Ninja Wizard 03

By David

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all HP characters belong to Miss Rowling.

Ninja Wizard 03

"Exploring, Research, and Paying Respects"

Harry emerged from the castle main doors into the bright daylight. It definitely was a nice day out, a few wispy white clouds, it was warm out, and everything was green. The sight reminded him of back home in Izumi-Zan. Harry walked out onto the grass in front of the castle doors so as to not block them. He looked round and picked a direction, heading towards a small hut in the distance. As he got closer to it he discovered that while it certainly qualified as a hut, there was nothing small about it. He wondered what was in there and noted a large garden next to it. Just before he got to it the door opened to reveal the half giant Hagrid.

"Hey there," Harry called out to the man.

Hagrid looked up just as Fang, his massive bloodhound came bounding out the door past him. Hagrid immediately brightened up.

"Harry!" he called out. "How are you?"

Harry had liked him from the get go, the man had made a great impression on him as an easy going person.

"I'm good," Harry replied as he walked up. "Just going walkabout to see what there is to see."

Hagrid relaxed a bit. "Good idea, and it's a good day for rambling about. That there is the school garden. We grow most of our food here. Should see the pumpkin patch, they'll be ready by Halloween and they are gonna be big ones. I'm headed to the stables, got some fixing to do."

"Didn't know you had stables here," Harry said.

Hagrid beamed. "Sure we do. We keep cows, chickens, and some other animals. We get our milk and eggs from them."

Harry turned and followed Hagrid past the gardens and got a glimpse of the pumpkin patch, and there were some really big ones in there. Harry smiled as he thought of how much fun he'd have carving up one. They continued onto the stables. As Hagrid got to work on whatever he needed to do Harry checked out the stables. The cows and the chickens were out in the yard, doing whatever it is they do. Harry leaned against the rail and watched the chicks running around peeping at each other. It looked so peaceful here. Harry turned and Hagrid emerged from the stables right at that moment.

"Peaceful, eh?" Hagrid asked.

Harry smiled. "That it is."

"That's why I like it down here so much," Hagrid said and then headed off.

Harry decided to head off in a new direction and headed back to the main path. There were signs directing him in different directions, one towards the docks, one to the greenhouses, and a third to the Quidditch pitch. Harry chose the docks so he headed off down that path. As he walked down the path he looked round the grounds and committed things to memory in the event he needed to find them in the dark. Getting to the docks he looked round inside the boathouse and saw all of the little rowboats that had been used to bring the first years up to the castle. He turned and walked out on the dock and leaned against one of the poles and began replaying the meeting with Professor Dumbledore. The old man had been interested in where he had been for the last ten years. That could be harmless in telling him. Harry decided a letter home to Japan was in order to warn them. He decided to add a memory of the meet as well so they could see what Dumbledore looked like, sounded like, and acted like. Know your enemy. And Harry wasn't all that sure that Dumbledore would be his enemy, so he decided to exercise caution around the man until he was sure of Dumbledore. Snape asking to see his dragon tattoo seemed to be a harmless request. The man's attitude towards him bothered him as the man had pronounced him to be an 'arrogant brat like his father' without even giving him a chance. Dumbledore's stepping in to rebuke Snape was expected as Dumbledore was the headmaster but Harry wondered if that had been staged to make Dumbledore look like he was standing up for Harry. Harry sighed as he slowly cracked his neck muscles by moving his head left right left, and then right left right. Harry put that situation away inside the filing cabinet he had inside the house he'd built inside of his mind. He decided to head back and get lunch, as it was now two in the afternoon.

Harry walked into the great hall to see it half full. He sat down at the Ravenclaw house table and watched one of the older kids look down at his plate and order a salad. Harry turned to his plate and asked for one as well and had it loaded down with what he wanted in the salad. As he ate he took the opportunity to look around at who was there. He noted that most of the kids there were glancing at him in curiosity and he didn't mind that so much knowing that he couldn't do anything about it. He observed a pair of brothers that appeared to be twins acting like they were having a grand old time. Both of the had red hair like that one kid that went nose to nose with Malfoy earlier in the day. He wondered if that kid was their younger brother. Harry shifted slightly to glance over at Malfoy, and the blond was talking to others in Slytherin house. He could see the way the kid was acting that he was a really arrogant kid. He noted a few of the older Slytherins glaring his way. Harry wondered just how much power this Malfoy really had. Harry added the name to his 'people to investigate' list. Harry then glanced up at the high table where he knew now the staff and teachers of Hogwarts would sit to see who was up there at the moment, and there wasn't many of them up there. Snape was, and he was glaring at everybody. Harry was sure the man had anger issues. He turned back to his salad and continued to eat lunch.

