Disclaimer: All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites.
Warnings: AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up.
AN: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.
Chapter 7: Harry's Story
Saturday, August 07, 1999, Early Morning
Elemental District, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan
Sasaki Naoki woke up an hour earlier than usual and got ready to leave; the forty-three year old man fully determined to catch a flight to Haneda Airport that morning before catching the first available flight to England so that he could find out what had happened to little Uzumaki Naruto. He knew he never should have allowed the child to head off alone to England but he'd let Naruto talk him out of providing the eight year old with an escort. And while he knew that Naruto could take care of himself (up to a point) Naruto was still just a child; despite the fact that the blond did his best to make other people forget that little tidbit.
When Naruto hadn't called him the moment he arrived in London as promised, Naoki had at first chalked it up to the kid being too overwhelmed or overexcited to remember his promise. It had now been over a week though, and Naoki feared that something bad had happened to the kid that had quickly wormed his way into his heart during the months he'd lived with his family. So he'd spent the last two days making arrangements and applying for an emergency travel visa so that he could travel to England in order to find out what had happened to Naruto.
Naoki collected his hastily packed suitcase (packed the evening before when he'd received notice that his emergency travel visa had been approved) and headed out the door ten minutes later. He never made it past his front porch though as his attention had been caught by an out of place ivory colored envelope sitting in the middle of the porch the moment he'd stepped outside. He stared at the envelope in confusion for a full minute (wondering why and how the envelope had ended up on his porch of all places) before he reached down to pick it up so he could get a closer look at it.
The moment he recognized Naruto's handwriting on the front of the envelope, he felt a combination of relief and exasperation wash through him as he was now holding proof in his hands that the kid was alright. The exasperation was due to the fact that Naruto had chosen the slowest method possible to contact him instead of just calling him from the nearest phone. No longer feeling an urgent need to rush off to the airport, Naoki reentered his home and headed for the kitchen to make a cup of tea and read Naruto's letter. He could still catch a flight to England after he saw what Naruto had to say if he wasn't satisfied with the kid's assessment of the situation.
Eight minutes later, Naoki was seated at the table with a steaming mug of tea. He used a pair of scissors to cut off a small piece on one side of the rather expensive envelope and shook out the two pieces of paper that had been inside. He frowned a bit over the difference in quality of the two papers and opened them both up to find only one of them had been written by the eight year old. Naoki wasn't certain whether or not he should be relieved to know that Naruto wasn't alone as he didn't recognize the name signed at the bottom of the letter that had been written on the more expensive paper.
Naoki considered the two letters for a moment before he reached for Naruto's letter first; he wanted to see what the gaki had to say for himself before he read the other letter.
Naoki,
I am so sorry, I completely forgot about calling you like I promised and Harry doesn't have
a phone or I would have called you the moment I remembered. Harry said he'd find a way
for me to call you soon and in the mean time he told me to write you a letter to let you know
that I was okay. I am really sorry for not calling.
Petunia and Vernon weren't really happy about meeting me but Dudley was really nice to
me. Dudley was the one that asked Harry to come get me. Dudley also told me that cousin
Lily didn't die when you thought she did but she did die when Dudley and Harry were just
babies and that Harry came to live with Dudley's parents after his mother died.
Harry looks nothing at all like a Namikaze; he has black hair and dark green eyes. He told
me that he looks just like his father. Harry is so cool! He did this awesome jutsu that made
all of Dudley's things pack themselves into the boxes and he took me on this awesome bus
that was just like those fun park rides you told me about. It was so fun.
His girlfriend isn't all that nice but Harry got all mad at her for the things she said and now
she's not his girlfriend any more. I feel bad because it's my fault but Harry said it was both
his fault and her fault. Harry even said I saved him but I didn't quite get what it was I saved
him from.
Harry has a baby! Teddy is Harry's godson and he is so cute! And he has this awesome
Kekkei Genkai that lets him change what he looks like. It's almost like the Henge no Jutsu
but he doesn't have to make any hand seals and he can't control what he looks like right
now though because he's just a baby. Harry said Teddy's mother could do the same thing. I
scared him on accident the first time I saw him change and he turned all white!
I'm going to stay with Harry. He said I could stay with him for as long as I wanted. I like
him, even if he is really scary when he gets angry. He only yells when gets a little upset,
like when he yelled at Petunia when he came to get me, but he got all quiet and cold like
ice when he got really angry with his old girlfriend. Harry is really nice to me though.
I can't wait to see what other jutsu Harry can do and ride the ugly purple bus again. I
also have to take Harry to have some ramen. Can you believe that he's never tried ramen
before? He didn't even know what ramen was when I asked him if he liked it.
My poor itoko; I get nightmares just thinking about how terrible it would be to never have
any ramen at all. I wish I could bring him to the Elemental District so that he could taste
Izumi's salt ramen. I did find one restaurant here that serves ramen and the beef ramen I
had was alright but no where near as good as Izumi's homemade ramen. I'd make him
some myself but the kitchen is off limits because the little man that works in there doesn't
like it when people do his job. Maybe I can teach him how to make it for me.
