Harry poked his tongue out a little as he concentrated intently on the penmanship assignment in front of him.

It had been about six months since he had Activated his escape to the school shed's roof and had subsequently met his Papá. Dr. Shamal had moved into the Dursley house that weekend and when all the Dursleys had woken up the following Monday, Harry had been less surprised than he should have been that they hadn't remembered anything strange occurring and accepted Dr. Shamal's presence as if it truly had been their idea to let him move in with them. They hadn't even protested the changes in Harry's living arrangements.

(The fact that Dr. Shamal was having far too much fun enforcing 'healthy life choices' on the Dursley family only had made the man that much cooler in Harry's mind. Seriously, it was incredibly amusing to watch Uncle Vernon and Dudley cringe their way through a dressing-less grilled chicken salad while his Aunt was choking down a much higher-caloried meal. They were all healthier as a result, but you would think that each meal was a trip to the gallows, and as the school Medical Officer Dr. Shamal had used his considerable influence to make it quite difficult for the Dursley males to get unhealthy foods just about everywhere in the neighborhood and around Uncle Vernon's office. It was absolutely hysterical to Harry.)

Harry had quickly learned that even if his Papá wasn't in the same house as him, it did not mean that Harry could slack off from the tasks that the man assigned him, and such a thing usually wasn't an issue but there had been a tense period in month four that Dr. Shamal had later explained as Harry's 'adjustment phase' where Harry had been uncharacteristically stubborn and uncooperative.

It had upset Harry the whole time it had been happening and he had actually wet the bed like a baby several times during that dark period, but after he'd made it to the other side of those trying days, (equipped with a healthy fear of his Papá's anger but a profound appreciation for the man's patience and concern, even while he was so far away and didn't actually have to put up with Harry but wanted to), Dr. Shamal had explained that abused children- like you, Harry, even if most of the abuse was emotional and verbal, those types are usually much harder to heal from that purely physical abuse because of the lack of tacit proof and the abuser's way of making everything the victim's fault, even in the victim's own mind- usually go through a 'boundary pushing' period when they are removed from the caustic environment to make sure that they were well and truly safe before feeling secure enough to unfurl themselves from their previously marked 'safe behaviors'.

Harry's lessons had stalled a little bit during that time, but he had more than made up for them once he'd gotten his head on straight and started to truly begin to heal. He was learning Italian, Japanese, Spanish, and French at the same time as polishing his English- which would normally be really difficult for an eight-year-old, but with his Flames actively being tapped into and his magic happily bubbling just underneath his skin now that his body wasn't constantly straining to keep itself from failing he needed to keep his mind occupied as there was only so much self-defense that Dr. Shamal could teach him at this point.

So between Dr. Shamal randomly deciding what language they were speaking in each day, his actual school work, the extra work that his father wanted done, his self-defense practice, (which was pretty basic at this point), his Flame/magic exercises, (they alternated days), and trying his hand at short-term sports clubs at school his months had slipped away quite quickly.

Of course, it was now summer vacation, but that didn't stop his Papá from assigning extra academic work. Harry didn't mind, really, he liked being close to Dr. Shamal and he still didn't really have any friends as the enchantment's echoes, (the actual Ward was well and truly anchored to Harry's necklace now, at least according to the Goblins his Papá paid to evaluate the enchantment's progress and validity) was still loosely covering Little Whinging, and would for as long as his Aunt lived there, and so her twisted opinion of him was still affecting everyone, just like before.

Realizing that while his mind had wandered he had messed up again, the boy sighed and reached for another practice sheet, thankful that while he didn't actually have to wear glasses for anything other than reading for long periods of time, Dr. Shamal had put some Mist Flames on his silver-rimmed, oval glasses that helped him translate written words to English, as he could speak his languages fairly well but their written words- particularly Japanese as they used elegantly crafted characters as opposed to nice, simple words- were still somewhat annoying for him to decipher.

"Brat." Dr. Shamal greeted as the man walked in and flopped on Harry's bed without bothering to knock, "You're still working on that assignment?"