Harry quickly decided that he liked the greenhouses, as they looked neat with all of the various plants in there. Harry was careful as some of the plants did not look friendly. He kept going through them until he came to the center of greenhouse five. It looked like a park, the flowers blooming big around the perimeter, the big oak tree looking majestic, the butterflies flitting from flower to flower, and the pond that was slightly off center had at least a dozen Carp and the Japanese Koi. A collection of lily pads with a frog on one completed the effect. This would be a perfect place for meditation, Harry decided. If felt so peaceful and calm here.

"Oh, hello there!" a cheery voice said from his right as Harry felt the intrusion.

He turned to see a short lady dressed in green standing there.

"I'm Pomona Sprout, the herbology professor," she introduced herself.

Harry bowed. "I'm Harry Potter, first year Ravenclaw."

"Interested in my little park, are you?" she asked brightly.

"I like it. It seems to be very peaceful here," Harry observed.

Sprout beamed. "That's why I created this place. Now do be careful while looking round. Some of these plants aren't too friendly."

"I will," Harry nodded.

He watched the lady hurry off and wondered what the classes were like. Harry knew he would find out at the first class. He turned to the doors that he had entered the park through but they had closed and he couldn't get them to open and the unlocking spell wasn't working. He went to the other set and they opened to reveal an ugly strange creature there. Harry immediately recognized it as an Imp. He moved even before the imp could come after him. Harry didn't want to tangle with it so he did a front forward flip over the imp to avoid it and the thing blinked at Harry as he passed overhead, never expecting Harry to do that. By the time the imp had turned round, Harry was around the corner and jogging down the hall. Harry slowed down as he observed a caldron sitting in the corner and wondered why it was there. He walked up to it and looked inside. There was nothing in there so he continued on. Harry got through greenhouse six without any trouble and headed back to the castle. It was getting late in the day now and Harry had enough of exploring for now. He knew he would have plenty of time to go sneaking and peeking as Hiroshi called it.

Harry stood in the great hall looking at his watch. It was coming up on four thirty and he debated going to dinner now or waiting for a bit longer, going up to the library and starting his research project, and then coming back down for dinner. Dinner won out as he noticed a group of people heading in. Harry followed them in and sat down at the Ravenclaw table. This time Harry asked for Japanese food and got it. The great hall slowly filled up with people looking to eat and this time Harry was able to observe more people. He turned his attention to the high table to watch the people there. He noted Snape doing his 'evil glare' thing again as the man sat there eating. There was a lady that sat next to Dumbledore who looked stern and he wondered who she was and what she taught. He knew he would find out in time. He didn't see Flitwick and assumed he was having his dinner in his office while getting ready for tomorrow, as classes were about to start up. Harry heard a loud voice coming from the Gryffindor table and looked to see what was going on. It was the younger redheaded boy being loud about traitors and dark wizards again. Harry briefly wondered what the kid's problem was and then decided he would find out in time. The brown bushy headed witch sitting next to him seemed to be disgusted at him and Harry wondered what that was about. He sighed and turned back to his dinner.

