Hi, as this chapter was already done and checked, I decided to update this story today. The next update will probably be in two weeks.

I thank all those who wrote me reviews and to answer one question I got, the story starts half a year before the manga starts. But you will find out more soon enough :D

Now happy reading.

Shock over O.W.L.s

Minerva McGonagall was looking forward to the results of her former fifth year lions. She had especially high hopes for Hermione Granger. The girl was really smart for a muggleborn witch. Just this morning the results had come in for all the fifth years. She was sure that she would be able to brag to her colleagues that she had the top student of the year in her house. She started to look over the results. She scowled somewhat at Lavender Browns results. The girl was more interested in fashion, fortune telling and beauty products than in her education. Well she had to deal with her marks.

Seamus Finnegan was average with a somewhat better mark in charms. Finally the boy had overcome that lack of talent he had shown in the beginning somewhat. As the results for the whole year had been sent to her as deputy headmistress, she started with the students at the bottom of their year and worked herself through them to the top students. Sighing she read the results for Ronald Weasley. The boy didn't even try to do well. While he had more O.W.L.s than his twin brothers, it was clear, that Fred and George were way more talented. It was a shame the two had left Hogwarts before they could take their N.E.W.T.s, but she could really understand their reasons. Umbridge had done much damage to the students and she was dreading the Defence Against the Dark Arts results of the O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. students.

Why Albus had insisted to make Weasley a prefect and not Potter or Longbottom she would never understand. She had preferred one of them. But the final decision was the headmaster's. She smiled at Longbottom's marks. While the boy simply couldn't keep his calm in Severus' classes, he was a prodigy in Pomona's. He had even achieved the best results of the year in that class. Well, next year he could drop Potions. She was already proud of the boy that he had managed an A in potions. And his Defence mark was amazingly also an O.

During reading the results she noticed that all the students that had been on the list for the so called DA had achieved exceptional grades in their Defence against the Dark Arts O.W.L.s. She really wanted to find out what exactly Harry Potter had done to achieve this.

The list went on. Predictably many Slytherins like Crabbe and Goyle got bottom spots in the ranking. They wouldn't be able to take many subjects when they returned in September. And here people said Slytherin was the house of the ambitious and cunning students. There were few who proved it. Draco Malfoy to her annoyance was in the top five. Fourth best student to be precise. He had proven his choosing as prefect if only based on his grades. He was the top fifth year student in Slytherin. Now she only had the last three left. Third was Terry Boot of Ravenclaw house.

Filius would be happy with that result. She opened the envelope for the second best student and then blinked in shock. Hermione Granger was only second best? Who could have topped her marks? She knew of nobody to be better than her star student. She ripped open the envelope for the top student and couldn't believe her eyes. How was this possible? Harry Potter was the top student for the O.W.L.s. And how the hell did he take the exams for Muggle Studies when he didn't attend the classes? She took some deep breaths and calmed down. Okay, he was muggle raised so he knew everything about them, but she should have noticed his exams plan. She took a closer look. Also Ancient Runes and Arithmancy O.W.L.s. And the most disturbing part was he had gotten straight Os. Top marks in every subject. Best student in every subject but Herbology where Neville Longbottom was the best of all students by two points. Even in History of Magic Harry had come out on top and that was when he had gotten his vision.

Nobody would believe this. But it was impossible for him to have cheated. The quills in the exams were charmed to prevent this. And why had nobody noticed that he took three extra exams? She tried to remember. Those three exams had been after she had been stunned during the Astronomy exams. She couldn't have noticed. And every student could just turn up for an O.W.L. even if he didn't attend the classes. The examiner must have thought he had taken them, his grades proving them right. But how? Her line of thought was interrupted by a brown owl that soared into her office through the window. She recognized it as one of the ICW owls by the crest on the collar around the owl's neck. What would the ICW want with her? She took the letter from the owl and offered her a treat before the owl took off again.

She opened the letter after checking the country that sent it. China, that was unusual. She got another shock. Harry Potter, who had just somehow aced the O.W.L. exams, had gotten emancipated; in China of all places. How did the boy get to China? She had to tell Albus. If Potter was not under the protection of the wards in Privet Drive they would fall and he could be attacked by Voldemort. She ran from her office to Dumbledore's as fast as she could.

If she had stayed she would have seen the next brown owl flying into her office. As nobody was there to take the letter from her, she just dropped it on the desk and left the office again. The letter was short but it would shake Britain to the core. The letter held the withdrawal from Hogwarts of one Harry James Potter. And McGonagall would not find it until one week later, because she was too busy looking for Harry on Dumbledore's orders.

