Authors note: as this will be about some of hp's 6th year, it may have some stuff that does not happen and I may be missing some stuff. If I can I will try to integrate JKR's stuff into the story. If not, you will be able to see my version of writing, though I will put as much in as possible. My apologies for getting the idea for this fic right before hp 6 comes out.
Enjoy, and as always, review.
Hattori Raiko stood outside the scarlet train that would be taking her to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in two hours. It was now exactly 9:00. She didn't have to look at her watch to tell her that. She had been waiting for a certain boy who had just lost his god-father three months ago after unceremoniously losing his parents. At the moment she was wearing her school uniform, which consisted of large poofy sneakers (red), khaki slacks, a white polo shirt and a blue knitted vest on top. At the moment the vest wasn't too bad, but she knew the later September weather would make her take it off eventually.
Another passenger entered Platform 9 and ¾ and her heart leapt. He was here. She was here to help him because she had been told to do so. Precognitive dreams were no mystery to Raiko, so she knew she had to help the boy.
Harry Potter stood in Dudley's stupid clothes that were much too large for him. He had gotten to the train early because he had hoped to think, and the Dursley's were only too willing to comply. For the last three months he had stayed at the Dursley's stupid suburban home shut up in his room- because he had wanted to. At night he grabbed some food and the rest of the filthy muggles he was supposed to call family left him alone. It was good to go back to Hogwarts, but it was also good to get away.
When Harry saw some Asian girl with a briefcase with backpack straps and formal clothes at the platform, he sighed. He had wanted to be alone, but that was just his luck. And when she started walking towards him he groaned. He did not expect the next words to come out of her mouth.
"You're right on time. That's good. It will give us enough time," she said. The odd girl grabbed his hand and started into the train.
Harry was surprised for a moment, but after passing a few of the rooms he pulled away. "Where are you taking me? I can walk on my own you know. "What do you want?" His voice sounded rough, and he was surprised at show much he sounded like that stupid git, Draco.
"We need to find somewhere to talk and where you will want to talk to your friends afterwards. Let me explain what I'm doing then. If I told you now you wouldn't want to, but I assure you it is for your own good. Please come," she pleaded.
Harry was caught off guard. He ran his fingers through his hair to give it a windswept look, a habit he had gotten from his dad. "Fine, but this room will do as well as any other."
She slid open the door and let Harry in first. She let him sit down first and then sat down herself. She started looking out the window and told him, "My name is Raiko Hattori, in the English order of things. You don't know abut me, but very few people do. I am here to let you be weak."
Harry lifted his eyebrow. This was one weird witch.
"I know that sounds strange, but please, bear with me." She looked at him now. Her black eyes were different than Snape's and Hagrid's and all the other black-eyed people he had ever met. "I want you to tell me all you need about your godfather, Sirius Black."
Harry stood and glared at her. "Who-are-you?" he spaced the words evenly.
Her black eyes sparkled with sadness. "My name is Raiko Hattori. I am a fifth year student. I work for the side you and Dumbledore stand for in the coming war. Right now you are filled with grief, Harry, but please…" she stood up next to him so close that their noses were no farther away than a pinky nail. "…let me mourn for you, instead. Sometimes you can mourn in a dark room by yourself, but usually the burden doesn't lift. Sometimes you need to tell someone about it so that you can live with out carrying all the weight. It's like telling someone about a bad dream.
"Right now, Harry, you don't want to tell Ron or Hermoine about Sirius, because you need to be strong for them. Since Dumbledore did not tell you about the prophecy, you feel you cannot trust him. And you feel that you cannot burden anyone else with the misery that you feel so strongly, and that everyone else has not gained enough trust from you.
"I know that I am one of the latter people, but I don't want to be. Harry, I want you to let me be the one that you can cry on. Let me carry your grief for a little while, just so you can show your friends that you are strong and tell them that when you are a little bit stronger, you will fill them in.
The next words shattered Harry's resolve more completely than any words had ever done before. "Let me be the shoulder you can cry on."
The walls Harry had been constructing all summer fell down in an instant. Harry, though he was a good ten centimeters taller than this strange Asian girl named Raiko, put his shoulder at the crook of her neck and started crying. Raiko slowly lowered herself down onto her seat and Harry knelt before her, crying into her stomach. After a while, she could finally hear his words.
"Why did he leave me?" he cried. "Why hasn't he come back for me? I need him!"
"I don't know what you are feeling Harry, and not to sound rude, but I am glad I don't. I never want to be as sad as you are right now. Most kids get to know their parents while they grow, but you have been an orphan for almost fifteen years. To lose then, the next best thing, someone who was like a brother to you, must be horrible. But that doesn't make you feel any better, does it?"
She felt him shake his head.
"I like to think that we don't know whether or not Sirius is dead. I like to think that, yes, he may be in the realm of the dead visiting your parents, but that he will come back." Harry looked up at her with red eyes and a tear-stained face still holding her lower back. "I think that if I were Sirius, I would be so happy with reuniting with my two best friends who have been missing for fifteen years, I might forget that I had a godchild still waiting for me." Harry frowned. "But after a while, Harry, the novelty will wear off and he will remember. You have to give him that chance."
Harry thought for a while. "I'll… try." He put his face close to her stomach and said, "I'll try really hard."
Raiko jumped up suddenly and threw poor Harry to the ground. "I almost forgot!" She opened her briefcase and Harry got slowly up from the floor. "Ah-hah!" She handed him a small rectangular birthday present. The wrapping was crinkled and the bow was squished. "Happy (Belated) Birthday," said the card.
He opened the present and grinned when he saw a chocolate bar. "Thanks. I should eat this now, huh."
"Truth be told, I would have given it to you if your birthday was in January, but since your birthday is so close, I thought, why not?"
His grin became even wider, "Gee, that makes me feel special."
She laughed. "That's the old Harry I know." Raiko ruffled his hair and laughed again. Her laugh was like a wind-chime, he thought. "Eat it all, and then you can tell me about Sirius."
After he was done he told her everything he knew, from his first meeting with Sirius to his plans for when Sirius was his godfather and Harry was out of school. Talking to her was like talking to himself, but better and freer. For the first time since Sirius's death, Harry felt…alive. "I'm really glad I was on time," he told her when he could think of nothing else. The door slid open and Ron and Hermoine stood in the doorway. Raiko got up and bowed to him, and then to his friends.
"It was nice to talk to you Harry-kun. I hope we meet again soon. Weasley-san, Hermoine-chan. I will leave him with you." She went through the space Ron and Hermoine made for her departure and traveled to the middle of the train for an empty box. As she looked back, Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood entered Harry's box, too. With only fifteen minutes till departure, the spaces were filling up quickly. Finally she found and empty room, so Raiko sat down on one of the couch like seats, curled up, and fell asleep. It had been a long day.