Madame Pince was the witch in charge of the library. She pointed Harry in the direction he needed to go to find the twelve years worth of Daily Prophet was kept. Harry noted the boxes there on the shelf and pulled the first one out to check the date on it. It was the wrong one so he put it back and moved down a bit more and this time he managed to locate the oldest issues and pulled the box out. He sat down in a nearby chair and began to read. It was talking about a group of people called the Death Eaters and the person the papers referred to as 'You-Know-Who'. Harry snorted at the name and kept on reading. By the time closing time came round, Harry had gotten through six months worth of the paper and had several pages of information down in his notebook. He replaced the papers and put the box back on the shelf. Harry managed to make it to the Ravenclaw Tower painting just in time for curfew to take effect. He nodded to the people in the commons room as he headed to the first year boy's dorm. He got into his bed and closed the privacy curtains before porting into his apartment via a ring portkey the trunk builder had given him. Harry sat down at his desk in the study and wrote a letter home. He placed it in the special letterbox the goblins at Gringotts Japan had given him for the purpose of sending letters to his Japanese family. He left his study and ported back into the four poster bed and got into bed. He lay there for a bit and listened to the other first year boys going to bed. He eventually tuned them out and relaxed, eventually getting to sleep.

Harry nodded to Kevin as he came out of the shower room the next morning. Harry had worked a bit hard at his workout pushing himself a bit more in his spell casting training than usual as he wanted to be ready for just about anything. Harry hummed as he got dressed in his Hogwarts uniform. He left his house tie loose and pulled on his robe. He went out into the commons room to find Professor Flitwick handing out the class schedules. Harry got his from the head of his house and looked it over. Harry was glad for Kazuya's teaching him things before coming here and advising him which subjects would be the best to study.

"Transfigurations, charms, potions, Defense, Arithmancy, Runes, and herbology are good solid subjects," the old man told him. "Divination is not a stable subject as there are very few seers out there and they only show up once in a great while. These other subjects you don't really need them as they aren't used much."

Harry once more thanked the old man for his advice as he looked over the schedule once more, noting that potions was first.

"That should be interesting," Harry noted as he wondered about getting a cranky professor so early in the morning.

Harry's take on the man was that he wouldn't be an easy person to get along with as Snape so proved it when he arrived, slamming the door to the classroom upon entry. Snape started his speech almost instantly as he swept to the front. Harry noted the key parts to the speech and got them down. Snape took up the register and started checking off people and then paused when he reached Harry's name.

"Mr. Potter," he growled menacing, "is our… newest celebrity."

People instantly went quiet and watched the developing confrontation. Snape slowly stalked Harry, stopping in front of the desk where Harry was sitting.

"Tell me, Mr. Potter, if you can," Snape snarled, "where you can find a beozar."

Harry was suddenly glad he had read his coursework in potions before the class started.

"In the stomach of a goat sir," Harry replied. "They are capable of defeating most poisons provided you can get the victim to swallow it within minutes."

Harry remained cool and calm as Snape rapid fired a few more questions at him and then gave up, going back to his desk and pointing at the blackboard behind the desk.

"There is your assignment. Get busy!" he ordered the combined class of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.

People looked at each other and then went to collect the ingredients that were needed. Nobody said a thing but got right to work. Harry briefly wondered what made Professor Snape be like that and surmised it had to be something in his past. Harry turned that problem into his filing cabinet and went to work.

Transfigurations was next after lunch. When Harry entered the room he found a tabby cat sitting on the desk. Harry smiled and went over to the cat and started petting it. The cat acted like it enjoyed what Harry was doing. Harry felt the stress of the morning melt away as he continued to pet the cat. He looked for a collar but didn't find one.

"Where did that cat come from?" a girl's voice asked.

Harry turned to see the brown bushy haired girl from Gryffindor standing there.

"No idea," he said. "Reminds me of my neighbor lady's cat back home. I like most animals, you can learn something from them."

"They're nothing but trouble, Potter. Just like you," the red head boy snapped.

The girl immediately turned on him. "Ron! That was rude!"

Ah. His name was Ron, not weasel, as Malfoy called him.

"What are you doing hanging around that Dark Lord wannabe?" Ron snarled.

Harry slowly cracked his neck one time. "If she wants to talk to me that's up to her. She does not need your permission to."

Ron got into Harry's face. "You need to leave right now and leave us proper wizards alone, Potter."

Harry nodded as people backed away, including the girl. Harry continued to pet the cat until the bell rang, starting the class. The cat broke away and jumped off the desk, suddenly turning into the stern witch Harry had seen at breakfast.

"Oh very nice miss," Harry said.

