Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Kingdom Hearts.

An/Here is chapter 4 enjoy. Written by the Venquine and Nate the Werehog.

The AN of this chapter goes to Nate the Werehog,
Nate, sorry I didn't show you the chapter before updating it. I worked on it endlessly two nights ago and then realized I had to get to bed or I'd sleep in, which didn't even happen as I woke an hour before my alarm went off. So I went and wrote the chapter yesterday morning, hurriedly posted it and completely forgot about our agreement.
SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY with capital S and this another 100 times. And to further prove how sorry I am will I write as many chapters for as many of my stories as I can when not at work! I'll do my best and thank you for wanting to share this story with me a little longer.
Greetings,

The Venquine

Chapter 4

Harry's POV
25th of December 1990

My back aches and burns, waking me abruptly, but the soft linen of the sheets and the fluffy way the pillow encases my head makes me snuggle deeper into my bed, wanting to sleep longer, before my fuzzy mind realizes just how comfortable my bed actually is – more comfortable than it should be.
I shoot up and instantly a soft voice asks: "Thought the pain would wake you." I turn to my left and see Demyx and Marluxia standing on both sides of a door I recognize as one belonging to their house. To this I tilt my head and Demyx asks: "Forgot what happened last night, little one?"
But then the pain reminds me, together with flashes of me screaming out, my head thrown back and the corners of my eyes seeing tears of pain flowing down the cheeks of my new fathers and mother.

I can barely believe I forgot this and then Marluxia says: "Come on, we got you a bath ready to make the aches lessen." I slowly move to step out of the bed and then realize I'm wearing a new set of the uniform I wore last night.
I look at the silky soft black robe, the wide neckline and silver zipper and straps and Demyx says: "The one you wore last night was only a Ritual model. This is what all official members wear. After your bath and the rest of your sleep, we'll tell you everything about us and where we came from."

I nod gratefully as more and more questions about that came up as the members started showing up at Privet Drive. I then walk out of my room, together with Demyx and Marluxia and we take the second door to the left in the wall opposite of mine.
There we find a bathroom, spotless and of stainless steel, a gigantic bath that could almost go for the outside swimming pool the man on #12 has set into a platform with three steps and a raised sitting platform, and a beautiful combination of 12 silver and 12 golden tabs respectively set at the back of the tub.
Demyx takes my robe and I blush again, but then he almost slaps me, his hand halting just above my shoulder and instead he says: "Don't worry, the next few weeks – to let you get used to us as parents – there will constantly be someone to help you bathe." He then adds with an off-handed voice:

"Oh, and we're moving."

I turn to him shocked, not wanting them to move now that I'm finally with them and as if he can read my thoughts, does Marluxia say: "What are brilliant speaker is trying to say is that all members, from #1 Xemnas to #13.2, you, are moving away from Privet Drive and over to Fairland's Estate."
I shake my head and ask: "I-I'm moving along?" And Demyx answers: "It'd be a bit useless to first adopt you, perform a ritual to make you one of us and then leave you here as we move, wouldn't it little one?" And I blush as I realize he's right, feeling pleased with how Marluxia glares at him.
The man then gently leads me into the tub and says: "The silver tabs are for the cold water and the golden ones are for the hot. You can best set three golden tabs on and three silver ones, that will get a good similarity between hot and cold water, but not lukewarm." I nod and do as he says.
The water freezes my toes for a second as I turn the last tab – three times according to Demyx – but when it's reached my ankles is the temperature almost enough to already make me melt as I never had such a nice bath. Not at Privet Drive #4 and not after Gym classes back when I went to Primary school.

Marluxia and Demyx then help me get soap and shampoo and when I tell them I haven't washed my hair in over a year, they let me sit on a small platform set inside the tub and while Demyx uses small amounts of water to keep the soap out of my eyes, does Marluxia wash my hair almost strand for strand.
I am then told to stand up and Marluxia holds an arm behind my back. I look at him and he says: "Just lean back and push your head back into your neck as far as you can, child." And when I do as asked, Demyx lets a waterfall of water drench down my hair, effectively taking away all the shampoo. Marluxia helps me back up and after they're done with my back, do they close the tabs.

