Warnings: Slash, book spoilers, manga spoilers, angst, clichés, brooding, chocolate abuse, reflected-upon child abuse, trauma, crude language, mentioned character death, Ron bashing, Ginny bashing, Dumbles bashing, evtual mild sexual situations, AU for books 5, 6, and 7 of Harry Potter. Filler chapter.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling and her affiliates. Ouran High School Host Club belongs to Bisco Hatori and her (it is a her, right?) affiliates.

Features: Independent!Brooding!Isolationist!Harry, Clingy!Paternal!Sirius, and the host-bu guys being themselves

Chapter 3

Golden week was over, and school was back in session. The end of Harry's time at the beach had been better than the start, as the Host Club only visited the one night and he was there for two days. With the Hosts present, everything had been too chaotic as Fujioka showed off her lack of understanding regarding basic human emotion. While her club-mates had apparently been trying to spook her (Mori with a harpoon had been a dead giveaway), she had run off to help some girls who were being harassed only to fall off the cliff and not even bothering to thank Suou for saving her, or apologize for making everyone worry.

Dinner that night had been quite the affair as well as she and the King held a small food-war, and Nekozawa couldn't even use his own dining room because she had turned the lights back on. Harry had left to keep him company after deciding that he didn't like crab, but then the hosts had appeared and saw the Black Magic President without his black garb and wig. Harry had barely saved the third year from being questioned to death. Both had been glad when the Hosts left the next day before Harry could hex them all... though it would have been worth the 100 galleon fine per hexed-muggle (who would have, by consequence, indoctrinated into the magical world, and would have Harry cost yet another 100 galleons for revealing the magical world to them).

In all honesty, the rest of that week had gone well, and even the week after, when they were back at school. However, Mondays were special. Harry should have remembered that from the old cartoon about a fat cat that Dudley used to watch; Mondays were bad.

It had started off simply enough. Fujioka was running late from the library, with only twenty minutes until the Host club started and she still had to pick up "commoner food" for Suou. Harry had offered to go in her stead lest the Shadow King increase her debt. Buying the food was easy, too, as he went to the supermarket often.

It was, however, after he had apparated back to school grounds (behind a building of course), that anything happened. He bumped into someone. This someone was a surprising tall woman in a very-much-men's suit with the Ouran crest on its chest. He apologized of course, picking of the groceries and chivalrously taking on the blame (it was his to take after all, as he'd been day dreaming), yet the girl just glared at him.

"I'm really sorry, ma'am," Harry apologized again as he stood up properly and bowed. "My head was in the clouds, you see, and I'm terribly sorry. I didn't hurt you, did I? I wouldn't want my clumsiness to be the fault of anyone getting hurt."

"Aren't you full of yourself?" The woman snorted, looking down at Harry. A feminist. She started ranting at him about female beauty and how men were all pigs or something... he wasn't really paying attention.

"As I said, I am sorry that I bumped into you, and I hope I haven't made you run late or harmed you in any manner," Harry repeated, slightly miffed, "however now I'm running a tad late, so I will be leaving. Have a nice day." With that, Harry walked passed the cross-dresser and went inside. He just wanted to study! Why was it that oddity always followed him?

The next day, he was scarred for life at seeing half of the host club cross-dressing... Harry never wanted to see those annoying twins in dresses ever again. It was only by luck that he didn't have to see Suou in a dress as well (the man acted girly enough as it was; he wasn't sure if he could stand the horror for very long). Having come only to grab something he'd forgotten the day before, he left swiftly, twitching, and wondering how they set up in five minutes between class letting out and him getting there. He dared not inquire.

On Thursday, Harry arrived at the Black Magic Clubroom (also known as the Third Chemistry Room with dark room function), speaking about the pros and cons of love spells and potions with Kanazuki Reiko from 1-D (the girl who had told him where his classroom was the first day) to find a surprise perched on a tree outside the window. Said surprise hooted at him just as he was going to turn the knob of the door to enter.

"Hedwig! What're you doing here?" She was supposed to be staying at the apartment, though she was let out at night to stretch her wings... well, they didn't really keep her inside, but she didn't go out during daylight hours usually unless Sirius was being overbearing. Harry held out his arm to the snowy owl as she flew through the open window and landed gracefully, hooting again before she moved to his shoulder and nipped his ear. "Was Sirius being weird again? You know I'm sorry about him, but the chocolate makes him crazy." He stroked her smooth feathers while she hooted reprovingly at him.

Footsteps pounded the hallway, which wasn't too odd considering it was hardly more than ten minutes after class and one of the art clubs met down the hall. Painting, he thought. Not giving it a second thought, Harry continued patting Hedwig, allowing Kanazuki to gently caress the bird on his arm.