Harry stood in front of an apartment building where Sirius had bought an apartment under his new muggle name. While Sirius was a pureblood wizard, he had always had a fascination with muggles just to spite his parents. He even took Muggle Studies at school. So he was one of the few wizards in England who could really blend in with muggles. Harry entered the building, took the elevator to the eighteenth floor and went to the apparment Srius had bought. It was number 1814. On each floor there were sixteen appartments, each owned by their inhabitants. The company that had built the building was in charge of the maintenance and cleaning though, so the people living there didnt have to organize them. Harry took out the key he had gotten. From next door he could hear the door opening. A small girl with dark brown hair came out, followed by a dark haired woman, probably the girl's mother.

"Come on, Mum, I want to get to the Kamen Yaiba show at the shopping centre." The girl said excitedly.

"Of course, Ayumi. Oh, we seem to have a new neighbour." The woman said.

Harry was very grateful for the potion now. He could understand the two perfectly.

"Hello, nice to meet you. I'm Harrison Black, your new neighbour. My uncle Simon and I are just moving in today." He said bowing as he had read in a guide for Japan.

"Very nice to meet you, Mr Black. I'm Mikoto Yoshida and this is my daughter Ayumi."

"Pleasure." Harry answered smiling.

The little girl Ayumi smiled back. She seemed excited to have a new neighbour.

"Where have you lived before, Mr Black?" She asked.

"I was born in England, but I have lived in Australia for two years after my parents died when I was just a year old, then three years in America, one year in China, three in France, then I was in a boarding school for five years in Scotland and now I am here." He said.

"Wow, you must have seen so many things." Ayumi said impressed.

"You speak really good Japanese for someone who had never before been to Japan, Mr Black." Mrs Yoshida commented.

"Well, I have learned Japanese for four years now and I have somewhat of a talent for languages. So it isn't that hard for me to communicate here. I intend to enrol high school in the next days. My uncle is getting the formalities done at the moment."

"So you live with your uncle?" Mrs Yoshida asked interested.

"Yes. He raised me after my parents' death. They named him my godfather and me being to so many different countries is due to his job. He works for a company who has many branches in different countries and has to travel a lot because of this. Well, I think that helped me becoming really independent."

...

That was the story the goblins had provided. They even made up the paperwork for Sirius and Harry. They faked Harry's tests for the muggle subjects so he could enter with his age group at high school. Harry had only taken the tests for the last year but his results were proof, that he hadn't neglected his studies. When Sirius asked how he had managed that without being discovered, Harry had grinned and told him that an invisibility cloak, a photographic memory and relatives, who didn't really care for their son's education, were neat tools to get information.

He explained that he had sneaked into Dudley's room regularly to borrow his school books during the holidays when his magical things had been locked in the cupboard under the stairs. Well, at least they thought they were locked away. The Dursleys never even thought that he could want to continue his normal education so they never thought of measures to ensure he was unable to do so. As he had figured after his first year at Hogwarts, magic wasn't everything in life and he wanted to be able to choose his way himself; and not be dictated what to do. Nobody knew this. He hadn't even told Ron or Hermione. Now he was glad he didn't.

Well, as Dudley never did any work for school during the summer he never knew a thing. And Petunia and Vernon tried very hard to ignore their nephew if possible. So Harry had taken the books from Dudley, hidden under his cloak, left the house to walk around the neighbourhood and found a place where he could study undisturbed. He just needed to place the invisibility cloak over him and he could read as much as he wanted to. It had been a blessing to pass time once they had locked him in his room, never thinking he could do something in the room that benefited him.

Harry had also taken the time to learn some muggle tricks. Fred and George had shown him that being able to pick locks was incredibly useful. He also had looked up some muggle magical tricks. It was neat knowledge to have and his skill in pickpocketing was not to be underestimated. He had used it to get back at the Dursleys by taking the money they should have spent on his care from his uncle's wallet. Never too much at a time, but as they had seen fit to use him as cheap labour around the house, he thought it was his right to be paid. He had collected a nice amount of money and it had been enough to get some fitting clothes, only one set and second hand to not arouse suspicion, and he could explain that one set with his stipend for Hogwarts if they ever asked. The rest he used for food, a blessing when Dudley had been put on a diet, and a computer course that had been offered at the library after his third year at Hogwarts.

The Dursleys had been too afraid what Sirius would do to them if they hadn't let Harry come and go during the day, so his absence hadn't been questioned and as he only spoke the absolute necessary with the Dursleys, they never knew his abilities. He had also done something for his bad reputation, thanks to the Dursleys. He didn't stick to their horrible story of him attending St. Brutus. When he was asked, he told he attended a private school in Scotland for highly talented children and that his parents had enrolled him when he was an infant as they too had been students there. He faked confusion at the story of St. Brutus. Let the Dursleys deal with their lies. He wouldn't put up with it anymore, not with the threat of Sirius hanging over their heads.

