Chapter 2: Let x Me x Sleep

Harry waited thirty minutes. Neither Ron nor Hermione appeared on the thick tree branch beside him that whole time, and a Point Me spell didn't do anything except spin about aimlessly; the two weren't anywhere nearby, too far out of the spell's range for it to have any hope of picking the couple up. This concerned Harry, and he quickly checked some of the wards they had placed on each other which would let them know they were all safe and alive. The wards did not give any signs of harm coming to the duo, so he breathed a sigh of relief and closed the connection for the while.

"Now, then," the short, raven-haired man said to himself, "the next step would be to find some sort of civilization and see if I can't talk with the locals." Before the send-off party, the Ministry had charmed Harry and his friends with a Multilinguistic Charm: a handy little charm that would allow them to instantly understand and speak any new language they heard.

Emerald orbs scanned the whale shaped island from above. Most of it was just green, green forest, the vibrant leaves swaying with the slight, clean breeze. By the coast behind the direction he'd first started in, however, was a small village, almost a hamlet, really, and relief passed through him. So this place was populated, after all! That made things easier for him.

With a loud crack, not unlike the cacophony of a fired gun, he vanished in a puff of grey that dissipated quickly after it came. Another crack mere moments later, and he'd reappeared in the village, behind what appeared to be a supermarket, albeit in an old-fashioned style.

Luckily, there was no one around here to see his magic. He didn't want to break the Statutes of Secrecy, even if they probably didn't necessarily apply to an entirely different world. Harry casually walked around the side of the supermarket to the streets, and was surprised to see no one there. What about the owner of the supermarket; was he or she gone, too? A quick look into said market assured him that the answer to this was yes. Where was everyone? At a party, or something?

The Boy Who Lived glanced around town and found nothing suggestive of a party or festival; then his eyes fell on the ocean, and he saw a large ship docked at the village harbor, and tons of people crowded around the edge of the harbor. Raising his eyebrow, Harry decided to run down to the ship as fast as he could. Thanks to his work as an Auror, the middle-aged wizard was no stranger to running, and he made his way down the sloped street easily. The closer he got, the more he heard a whole lot of happy/sad shouting, the kind that Harry himself had shouted several times while sending his incredibly talented kids off to Hogwarts.

He slowed to a stop upon reaching the harbor, and tapped a random man on the shoulder. "What's the excitement about?" he asked, eyes focused on the ship.

"Eh?" The man, a tall brown-haired villager, handsome yet not remarkably so, with a slightly dirty face from his work—Harry guessed carpentry based on all the callouses on his hands and the wood splinters that dusted his shirt sleeves—frowned at him curiously. "What's up with your accent, man? And where the hell did you come from, anyway? I ain't never seen you 'round here before, and I sure as hell ain't never heard an accent like that."

Harry sweatdropped. "Um… just passing through, sir. But do you mind answering my question?"

"Eh?" the man said again, before blinking and shaking his head. "Oh, about why we're all gathered here in front of this ship, you mean? Well, it's because our very own Gon is takin' the Hunter Exam this year. It's the first time in a long time since someone from this island's been fool enough to try and take it, but I'd say if anyone has any chance o' passin', it's good ol' Gon."

What the heck was a Hunter Exam?

"What's this Hunter Exam you mentioned just now?" Harry asked, and now the man stared at him with not only curiosity, but downright disbelief.

"You're pulling me leg, aren'tcha? How the hell do ya not know about the Exam?"

The raven-haired man shrugged helplessly. "Um… My home is really, really remote?"

Hey, in terms of connections to this world, that wasn't entirely a lie.

"...Must be some really hard-to-reach, whacko place then," the man decided, which also was pretty true. The villager sighed and shook his head, an amused smile tugging at his lips. "Well, the Hunter Exam is an annual test held for anybody who wishes to become a Hunter. And a Hunter is basically a mercenary or an adventure seeker; they get free or reduced passage to almost every country in the world, they gain access to information folks like your or me could never hope to get, and they get hired out on jobs for just about anyone who's willing to shell out enough money."

