Some of that stone could be re-used. That would mean we don't enlarge our rooms though."

"The rooms are big enough, lots bigger than my room at both Durskaban and Azkaban. I want my windows to be wider though."

"That's easy enough to do. I'm partial to larger windows myself. Lets in the sun better." Sirius looked up. "Oh, we might want to see what's in that timekeeper of yours."

Harry picked the watch out of a pocket. "Do I just open it?"

"Yeah."

When nothing happened, Harry looked doubtfully at Sirius.

"Well, I don't know much about keeper watches. Trunks were better if, like my grand old family, you wanted to show off."

"With a trunk?"

"They can put family crests on the trunks and only the old houses had those. The crest was of course this massive ostentatious thing. Since your trunk had to sit at the foot of your bed, everyone in the room can see it and be awed." He regarded the watch in Harry's hand. "Try asking it for an inventory."

"Inventory?" A long piece of parchment unrolled from the body of the pocket watch. There was nothing written on it. "It's empty."

"Why waste that much parchment for an empty list?"

"Try dropping blood on it."

"Really?"

Sirius shrugged. "It's the Goblins. They're one of the few places where blood quills to sign documents aren't illegal."

Harry sighed, pulled at the bandages that wrapped around his wrists and pushed the paper against the wounds left by the manacles they had sawed off at Sea Country. The paper started listing its contents. "Why, the sadistic little buggers."

"They only interact with humans because they lost the last several Goblin Wars, of course they're vicious." Hermione said as they crowded around Harry. "This looks mostly like furniture."

"It must be fate," said Ron dryly.

They watched silently as item after item made itself known until the list got to the end of the parchment. Then it continued in another column. Ron sighed, this was going to be a long wait. He looked for distraction. "Sirius, you said the body was a focus the wizards here used. They can enhance their strength then?"

"Yes, but I recommend waiting for your bodies to adjust to this world first, then bringing up your fitness before you try something like that. Even then, we'll never be even half as good as the ones that have been training their bodies since they were toddlers. So no messing around with ninja, alright?" Then Sirius grinned. "Since we're doing most of the work, you can start by chopping down a few trees."

"With what, our bare hands?"

"Did you know that next to levitation, summoning, and banishing, cutting spells are the next easiest to do wandlessly?"

"Merlin, you bastard."

"Language, Ron," said Hermione half-heartedly, eyes on the large square of lines drawn on dirt that was the sum total of their present residential renovation plans. She drew a second square next to the first and bisected it. The ground floor had three rooms, the largest took up half the space and ran the entirety of the front facade. The other two back rooms were massive. "Why was the house built like this?"

Sirius glanced down at the plans. "Maybe they entertained a lot and the front room was actually two large rooms with a partition that could be removed to make a ballroom."

Hermione looked quizzically at him. He shrugged. "It looked like this place was attacked so there could have been one or more buildings that burned down."

"There's the cellar," said Harry. "It could be larger down there, remember?"

They grimaced at that. "We really should see what's in there."

"We could build a potions room there."

"Have to chase off the bats first."

Ron and Harry snickered. Sirius brightened. "I think we should see what fire could do. I did see some ingredients for smoke bombs."

"Your list is done." Hermione wanted to head off that discussion. Bombs being discussed by pranksters was never a good idea.

Harry lifted the watch to peer at the end of the parchment. "You're right, that's all the stuff you bought in that port." His brows rose as he scanned part of the list. "We have thirteen carved totem poles and twenty-seven five-foot-tall colour-glazed decorative jars. Useful," he ended sarcastically.

"We could always sell them."

"They could be magical!" protested Hermione.

"Can be explained away by a chakra technique."

"A special, secret jar-decorating chakra technique? You said most of the techniques in this world were practical."

"I think they need to have more fun, is what I think," Sirius said.

"What are totem poles for?"