Funnily the Dursleys never found out why the neighbours were now looking strangely at them. Even Petunia with her nosiness couldn't get the reason out of them. Many were already despising them for letting Dudley beat up the children and not doing anything. And after Harry helped one boy who had the bad luck to run into Dudley and his gang and brought the boy home, the parents told everybody that Harry Potter was a nice boy and that Petunia and Vernon were outright lying about him.

After taking his entrance test, Harry got the qualification for second year of high school without a problem. After discussing it with Sirius in the plane, they had decided, that Harry would enrol at Teitan High in Beika. The goblins had provided them with information on all schools in Tokyo, magical and muggle. The school had a very good reputation. His magical studies would be done during the weekends with Sirius. Both knew if Harry turned up in the register of a magical school, even under a false name, the MOB could be able to locate him. He would never check the muggle high schools though. The only thing Harry needed to be able to do was passing his N.E.W.T.s in two years' time and he was already three quarters through the sixth year stuff. By ICW standards that was. By Hogwarts standards he was even in seventh year. Really and they told their students Hogwarts was the best institution for magical education.

Harry intended to learn for the ICW standards and take his tests when he was ready. Sirius taught him everything he knew and for the rest he hired tutors and some of the best lived in Japan. Contrary to England, the Japanese witches and wizards didn't live isolated from the muggles. They were integrated in their society. They still kept the Statute of Secrecy, but they lived normal lives. One reason why Japan was one of the most modern wizarding societies in the world. Magical children in Japan started a combined education in magic and muggle subjects at the age of five and continued until their N.E.W.T.s.

Magical education started at age five, when they attended special private elementary schools. These schools were commonly known as schools for highly talented children and children of the former attendants. Nobody knew of the true nature of these schools except a special department in the Japanese government.

Muggleborn children were introduced to the magical world with special classes. As they were never separated from their families, the rifts were very small. The parents got to visit the schools, normally they were provided with the choice between three of them, and could decide which school they liked best for their child. The Japanese mentality of working hard for your own future in the best possible environment helped a lot to bridge between the two worlds; and possible the fact that all Japanese Witches and Wizards knew how to work in the normal world. Mostly, if somebody found out about magic, they took it for another special ability like a great talent for music or art. Witches and wizards were like anybody else with a talent for magic.

The elementary schools were day schools only and due to the high population of Japan in the cities, there were at least three of them per city. Tokyo had five magical elementary schools. Harry had noticed from the material the goblins had provided that there were more witches and wizards living in Japan than in Great Britain and Ireland combined. Sirius had explained it with the wars against Voldemort and Grindelwald and the stupid inbreeding of purebloods. After all, if one parent was magical, the child normally was as well and with the lower barriers between magicals and muggles in Japan those marriages were more common.

Boarding schools were only for those children age eleven and older if their parents chose so. All over Japan there were ten magical day schools and five boarding schools. Each of the boarding schools could take about thousand students. Normally they fought over the best students to teach. Those choosing day schools were provided with school portkeys to get to school and back home if they didn't live in travelling distance to them. The most well-known day schools were in Kyoto, Tokyo and Sapporo. The boarding schools were a bit outside the major settlements. The one seen as the best was on top of Mount Fuji. The whole area was copied from the world so that it existed next to the normal world. The only way inside was through a portal which was located at the base of the mountain in a small area which was warded against muggles finding it. Very similar to platform 9 ¾ in London.

When they had graduated from the schools, they could go for combined universities, the normal ones that also taught muggle children but offered witches and wizards special classes, attend one of the pure magical institutes, or continue with their studies independently. The Mount Fuji Academy of Magic even had an own university part. It was a major factor for it being seen as the best school for magic in Japan. Here the muggle and magical governments worked together.

With their highly traditional society, Japanese people were more open for spiritual things and most accidental magic or strange occurrences were explained by that.

...

"It was nice to meet you, Mr Black. We must go now, so Ayumi can see the show at the shopping centre." Mrs Yoshida said.

"Of course. Bye, Mrs Yoshida, Ayumi." Harry said and entered the apartment.

In the office of the secretary of the principal of Teitan high school Sirius Black, now named Simon Black, filled out the last part of Harry's application form. He would go with the name Harrison Black. Black was such a common name, nobody would suspect anything. He was glad that he was finished. He hated paperwork. He gave the man the signed forms.

"Very well, Mr Black; this seems to be in order. Your nephew can start class the day after tomorrow. Tell him he is to meet his teacher at 8.00 in the morning in this office. He will be taken to his new class then. He will be in class 2B. Do you have any questions?" The man asked.

"I don't think so Mr Nokama. You have been very helpful. I'm sure Harry will enjoy his time at this school." Sirius answered.

Sirius and Mr Nokama shook hands and then Sirius left the office.