I get out of the water and am instantly wrapped in an amazingly thick, fluffy black towel. I wrap it around my waist, under my arm pits and look at them as Demyx moves behind me and uses another towel to dry my hair. To this I comment: "I can shower alone, you know." And the man coos:
"We know, little one. We just want you to have a real, childish Christmas. The one any child, whether 1 or 11, deserves to have and that you are way overdue." Unable to deny that one, I smile and say: "You already gave me an amazing Christmas. You adopted me and now you're taking me with you as you move."

Marluxia smiles at me as I clean off the water from my body and when Demyx takes away the towel from my hair, he snaps his finger, shockingly enough making a flower petal appear in his hand.
This makes me wonder if this has anything to do with the explanation they'll give me later and only then do I realize that Demyx wasn't holding a bucket or anything when he let the waterfall drench my hair.
I look from one to the other and then see that Marluxia has made a whole array of rose petals and he lets them softly go through my hair, tickling my scalp a little and some of them going down my back, soothing the pain more than the hot water of the tub did.
Marluxia stops when the petals have all left my hair and he says: "That should do. Now you're all fresh and ready for a few more hours of rest. It is only 2 in the morning after all." This shocks me and I ask: "Then why were you up?" And the two answer: "To soothe your pain of course."

Making me smile as they take me back to my room. There Marluxia extends an arm to let him go before Demyx as I enter my room and he says: "You had your turn. It's my turn now." Demyx scowls and leans back against the same spot as earlier when I woke and I wonder what they're on about.
I find out as Marluxia softly walks me to the bed and I lie back in it, not expecting the cold metal of the frame and the sturdy look of the kept bed to hide such soft, fluffy sweetness. The man waits till I'm lying down and then grabs the blanket, tucking it all around my shoulders and making sure only my head's uncovered.
He then sits down next to me and summons a new flower petal, this one longer and greener. He puts it to his lips and as he blows against it, a beautiful sound is heard, the soft tunes and relaxing melody making it hard for me to keep my eyes open. And while wanting to hear the entire song, do I lull back into sleep soundly and swiftly.

I wake up hours later to find Luxord sitting at the simple metal desk and desk chair, reading one of his own books. The man looks up and smiles as he says: "May this day bring you the joy it has brought others with its ancient tradition, little one." Confusing me as he speaks cryptically as always.
He then walks over and ruffles my hair, as he says: "Merry Christmas, little Jack." I look at him confused, wondering if they changed my name when they adopted me, but he shows me a pack of cards and I remember that it's Jack, Queen, King.
I smile at him and thank him, before jumping out of bed, almost missing the warm fluffiness of the pillows and thick blanket. But then Luxord takes me from the room with a gentle hand on my back and into the same room I was in last night for the ritual.

There he focuses and takes me to one of the seats, letting me sit down, before he moves to another. All other seats are already taken and I remember an empty seat last night when looking around. Xemnas, who sits opposite of me, then speaks and says: "A glorious morning in which we welcome our newest member.

Welcome #13.2
Harry James Potter."

Everyone applauds and I blush, shocked they numbered me and ask: "Do we all have numbers?" Xemnas nods and says: "Our numbers show when which of us joined our group, Organization XIII." I nod, while greatly confused as I never heard of them and ask: "What is Organization XIII?"
The man sighs and says: "It's a story of a group, Harry, our group, to be precise. You see, this all has to do – with the heart." I tilt my eyebrow, barely believing this and touch my own hair with my left hand and the man turns to Zexion, who says:

"Harry, the heart is the most powerful weapon in all and every Universe. It's always born in Light, but once a person becomes a teenager Darkness, in the forms of jealousy, a need to fit in or be popular, anger, hatred, pain, sadness and such emotions, can start to grow within one's heart.
When that happens, child, a person can lose himself to the Darkness and the Darkness will then claim that person's heart. That it hasn't happened yet to our neighbors is a mystery I don't want to solve." I snort at this as his words do make sense, seeing how the Dursleys constantly behaved.
He coughs, returning my attention and says: "When a Heart is lost to the Darkness, it leaves the person's body and is shaped into something like this." And to my shock a creature I have met once before appears on the platform below us.