"Oh, that's where those went. One of the more eccentric Blacks was very enamoured of the American frontier during the 1800s. Those are probably souvenirs. I remember a Dorea Black on the tapestry that married a Potter. An uncle said those things used to stand along the walls of Black Manor and and stare fiercely at the family when they visited. I looked for them while I was still allowed at the place but couldn't find any, so I guess one of the old farts had the bright idea of including them in her dowry."

"Anything that could be immediately useful?"

"Furniture, furniture, books – not the ones Hermione bought; furniture; tapestries; ten mirrors; more furniture; other books; some bolts of cloth; swords; furniture – what a surprise; three suits of armour – the hell are we going to do with those, I ask. There are some wardstones, yeah Ron, there are seven. Ten trunks, unexpanded. A few paintings - landscapes, it says. There are gardening tools. There are seventeen cooking oven and preservation cabinet sets, good lord. There's the Auror robes you two stole off the Minister's entourage. Then Ron's moonstones and Hermione's books."

"It sounds like an old attic," Hermione said. "Can we check the books to see if there are any on magical construction? Does it say if the trunks are empty?"

"The ground floor is clean, so you can try getting out the books and trunks there. Look fast, tomorrow, we're going to be felling trees. Wait, you bought books?"

"I thought we could learn to read in the meantime. You did say Babel never happened here, so it doesn't matter where I buy the books, they all use the same language."

"Oh right. Maybe I should have bought paper after all."

"Why didn't you?"

"Scribbling in the dirt looked more fun."

Most of the trunks had old clothing. One held several portraits. A few more had odds and ends that weren't useful to them at the moment, some jewelry, 3 casks of Italian wine, a bag of dehydrated soybeans, that sort of thing. The books were more helpful as they found the Compendium of Household Protections and Wardes; The Magyckal Dwelling: Earth, Wood, Stone; and the Potter Family Book. They kept out a few more books and a trunk to store them in, plus a cooking oven and preservation cabinet set. The rest went back in the timekeeper.

"You have the Potter grimoire?" Sirius said in surprise. "That could be useful and you're lucky it was there. It's your family's history book. Try looking for how your family created their spells, which should be in there too. It would have insights that could help, since some of the really ancient magics used rituals more than wands."

~~~~~~~~~~oo00oo~~~~~~~~~~

"A pingpong room?" Harry was incredulous. "It's over ninety square meters of space!"

"Well, we could put in a couple of tables, maybe fit in some billiards too and call it a game room!"

"I'm pretty sure they have those in town."

"That's so far away!"

"It's a fifteen minute walk!"

"Harry, it's pingpong!"

Harry turned to the others. "Does anyone else here play pingpong?"

Hermione was deep into a book on magic-imbued stone and the creation of gargoyles; she didn't look up. It wasn't chess, so Ron shrugged, idly turning a page of a book on Elemental Nation sealing. He wasn't fluent yet and needed to practice.

"Oh, come on, guys!"

Harry smirked triumphantly. "Think about it though, you could play for money if you did it in town."

"Point," Sirius acknowledged. But he wasn't going to give in that easily. "But you still need to practice on your own before you get good enough to take other people's money. Besides, it's for fun, not money!"

"We could always play for chores," Ron said absently.

Now it was Harry who narrowed his eyes on his best male friend. "Not helping Ron. We could need that room for other things." Like when Hermione inevitably decides to expand the library, he thought.

"It's how Bill and Charlie taught us poker."

"Sounds like a great idea!" Sirius was grinning.

Before Harry could retort, a clear bell sounded within all their heads. Hermione was startled from her book. Ron nodded at the twin glances from Harry and Sirius. "It's the perimeter alarm."

~~~~~~~~~~oo00oo~~~~~~~~~~

Their visitor arrived to find two dark-haired men arguing and pointing sticks at the ground and a redhead ignoring them and flipping through a book. He cleared his throat.

Sirius turned. "Akawa-san!" he greeted cheerfully, breaking his debate with the younger man. "What brings you here?"

The man, who looked some years younger than Sirius' real age, smiled politely. "Good morning, Shiroki-san. I see you've made progress. And these are your children?"

