AN: So, I'm back after three months of no response... if you are a fan of Difference In Magic go to my profile about what I'm going to do with it... So, this is a new story, this time a Naruto/HP crossover (I seem to like x-overs).
This is just a trial... if you guys don't like it then I'll put it down after three chapters ('cause that's how much I have typed...)
Summary: This is an AU in which Harry never went to Hogwarts or grew up with the Dursleys. He grew up in several places but most importantly in the Hidden Countries in theNaruto-verse. Follow Harry as he embarks on a journey to avoid Dumbledore, Voldemort, and the various assassins that want him dead. Naruto and Sasuke will accompany him as well as several 'rogue' Order members and Death Eaters. Hilarity ensues as Sirius gets hit upside the head by Remus and anyone else who finds his humor funny.
There might be very slight Dumbledore bashing... though I still love him and will more than likely have him repent for all he did by feeding him to a demon or something heinous like that, or maybe I will make him the clueless grandfather figure that didn't know what he was getting into. Sighs
As I said before: this is just a trial run and if you want more then give me ideas to feed my muse so that I can keep on going.
We start the scene in Germany. It's in a very small town filled with kind people and adorable children. Four people were currently walking through one of the dirt covered streets. They didn't seem so out of place to the towns' people. They saw strange people come and go to the town on various occasions, all looking for adventure in the castle that was just up the hill from the town.
The strange people that came to observe the castle never made it far, though. Due to the fact that many were too afraid to go past a certain point, the castle had not been entered since after the incident not that long ago. Even then, the doors to the castle were only opened once and the person who managed to go in was never heard from again.
The four people entered the local inn and were slightly surprised to find that everything was as quiet as it was. It was only seven o'clock and the sun had not set yet. Everyone turned to look at the four new people and some hid smiles while others went back to what they were previously doing. It was obvious that some of the people in the inn were here for the same thing that they were there for, everyone always was.
One of the men, sitting on one of the stools on the bar, looked up at them and smirked. "You folks must be here for the ghost kid, ja?"
The four people looked at the man and nodded. The man motioned for them to sit on the stools beside him. "The name's Michi."
The men nodded and looked ahead of them.
"I suppose you've already heard all the stories from the towns' people, ja?" Michi got a nod from the rest of the bar. "Well, you won't learn anything if you just hear from someone else..." the others around the bar nodded in agreement."The weird stuff starts happening at sunset."
"What kind of stuff?" a person said in the corner.
"First, it's the music--"
One of the men beside Michi shifted in his seat and then stood, followed by the others. They didn't hear Michi tell the rest of the tale to the people in the bar as they were too busy trying to make their way to the castle.
One of them put his hood down and looked at the others. He had silver-blonde hair that framed his face and cold silver eyes. The others around him put down their hoods as well. One of them had black hair and coal black eyes, the other, beside him, had long black hair and mischievous blue eyes. The last of the group was a man with a kind smile and golden brown hair; his eyes were a beautiful amber color that made his hair seem darker.
"Do you think there's an actual ghost here, Severus?" the man with the amber eyes asked as they made their way to the castle.
The man with the coal black eyes didn't answer and just kept moving forward as the blue eyed man shifted his speed so that he was behind the group. He sped up then and walked beside the amber eyed man. "It could be that the kids play tricks on the town... I mean, Muggles have those recording things and devices that work like the sonorus. So, it could probably be a kid playing a prank."
"That's doubtful," the blonde man said as he shifted his hair out of the way of his eyes. "This has been going on since that kid disappeared nearly a decade ago. A prank couldn't have lasted that long."
Severus didn't acknowledge them and just kept walking through the worn path that would lead them to their destination. It seemed that a lot people came to visit the castle, but very few manage to get very far. He noticed this as he stopped and noticed that the path was completely gone. He looked back and the path was there but then he looked forward and it wasn't. The castle doors were just thirty meters in front of them and the path was completely gone.
"I suppose this is where everyone chickened out," the blue eyed man said as he stood next to Severus and inspected their surroundings. He looked up at the moon and looked over to the amber eyed man who was looking ahead of him with a serene look in his face. He looked back at the moon and a shadow caught his eyes. "What's that?"
The others looked up and had to move forwards to get a better look. That's when they heard the music and the laughter. They were too busy looking around them that they didn't notice the shadow move away.
"We might as well see this ghost," Severus grumbled as he stepped forward. He took a step back as if he were being pushed back. "There's a barrier. That's why no one could move forward from this point."