"Thank you Mr. Potter. Mr. Weasley, ten points from you for what you said to Mr. Potter. Twenty points to Mr. Potter for keeping calm," McGonagall said. "Now I need all of you to take your seats."

Ron glared at Harry as he took his seat. Harry took his seat and turned his attention to the witch in front of him.

"I am Professor McGonagall," she introduced herself, "and I shall be teaching all of you transfigurations, which is the art of turning an object into something else."

"Sounds interesting," Harry observed.

McGonagall nodded. "It is, Mr. Potter. Judging by that comment, I have a feeling you will do well here, Mr. Potter."

Harry inclined his head as he began to take notes on the lecture she was giving on the subject. He was content to sit back and let other people ask the questions. He did find out the girl he was talking to was named Hermione Granger. She seemed nice, and Harry wondered if she needed a friend. He never got the chance to ask as she left the class immediately. Harry watched her go and decided he had plenty of time to talk to her. He followed the crowd out and down to the great hall for dinner.

Runes, Arithmancy, and herbology turned out to be great classes. Defense was a joke due to the professor's constant stuttering. Harry had a hard time understanding the man and decided he would continue training himself in his private training room every morning. Another thing that took up his time was his research project in the library nearly every night. Harry sat in the corner of the library where the old newspapers were and sighed. The paper certainly was full of information about the war against this 'You-Know-Who' or 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named' character. Harry wondered how in the world of Merlin how these people could be that scared of this overgrown bully. Harry turned back to his reading and continued on with the article that he was pursuing at the moment. This guy was racking up a lot of wins against the Aurors and the DMLE (Department of Magical Law Enforcement). Harry folded up the last paper for the year 1979 and put it back into the box it came out of. He stood up and stretched before putting the box back on the shelf. He sat down and looked over the notes he took. A picture was slowly emerging and he didn't like it one bit. He was sure now that there were people inside the Ministry that were working for this Voldemort guy but he had no evidence to prove it and he had no idea where to even begin to get it. Harry stood up and grabbed his notebook and left the library. He decided first chance he would create a war room in his trunk and start trying to build a layout of the various factions involved in this war. Somehow he had the feeling that all of this wasn't over just yet. He couldn't explain how or why he had that feeling and he decided to follow that feeling and prepare for any eventuality. He wandered the halls for a bit before heading to the Ravenclaw Tower. Suddenly Harry felt killing intent directed at him and he moved fast, the colored spell flashing past him and slamming into the suit of armor. Harry spun around, his wand in his right hand ready for combat as he scanned the hall in front of him. There was no movement so he moved into the shadow of the statue inside an alcove and waited. Nothing happened for a few minutes and then something moved. It was the outline of a person and they moved away from their hiding place. Harry heard a whispered curse, and then the person disappeared. Harry decided that was a good idea so he moved away from the scene, staying in the shadow. Last thing he needed was to get into trouble from somebody.

Harry arrived at the door that guarded the Ravenclaw Tower entrance. The eagle came to life and posed a riddle to Harry. Harry thought about it for a few minutes and managed to put it together and announced his answer. The door swung open and Harry entered. He went to a side table and made himself a hot chocolate and went to the nearest chair to sit down and to think about the night's events. He really didn't have a clue as to who it had been, just speculation. One name did come to mind – Ron Weasley. He did try to start a confrontation with Harry in Transfigurations. Harry wondered if the two events were connected, Ron trying to get back at Harry for earlier that afternoon. Harry opened his notebook and wrote down his observations on one Ronald Weasley. He decided to investigate the Weasley Family and see what he could find out. He finished off his cup of hot chocolate and headed to his dorm and bed as it was getting late. Harry got ready for bed and then climbed into his four poster and closed the privacy drapes. He stripped off completely and settled down. He let his thought wander for a bit and then gathered them up and filed them away in his filing cabinets. He picked up his notebook and wrote a note to himself to find out if there was a way to get pictures of people. Then he went to sleep.