"Yes," Sirius beamed. "these are my kids. That's Ro-kun; that's Ha-kun; and Mai-chan decided to explore the forest this morning. She likes to sit by the river and read. Guys, this is Akawa Toichi, he's with the realty company. You can call me Siri, you know?"

"It's Harry," sighed the younger dark-haired man.

"It's Ron," stated the other, who had put his book away.

Akawa returned their polite bows. "I've come to tell you that the builders are ready and can come at any time." He was confused by the way the two younger men whipped around to look at Sirius in surprise.

"That's great!" Sirius propelled him toward the patch of ground they had been arguing over. "Now, do you play pingpong?"

"On occasion." Akawa realised that the plans for the house had been drawn on the ground. He paused and then politely chalked the oddity off as foreign eccentricity. He had heard colleagues talk about stranger things from their ninja or noble clients. He looked closer at the drawings. They were very detailed. "I see your plans are advancing well. Do you mind if I take a few notes for the builders?"

"Sure, sure! I was wanting another opinion anyway."

"You're not going to bother the man about taking over an entire quarter of the ground floor for pingpong." Harry sighed.

"Just because you're a pingpong hater doesn't mean you should force your views on the rest of us."

"Oh, like you didn't shoot down my plans for a complete home gym because you were too lazy, Mr. Flabby?"

"Excuse me? This gorgeous body does not have flab."

"Sorry about them," Ron came up beside the bemused Akawa. "They've been having arguments like this for days. So you want to know what's been decided so far?"

Akawa brought out a small notebook and a pen with a grateful nod. "Yes, Shiroki-san. The builders will finish faster if they have an idea of what you wanted."

"It's just Ron. There are four who would answer to the name Shiroki here, so it could get confusing. Anyway, we wanted to widen the windows on all the floors and redo the stone flooring. Tiles possibly." He took up a stick and started on the upper floor plan. Akawa started sketching quickly. "This is where the hole in the roof is. We're converting the damaged area into a balcony. Most of the space will be open. The dividing wall won't be knocked down but the doorway would be widened, maybe columns."

"And knock out the outer walls, I presume? The view on that side is very satisfying."

"Precisely. Of the rooms left, four are going to be bedrooms, these two should be converted into bathrooms. I don't know why the house didn't have them before."

"I believe interior baths were not widespread when it was built, Ron-san. There was an outhouse on the property, most likely. Of course, plumbing has become very modern here since forty years ago. You will be upgrading your pipes then?"

"Yes."

Akawa brought several books out of his pack. "What style of bathroom would you like? The space you allotted to each bath is large so any of these would fit."

Ron smiled a little at the man's preparedness. He gave in to a bout of nostalgia and chose a design that looked somewhat similar to the prefects' baths in Hogwarts, just not with as many faucets. "We'll be decorating our own bedrooms, so just do the windows and the wooden trim."

"You'll want a water tank and boiler if you wish for hot water."

Ron nodded. "Put those in the cellar. Oh, extend the stairwell down to make an entrance to that from the house. I guess we'll also be upgrading the electricity if this house is as old as you say?"

"The former owners used gas lamps."

"No electric wiring?"

Akawa riffled through a book and showed Ron a page of ink drawings. "The town has been prosperous these decades and most of the residents have installed electricity. These are designs of wall trim that specifically hide the wires from view when installed in older houses."

Ron chose the simplest of those. He didn't know what designs were there on the furniture in Harry's keeper watch so he chose one that could be carved to match anything. They weren't going to use much magic on the house anyway, and if they learned native runes - what his book had called sealing techniques - they could easily integrate electrical power into the ward schemes, as lightning was one of the major elements.