Harry raised his eyebrow. That was quite the privilege. Free passage around the world? A wealth of information at your fingertips? Adventures? His emerald eyes glinted with interest. He just knew that no matter where they were in this wide, unknown world, Ron and Hermione would almost certainly be taking this exam, especially Hermione, who pretty much thrived on knowledge.

"How much does it cost to take the Hunter Exam?" Harry asked quickly, completely forgetting that he likely didn't even have the proper currency used in this world. "And where is it held?"

"It's free, as long as you don't literally lose your arm or leg taking it," the man joked with a snort, "or your life, for that matter. People are willing to throw away literally everything they have to become a Hunter, and the Exams are so dangerous each year that it's almost guaranteed at least fifty people will die. If not more. And for your second question, no one knows exactly. All that we know is that to get to it, you ride that boat over there."

The man jabbed his thumb at the ship, where a kid with spiky, greenish hair and a green outfit was waving enthusiastically to the crowd from the ship's stern.

"Thanks, sir," Harry said gratefully, and immediately pushed forward through the crowd.

"Hang on!" the man called at the wizard's back, eyes wide and shocked. "You're not thinkin' about takin' the exam, are ya? It's impossible! You'll never make it!"

"I did the impossible just coming here!" he called back over his shoulder with a grin. The poor guy would never know just how true that was for Harry. "How much trouble could one little exam be?"

Besides, Harry thought, remembering his spinning, lost Point Me. It's the best shot I've at regrouping with Ron and 'Mione.

Skirting around a plethora of people, maneuvering so as to not get his robes trodden upon, the Savior of Magical Britan at last picked his way to the front of the excited crowd and stepped up to the ship's gangplank, where crew members were starting to reboard one by one, each carrying a crate of food and other supplies. A tall and lanky redhead wearing a light blue bandanna, an orange shirt, and khakis stood in front of the gangplank, smiling brightly. As Harry drew near, he said, "Hello, sir. Are you boarding to take the Hunter Exam?"

"Yes, that's correct," the Potter patriarch said with a warm smile. He liked the feeling he got from this man. Being an Auror had given him an acute ability to tell a potential friend from a potential enemy.

The redhead nodded and stepped aside, sweeping his arms toward the lowered gangplank. "Then welcome aboard! My name is Katsuo. Come aboard and feel free to wait on the deck for our departure, or down in the cabins. You may do anything you like to pass the time while on this ship."

"Thank you, Katsuo," Harry said, grateful. He lifted out his hand for the sailor to shake, and the younger man did so happily. Before boarding the ship, he decided to introduce himself. "My name's Harry Potter. I'm pleased to meet you."

Katsuo flushed, embarrassed, and scratched the back of his head. "Thank you, Mr. Potter. I am pleased to meet you, too. Good luck on the Exam."

Grateful to have made a friend already on this journey, Harry thanked him again and boarded.

Already on board the ship were a large number of applicants, most of whom were male, although Harry did spy a few women. Everyone looked like they could at least hold their own in a fight, and most were touching or carrying in pockets/holsters a weapon of some sort. The raven-haired boy wondered if he shouldn't have magically created a weapon for himself before signing up for this. Actually, come to think of it, hadn't the first person he'd met on this whale-shaped island told him that at least fifty people were guaranteed to die taking the Hunter Exam each year?

Sitting down on the mast with a slightly paling face, Harry decided he didn't really want to think about that.

After the crew was done reloading their supplies, which took another ten minutes, Katsuo dashed up the gangplank, which was then raised and put away securely in its proper place somewhere Harry wasn't really paying attention to. It didn't matter in the grand scheme of things and the Gryffindor was exhausted. Back home for him, it was past midnight now, nearing more towards one in the morning, and now that he wasn't doing anything except reclining against the mast, all of his grogginess hit him at once.

While the ship departed, a high-pitched young boy's voice shouting gleefully about becoming a Hunter in the background, Harry's eyelids slowly drooped, and he shuffled around a bit in a (fruitless) attempt to find some comfort against the mast. However, the damned thing was too big and hard for him to be able to fall asleep very easily. He tossed and turned, greatly annoyed with being robbed of his precious dreaming times.

How could he take an Exam while low on energy?

Well, then again, Harry reasoned that they probably wouldn't arrive at their destination the next day, so it probably didn't matter as much, but still. He was whupped and now sort of grumpy.

