Author's note: Thanks for all the great response I have gotten so far keep it coming. I will try to keep the chapters coming one every 2-3 weeks keep checking back, the next one might be sooner than that.
Chapter 3
The First Chore
'"Take it easy" Master Genkai said, "but I want you to learn the lay of the land. You will have chores tomorrow and I want you to know where to go when I tell you to do something."' Harry remembered being told during lunch earlier. 'Yeah, right and how exactly am I supposed to "take it easy" when I have to go up and down several hundred stairs just to reach the path that would lead toward a road that would lead to the nearest town.'
He walked the grounds and had a lot of time to think of. His thoughts started with his current surroundings and how different everything was from London. Even the countryside in between home and Hogwarts was nothing like what he saw when he looked out over the land surrounding the estate. Forests and mountainous terrain as far as the eye could see, never had he seen anything like it. Jagged slopes covered in trees in all directions, but the salty smell of the ocean was strong in the air, so he must be still be close to the sea.
'Hedwig would have loved the forest." Harry's eyes watered up at the thought of his beloved owl. 'Why did it have to take all that for someone to decide to move him somewhere safer?' Harry could still hardly believe it was Snape that responded to his silent calls for help. He brought his thoughts back to his current environment as he had been walking down the stairs for a long time but he looked and it looked like he wasn't more than half way down.
Harry decided that he didn't need to go all the way down the stairs and back since he already knew what was at the bottom. When he reached the top again He was surprised to see master Genkai near the stairs just sitting on a bench as though she was waiting for him.
"Well you are back faster than expected. Perhaps I underestimated your physical aptitude; I guess that just means I will have to make things more difficult in the training regimen I had planned for you." Genkai said with a small smile on her face.
Harry just sputtered, but couldn't get the words to form to tell her that he had only gone halfway down and then turned around.
"Continue exploring the grounds I will be waiting for you in the kitchen when you finish, because it turns out I do have a small chore for you to do today. Yukina had to go in to town again for necessities, but I need you to pick some healing plants for some bruise balm. The forest has a type of herb that I just can't grow in my garden for some reason. With Severus as a teacher you should be able to tell herbs apart from weeds right?"
Harry nodded "I also had some herbology classes so I know a little more than that about plants with medicinal purposes. I will see you in the kitchen in a little bit then."
"Get moving you have to be in and out of the forest before dark." Genkai stated.
Harry took off at a trot to see the rest of the grounds.
When he returned to the kitchen to see what the plant looked like. What he saw was the branch of a bush with berries on it.
"It is known as Elaeagnus umbellata and one of its common names is Japanese Silverberry. Now I said it was an herb and I meant that in the most general way. It is a shrub that can grow up to be a tree 7 meters tall. The part that is of the plant that has the most value to me for balm making is the roots. I have tried many times to propagate it, but cuttings just won't take root and only one in a couple thousand seeds even germinates let alone grows to maturity for me."
Harry scrunched up his face in thought for a second trying to remember what he knew about a plant looked like this. "I think I have seen this plant before, but I knew it as Autumn Olive. If it is then at this time of year the fruits aren't quite ripe, but it will have a lot of berries on it."
Genkai is slightly surprised at his apparent knowledge about the plant. "That is another name I have heard it called by some. I need you back for dinner so you have got 2 hours to collect a load of the roots and return. Here are two buckets" She said as she hands him the buckets, "I want them full of thick juicy roots when you come back. Take a shovel from the shed and go to the forest and there should be a thicket of the bushes near the first clearing." On the table there were a pair of brown pants and a shirt to match that were all a size or three too long for him. Harry looked at them and knowingly Genkai said, "Go change in to them so you don't ruin that kimono in the forest."
She points out the window at the forest directly behind the house, then up slightly to a spot that looked like it was a hole in the canopy of the forest. "The plants are about half a kilometer away from here, in that general area. From here to there the woods are fairly safe, but I have a small warding amulet for you just in case." She takes off a necklace with a small pendant covered in kanji and puts it around Harry's neck. "That should keep you safe from the most of the less than human occupants of the woods."
"Thank you Master Genkai I'll have those roots for you when I return." Harry said as he turned to leave. 'I wish I had my wand, then I could lift the plant right out of the ground chop off some roots and then replace the plant after helping it to grow its roots back. Instead I have to dig and chop and remove the roots with brute force damaging the plant and hoping it will be ok.'
He quickly went back to his room and changed into the clothing he was more accustom to. He folded the kimono on the foot of his bedroll then was off like a flash to get to work. He jogged across the yard with the buckets in one hand and the shovel across his shoulder. He slowed once he was making his way into the woods, the shovel made a good walking stick.
The forest felt weird, it was kind of like The Dark Forest around Hogwarts, but still very different. For one thing the couple of critters he had felt were giving him plenty of space and the general magic feeling around it was just not the same. It got very dark in the woods quickly, so when Harry saw a spot where light was shining in, just a couple of minutes into woods, he was both happy to have quickly found it and apprehensive that he had been able to get to the destination without any major trouble.