They moved to the ground floor plans. He tapped the back left quarter of the space as Akawa finished his notes and turned to a new page to sketch the ground floor. "Kitchen and pantry separated by a half-partition. No door needed between them. We're putting sliding doors between these four major areas and the central hallway. All the ground floor doors are sliding doors, in fact, apart from the main entrance." He tapped the front left. "Living and dining area. Just knock out part of the wall to connect it to the kitchen. The front door should open into a vestibule with shelving for outerwear and shoes." He moved to the front right area. "Library here. It'll need more light fixtures than any other room."

"Is that what those marks are?" Akawa pointed to the tiny starburst marks on various areas of the house plans. There were a good many.

"Yes, those are where the lights are supposed to go. The ones in the central hallway of both floors are wall lamps. We want plenty of light as most of us are night owls but lightbulbs shine too harshly according to both Harry and Siri. Mai suggested wall lamps and shades."

"Of course." Akawa wrote the information down and a note to bring designs for electric wall lamps next time. It was easier to install lamps on stone walls than hang them from a stone ceiling anyway.

"The last room is the one Harry and Siri are debating, so for now, just the windows and the utilities. Oh, and put a door between it and the library."

Akawa noted that and glanced at the two dark-haired men, who had quieted some time ago and were having an entirely serious staring contest. Yes, they were definitely eccentrics. If he had not been assistant to Maekawa, who had taken Shiroki Siri's inquiry, and witnessed the foreigner talk his experienced boss into purchasing the house and land for a price that made him cringe at how lower it was than rock-bottom he would have underestimated the man when witnessing this childish argument. No matter that the land was rumoured to be cursed or the fact that it had not sold for over two decades, Maekawa should have known better. "May I ask, are these plans fixed or are they likely to be changed significantly?"

Ron had noticed him looking at the others and chuckled. "Not really going to change much. Those two are just having fun arguing with each other. You and your builders are safe."

Akawa smiled at him gratefully. More than one project his company had been involved in had tanked because the clients didn't know what they wanted and changed their minds about one thing or other in the middle of the construction. "Of course, Ron-san. In any case, there is still some time to change plans." He pointed to a scratched segment of lines on both sides of the ground floor plans. "Do you want this porch in stone?"

"Just the floor. Wood for the rest of it. We don't want to cut down the tree beside the house though."

"The persimmon, of course. The family that owned this house used to have a number of fruit trees according to my father. Perhaps you would want a garden on that side of the house?"

"Good idea. Harry would like that. So what happened to the last owners? This is a well-built house, it didn't deserve to be abandoned."

"Ah." Akawa wondered if it had been a good idea bringing up the Makitaiga family. But it was likely that they'll hear of it anyway. In any case, the house was bought and the contract signed. The company would not be aversely affected should the Shirokis leave because of it. Even without the builder contract, it was likely that they would have the company sell the house again if they left. Somehow, Akawa didn't think these new people were that fickle. "It is not an easy story, you understand?"

When Ron nodded, he frowned and dug into memories that had not been accessed since he was a child. "The Makitaiga were one of the foremost families of Yakeishimura. They died off nearly thirty years ago, killed by bandits. Though because of the extensive damage to the property some people say they pissed off the ninja. Most of the buildings had been burned down, you see. The house has been empty since then and the property defaulted to the town government because of unpaid taxes. Over the years, there have been outlandish stories of the place. It was haunted, cursed, you could hear the murdered spirits wail when the wind blows, that sort of thing."

Ron looked thoughtful. "Interesting story."

"It's become almost part of town lore." Akawa agreed. "You shouldn't worry though, I always thought the wailing was just wind in the caves."

Ron looked more alert. "There are caves here?"

"To the west of the town, nearer the beaches. Children explore them all the time. Some of them go very deeply into the mountain."

"I see. When the house is finished, I'll see if Harry or Mai are up to exploring."

"You might find more interesting sights at the seashore. There's a town there. Makimura is only a few miles distant and often caters to sightseers and beachgoers. Much of our imported goods come through the Makimura port."

"Sounds fun. But house first, sightseeing later."

"Of course. If I may, our carpenters can also build furniture if you want."

