Harry Potter was ten years old, and despite the Dursley's best efforts he was a healthy young boy, well-liked around the neighbourhood, a star student at the local primary school, and in possession of a firm belief in the supernatural. The Thief King had scared Petunia into caring for Harry when he was too young to open the refrigerator or deal with his own bodily waste, and terrorized Vernon out of his penchant for beating people who he (usually incorrectly) felt had wronged him. When Harry was able to get into not only the pantry but the refrigerator as well, the Thief King helped the boy get out of his locked cupboard of a night and take as much food as he had been forbidden during the day. There was also the issue of making sure Petunia never put Harry into Dudley's second-hand clothing and swift revenge against Marge Dursley and her 'prize' bulldog, an ugly brute of a thing called Ripper – that she had encouraged to take a bite out of Harry the first time she had visited.
He also helped Harry steal money from Vernon's wallet and used that money to buy some hauntingly familiar cards from the nearest game shop as soon as they became available. Harry bought enough packs of cards to form several decks, and in fact did form more than one decks. One for him, one for the Thief King. Oh yes, he knew the spirit was there. After a few conversations, he knew that the intimidating spectre was looking out for him as well. Still, the deck that the spirit wanted to build wasn't quite the sort that Harry personally felt entirely comfortable with. Oh, it wasn't the occult aspect. Harry was fine with those cards and had several of the same cards in his own deck as the Thief King had requested for his. It was more about being limited to only one type. The Thief King was picky. Harry never tossed any of the cards he bought, even if he already had five Kuribo for example, there was always room for another one.
Sometimes, while teaching Harry how to call on the Shadow Magic with his deck, the Thief King actually despaired over how large the boy's deck was. After all, with the larger deck, there was a greater chance of not getting that one card you needed that would probably be somewhere deep in the middle. On the other hand, it provided more options. Six of one and half-a-dozen of the other.
Then the letter came.
It was addressed to "Harry Potter, Cupboard Under the Stairs, 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey", and both Harry and the Thief King thought it very interesting that the addressee knew which room in the house was Harry's designated space. Actually, the cupboard suited Harry fine in general. He was only a kid yet, so he didn't need a lot of space for sleeping in, and his only worldly possessions – apart from his clothes – were his cards. He didn't need a lot of space yet. He only slept there after all.
Having strangers know about it didn't sit well with him though, or with the Thief King. No, it didn't sit well with them at all. There was nothing to be done about that however, and the missive requested a response.
"Don't bother," the Thief King advised. "It doesn't look like they teach any subjects that aren't magical at this place. Buy books, buy the supplies, but don't bother going. This is our opportunity to get away though."
Harry smiled a little at this, and nodded agreement.
A quick letter was sent off and Harry went to Diagon Alley the next day, though it was the Thief King who took charge of their body for the outing – after terrifying Petunia into taking them to the correct area, of course.
~oOo~
Bakura was very intelligent in general, and surprisingly modern-adept for such an ancient spirit. He'd helped Harry set up his first bank account, in Switzerland, years ago. Now, they would be sending pretty much all of Harry's vast wealth to that same account – which had better interest rates than the goblin bank, and an entire nation dedicated to the security of that bank. No dragons, but who would suspect a wizard of keeping his money in a muggle bank account? Of course, that was just for the monetary aspect. The real valuables would be kept in the Shadow Realm, guarded by a loyal monster until such a time as the item in question was either wanted or needed.
In the bowels of Gringotts, boy and spirit sorted through all the belongings that Sirius had stashed there for them. Trinkets, trifles, gems, jewels, magical artefacts, furniture and property deeds were there in abundance and almost-tidy piles.
"What happened to Mr Black after he brought everything here?" Harry asked his goblin guide politely.
"Imprisoned," the goblin answered shortly.
The Thief King frowned. Now, why had that happened? Of course, he asked, taking over Harry's body to do so.
"Voldemort supporter, murdered several muggles and the wizard Peter Pettigrew, betrayer," the goblin listed dispassionately and with a shrug, not noticing the shift in the young wizard beside him.
"Somehow I doubt it," the Thief King said with a scowl. "After all, what kind of man would be all those things, and also make sure that all the Potter's property was safely locked away in the vault and leave the key with me, rather than keeping it for himself? Was veritaserum -" he remembered that word from Black's little whispering very well "- used in his trial?"
The goblin shrugged. "Don't know," he answered.