'That was far too easy to reach,' Harry thought as made his way over to the first of the plants. He could kind of make out where the roots had been dug from some of the shrubs before, so he went over to another plant to take roots from the untouched plants. He couldn't shake the feeling that there was something menacing lurking just outside his field of vision.
The digging took a lot out of him and after he had the first bucket full of roots he took a short break to cool off in the tiny stream he heard burbling nearby. The feeling of being watched got stronger as he left the sunny glade. "Whatever you are I mean you no harm." He called out to the gloom that now surrounded him. As soon as the words had left his mouth he realized that was a stupid thing to do, because the feeling of being watched was now accompanied by the sounds of many creatures closing in on his location.
He got to the stream and rinsed off his hands and splashed water on his face. He had planned on relaxing for a little longer, but now just didn't feel like the right time to be relaxing. Harry headed back up to the glade and picked up where he left off digging up roots. 'One more bucket of roots and then I have to head back out of the sunlight to face whatever may be out there.' The dread of not knowing what lurked in the woods filled his thoughts.
Suddenly the atmosphere of the woods shifted radically, as though the creatures that lurked near Harry were scared off by something more fearsome. Harry quickly finished refilling the soil around the plants and was starting to leave the clearing when a person with brilliantly red hair strode the through the thicket as though he hardly noticed it at all.
"How can you just walk right through there?" Harry was amazed by the ease of his passage through the woody plants especially since some of the branches have spines on the tips so getting too close to them could be quite painful.
"I just can." The stranger replied. "So you were digging roots I see, did Master Genkai put you up to it?"
Harry nodded.
"She was testing you and I probably ruined it. When you get back don't tell her you saw anyone out here. I'll be at dinner, make sure to act like you have never seen me before so she doesn't get too suspicious of foul play during her silly little test which might have killed you." He paused for moment to think of else to say. "When she asks how it went tell her everything up to the point where the demons were scared off and then just be elusive, mysterious or vague saying how it was touch and go for a bit but you made it back with just a couple of scrapes."
"Demons? Is that what the creatures were?" Harry asked.
"Oops I said too much already don't call them demons she will ask more questions you aren't able to answer truthfully, if at all." He hurried away but called back "See you at dinner Harry Potter." With that he disappeared into the darkening woods from which he came.
Harry thought 'Who in the world was that and how did he know who I was? I guess I'll just have to wait and find out at dinner.' He ran back after messing up his hair and making a small tear in the arm of the shirt. Along with a scratch on the skin beneath to add to his story of running thinking that there were some ravenous creatures on his heel for the first part of the journey back.
When he reached the Master Genkai's home he was met just outside the kitchen. He was out of breath sweating and looked to be quite a mess.
Genkai looked at him and saw that he managed to bring her two full buckets of the roots like she had asked of him. "You're late." She said kind of crossly.
"I wasn't expecting to be chased by anything when I signed up to collect the roots for you." He said while still catching his breath from the run.
"You were chased through the forest by something?" Questioned Genkai.
"Yes I got to the clearing where the plants were and started digging when I started to feel like I was being watched by something. Then when I went to cool down in the stream nearby I heard things moving around but I never saw anything. I went back and filled the other bucket and I was feeling like I was being sized up as a snack by Fluffy, the giant three headed dog. So I grabbed the stuff and headed out at a run and for the first half of the way I could have sworn there were a dozen things of various sizes right on my heels. As I neared the edge of the forest they stopped chasing me, but I wasn't about to take any chances so I ran the rest of the way back here." Harry said making sure to look her in the eyes as he told her what had 'happened'.
"I see, well I doubt they could have actually come any closer to you than they did because of the wards on that pendant I gave you. So you were never in any real danger." Genkai replied.
"Yeah well it felt like I was and I have been in danger and left running for my life quite a few times." Harry was finally catching his breath.
"You are fine. Go clean up and change for dinner. Yukina has probably left you something to change into in your room. Dinner will be ready soon." Genkai dismissed him.
Genkai watched as Harry walked off to his room then went in to the kitchen to see how dinner was coming along.
Yukina greeted her "Good evening Master Genkai. Is Potter, Harry alright?"
"Yes he is fine, better than I expected actually. He is going to clean and change for dinner. Did you leave out another kimono for him by chance?" Genkai said with a bit of a smirk.
"Of course I did. I wanted him to look his best, especially when we are expecting company." The expression on her face was one of exasperation as though she was saying do you think I would dress him in anything else?
"You're expecting company? Who is coming to dinner this time?" Genkai stated in surprise.
"Kurama. I saw him when I was getting groceries and told him we had a guest staying with us and he said he wanted to meet Potter-san." Yukina, said pleased that there would be someone else to talk to at dinner.
"I see. Well finish up we don't want the boys to wait while I'm keeping you from cooking." Genkai said as she left the kitchen.