"Oh, apart from cabinets and shelves in the pantry and the vestibule, we already have a lot, uh, they're being delivered. The builders only have to do the major changes." Ron grinned at Akawa. "Until you came, I actually thought Siri would make us do everything ourselves. We've been felling trees for the last two weeks."

Akawa's brows rose in interest. "May I see these trees?"

Ron led him off to the clearing they created and the stack of raw logs at its edge.

"How many logs are there?"

"It took a few days to get used to the work, so maybe three a day on average." Ron mused.

Akawa calculated quickly. "About forty logs?" He bent to check the pile.

"No, all three of us had to chop down trees while the old man was off on pressing business, so over a hundred and twenty logs."

"That's incredible." Akawa blinked. "If they're all like this, you have over a hundred logs of prime hardwood." He glanced at the redhead with a small smile. "That's more than you need for the house."

Ron's lips quirked up as well. "Well, I'd rather not sleep in a tent much longer than I have to."

"Five raw logs for the equivalent of one – cut, seasoned, and delivered here." Akawa started the bargain.

"That's not going to give us enough for the whole house and the porch. We might decide on more additions as well. Like you suspect, this is all prime hardwood. Seasoned or not, it'll fetch a pretty good price anywhere and you have to deliver your wood here anyway. Two logs for one."

"Two? That would barely cover the costs. It takes months to season hardwood properly, years for the best quality. Four logs to one."

"Seasoning is hardly labor-intensive. You just bury them on the beach and leave them there, don't you? The labor that goes into sawing logs is hardly worth three extra logs for every one."

"But is it worth the time saved at having the logs ready now instead of months in the future?"

Ron returned Akawa's grin. "I'm betting this is better wood than any of your builders currently have. Three logs for one, and I want another building built at no extra cost." He saw Akawa was listening and continued. "One floor and a cellar, same dimensions as the house, made entirely of stone."

"Stone is expensive."

"But not enough that you won't make a profit on the wood." Ron knew that there were no nearby quarries, but good Wind Country stone was only a shipload away. Also, Tea Country had no sustainable source of hardwood. They had to import most of it from Fire Country and because of bandits, they paid a lot for security. The former owners of the land here must have planted a few groves of good wood on the property, which Ron thanked them greatly for. The rumours of a curse must be the reason it hadn't been logged and milled a long time ago.

Akawa chuckled suddenly. "Siri-san is certainly not the only shrewd deal-maker in your family."

Ron snorted. "Just be thankful it's me you're talking to and not Harry. Siri and I are considered too soft by his standards."

Akawa glanced at the high stack of logs and the several other stacks he could now see behind it. "Then this is a lucky day. It is a deal, Shiroki Ron-san. Three logs for one and an additional stone building." he made a note. "You'll have much wood left over."

"We'll be doing some detail work ourselves and having extra wood on hand is convenient." They started back to the house.

"If you and your family come by the office, I can show you some plans for residences that the company built or remodeled. Possibly they could give you ideas for additions to your home."

"That would be great. You can send men for the logs tomorrow or any day after."

"I will send them tomorrow, Ron-san."

"How long do you think the changes to the house would take?"