A vaguely humanoid body with black skin, a round, spherical head with circular glowing yellow eyes, 2 long twisted antennas and hands with three clawed fingers, while the feet lack any discernible digits.
The creature that attacked me in large numbers years ago stands before me, squiggling and wiggling around with his eyes looking at each of my new parents and then at me. instantly I remember how I felt when surrounded by more of those creatures and I whisper the only thing I can:

"Mickey, help."

But then remember how the weird, mouse-like creature must still be looking for his friend or might have even found his friend and brought that person back home. Realizing my friend and mentor won't come, I focus on the light within my heart and – just like during his training – summon my Keyblade.
The Sign of Innocence feels as welcome and familiar in my hand as it did then and I swish the weapon above my head three times, before shouting: "FIRE!" And launching a large chunk of fire from the three amethysts at the end of my blade straight at the creature below, which disappears in a flash straight after the hit.

Everyone around me looks shocked and I look around confused. Zexion is the first to recover and scrapes his throat, making everyone sit back and pay attention to him again, while I can tell they shoot quick glances at me every now and again. Zexion turns back to me, his fingers crossed over his lap and says:
"The creature you just saw and destroyed is called a Heartless. Heartless are creatures born from the Darkness of one's heart. They see other humans as worthless and only to be used as vessels to create more of their own kind. Depending on how much Darkness someone's been through will determine the strength of the Heartless.
But the heart is not everything in a person. If that person has a strong heart and is true of soul, his body gets left behind once the heart is taken from them. People with weak hearts, like people who can only summon a Shadow from their darkened heart – the creature you just saw – do not get that chance as their bodies completely disappear.

People with strong hearts, as I just said, get to keep their bodies, but because they lost their hearts, their bodies get a mind of themselves. They turn into – as they are called – Nobodies. And again, depending on their strength of heart, the Nobody can either be weak and obey other Nobodies or strong.
Weak Nobodies often don't even get to keep their human forms. The weakest of those are Dusks, they look like this." And again Zexion seems to summon a creature, which makes me hold my Keyblade at the ready, the fire already simmering in the three amethysts at the hilt, ready to be launched.

The creature has a thin, sinuous body, a large cylindrical head with a flat top that is emblazoned with the same symbol as is on the platform and its body seems covered in a light grey jumpsuit.
It moves around a lot more flexible than the Shadow did and I am amazed at the dumbfounding feet of how it moves and waves its entire body. Then it looks at me and I barely keep a scream in as I see that its mouth is actually a zipper, opened to reveal grey, sharp teeth underneath.
The creature itself appears to be very muscular, even if the arms and legs are very thin and the sides of its body are outlined by a black line. I look further and start to believe that the flexibility is because the hands and feet are pointed and lack digits, while its hands each sport two black bands around them.

All in all the creature kind of scares me and I aim my Keyblade at him, but then Zexion says: "No need for that, little one. This Dusk is completely under my control. Any weak Nobody I summon is under my control." I nod, slightly relieved and lie the Sign of Innocence back on my lap, holding it with both hands.
Zexion then goes on and says: "Weak Nobodies, like this one, can't really think, even if Dusks do have the ability to speak. They follow orders of Strong Nobodies and are often completely under the control of one Nobody.
Strong Nobodies on the other hand get to keep their human appearance, even if they are altered from their original forms. The alteration often isn't really that big or outstanding, so if a person has known the original self of the Nobody they can recognize that original person in the Nobody."