Harry shot the Doctor an unamused look, "It's not my fault Papá is a perfectionist!" he protested with a pout.

The perverted doctor grinned at the boy, but didn't reply to him, "Alright, brat, your dad has decided that since he's going to let you go to school at Hogwarts- at least for a year or so, depending on how that Dumbledore guy behaves- and he doesn't want you to go to the Mafia school just yet, that you're leaving for Japan in a week."

Shamal patiently waited out Harry's rather amusing gob smacked expression and panicked spluttering before continuing in a cheery voice, "The reason that you're going to Japan is that there is a series of towns there that are under the Vongola's protection. Namimori in particular is a big no-no for mafia conflict as the town is sacred as it sits in the general area that the Vongola Primo retired to when he left Italy around four hundred years ago. Reborn is many things, brat, but stupid isn't one of them, and Greatest Hitman in the World or not there are a lot of people who want him under their thumb and if they even had a hint about you, they'd have no issue using you to get to him."

Harry nodded solemnly, "Yeah, we've talked about that a lot. He's friends with the Vongola Nono, isn't he? How do I explain my random appearance and European features, though? Oh, and my name."

The Italian cracked a grin at the boy, "Good forward thinking, brat." Harry blushed at the praise but held his head high instead of dropping his eyes to the ground like he would have a few months ago and Shamal's grin widened in approval, "You're getting better at accepting compliments, good job. Anyways, your hair is dark enough to blend in just fine, and while your eye color is unusually vibrant, the Mist Flames that I placed on your glasses will help keep people from noticing too much, and the protection that your mother gave you will keep most people from looking too closely.

The few who do will be Flame users, and Reborn called in a favor from a fellow Arcobaleno- the Mist one, actually- to make a bracelet for you to wear that acts like the enchantment does, so you'll basically be fully covered. This doesn't mean for you to be stupid, of course as there are always ways around such things, but being that Namimori is pretty sacrosanct to the Vongola, you should be pretty well hidden. Your name for your tenure in Japan will be 'Nakamura Hikaru'. Nakamura because it is incredibly common, and Hikaru because it is somewhat close to your actual name and your father is a possessive bastard, as the way he decided to write your name it means 'shining light' as in 'sunlight'."

Harry smiled as the man pulled out a bright blue folder with his new name embossed on it and tossed it towards the boy. They had found out at the Bank that 'Harry' was just what his parents had told everyone his name was and as Lily was a 'muggleborn' everyone had apparently assumed that he had been named for his maternal grandfather, (Harry Evan, Petunia and Lily's father), and the young Potter couple hadn't followed the Old Magic system for naming Heirs.

The fact of the matter was that his name was actually 'Adriano James-Sirius Potter", as the ritual demanded that each parent give a name enforced by their own Magic. The way the ritual worked made his mother the 'base' parent and 'added' the other three, which worked out well because Lily was a 'muggleborn' and therefore she held no conflicting Family Magics. Since Renato, (that was his father's real name), was unavailable Lily substituted for him in the naming ritual as a 'neutral party'.

James and Lily had been vacationing in Pescara, Italy, in a lovely hotel that had a breathtaking view of the Adriatic Sea when they had met Renato, and wanting Renato to have a little influence on Harry's life even though the man would likely never know of his contribution to the boy's conception, Lily had chosen 'Adriano' in honor of that. They called him 'Harry' to keep from having to explain why their English baby had a distinctly Italian name, and they had let everyone think that it was for James' great-grandfather Hadrian Potter III. Harry's middle name was his mother's actual contribution, for her paternal grandfather, Captain James Evans, who had fought in the Great War. Sirius, his Godfather, had added his secondary middle name to make him a viable Heir of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Black should the line of succession ever fall to him, and his step-father had given him the Potter family name to made the boy a Potter by blood and Family Magic, which made him the official Heir of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter, even though James technically didn't 'father' him.