The amber eyed man put his hand in front of him and felt an invisible wall pushing back at him. He pushed farther into the barrier and felt his entire body go cold as if he weren't wearing clothes during winter. He stepped back quickly and away from the barrier as he tried to get his core temperature back to a normal degree. "It won't be easy to break it."
"Especially with that girl laughing," the blue eyed man grumbled and the others looked at him as if he were insane.
"What girl, Sirius?" the amber eyed man looked at him as if he held the answers to everything.
The blue eyed man shrugged and pointed ahead of them to where a nine year old girl stood. She had a rather pretty red dress from much earlier centuries and long blonde hair that was tied with a bow. Her hair cascaded down her back in curls and she looked at them all with a smile as they tried to move into the barrier.
"Where did she come from?" the blonde asked as he stared at the little girl he grabbed his wand from his holster to get ready for a fight.
Sirius shrugged and just stared at the girl as she started to glide towards them. "Maybe she's the ghost that everyone was talking about... or the kid that disappeared, except she died and is now a ghost, or a vampire. What do you think, Remus?"
The amber eyed man shook his head. "She's not from this century. The possibility of her being a ghost is high. As to her being the child that disappeared... it can't be possible because the child that disappeared was male."
"Maybe he liked to dress up... little kids like that kind of thing," Sirius shrugged as he too took out his wand.
The girl stared at them and curtsied like a young lady should. She held her head high and smiled at them. "What brings you here, travelers?" her voice sounded like an echo and extremely loud in the quiet of the night.
The others did not seem to be eager to start talking so Remus stepped forward and bowed at the waist. "We are here looking for answers."
"To what questions?" the girl said as she looked at him with a smile.
"A boy disappeared from the town a couple of years ago... do you, perhaps, know of what became of him?" Remus asked as the others looked on.
The girl smiled and she floated a foot off the ground for a second before settling back down. "Mayhap, you'll be able to describe this boy."
Remus looked thoughtful for a second and nodded. "Well, he has green eyes and black hair... that is all I know of him."
The girl giggled and the sound resounded throughout the space in various echoes. "Does this boy share any relations with you?"
Remus sighed and shook his head in the negative. "No... The boy that disappeared might not be the one whom we are looking for."
"Is there anything special about the one who you seek? No one would go to such lengths for a child that is not theirs."
Remus looked at the girl and then over to the doors beyond her. "The boy that we're looking for is very special. He has a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead... Maybe you've heard of him through other people."
"Ah yes... You seek the Lightning Childe," the girl said as her smile never faulted. "Though, I must admit that he is no longer a child."
"So, you've seen him?" Sirius asked excitedly as he walked over to the barrier and put his hands on it eagerly.
"Why do you seek the Lightning Childe?" the girl's head tilted to the side slightly.
"He's my godson," Sirius boasted proudly. "Of course I don't know if he knows that."
The girl let Sirius ramble on and floated a foot off the ground again and settled back down when Sirius ran out of things to say about how his godson more than likely wanted him dead.
"… not like he's met me, but he will hate me, I suppose," Sirius finished with a grimace.
The girl gave him a small smile. "That does not answer why you seek the Lightning Childe."
The blonde man stepped forward awkwardly. "We're trying to get to him before Albus Dumbledore. He is not safe in the hands of the old man."
"What makes you safe?" the girl asked as she tilted her head to the side.
Remus frowned as he himself could not answer the question. He was considered a monster in the wizarding world as well as the muggle world. He looked over to the others as they all figured out that they were not the best of people to ask this question to. One, a werewolf, shunned by everyone, another, an escaped criminal, wanted dead by both worlds, and the last two, spent most of their years after Hogwarts working for the man that wanted the Lightning Childe dead in the first place.
"We're not…" Sirius said with a sigh. "If Harry falls into Dumbledore's plans he will more than likely become a pawn. I don't want Harry to have to go through the same machinations that his parents went through; it's what led them to their deaths in the first place."
"And if the Lightning Childe were to fall under your machinations what will he be?" the girl asked with a smile.
Remus looked torn between screaming at the little ghost girl or believing the words coming out of her mouth. It was true that they wanted to keep Harry away from Dumbledore but for them to be able to do that they would have to tear him away from what he knows and shape him into a person that knows how to defend himself from both Dumbledore's control and Voldemort's desire to kill him.