I nod and ask: "But why are you telling me all this?" And the man sighs as he says: "I'm telling you this, little one, because Organization XIII is an Organization – formed out of the strongest Nobodies ever."
I look shocked at this and he says: "That's why we have these powers and why we have the ability to use the Door to the Darkness. It's part of us. But each of us fell at the hands of a Keyblade." I look at my own and ask: "This once killed you?"
But the man shakes his head and with a soft voice, he says: "Nobodies don't have hearts, child, so technically they can't die. It's all about what happens to one Nobody or Heartless when they are felt by the Keyblade.

When a Heartless is felt by the Keyblade, the Heart is unleashed and sometimes returns the person back to its original self. We always believed that if we were struck by the Keyblade, we'd simply seize to exist because we don't have hearts. But each of us were brought here, with a heart, after being struck down."
I look at my Blade, the Sign of Innocence, not sure if I should keep using it and feel the dark power of the portal appear next to me as Vexen appears next to me and says: "You shouldn't hate your Keyblade, little Wielder. It gave us exactly what we wanted the most; something we were willing to do terrible things for."

Xemnas then speaks up and while Vexen lies an arm around me, the man says: "He is right, Harry. We were willing to fell thousands of Heartless and therefore doom thousands of people to lose their hearts for good, as we gathered the hearts together to form Kingdom Hearts, something which would only help us.
We were willing to use thousands and thousands of hearts, Harry, just to give 13 Nobodies one of their own. But the Keyblade Master stopped each and every one of us and we were reborn here. If it wasn't for the Keyblade, we would have been guilty of murder and we would have never met you."
This makes me smile at the man and he smiles back, before Demyx leans back and says: "Just think about it. Hundreds of hearts lost, the twelve of us with hearts, but no Harry to care about and no Roxas who could help us keep and protect our own hearts. Totally lame and useless, if you ask me."

I look at him confused and ask: "Roxas?" The man laughs and says: "Yep, one lucky bastard, he was!" Before Xigbar says: "What Demyx is trying to explain is that Roxas was the Nobody of the Keyblade Wielder named Sora, who brought us all here by destroying us with his Keyblade.
He lost his heart, apparently, when he discovered he had the Heart of his best friend – a girl named Kairi – within him. How that happened, we'll tell you another time. Anyway, he lost his heart to give her hers back and because of his strength of heart, he got a Nobody, a young boy I found and took to our castle.

That boy – was Roxas."

I look shocked and ask: "What happened to Roxas?" And with a peaceful smile Xemnas says: "As far as we know, he got the chance, as one of the only Nobodies, to merge back with his original self, Sora. He's safe and he helped Sora defeat me when I was nearing the completion of Kingdom Hearts."
I nod, while all this information is a lot to take in and then I look at the only other seat that, last night, didn't have anyone sitting in it. I look at the seat closely and ask: "Was that his seat?" But Saix shakes his head and says: "No, that seat belonged to #VIII, Axel. You're # , because Roxas was #XIII."
I look at my own seat and ask: "This is where Roxas sat?" And Xemnas answers: "In our old world, the Land That Never Was, yes. Luckily my power over Nothing was able to form a perfect replica of that castle in the vast space of this house, thus making the interior look much larger and wider than the exterior."

I nod again and ask: "So you all have a special power and I – like Mickey – have a Keyblade." The members – my fellow members – nod and Demyx asks: "How'd you get that anyway?" And I answer:
"I was about seven and completely sick of being Dudley's boxball, so I focused on getting stronger. I went to side alleys and hit and kicked the walls there to physically get stronger. One day I was doing so, when those monsters – Shadows, you called them – came from the shadows and attacked me.

I had my hand open, ready to turn it into a fist and hit one of them when I felt a strange amazing power within my heart. I lied my other hand on my heart and somehow summoned this Keyblade. I used it, but I was pretty lousy at it, it being my first time. I was in loads of trouble, because more and more of them kept coming.
Then I saw a bright light from the corner of my eye, but because another Shadow attacked me I didn't pay attention to it. Shockingly enough a mouse-like creature with large ears and a Keyblade appeared out of the light, used an amazing Fire attack to take down most of the Shadows and then took me to safety.