Harry had found all of this out from his Papá during the week the man had stayed after Harry had woken up from the ritual to bond with his son. Apparently James and Lily had left him a letter, just in case something had happened to them and Harry came to be in Renato's care, the letter had also raised a lot of suspicion about Sirius Black, and him actually being guilty of the crime he was currently imprisoned for, but his Papá said that that issue would take a time and careful maneuvering to feel out properly because if Sirius was innocent and someone wanted him there bad enough to skip due process then they could easily kill him and then Harry would never know the truth.

Knowing that Harry wasn't actually his name was kind of thrilling for the boy as he really didn't have any good memories of that name being used anyways. Shamal mostly called him 'brat' and his Papá mostly called him 'little one', so getting used to a new name wasn't going to be all that difficult, although he was going to miss using his actual last name, as his Papá had explained that his stepfather had actually done a tremendous thing by allowing Harry to be the Potter Heir when he wasn't even technically James' son before the ritual. The man had even died protecting Harry and his mother, and while Harry did his best to not dwell in the past like Papá told him, he was a little glad that the pendant that held his mother's sacrificial enchantment was shaped to honor James Potter magical animal form, because Harry never wanted to forget how lucky he was to wake up every morning knowing that there were four people, (if you counted Sirius, which Harry did because that situation seemed really wrong), who loved him so much that two of them had died protecting him from a madman.

It still felt a little surreal some days, to be honest.

Harry perused the contents of the folder, most of it was summarized in English on post-it notes, though the file was written in Japanese. "Hmm, it says here that I'll be staying in a flat above a flower shop?"

Shamal cracked an eye open and nodded, "Yeah. Reborn doesn't actually trust anyone with the knowledge of your existence, but there is an old associate of his that owes Reborn big time and will let you live in the small apartment above their shop as a favor. As far as she knows you're just some brat that Reborn wants watched over for some reason, and she didn't live as long as she has without a healthy sense of self-preservation, so as long as you don't go shouting your parentage from the rooftops you should be fine. Your reason for being with her is that she is an old family friend, so you'll call her 'Asuka-obaa-san', and she will basically be your caretaker. In Japan, children are given a lot more freedom, but also a lot more responsibility, so don't be too surprised by the rather 'hand-off' approach as opposed to what you've seen thus far."

Harry grimaced as he thought about how stifling his Aunt was to Dudley, "It says that the school year lets out on July 20th, and I'm supposed to arrive during the preparations for the Tanabata Festival- wow, shops are open on National holidays? Weird.- to lower suspicion, so that means that I'll be flying out next Monday, my birthday, with a stopover in Italy, and I will arrive in Namimori with my caretaker, Miss Asuka, on the 3rd."

"It's 'Asuka-obaa-san', brat." Shamal pointed out lazily as the man closed his eyes and continued in a bored tone, "We'll be speaking Japanese exclusively until you leave, starting now. I'll be accompanying you to Italy, where we will meet up with your new caretaker after you spend part of your birthday with your Papá. You'll fly out with her on the 1st and arrive in Namimori on the 3rd. You only have to pack for the flight and the few days in between; we'll ship the rest of it to Japan and have it delivered."

Harry looked at the man who had changed his life so much in the last year and offered a wobbly smile. Dr. Shamal was like a badass, crazy, perverted uncle and Harry would miss him. Shamal must have noticed the look because he chucked a pillow at the boy and drawled, "Don't give me that kicked puppy look, brat. I know your Papa, I'm sure we'll see each other again at least before you head off to Hogwarts. I'm setting up the illusions to make people think you still live here- have I mentioned lately that your father is a paranoid bastard?- this week, and the echoes of the enchantment should take care of the rest. You'll go through two entire years of schooling in Japan and arrive back here in England sometime in August before your First Year. Don't ask me for particulars, that is all your paranoid father's area of expertise."

Harry grinned at the man, "Yeah, well, Papá says it's not paranoia if they're actually out to get you."

"According to Reborn everyone wants a piece of him in some way."

Harry burst out laughing, getting up from his chair and flopping ungracefully onto the bed beside Shamal, "I'm eight. I don't think I'm supposed to know that you were being perverted there, even if I don't really get it."

Shamal spluttered in vehement denial.

Shameless filler, but necessary.

Please leave a review on your way out!