When he walked along the corridors he thought about what had happened back in England and he felt sick. That Dumbledore would go this far just to get Harry's money and sacrifice an innocent boy for his schemes. He was just glad, that he had found out soon enough and prepared Harry for his plan to get him away after taking his O.W.L.s Officially Harry was now an adult in the magical world and nobody could order him where he had to live. The transfer of his money hadn't been an issue as Gringotts had branches all over the world. Harry and Sirius were well off for their lives.

Now they had the chance to build a new life. Together. Sirius had to smile at this thought. Finally they could be the family they were always meant to be. He just wished Remus could be here with them, but he was too deep in Dumbledore's net to get out without the manipulator getting suspicious. He himself had faked his death with a disillusionment charm, a confundus charm, and an impressive act. Everybody believed they had seen him falling through the veil in the death chamber. Well, he had fallen, next to the veil and then hurried to get out of there. But Harry's cries had been heartbreaking. He was glad that Harry knew that everything was just an act to get away from Dumbledore.

With all of magical Britain thinking him dead, nobody would look for him. The best thing was that he had closed up Grimmauld Place for the Order and instructed Kreacher to do everything to make sure nobody would be able to enter the house. He was Lord Black and he had the power to grant entrance to his ancestral home or not. The old codger would probably believe that only Sirius' heir could open it again and that was conveniently Harry, who had mysteriously disappeared from Britain. He pondered. By now McGonagall should have gotten the emancipation papers from China and Harry's withdrawal. He would love to see the old manipulator fume at his destroyed plans. But then he was too glad to be free again to truly care.

Sirius was right, Dumbledore was fuming; how dared the damn brat flee the country and get emancipated? All his carefully laid plans were destroyed. The link wasn't strong enough yet to be of any use. And besides the diary and the ring he hadn't managed to destroy or find any other horcruxes. And the damn ring had presented him with a death sentence for any normal wizard. But nobody ever said he was normal. With the powers of the Resurrection Stone and the Philosopher's Stone he could create a new body for himself, a stronger body. But his original plan had been that he pretended to die, let the brat find all the horcruxes and destroy them and then sacrifice himself. Then Albus would mysteriously return, kill Tom and be the hero once again.

The Potter fortune would have been the icing on the cake. He would legally gain the Cloak of Invisibility, the last of the Deathly Hallows. The refusal of the Hallow to work properly for him had been a setback, but he had thought he found a way around it. Then he would be the Master of Death. But without the brat Tom couldn't be killed. Harry was a horcrux. He had to die and he had to be killed by Tom.

Minerva's other news were also disturbing. How had the brat managed to ace the O.W.L.s? He was average at best with the exception of Defence against the Dark Arts. But that was the subject he wanted the brat to excel. It was part of the plan. But he never even suspected that he could be this good. He would have prevented it to just squash the possibility for him to get his emancipation. You needed two O's in core subjects and three E's to get emancipated. His observations had Harry to be expected getting only one O, and that was in Defence. He knew that Minerva had told Harry she would make sure he would gain the necessary grades to become an auror, as the boy had stated as his career wish.

He didn't fear that part though. He knew Severus hadn't taught the boy well enough to gain the O to get into his N.E.W.T. course. He had already planned for it. He would have used Harry to get Horace Slughorn back to teach Potions while Severus took over in Defence to further demoralize Harry. The other core classes of Transfiguration and Charms saw Harry at an E at best, so no risk there. That had been the plan.

But now, with twelve O's straight in all the subjects offered at Hogwarts, it was no question that the requisites were met. And he couldn't find out where the hell the boy was. With his trinkets destroyed he lost his means of monitoring the brat.

The only one he had managed to salvage was the one telling him that the wards around Privet Drive had fallen. No surprise there. It was infuriating.

Harry sat on his bed in their new apartment and read one of his new school books. He would turn sixteen tomorrow and Sirius had promised him to visit the Tropical Marine Land. He was quite excited. He had never been to an amusement park. He heard the door of the apartment open and closed his book, leaving a bookmark where he had stopped reading. He stood up from his bed and went to greet Sirius.

"Hey, Sirius." He said smiling. "How did it go?"

"It went well. You are starting at Teitan High the day after tomorrow at 8.00. Go to the office of the principal's secretary, Mr Nokama, it's on the second floor, and your homeroom teacher will take you to your class. You are in class 2B."

"Thanks, Sirius. I really look forward to just be a normal student again. No insane MOBs to place me in danger every year, no corrupt Ministry which is out to slander my name, just being Harry for once."

"I'm sure you will do great, pup. You are special, you can't change this. With your intelligence you could do anything you want to do." Sirius chuckled.

"Well, that would be attention I would accept. Being seen for my own accomplishments, not some insane luck."

Both grinned at each other. They went to the kitchen and Harry showed Sirius the use of electronic devices, which muggles normally used.