The fact that the other people on board weren't exactly respecting the fact that there was some poor loon clearly trying to catch some z's nearby didn't help matters. The din created by someone dropping a crate was not ideal acoustics for slumber.

"Come on, Katsuo, really?" someone was saying.

"Yeah, at this rate, you'll never make a good sailor, let alone a decent one," snickered someone else.

Harry's heavy eyes opened at that, and he blinked for a few moments to see clearly. When he was at last able to, he frowned deeply. It appeared that Katsuo, the redhead who'd greeted Harry at the gangplank, had dropped a crate of apples and accidentally scattered several across the floor. A couple of the other ship hands were apparently ridiculing him for it, if the previous jeering and the fact that they were pointing and laughing at him were any signs.

That wasn't cool. Harry stood up quickly, angry that they were picking on his new friend. "Oi, you lot!" he said sternly, glaring at the sailors who turned to him with twin frowns. "Leave him alone, he's just trying to do his job."

"Yeah, badly," one of them, a rather rotund fellow who clearly hadn't missed many meals, sneered at Katsuo, who immediately picked up his pace in gathering up the apples.

Harry's annoyance with these obvious overgrown bullies flared, and he moved forward to say something again, but before the words could leave his mouth, someone else spoke up for him.

"Oi, you lot, don't slack off! Get back to work!"

"Y-Yes, captain!" the bullies gulped, and immediately ran off to return to whatever it was they'd been doing previously.

Harry looked to his right to see who this newcomer was, and found himself staring at a heavyset man with a blond beard and mustache that seemed to take up most of his head. He wore a white sailor's cap with an anchor on the front, a red vest, and a nice white v-neck underneath. He was taking a swig from a brown flask.

"So this is the captain of the ship," Harry muttered to himself, filing away the man's description for later reference. It would only help to know who the important people were aboard this vessel.

"Oi!" The captain fixed a stern gaze upon Katsuo, who flinched and looked up. "Didn't you hear me? Pick up that box and put it with the rest!"

"Y-Yes, captain," Katsuo said, a little disappointedly, and stood up quickly. Harry noticed that in his haste to follow the orders, the sailor had accidentally left one juicy-looking, green apple on the ground. He started to move to pick it up.

"Wait, Katsuo, there's still one on the deck!" he called, moving forward to help out, but someone was already there—that same kid with the green color scheme he'd seen before boarding. Now that he was closer up, the wizard was able to see that he had a backpack which a fishing rod was poking out of. Harry had to stare; was this boy, who by the look of him couldn't be over thirteen, be another examinee? That was impossible, right? Why would anyone let such a young kid participate in such a dangerous exam? This guy had to be a cabin boy or something.

"Here you go, Katsuo!" the boy said, tossing the apple to the redhead, who caught it in a panic.

"T-Thank you!" Katsuo said gratefully, rushing off to wherever the storage room was. Harry was too tired to care.

"Well, glad that's solved," Harry yawned to himself, and went to go sit down against the mast again, but almost the moment after he'd closed his eyes, the crying of a large number of seagulls drilled into his ear and his face twitched.

Could this place please just let him sleep? Was that really asking too much? Groaning, Harry clapped his hands over his ears in an attempt to block out the noise. It didn't work very well, however, and probably made him look like a pouting, grumpy kid.

"There's a storm coming soon," a young-sounding voice - that green-themed kid - said thoughtfully. Harry groaned loudly, opened his eyes, and fixed a disappointed glare on the sky. "Really?" he demanded, so tired and that he didn't care what he looked like to anyone else anymore. "A storm on top of everything else? I just want to sleep!"

The kid who'd helped Katsuo gather his apples, and who must've been the one to mention the storm coming, laughed awkwardly. "Sorry, mister."

"It's alright, it's not your fault," Harry grumbled, sighing and rolling over while the rotund captain laughed. Damn, this spot was just as uncomfortable as the last. "How did you know about that, anyway?"

"See how the seagulls are circling around in a panic?" The boy pointed up to the sky, and Harry followed it up. Sure enough, high above them, a flock of seagulls flew in tight circles, chattering rapidly and gratingly. "That means there's going to be a storm soon. I explored the forests on Whale Island and watched all the animals, so I know that."