This time, he growled, mentally adding 'get a lawyer to look into Black's case' to his to-do list before he stalked into the large vault and towards the stack of papers that listed and registered ownership of various properties to the Potter family.
"Getting the hell out of England," the Thief King grumbled through his teeth as he scanned page after page of information.
"Duel Monsters is biggest in Japan," Harry commented softly from within the shared space of their mind. "I'd like to duel someone else I think."
The Thief King smirked a little. "Yes, some variety would be good," he agreed. He couldn't be Harry's only opponent forever after all. Unfortunately, the only property held by the Potters in Japan was a kirin sanctuary. They couldn't live there. They'd have to go house-hunting if they wanted to move to Japan.
The Thief King set the pile of papers down with a huff and grabbed up a large pile of gold into a bag so they could get some shopping done in Diagon Alley – and Knockturn too of course.
In total, Harry and the Thief King stayed at the Leaky Cauldron for a week checking things off their to-do list before catching a flight to a city in Japan called Domino. There, they stayed in a cheap motel while inspecting various properties, ultimately buying a house that was slightly smaller than the Dursley's house back in England had been. Room to invite people over if Harry made friends, but not so much room that it would be all that much of a chore to keep it clean.
More to the point, it was near to the local magical shopping district and evening cram-school. Japanese witches and wizards, it seemed, went to regular school during the day, and took their magical studies in the evenings. This was something which the Thief King, rather haughtily, approved of.
~oOo~
"Wake up Landlord!" the Thief King yelled into Harry's sleeping mind. "It's your birthday!"
Harry chuckled tiredly as he rolled over and out of his bed. "No it isn't Bakura," he answered, a smile on his face as he pushed himself up and made his way to the shower. "Though I appreciate the joke."
Actually, it was the first day of his high school career. They'd been in Japan for four years now, and Harry was fifteen. The school system in Domino was a bit... different to what Harry would have experienced back in England. There was elementary school, which lasted until a person was ten, then middle school for those eleven to fourteen, and then high school began at fifteen and went until the student was seventeen. At eighteen, students could leave school to work full time, or they could go on to higher education, maybe working part-time.
Of course, if he'd stayed in the UK and gone to Hogwarts, Harry's normal education would still be that of an elementary student, and his magical education would be... well, when the teachers in Domino found out he'd narrowly avoided a Hogwarts education they'd congratulated him on escaping from a backwards education and stagnant culture.
Harry was out the door in less than an hour and on his bike to school. It was the closest he could get to flying while in a non-magical area. Some Sundays – the only day he had completely free of school – he went out to the Potter Kirin Sanctuary and flew with the majestic animals. It was quite the experience, whether he was racing the mature males across the sky or flying slowly as the females taught their young how to take their first steps off the ground.
They were odd creatures, sort of a cross between a dragon and a unicorn, and able to fly without wings. Still, they were beautiful when grown, and adorable when small. Apparently also able to recognise a true ruler, and able to bow only to such a person. They were good conversationalists too, when they were in the mood for it. Couldn't stand the smell of blood though, it made them faint. At least they didn't discriminate on gender like the European unicorn.
All the same, Harry used the bike for the streets through Domino city.
"Please take a seat," the teacher called as he entered the room. "Wherever you sit will be your seat for the rest of the term. Since this is your first day at Domino High, and because a number of you have come from different middle schools, let's have a short introduction around the room. Your name, and a like or hobby will do."
Harry was interested to hear what his classmates had to say. There was Muto Yugi who liked games, Mazaki Anzu who liked dancing, Katsuya Jounouchi who's hobby (if it could be called that) was entering competitions, Hiroto Honda who claimed his hobby was keeping Jounouchi out of trouble, Nosaka Miho who liked cute things, a great many others, and then it was his turn.
"I am Shokunin Hiei, the kanji for my name means 'artisan' and 'flying shadow'. I like living in Domino City," Harry said. Of course he'd changed his name when he came to Japan. If so many Asian students took on Western names when they travelled to English-speaking countries, then really, it made sense that he would do likewise. It also meant the other kids wouldn't have any problems with pronouncing his name. Name butchery was a common problem between languages.
After him, Bakura Ryou liked archaeology (and Harry was interested to learn that someone else had the same name as the spirit of the Ring), and Kaiba Seto liked the game Duel Monsters, and more names continued on afterwards.
~oOo~