I'll try to call you soon and I'm really sorry again about not calling you sooner.
Naruto
Naoki snorted over Naruto's comments and reaction to this Harry person's unfamiliarity with ramen. Less amusing were the glaring omissions over what had happened when Naruto had first met Petunia and her husband and the reason why Petunia's son had felt the need to call someone else to come pick up Naruto. He also wasn't certain what to make of Naruto's claim that Lily Evans had lived long enough to give birth to a child. Naoki set Naruto's letter aside for his wife and the others to read later while he picked up the other letter that had been sent with the eight year old's.
To Whom It May Concern,
Please allow me to introduce myself; I am Sir Harry James Potter, a Knight of Her
Majesty's Realm [Order of Merlin (First Class)], Head of House Potter, and Regent for
House Black on behalf of my godson, Theodore Remus Lupin. I am also the biological
son of James Charlus Potter and Lily Potter (née Evans).
I am contacting you due to the connection you purportedly have with my newly discovered
cousin, Naruto Evans. I am sad to say that my maternal aunt was less than cordial in
receiving my cousin upon his arrival here in England due to a rare mental illness that has
progressively grown worse through the years. Thankfully, our oldest cousin, Dudley Dursley,
was able to intervene on Naruto's behalf and he did not suffer any physical harm at the
hands of my aunt.
Unfortunately, I am fairly positive that Naruto was verbally abused during the short time he
was left in my aunt's care though the full extent of said abuse is currently unknown as Naruto
has only been in my care for a few short hours as I write this letter. I will see to it that any
issues that come up as a result of said abuse are addressed appropriately as they appear.
I strongly urge you to avoid any and all contact with Petunia Dursley (née Evans) or her
husband (Vernon Dursley) for any reason as her mental health has rapidly deteriorated since
Naruto's arrival and her condition is expected to degenerate further in the near future. In
light of the seriousness of my aunt's declining health, please list me as the primary contact
for all matters dealing with the Potter, Black, Evans, and Dursley families.
My contact information is as follows:
Sir Harry James Potter
c/o Phoenix Transports
No. 27 Gryffindor Ln
Godric's Hollow, Devon, England
Or
Black Family Regent
c/o Hawking International Services
No. 12 Grimmauld Place
London, England
Or
Harry Potter
c/o Night Bird Ltd.
Gringotts Bank
Diagon Alley, London, England
In the event of an emergency where time is of the utmost importance, please contact your
local government office and provide them with my full name (including all of my titles)
along with a brief description of the emergency and they should have the means to get a
message to me within twenty minutes or less (depending on my current location at the time
of contact).
You may also list Dudley Dursley as a secondary contact; however, Dudley is currently
in the process of moving his primary residence and will be temporarily unavailable. Once
Dudley's move has been finalized, I will forward you his contact information so that you
will have it for your records.
Additionally, I wanted to assure you that I intend to take responsibility for my cousin's
needs for as long as he wishes to remain here in England. As such, I am fully prepared to
provide due compensation for any financial debts that you incurred while my cousin was
in your care.
If, after reading this letter and Naruto's accompanying letter, you still feel uncomfortable
with the situation; I am more than willing to make arrangements so that we might meet
face to face either here in England or in Japan in order to discuss the matter. Plans are
being made to secure access to a telephone so that Naruto may contact you whenever he
wishes.
Sincerely yours,
Sir Harry James Potter
PS: I can not find the words to express just how angry and disappointed I am that an adult
would allow a young child to travel alone half way around the world to meet perfect
strangers. I did not mention this earlier in the letter, as I fully expected Naruto to ask for
permission to read what I wrote above (and he did), but I need for you to know exactly
how serious of a situation my cousin ended up in due to your decision.
My aunt and uncle are not kind people. They are, in fact, the worst kind of people you can
imagine as they have two faces; the nice and friendly one they show to the public and the
terrible ugly one that is their real face. They are also highly bigoted people that are not
above punishing a child simply because said child existed.
The mental illness my aunt suffers from? It's an irrational hate of anything and everything
different. My uncle is also known for having an extremely short temper and for resorting to
physical violence when he is angry. If not for Dudley's quick thinking in contacting me,
there is no telling just what would have happened to Naruto.
That said, the worst did not happen; Dudley smuggled Naruto out of his temporary prison
and protected him until I could collect him. Though the fact that Dudley was still living
with his parents and that he had been present the day Naruto turned up on their doorstep
was nothing short of a miracle.
I hope Naruto at least came clean with you about what happened the day he met Petunia
but I get the impression that he isn't the type of kid to trust adults or worry those people he
likes with his troubles; I can see it in his eyes. I suppose he's a lot like me in that sense. I
was actually shocked to learn just how much Naruto and I have in common and we haven't
really had time to get to know one another yet or hear each other's complete stories.
Naruto does seem quite fond of you though and it is only my desire to take his feelings into
consideration that prevents me from showing you just how displeased I was to learn that
you allowed him to travel alone. It helps that Naruto was unharmed despite the seriousness
of the situation he ended up in. I will, for now, give you the benefit of the doubt and reserve
judgment until I've met you and heard your side of the story and the rest of Naruto's story.