Remus stepped forward and held his arms at his side. "It doesn't matter what we say or do. In the end Harry is going to be found by someone and they are going to use him for their own purposes… If Dumbledore finds him he'll make him fight off You-Know-Who. If You-Know-Who finds him then he'll be killed. There really is no positive alternative to this."
Sirius stepped up beside him and nodded his head in the affirmative. "It's true. It would be lying to say that we don't want to find Harry for our own selfish needs. We just want to hide him away from what is inevitable."
The ghost girl smiled at them. "But what if the Lightning Childe does not want to hide?"
Severus gave a soft sigh that went unheard by the others. "It would just be best to warn him of what is to come... and hope that he knows how to defend himself."
"He never asked for this," the girl said as she sat in the air patiently. "Will he believe you? What will you do if he doesn't?"
"We'll continue to do what we've been doing since his school letter was sent," the blonde man responded. "He is to be found by neither Dumbledore nor the Dark Lord."
The girl gave a small laugh and looked at them with bright eyes. "Many have come and gone asking to see the Lightning Childe, what makes you so special that you should be the ones to find him?"
"Who came asking for Potter?" Severus finally said as his aggravated state took a whole new turn.
"They range from day to day…" the girl said with a small smile. "Why last night it was an assassin from France. It's quite exciting when you think about it."
Severus glared at her. "Did you direct him to the whereabouts of Potter?"
The girl glared back at him. "Aren't you going to ask who this assassin was?"
"I'm not very much interested in this assassin. I'm interested in whether or not you told him where Potter is located," Severus growled at her as the girl shifted from her sitting position into a standing position.
"Of course not, silly," the girl said as if he were stupid. "He didn't make it past the barrier. I believe one of the local demons ate him."
"Demons?!" Sirius shrieked. "What demons?!"
The girl covered her ears and giggled at his hysteria. "Yes. The demons that live around the forest."
Remus looked over to the forest and shivered at the thought of those entire blood thirsty monsters ripping him and his friends from limb to limb. "Why can't you tell us where he is?"
"We'll just talk to him and make sure that he's properly guarded from the Death Eaters and from Dumbledore," Sirius said with a nod to the little girl.
The girl was thoughtful for a second. "Will you interfere in his life?"
"If he's happy, he's happy. I just don't want him to be used," Sirius grumbled.
The girl contemplated some more about what she was about to do. "I suppose I can tell you where he is."
"Thank you," Remus said with a sigh and a small smile.
The girl gave a bark of laughter. "A lot of good it'll do you. He hasn't been in Germany in nearly a decade."
"But you do know where he is, right?" Sirius asked eagerly.
The girl nodded. "He's in Japan."
"Japan?! Do you know how big Japan is?!" Sirius shouted again as Remus groaned beside him. "Can't you be a bit more specific?"
The girl looked up at the sky and thought about it hard. "Just look for the islands that aren't on the map. He's in one of those islands."
"You don't mean the Forbidden Islands, do you?" the blonde man asked.
The girl shrugged her small shoulders. "I've never been to Japan. It could possibly be that the Forbidden Islands are the ones that are not on the map."
"Do you know on which of the islands he's on?" Severus asked calmly as he managed to restrain his anger from exploding out on the girl.
The girl shook her head in the negative as the older man, (only by appearance), glared at her for not being much help to him and his companions.
"Thank you so much for your help," Remus said with a relieved sigh. "We appreciate it very much."
"It was no problem…" the girl said with a smile. "Do come back and visit some time." With that the little girl started to float backwards. She started to disappear when she got closer to the castle doors. The music resumed playing as well as the laughter of children. Remus gave a small smile as he heard the music playing throughout the haunted castle.
Sirius just gaped at the place where the girl was moments ago. "I suppose we have to go to Japan now. And considering how dangerous the Forbidden Islands are we need a lot of protection."
"That's just an old wives' tale, Black," the blonde man replied as they started to walk back down the path. "No one has ever been there to actually know whether or not it is dangerous."
Remus looked at the both of them and rolled his eyes. "Actually, Lucius, many have gone to the Forbidden Islands. They just never returned."
"That's very reassuring," Sirius said sarcastically and received a smack on the head for his troubles.
The blonde man smirked and directed them towards the nearest inn that was inhabited by wizards. He then directed them to his home, where they were making their headquarters.
Review... it makes me feel better as an aspiring writer. I like it when people just say that they enjoy the story... the review doesn't have to be long, it could just be one word that says 'good' or even 'stop killing the characters with your awful writing', though that latter one will make me sad (but oddly happy in getting my first flame!)