Harry raised an eyebrow. That was a useful ability to have. And back on Whale Island… did that mean this kid was that Gon person the villager told him about earlier?

"Not bad," Harry admitted, impressed. The captain grunted, perhaps in agreement. "Are you Gon?"

The kid stared with wide eyes. "Do you know me?" said Gon, blinking. "I don't think I've met you before."

"The villagers told me about you. Seems like you're famous back there now."

Gon blushed and laughed. "I don't really want a whole lot of fame. I just want to become a Hunter. Who are you?"

"Harry Potter." Harry smiled tiredly and stuck his hand out. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Gon."

The kid's grin stretched across his entire face, and the Briton instantly knew that there was no way he could ever come to dislike that face. Gon was just too adorably innocent and enthusiastic about everything.

"Gon, how do you know for sure that it's a storm that is sending the birds into a frenzy?" the captain said suddenly, drawing both Harry's and the spiky haired kid's attention. The two examinees blinked, and the bearded man elaborated. "There could be multiple reasons why they'd be circling like that. For instance, they could've caught the scent of some fish rising up with the air."

"That's true," Harry said quietly, thinking about that. It did make a lot of sense.

Gon smiled brightly. "Oh, well, that's because I can smell the storm!"

"...Eh?" Harry and the captain stared at him, a little slack-jawed. Now hadn't that been an unexpected answer?

"Here, let me check again," the young test applicant said, sniffing the air. He hummed, sniffed again, and then nodded an affirmative. "It's definitely a storm."

"What are you, a bloodhound?" Harry asked, his jaw definitely touching the floor now.

"Well, I'll be damned," muttered the captain so quietly that the wizard almost missed it. He stared at Gon for a few seconds, then said, "Kid, you said your name's Gon? Where did you say you came from again?"

"Whale Island," Gon replied brightly.

"And why do you want to be a Hunter?"

"My dad's a Hunter but he hasn't been home in twelve years. I want to find him!"

The man's eyes widened with something akin to recognition.

"Does that mean anything?" Harry asked, confused.

"No," the captain said absently, staring at Gon, "perhaps not… but could it really be that time…?"

"Er, sir?"

A moment passed before the captain blinked and shook his head quickly. "No matter. I'll ask you, the same questions. What is your name, and why do you want to be a Hunter?"

That was easy enough. He smiled again, thinking about Ron and Hermione, wherever they were in this world. "Harry Potter, and I want to be a Hunter because I got separated from a couple friends and becoming a Hunter is the best route I have to find them. And if I can help out some people on the way, that would be great."

"I see," the captain said, a hint of approval in his voice. His voice raised as he shouted, "Well, anyway, we need to handle this approaching storm. All hands on deck! Get to your storm positions! The storm will arrive in about two and a half hours! Make sure everything loose is tied down before then! I don't want anything precious breaking, do you lot understand me?"

"Aye aye, captain!" the other sailors all called back in unison as they rushed about from their various previous jobs to follow the man's orders.

Harry watched all of this for a second, staring incredulously at the captain. So he'd known about the storm already, but had still pretended to need that innocent kid's help? What had been the point of that? It didn't seem like the kind of thing a normal ship captain would ask… and the same with those all those questions the captain had asked Harry and Gon. Oh well; if the storm was coming in two hours, then Harry could hopefully get at least some rest before it hit.

He closed his eyes and continued the eternal struggle for a comfortable position.

~o~

"—alright? Oi, old... are… alright?"

"Five more minutes," came Harry's very groggy voice, and he knocked away the hand shaking his shoulder. "Just give me five more minutes and I'll wake up the kids, Gin…"

He yawned and squeezed his emerald eyes shut tighter.

"How are you seriously still asleep, old man?"

"I'm not old yet!" Harry immediately protested, standing up straight and yawning again. "I'm forty! I still have twenty years before I can be called old! Wait…" He blinked, and immediately saw that he was still on a ship with a tall man in a business suit peering at him with surprise etched in his face. It took him a few moments to remember what had happened before he went to sleep, and why he was on a ship at all. Still, he hadn't seen this guy before. "Who the hell are you?"