"Kanazuki-san, this is Hedwig, my owl. And the most beautiful owl ever, aren't you girl?" Harry smiled happily at the bird. She hadn't visited him at school until then, and because of his constantly avoiding Sirius – since the man always returned home either at seven pm, five minutes after Harry did, or sometime in the middle of the night while smashed; usually the middle option and then the third after leaving again – he didn't get to spend as much time with her as he liked.

The footsteps turned the corner just as he was going to pet her again, and Hedwig took that moment to take off... in the direction of whoever it was that had come running around the bend. They – he, actually, Harry realized – let out a manly shriek of surprise as the flying mass of white feathers moved on and, to Harry's great surprise, landed on the panting and rather confused looking student.

There was a vague familiarity about him that Harry associated with people he saw from time to time around the halls without really processing their appearance. He was tall, though not Mori-tall, but still tall, with long hair in a sort of crimson-red down below his chin with half of it in a pony-tail and harsh features. The boy's face was slightly flushed from exertion as he straightened himself carefully, trying not to jostle the bird that had latched onto his shoulder. Harry wanted very much to face-palm at Hedwig's forwardness regarding the stranger, but decided against it. If she liked him, there was no keeping the bird from visiting if she so desired.

"Oh, sorry about her," Harry apologized quickly. He had no idea who the guy was; what if he was afraid of owls and was heir to a company that did business with one of Harry's? That wouldn't make a good rep for him, certainly. "She isn't bothering you, is she?"

"N-no," the boy breathed, seeming to glance speculatively between Harry and Hedwig. "Eto... is it... she...?

"Hedwig," Harry informed the boy. "She's mine, but if she takes a shine to someone then there's no stopping her. Be careful about jostling her though; fixing marks from her talons is practically impossible, especially with suits like our uniforms, and I don't know how the shoulder-pads will take it." He paused, turning to Kanazuki. "Kanazuki-san, you go in ahead. I think I'll skip out on today's meeting; I've been neglecting Hedwig lately, and you know how Bereznoff feels about birds. Tell Nekozawa-senpai I'm sorry, will you?" She nodded, face set in her usual neutral expression and entered the dark room without looking back. Sometimes Harry had the feeling she really disliked him.

The crimson-haired boy just sort of stared at him for a moment, then at Hedwig – who he'd been unconsciously petting – and back to Harry. Then he glanced at the door Kanazuki had gone through and back at Harry.

"You... are in the Black Magic Club," he said after a moment. A statement. Harry nodded, reaching up to scratch Hedwig below the beak to earn a hoot of approval. The boy was terribly awkward, it seemed. While Harry didn't intend to be a social butterfly, Hedwig apparently was, and Harry had to support her choice in friends.

"Potter Harry," He informed the boy, "of class 1-A. Just moved here from England in late February. Heir to the seven collective Potter Companies." He said heir, but it was easier to say that than the truth.

The boy looked at him again before nodding. "Kasanoda Ritsu," He murmured, turning his face away, "1-D... fourth generation of the Kasanoda-gumi." Harry had heard about there being a yakuza heir in his year... not that he could completely remember what yakuza was, but he thought it was something like the mafia, only more... large-scale. Not that it really mattered.

"Well, that's kind of cool," he nodded sagely, removing his hand from Hedwig to stand a slightly more respectful distance from her perch. "Hedwig likes you, so you're obviously a good sort." Harry received a glare in answer... and he would admit that the look was scary. Or, it would have been had he never known Snape. "I've seen scarier."

The glare stopped, and Kasanoda stared at Harry until Hedwig nipped at his ear. He jumped about a mile, which caused Hedwig to dig in her claws and tear his suit. Harry just laughed.

"So, where were you going to in such a hurry? I'm sorry if we've held you up at all," he really didn't laugh much anymore or smile quite so wide as he was, even with Sirius living with him (the man's pranks now served more to aggravate him, especially in their small apartment), so his cheeks ached far too much, but he continued on as if nothing was out of the ordinary. It was a skill well cultivated, after a lot of experience ignoring the uncomfortable.

"I... was coming up here," murmured Kasanoda. "The owl – He-do-u-i-gu? Hedwig – came to me while I was outside waiting for my driver. Then she suddenly took off and went into the building. I didn't want her to get hurt."

Harry nodded in an understanding manner and continued drawing the taller boy into conversation until he had loosened up a bit and they had walked down to the ground floor where there was a car waiting for him. Hedwig hopped off of his shoulder and glided to Harry's upraised arm, and he was gone. Not that Harry particularly cared.


The next day everyone was talking about Halloween. It's mid-May, you idiots, he thought to himself as everyone got into the Halloween spirit for the day. He went straight home that afternoon instead of dealing with the Hosts and managed to rope Sirius into doing something normal for once. He also learned how to play what Sirius called "Egyptian Rat Screw" while Harry called it "Glorified Slap Jack."