The answer was given to him a few days later as he chanced on an ad for something called a Pensieve in an issue of the Daily Prophet he was reading late one evening. Harry wrote down the name and what it did according to the ad. Now all he had to do was to get one and find out how it worked and so on. Then a new idea occurred to him. Was it possible to get pictures of the memory? Harry wrote that down as the idea sounded intriguing. The more tools he had at his disposal, the better. He needed to get down to the heart of this entire Dark Lord thing. He recalled at dinner that evening that Gringotts in Diagon Alley had been burgled a few days after his arrival at Diagon Alley. Harry remembered the warning on the front doors and wondered how it was possible since he heard that the goblins didn't like getting robbed by anybody and would gladly relieve a thief of their greedy hands if and when they were caught. This one, however, hadn't been caught. Harry had read the article borrowing somebody's copy, and then he sent off an order to the paper, a year's worth paid in advance, to be received at breakfast. Harry learned about the mail owls from people sitting at the house table the first morning he saw them. He thought it was interesting that they used owls to send mail to others in the Wizarding World. He had a much secure way of sending his mail to his family in Japan and would continue to use it. Harry looked for the Pensieve ad in the next morning's paper and noted the address and the cost. He wrote a letter to the company who made them and requested a catalog so he could see what they had. Once he saw what they had to offer, he would get one.

In the meantime Harry kept busy with his daily routine of working out every morning in the gym/training room, going to classes Monday to Friday, reading the newspapers in the library at night in between homework assignments. He maintained a low profile and watched everything that was going on and kept a documentation of what went on. If anything did happen, it would be Ron Weasley fighting with Draco Malfoy. Both of them demonstrated all too well their intense dislike for each other. Both of them seemed to have forgotten him and while he liked that idea, he wished both of them didn't disrupt things. But as fate would have it, Harry had a confrontation with Draco Malfoy one Saturday morning in the middle of October during flying class. Harry had walked out to the Quidditch pitch to find all of the first years out there. The instructor made him look twice. She stood tall and proud, and she resembled a hawk, even having the eyes of one. She proved to all that she was capable of handling all of them the moment she introduced herself. There was no way Harry was going to cross this one. What he didn't say was that he knew how to fly already, Kazuya having taught him how to use a broomstick. Harry looked around at the group of first years standing there. It was the first time they had gotten together all in one place. Most of them seemed to be excited about learning to fly. Malfoy and Weasley were trying to out boast each other about being great flyers. Harry sighed and shook his head.

"Those two are idiots," Kevin spoke up from next to Harry. "We'll find out about them being the 'superior fliers' once they get on the brooms."

Harry grinned. "Nothing like a case of putting up or shutting up."

Kevin laughed at that. "This is going to be fun."

Madame Hooch, as she called herself, came up to the two boys who were engaged in a battle of words with each other and cleared her throat. Both of them slowed down and turned to see her standing there.

"As much as I would enjoy your argument and even take bets as to who threw the first punch, won the fight, and first one expelled, I must regretfully end the entertainment as I am trying to conduct a class," she snarled with a much sarcasm as she could manage. "So, if the both of you would kindly shut your yappers, we can get started."

Malfoy had to try and get the last word in. "But he started it!" he cried.

She took hold of their ears, Malfoy's right ear and Weasley's left ear and pulled up hard. Both of them rose up on their toes and yelled out in pain. Hooch leaned forward and whispered something to the both of them and they paled considerably and rushed back to the safety of their houses after she let go of them. She smiled nicely, sending shivers of fear down everybody's spine.

"Good. Wonderful," she smiled. "Now if we are done with the macho crap, let's get started, shall we?"

People rushed to take a spot to the left of the broom. Harry relaxed as he stood next to his, and it looked like it had been brought here from darkest Africa.

"Now hold out your hand over it and say up!" she commanded.

Harry reached out for the broom and said the up command. The broom rose up to his hand and he nodded.

"Good. Now mount them and we will try a low flight around the area," Hooch said. "An easy kickoff will do the job."

Neville Longbottom kicked off a bit to hard and shot upwards a bit too fast much to Madame Hooch's shock. Before anyone could react, his broom made every attempt to dislodge Longbottom and succeeded after smashing him into a few of the walls, the last one knocking him off and he fell, breaking his wrist on impact. Hooch got to him just as he sat up, holding his wrist. She looked at it and nodded.