He explained me about the Keyblade and Shadows and taught me the basic moves of how to use the Keyblade for Offense and Defense after I explained him why I wanted the Keyblade. He even taught me some basic magic and by the next morning I was so exhausted I collapsed before he left to find his friend.
The last thing I remember is him saying I should never let my Light down; that it was the source of my power and what made my Keyblade strong. I promised him and asked him if he would come visit me when he found his friend, that he shouldn't forget about me. After that – I don't remember."

Everyone nods and Xemnas says: "I am glad you had someone to teach you how to wield the Keyblade, Harry, and he was absolutely right. A Keyblade, like your Sign of Innocence, feasts on the power of Light in one's heart. And yours, even while growing up with those monsters, is still very much Light."
I smile at him and he says: "But we also did a Blood Ritual to make sure you're perfectly safe with us. Lexaeus found powerful stones in your old garden that were filled with Blood Magic, so we realized that your place was highly, magically protected. We took the stones, adopted you and performed the ritual, strengthening them."

I look shocked and ask: "Wait, you mean to tell me that – outside of you and the power of Nobodies – there is magic in this world?" And Luxord says: "Depending on what we found when we checked those trunks for dangerous material, I'd have to say yes, Harry, there is indeed magic here."
To this I shoot up and say: "Then let's go check out those trunks, I want to know what those Dursleys kept from me." everyone nods, but I had misplaced my footing and just when I feel myself falling, do I twist my body to the side, my Keyblade still in my right hand and lock the end of the blade to my backrest.

Everyone sighs in relief and Xemnas says: "Xaldin, put our son back on his seat, please." And with a simple wave of his wrist do I feel Xaldin push a small gust of wind against my front, pushing me against the backrest.
Vexen then grabs my shoulder and says: "Focus on what I do, Harry, it will be your first lesson as an Organizations member." I nod and feel a power awaken in him that actually makes my Keyblade tremble in fear. I look at the blade, just as a gust of dark power swallows us up and brings us down to the platform.

I raise my Keyblade and say: "I recognize the power you used, Vexen, don't ask me how, but my Keyblade doesn't seem to like it." Vexen smiles and says: "Perfectly understandable, Harry, that Keyblade is a perfect sign of Light and I used the Power of Darkness to transport us down, two opposite powers."
I nod and then everyone else portals down and Xemnas says: "Luxord, bring us the trunks." The blond man nods and gigantic cards turn in a circle in front of us, before they disappear on Luxord's physical command and the two trunks I remember Aunt Petunia carrying downstairs last night appear before us.

I rush at the trunks and ask: "You checked them to be okay? Nothing my uncle ever used or something?" Luxord nods and says: "Lexaeus, Larxene and I all checked them after the ritual. Anything dangerous or that we think you're just too young to have, we took out and placed in our rooms."
I nod and open the top trunk. A huge wind of dust blows in my face and I cough, waving the dust away before I look inside. Loads of stuff I have never seen before, trinkets that strangely look familiar to me and other items all lie in the trunk, together with various books – but one thing stands out most of all.
A finely carved piece of wood upon which a dog, a stag, a wolf, a lily and a small fawn are all together with a background of trees and a full moon. I slowly, carefully pick it up and out of the trunk, suddenly noticing the small text in the right down corner. Squinting my eyes and blowing the remaining dust off, I read

For my little cub
Your guardian, Moony

And that's where I end it!
And I must say this is quite the story; better than I imagined when I started writing this. There is an explanation about the Organization and how Nobodies and Heartless are created, the return of the Organization is explained and Harry is starting to realize he has a whole new home.
LOVE IT!
Next chapter will be another time jump – I have no idea how to write about moving – and will be a few days into Harry's stay in the new home. It will be the night before New Year and will hold … returning in Harry's life. Who will this person be? Mickey? Or maybe Remus? Or one of the teachers?
Read and find out,

The Venquine