In fact, everything seemed to be going peachy until the next day... not that anything bad happened, per se, but it was still kind of annoying.

He had put some cookies and other sweets that he'd made the day before in a Tupperware container to bring to Fujioka as thanks for letting him borrow flour. Normally he wouldn't have had to, but Sirius had already gone out for the night (said something about an "okama bar" whatever that was) and the area around the nearest super marker was too crowded for him to apparate. The fact that he had to be back in five minutes to take a cake out of the oven didn't help either, or that the batter he made would be inedible in ten minutes unless he wanted to get salmonella poisoning or pass it on to whoever ate that batch.

So he walked down to Fujioka's flat and knocked on the door. It was oddly loud, and he thought, for a moment, that he could hear the other hosts making a racket... but surely that wasn't true? She didn't seem the type to let them over no matter what. But he was proven wrong when she opened the door and he could see that they were all sitting at her table eating cakes (no doubt brought by Hani).

"Good morning Fujioka-san," he nodded to her and glanced at the Hosts, "everyone else." He waved. They waved back. "Just wanted to thank you for letting me borrow that flour yesterday; I brought these for you and your father. I know you liked the strawberry ones especially, and since your dad liked the chocolate cookies I added some extra in for him too." He was about to step back from the door, but Hani had come to the door, giving him a calculating look. "Yes, Hani-senpai?"

"Harry-chan," he asked, "why would you borrow flour from Haru-chan?" From the way he was looking at the younger boy, it was obvious that he was suddenly seeing Harry in a whole new light.

"I was baking and I overestimated how much flour I had left," he shrugged. "If I had gone to the store, my dough would have gone bad by the time I was back, and I only needed a cup." Harry looked at Hani curiously. "Why do you ask?"

"Does that mean you baked the cake you gave me?" The senior's eyes were wide. Harry furrowed his brow and nodded. He'd thought that Hani knew that at the time, but the starry look in his eyes said otherwise. "Really?"

"Yes," he nodded again. "I can make you another if you like; I do a lot of baking." With the promise sealed (pinky-swear style at that), Harry went back up to his flat to enjoy a bit of time sans Sirius and get some studying in.

Unbeknownst to our reluctant hero (though what hero-ing he'll actually do, if any, is unknown, but that's just a technicality), the Host club was talking to him behind his back after he left.

"Haruhiiii," Suou Tamaki whined, "why did Potter know where you live before we did?" He had his best kicked-puppy look on, but Haruhi seemed unfazed. He pushed harder into the look, but still no reaction beyond her rolling her eyes. "Is he stalking my precious daughter? I won't stand to let that horrible scoundrel get away with – !"

"He lives upstairs," Kyouya volunteered the information with ease as he ate a bite of the cake Hani had decided on for him. Tamaki and the twins looked at him and Haruhi furrowed her brows, opening her mouth to ask. He cut her off. "To properly do business I had to know his mailing address. The fact that I didn't mention that it didn't have to be his place of residence but could be the address of his company or one of his houses internationally, of course, was disregarded at the time. Apparently his home in Japan is still being built."

This made no sense to most of the rich people, that he would live in a small apartment instead of a hotel or renting a house somewhere in the country while his home was being built, but they let it slide and conversation went back to the usual until Tamaki started begging for lunch. They were all leaving when a man and a woman entered the flat... except the woman was actually a man too, and Haruhi's father at that.

They arrived to see Tamaki and Haruhi in a compromising situation. While the man who was obviously a man burst out laughing, dark gray eyes streaming tears, the cross-dresser plowed into the room. The man-man was none other than Harry's godfather, Sirius Black. Standing at just under six feet in height and with a healthy tan, he had been and was once again (now he'd cleaned up some) a heartthrob... well, for being thirty six anyway. Oddly, out of he and Harry, Sirius was the one who got out most, despite the fact that he was still a wanted criminal (the fact that he had been tried by the Japanese and Irish governments and been cleared didn't seem to be enough for the Brits). He quit laughing eventually, brushing his black locks from his face, until the Hitachiin twins walked in and started walking on the back of their "King."

"Who are you calling a molester!" Tamaki roared, seeming to ignore the sniggering Sirius in the background. "I honestly... I honestly consider your daughter as my own daughter!" (1)

Sirius giggled again and stood from his position on the floor where he'd been rolling around. In all honesty, he was very slightly tipsy and had had far too much chocolate for an ordinary person, but this was Sirius after all. He grinned at the cross-dresser he had walked in with.