"Broken wrist, Longbottom. I'll take you up. As for the rest of you, no flying until I get back. If I see anyone flying, you're out of here!" she declared.

Harry had no doubts that she would back up her words. He relaxed for a bit and watched Malfoy having fun at Longbottom's expense. Harry decided right then and there he was going to make Longbottom his special project. Harry looked up as Malfoy grabbed something from the ground and held it up. Harry recognized it as Neville's Remembrall. Neville had gotten it from his grandmother as he was constantly forgetting something.

"Look what that useless squib dropped!" he crowed.

Harry rose to his feet and walked over to Malfoy. "Give it here, Malfoy. It's not yours."

Malfoy walked backwards a few feet and grinned as he mounted his broom. "Whatcha gonna do about it, scarhead?"

Harry stepped forward a few feet and Malfoy rose up in the air a few feet above Harry. "So come and get it, scarhead!"

Harry mounted his broom and followed Malfoy up into the sky and then in a chase that would be talked about for weeks, Harry and Malfoy raced around the castle and through it until Malfoy tired of the chase and turned to Harry.

"You know what?" he asked Harry, "I really don't want this thing after all. Go get it, scarhead!"

With that, Malfoy threw it down at the base of the wall as hard as he could. Harry watched it go, a glittering bit of glass streaking towards the castle. Harry turned and dived after it just as Flitwick arrived on the scene. Everybody on the ground watched as one of the Ravenclaw first years informed Flitwick what had happened. Harry concentrated on the glass ball, racing it to the ground. He poured on all the speed he could get out of the tired old broom. People held their breath as Harry got closer to the ground. People began yelling at Harry to pull up. At the last possible second Harry did pull up, having caught the glass ball in his hand. Flitwick was patting the spot on his chest were his heart would be as he let go of the breath he was holding. Nobody noticed Malfoy rejoining the group trying to look innocent.

"Mr. Potter," Flitwick finally found his voice, "you are to follow me immediately. How you dare…"

He raised his hand to stop Harry from talking and turned on his heels and began walking back to the castle. Harry followed him back to the castle and into a side room. Flitwick closed the door and then turned to Harry.

"You were to remain on the ground while Rolanda escorted Mr. Longbottom to the hospital wing. You did not. You allowed yourself to be drawn into a confrontation. Then you chased Mr. Malfoy round and through sections of the castle. Then you endangered yourself trying to catch that thing. For your punishment, I expect you to join the house Quidditch team immediately," Flitwick said.

Harry blinked. "Huh?"

Flitwick smiled. "I shall introduce you to the house team captain Mr. Davies later this evening. I will speak to the headmaster about allowing you to play."

It finally sank in what Flitwick had said. Harry grinned at the man who stood on top of a desk to be able to look him in the eyes.

"I've done some reading on the game, sir. I would love the chance to give it a go. Only problem is that I don't have a broom at the moment," Harry said.

Flitwick smiled at Harry. "Leave that to me, Mr. Potter. Now off with you."

Harry laughed as he left the room. This was going to be fun.

Harry went up to the hospital wing and found Neville sitting on one of the beds holding his wrist. Madame Pomfrey turned to see Harry coming.

"No injuries, Madame. Just wanted to return this to Mr. Longbottom," Harry informed her.

Neville brightened up. "Thanks Harry, I appreciate that."

"Valuable thing this is," Harry remarked as he handed it over. "Worth every galleon to you for keeping you on track with things."

"It is, Harry. I tend to be forgetful at times," Neville said.

"It happens to the best of us. It's good to have friends to lean on every now and then," Harry told him.

Neville looked up. "Are we friends?"

"We can be if you want, Neville. A man needs friends to get through life nowadays," Harry said.

"Then I want to be your friend," Neville said, extending his hand to Harry. "I get the feeling that you are going to be a great friend."

They shook hands and a friendship was born.