"A month. No more than two, even with additional changes to the present plans."

~~~~~~~~~~oo00oo~~~~~~~~~~

Akawa thought this was an excellent day. He made a good deal on good hardwood and the clients appeared to be good people. He got to meet a lovely young lady who reminded him of his no-nonsense wife. His suggestion of a more substantial wall around the house was received favourably and he had added draining the pond to his preliminary notes, both things profitable to the company. There was also a chance that the Shirokis would contract them to build more. He knew when someone was thinking of building a business and Shiroki Ron had that look.

His superior may have sold the house for peanuts and stuck him with the Shiroki account thinking they could not pay much for renovation but Akawa thought this was going to be one of his more enjoyable projects.

As Sirius and Hermione talked with Akawa, Ron cornered Harry. "You were talking about maybe taking up pottery a few days ago," he started. "I got you a place to do it."

Harry was surprised. "It was just a thought."

"But you liked the idea, didn't you? I think it's something we should look into. I've been asking around. A good part of this country's potters make tea utensils and diningware. There's little competition for more than that as most of their other ceramics are imported."

"It could be years before we get good enough to compete even with the cheap imports," Harry protested, but Ron knew he was at least thinking of it.

"Yeah, but we're likely to be here for the rest of our lives. A year or two learning a profitable trade is a good investment. Besides, I bet no one else in this world has an entire magical book filled with centuries of pottery techniques."

Harry looked more interested now. "The money from Sirius' ship isn't going to last forever," he rationalised. "We'll need jobs anyway." His eyes narrowed suddenly on Ron. "You said you had a place?"

"Three logs to one and a one-storey stone building."

Harry thought for a moment. "It's a good deal. Even if we don't become potters, we could use the building for other business. We were going to sell the extra wood anyway." He looked up at Ron and smiled softly. "Thanks, Ron."

Ron nodded. If he was stuck in another world with a copy of the Weasley Book, he would likely also try to make the techniques in it work.

"What's this about an extra building?"

Harry turned a bright smile on the approaching Hermione and Sirius. Akawa was making his way out the ruined brick wall that encircled the house. "Bye Akawa-san!"

The man raised a hand with a smile before he went down the path to the town.

"Well?"

"Harry and I were talking about making pottery as a livelihood."

"Since Ron already made the deal for the building, we don't have to build it from scratch like Sirius probably wants us to."

"It's character building. Pottery, huh?" Sirius scratched at his beard. "Sounds like fun!"

"We'd need a source of good clay," Hermione murmured. "I might have a site. Why didn't we think about this earlier anyway, when we found Harry's family grimoire?"

"Our family grimoire now," Harry reminded her.

"Oh Harry, are you sure?"

"Sirius already claimed all of us anyway, right, Mai?" Harry smiled. "Besides, you've all been my family a long time before even the Veil."

They all smiled at each other, in wonder that, after all the time they spent wishing for it they were finally all together. It wasn't precisely what each of them thought the end of Voldemort may bring but it was good.

"Why so much for a building?"

"Stone is easier to clean clay from than wood. The stone walls have to be sturdy and we could leave the roof flat instead of the usual A-frame design – it would be easier to add another storey if we need to expand. We could use the building to process the clay and house the potter's wheels. We'll build the kilns ourselves later – no sense in giving the competition earlier warning. While the house is being built we could scout around for good clay."

"I think there are a few refining techniques in the grimoire," Harry put in. "for bad clay."

"You two had been thinking about this," Sirius said.

"Harry gave me the idea."

"I didn't think it could be done though."

"Good one, Ron."

He smiled at them, a trifle more shy than his usual ones. They sat around the campfire, in front of the old ruined house, and thought about it. They were getting a home, building a life. It was...sobering.

A long while later, Hermione was the first to grin.

"I can't wait," she stated.

The others returned her happy smile. They were building a life. Finally. It was exhilarating.

~~~~~~~~~~oo00oo~~~~~~~~~~

AN to the reviews.

Thanks for reviewing and commenting, everyone.

The beginning was written long before the rest of it, so yeah it's not as polished. Sorry about that.

No blood adoptions. I don't even know how to go about changing their DNA to match Sirius'. They're already going to be changed enough by the dimension-hopper osmosis thingy. Maybe if they were experimented on by Orochimaru? The snaky third of the Sannin is the only one who appears to have any interest in things like that anyway. Sirius is a former daimyo so complications regarding that would have to be addressed if there is any sort of adoption. The verbal adoption as nieces is bad enough. This is a story that's a bit about freedom so I choose not to entangle them in national politics. Though a story about them avoiding said politics could be funny.

My fanfic writing comes in little bursts, so shorts are usually what i write, no endurance for long stories, haha. So I don't know if there would be a sequel to this. As always though, feel free to continue the story yourselves with this as a premise or prologue of sorts.