"Leorio," said… Leorio, who had short, dark hair combed back slickly. Harry was jealous; even now, his own hair still instantly popped back to its naturally messy state any time he tried to fix it up. Harry blinked; Leorio had started talking again. "And seriously, dude, how the hell did you manage to sleep that long?"

"What do you mean?" Harry tilted his head. "It's only been, like, two hours, hadn't it?" He doubted the ship's crew would've left him out here throughout the storm, and he doubted his ability to sleep through said storm even more than that.

"Try a full day," Leorio deadpanned, and the wizard gaped.

"A day?" Harry yelped. The only times he'd ever slept that long were when he found himself in the infirmary back in Hogwarts. Which… was actually a disturbingly large number. "And the storm didn't budge me at all?"

"Nope. Slept right through it. It got so ridiculous that I even made a bet with some of the other guys on board on whether or not you'd wake up by the end of it. Thanks, by the way; I'm now thirty thousand Jenny richer thanks to you."

"Jenny? What?"

"Um…" Leorio stared at him. "Jenny."

Harry stared back. "Yeah, what's that? I'm... guessing it's not a girl's name?"

Leorio snorted. "Good one."

"No, I mean…" Harry shook his head, completely lost. There was definitely something he was missing here. "Seriously, what is it?"

"You… you really have no clue?" Leorio deadpanned, and when the wizard nodded, the man in the fancy blue suit practically fell over. "It's money, man, money!" he explained, his voice full of disbelief. "Jenny, the global currency!"

"Oh." Harry blinked; come to think of it, that should've been pretty obvious based on the context of what this man, who appeared to be in his twenties or maybe even thirties, had been saying. "Well, then, um… you're welcome? I guess?"

"Yeah, well, you can thank me for saving your butt, too," Leorio said, a little confused, evidently still floundered at Harry's lack of knowledge about what was apparently this world's currency. "We're already docked. Everyone's already disembarked except you and I, and I almost left you here. The captain tried to wake you up earlier, but you slept right through all of his attempts. He even said that he'd pass you entirely on the fact that you managed to sleep through that whacky storm yesterday, though he'd revoke it if you didn't wake up before they left port."

Harry sweatdropped. Crossing dimensions must have been a lot more taxing on his body than he'd thought.

"Wait, pass? What do you mean, pass?"

"Oh, that's right, you wouldn't have known," Leorio said, mostly to himself. He looked up at Harry and explained. "The captain's apparently one of the examiners," he said, and Harry's mouth opened in a wide O of understanding. That explained the strangeness of the man's questioning and seeking Gon's help when he didn't need it anyway.

"Leorio!" someone called from behind Harry, and he turned and looked around the mast to see Gon standing on the port of a new town, much larger and busier than the one on Whale Island. The speaker appeared to be the blond boy, who wore a white shirt and pants underneath something that Harry imagined would've been perfect on a monk, or perhaps a priest. "Come on already! We don't have time to waste!"

"I'll be right there, Kurapika!" Leorio shouted back, and Harry filed that name in the back of his mind. It wouldn't hurt to know what information he could about his fellow applicants. Leorio grinned at Harry and saluted him goodbye. "Well, anyway, I've gotta go off and meet up with my friends. We've decided to team up to take the exam together. See you at the exam site! Oh, one last thing, the captain said to head for the tree at the top of that hill. See it?"

Harry's eyes rolled up the hillside to see the top, and sure enough, there was one tall tree at the top of the hill, standing proudly against the blue backdrop of the sky.

"Yes, thank you, Leorio," Harry said, and Leorio grinned wider.

"Don't mention it! Well, bye for now!"

And with that, the tall man scampered off to the gangplank, running down it to Gon and… Kurapika. Yes, that was his name.

Harry stretched, feeling himself wake up more and more with each passing second.

Well, he thought, making his way to the gangplank himself, I suppose I should get going myself. If I've passed this part of the exam, then I really don't want to be left behind. This will be easy, though; all I have to do is get somewhere alone, then Apparate up there. I might even be the first there!

And so, with an excited step off the gangplank, Harry officially set off on his journey to find the exam site.