Harry sat in an easy chair and stared into the fire that was burning brightly in the Ravenclaw commons room at the end of October. He had been working hard ever since he got here, doing the best he could with everything. Fortunately things had been going well, the only two exceptions was potions and a snarky Snape, and defense with that wimp of a stuttering professor. Harry couldn't decide who was the worst. At least he was able to work his defense skills in his training room and do his potions in a small lab he built inside his trunk. He was glad that the old lady Oita had helped him in learning about creating potions. She explained things a lot better than Snape did. His mood, however, had been changing in the last week of October, and everybody knew why. It was ten years ago this week that Harry's parents had died in the attack on the Potter house in Godric's Hollow. Harry had no memory of that night other than what Hiroshi had told him. Professor Flitwick must have guessed as to what Harry was feeling, and did something about it. In the last few days he had sent out letters to all of those that he knew were friends of the Potters, asking them to send pictures, stories, and memories of his parents. He got a great response from those he had written to. Even Dumbledore had contributed many of his memories of the Potters.

"Mr. Potter," Flitwick approached Harry. "A word with you please."

Harry followed the professor to his office and took a chair as the man hopped up on his desk. Harry wondered what was going on.

"Harry," Flitwick began, "I've noticed your mood of late, and I think I know the reason behind it. I am truly sorry for your loss. They were great people, and their friendship meant a lot to me, first as my students and then after they left Hogwarts as my friends. I could tell you story after story about them, but I have chosen a better way. Do you know what a Pensieve is?"

Harry nodded. "It's a magical device created to play back a person's memories. I've seen them in the Daily Prophet."

"Good. On behalf of all those who knew your parents, I would like to present you with one, and they have contributed many memories of your parents for you to experience. Hopefully they will allow you to find out just what kind of people they were. Not only do I have these things, but I also have books of pictures and stories that many people have sent. Your parents were loved by many people including me…" Flitwick faltered as his voice broke from the emotion he was trying to suppress.

Harry was very moved. He reached for a bit of parchment and wrote a short thank you note, giving Flitwick time to compose himself.

"Can you copy this and send it to those who did this for me?" Harry asked.

Flitwick nodded. "I will."

He glanced down at it and moved it to the corner of his desk. When he turned round Harry was gone. Filius hoped Harry would be okay.

Harry had ported down into his trunk and set the items in a special place in his study. He opened one of the many books he had received and the first picture he saw was of his mother at age eleven when she first started Hogwarts. She was standing with another girl and she was waving at the camera, a big grin on her face. Harry stared at the picture for a time and then closed the book. He knew he would be coming back to look at the rest of the books later. That first picture of Lily Evans had been burned into his mind and he knew it would be a very long time before that image would fade away. He ported out of his trunk and into his four poster bed. He laid back on the bed the privacy curtains having long ago closed themselves. His mind wandered as he did the what ifs. What if his parents had lived? What if one of them had survived? Too many questions. Harry sighed and turned over on his left side and closed his eyes. A few minutes later he had gone to sleep, the weight of the day finally getting to him. He dreamed of Lily that night, standing there and smiling at him. Harry sat there in the training room and thought of his parents the next morning. He decided he needed to go find them and pay his respects.

"I will approach Professor Dumbledore with your request Harry," Flitwick stated, after Harry had asked him before setting off to the great hall for breakfast.

"Thank you sir. I appreciate this," Harry said.

It was a Saturday morning and there were no classes scheduled for the day as it was the Halloween holiday. The commons room was decorated for the day and Harry looked at the decorations on the walls and listened to the excited talk about the Halloween feast. Harry left the commons room and headed down to the great hall to find it had been decorated as well.

"This is nothing, Harry. Wait until later at the feast. This place will look even better," Roger Davies said.

He had been working with Harry in the last few weeks helping him learn the game of Quidditch and Harry had been catching on very well. He had been using an old school broom working on his seeker skills and doing very well at it. Roger had called him a natural at the game.

"I'm looking forward to it," Harry said.

Roger put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "I am sorry for your loss, Harry. My parents told me that your parents were good people."

Harry turned to Roger. "Thank you. I appreciate your kind words."