"Ranka-san," he snickered, "your daughter has some weird friends. I think I'll go bug Harry for now, though. Bye!" He waved jauntily and left the flat, still laughing at the display. They had definitely been attractive boys though. If only Harry hung out with guys like that... not that the kid hung out with anyone, but still. He sighed and wondered if he should have a slice of cake or eat ice cream... or maybe have some of the cookies Harry made the day before. They were his favorite after all.

By the time he'd gone the twenty steps it took to get from the door of the Fujioka's home to the flat he and Harry shared, he'd already forgotten about the encounter entirely, more focused on not becoming depressed.

Harry was amazed that three weeks had managed to go by so quickly and with so little actually happening. He'd managed to study whenever he wanted – Sirius had made friends with Fujioka's father apparently – and things were going swimmingly at the Black Magic Club. Having given in to temptation that day, and not feeling like reading the book on animate-to-animate transfiguration theory that he had brought with him to school that day (it was a very dry read), he had donned his invisibility cloak and was sitting in a window, watching the Host Club.

He wasn't disappointed by the show either (even though they seemed to think Valentines Day was in early June), as he had been looking over at Hani and Mori's table for a while when Hani cried out in pain upon biting into a piece of cake. The scene after made him blush as Mori tackled the smaller boy. Harry had almost squealed with the girls, but he kept it to a surprised blush.

Quickly sneaking away, Harry shoved his Cloak back in his bag and entered the room, already pulling out some potions that he usually only had to use for Sirius since the man ate ungodly amounts of sugar. Ignoring Suou as he was about to start declaring something or other – he didn't really care – Harry knelt beside the older boy.

"Here, Hani-senpai," he offered the first phial, which he had unstoppered carefully. "This one is a pain killer; it should work in a few seconds and it tastes sweet, okay? This one will help with your cavity. It works miracles, I promise." Hani downed the first phial eagerly, and Harry vaguely noted that it sounded like Suou had shut up, but he really didn't care. He'd heard the words "prohibited from sweets," which was hardly fair, he felt. It was a cavity for crying out loud. Besides, he had so many of these at home that they could last a dentist a year.

"That doesn't change –" Suou declared but Harry stood up from his space as Hani downed the second potion quickly.

"Suou-senpai," Harry rolled his eyes at the blond's theatrics. "He's fine. The medicine I just gave him is a new Potter-Evans specialty. His tooth should be fine in an hour or so." He was being stared at with awe by Hani, but he ignored it. It was slightly harder to ignore everyone else's dumbfounded looks. "I'm going to go back to studying now. Have fun doing... whatever it is you guys actually do."

Harry skipped Black Magic Club on Tuesday to sit in and watch the Host Club from beneath his cloak. He saw the pained expression on Mori's face that became apparent whenever Hani thanked the first year for the cavity remedy (only Ootori knew that it wasn't in circulation, but the older boy didn't advertise it on his behalf either). Not that he had any clue why, but he had a feeling it was guilt.

On Thursday, he managed to apparate from the bathroom into the music room before anyone arrived – though it appeared that someone had delivered a truck load of roses – and he brought from his bag the sweets he had made for each of the hosts. They wouldn't know, of course, but he took pride in that, actually. He left a platters of cookies for most people, though Hani get a couple batches of cupcakes, mostly strawberry topped. If Mori got more than anyone else, he wouldn't mention it, and they would never know.

With a spring in his step, Harry left and headed to his club thing for the day, wondering if it would be at all weird to give Valentines sweets to them. Maybe it was because he felt oddly lighthearted for a fake Valentines Day (he'd never gotten to celebrate it before, unless one counted being tackled by a dwarf in costume as "celebrating," so it was a highly novel experience even if it wasn't the real day), but he giggled at the thought of Nekozawa wearing a pink rose on his cloak or something. It was a very ridiculous idea, so far as he was concerned.

Author's Note: Thanks to FlitShadowFlame for reminding me of the name of the week off (Golden Week). Nice gesture on her part.

Brought in Kasanoda early... but I like him, and I can imagine Hedwig liking him... and she's still around because Harry sent her to Sirius with a letter a few days before going to Hogwarts (thus the Death Eater incident), and so was not in the car at the time. And his other stuff was rescued too, minutes after he was kidnapped while they were trying to track the apparation to find him. Didn't bother to mention it before, but I figure someone would ask.

I could do all the Jap-fangirl inclusion crap. I could call England "Igirisu" and Japanese people "Nihonjin." I could change the spelling of Harry's name and add all that "ohayo," "kurabu," "onegai" stuff, call March "sangatsu," etc. Heck, I'd like to think I can do a lot more than the average fangirl, considering I've actually taken a Japanese course. But I'm not going to, because even though, yeah, people do sometimes say words out of their language in conversation, it wouldn't make sense to just start tossing in words in-language like that. Excuse me for making sense. Please. I'm keeping the honorifics and certain titles though.

(1) Quoted from chapter 13 of the manga