Both of them sat down at the table and Harry managed to eat a bit, not really in the mood to enjoy breakfast. Harry sat there for a bit and then excused himself. He decided to go out on the grounds and pulled the heavy winter cloak around him. It was freezing cold out and there was a hint of snow in the air. Harry paused out on the steps for a moment and then headed towards the greenhouses as he planned on sitting inside the park that was inside greenhouse five. It didn't take him long to find the little park and sit in a low chair. He sat there and watched the fish in the pond, listened to the birds in the big oak in the center of the park, and watched the rabbits hop about. He sighed and relaxed. It was so peaceful in here. He closed his eyes and pictured his parents in his mind once more from the pictured he had seen of them earlier that morning. He studied their faces, committed them to memory.

"Just because they are gone doesn't mean they have left you completely, Harry. They will always be with you, especially in the times when they need you the most," Dumbledore said from behind Harry.

Harry knew Dumbledore was there as he had sensed the intrusion. He sat there for a moment watching the birds jump here and there for a few minutes. He rose and turned to face Dumbledore.

"Thank you for that," Harry said.

Dumbledore bowed slightly. "If you are ready, we shall go pay our respects."

Harry followed Dumbledore out of the greenhouse and closed up his heavy winter cloak against the cold outside. He followed Dumbledore down to the school gates. Once beyond the gates Dumbledore turned to Harry.

"We are now going to apparate there. To apparate means that we shall use magic to move us to another place. Since you are not capable of the deed I shall take you with me in what is called a side along apparate. To do this one must grab onto the person who is going to apparate. I then apparate myself there, taking you with me. You will have the opportunity to learn this when you are older," Dumbledore stated.

"Thank you for the explanation sir," Harry said.

Dumbledore then reached out and took hold of Harry and carried him to the small churchyard in Godric's Hollow as he apparated there. He let go of Harry once they had arrived. Harry observed other people there and he nodded to them. Dumbledore then led Harry to the graves.

"Lily, James, your son Harry. Harry, your mother Lily, your father James," Dumbledore made the introductions and then left them alone.

Harry stood there for a time, staring at the inscription on their graves, memorizing what had been written there. He squatted down and traced each letter and number until they were forever burned into his memory. He glanced over his shoulder for a moment to make sure he wouldn't be overheard. He turned back to face the tombstones.

"Hi Mom and Dad. It's Harry," he began in a low whisper, and then told them what had been happening in his life since he had last been with them.

He talked for a time and then when he was done, stood up and stepped back. He noted Dumbledore a distance away and nodded. Harry had checked for listening spells before telling his parents anything and had found none. He touched each tombstone before turning away. He walked over to Dumbledore and stood by him as Dumbledore gazed at the tombstone of one Adriana Dumbledore.

"My sister, Harry. I miss her greatly," Dumbledore said.

Harry nodded. "I grieve for you and with you sir."

Dumbledore smiled as he patted Harry's shoulder. "Thank you Harry."

They left the graveyard together and Dumbledore apparated them back to Hogwarts. As Dumbledore watched Harry walking back to the castle in front of him he was pleased at how well the outing had gone. It was all a part of a well crafted plan he had spent weeks designing. All he had to do was continue to play the boy just right and before Harry knew it Dumbledore would have his hooks into him and doing exactly what he wanted. However, there were two crucial elements missing that he didn't count on, and that was the curse breakers at Gringotts Japan who discovered all of the blocks that had been placed on Harry and had removed them all. The second crucial element that Dumbledore had counted on was the fragment of Voldemort's soul inside Harry. That too, had been discovered by the curse breakers and removed. Kazuya had worked his magic in placing his own blocks on Harry and released them a little bit at a time as Harry grew up and trained to effectively manage his magic. Dumbledore had never thought to check Harry, confident that his magic was strong enough to keep people from finding and removing those blocks. People in the know knew that Dumbledore had been the one to put the block there as the goblins shared information on a daily basis. Harry knew as well, having been told before leaving Japan. His initial reaction was the desire to remove Dumbledore's head from his shoulders and Hiroshi had to talk Harry out of it. Harry eventually agreed to let Dumbledore live, as people wanted to see what kind of game Dumbledore was playing at the moment. It was obvious to Harry after that conversation that not everybody was enamored of the old man. Operation Dumbledore had started.

To Be Continued…