~ HJP
Naoki felt more than a little sick to his stomach after reading the post script Mr. Potter had placed at the end of his letter as the guilt and worry he'd felt prior to finding the two letters on his doorstep slammed back into him threefold. He then immediately grabbed up both letters and headed to his office in order to search for more information on the mysterious relative of Naruto's that conveniently popped up out of the woodwork just in time to supposedly 'save' Naruto. Another cousin that had purportedly lived with the Dursleys according to Naruto's letter despite there having been no mention of another child ever living in the Dursley household according to the research he'd done on the family.
Sunday, August 08, 1999, Early Morning (pre-dawn hours)
No. 12 Grimmauld Place, London, England
Harry groggily rolled out of bed, pulled on his dressing gown, and wearily headed towards the nursery to take care of his godson. He'd taken two steps towards Teddy's room before he paused in confusion when he realized that the sound of crying that had woken him up just now was not coming from the nursery (as expected) but from Naruto's bedroom. That realization helped clear the last of the sleep from Harry's mind and he hesitated for a brief moment before he strode over to Naruto's door and lightly rapped his knuckles on the door (to announce his presence) before he opened the door. It only took him a few seconds to locate Naruto huddled on his bed in the corner where the bed butted up against the wall.
"Hey, squirt," Harry greeted softly as he stepped into the room and slowly made his way across the room. "Are you feeling alright?"
"I'm fine, dattebayo," Naruto loudly proclaimed with forced cheerfulness as he plastered a fake grin across his face; the moonlight trickling in through the curtains reflecting off of the tear tracks staining his whisker marked face silently giving away the lie in his words.
Harry sighed at Naruto's attempt to pretend there was nothing wrong as he seated himself at the foot of the bed; the kid's response reminded the wizard of himself yet again. He knew something was bothering his little cousin, he just didn't know exactly what it was. The sweat soaked pillow and tangled mess that had been made of the covers suggested that it had been a nightmare that was the problem. Something that wasn't unexpected given the kid's recent experiences while in Petunia and Vernon's care.
"I can see why Hermione still gets so cross with me most of the time when I tell her I'm 'just fine'," Harry quipped with a soft chuckle once he'd finished his brief analysis of the situation. "When we were younger, she always used to worry even more if I told her I was just fine when she knew there was something bothering me. Over time, she started getting annoyed instead of growing worried because she got tired of me trying to hide the things that bothered me in order to stop her from worrying about me. That was especially true on those nights when she found me after I'd had yet another nightmare."
"Did you have lots of nightmares when you were little?" Naruto asked hesitantly when Harry trailed off.
"A few every now and then; just like any other kid," Harry replied with a nod as he glanced up at Naruto before he turned to stare out the window.
"That all changed after I turned thirteen, when I came face to face with a vile creature called a dementor that feeds off the misery of others; forcing their victims to relive their worst memories while they devour the victim's soul piece by piece with each breath they take. The darker and more painful a person's memories are, the more appetizing that person's soul and life force are to the dementors; they flocked to me like flies to honey. The memories they stirred never really faded after that and the dangerous situations I ended up in time and time again through the next several years only fueled even darker nightmares."
"How… how did you get rid of the nightmares?" Naruto inquired as he leaned towards Harry with a rather hopeful expression on his face.
Harry smiled sadly as he climbed to his feet, flipped over Naruto's pillow, and straightened up the covers before holding them up to encourage Naruto to crawl back under them as he replied, "I didn't; I still have them most every night. I did, however, learn how to make a few of them far less frightening."
"How…?"
"I stopped trying to hide my nightmares and started talking about them with my two best friends. Talking about some of the terrible memories that gave birth to the nightmares helped even more since they were what was really bothering me. I am not going to force you to talk about your bad dreams and I can't make you tell me who or what it was that forced you to flee the only home you'd ever known to hunt down a relative you'd never met but I want you to know that I am here if you ever do want to talk about those things."
Nothing more was said as Harry tucked Naruto back into bed and ruffled the kid's head before he exited the room. Harry then checked on Teddy before he returned to his room. As he crawled back into bed, Harry felt a sense of unease filling him as his mind lingered on just how similar his and Naruto's lives seemed to be. They were both orphans, they both had trouble trusting adults, they both suffered from nightmares, and they both tended to hide their true feelings from the rest of the world. What really bothered Harry though, was the fear that Naruto had been marked by prophecy in the same way that Harry had been marked by a prophecy; from the moment of his birth.
After all, the whisker marks on Naruto's face stood out just as glaringly obvious as the lightning bolt scar that still stood upon his own brow; faded though it was.
Friday, August 13, 1999, Late Afternoon
No. 12 Grimmauld Place, London, England
Harry saw Hermione through the Floo before he dropped down onto the couch with a soft sigh of contentment as he propped his feet up on the coffee table and slouched down until he was comfortably sprawled between the two pieces of furniture. It had been a busy week and the nineteen year old wizard couldn't help but wonder how Mr. and Mrs. Weasley managed to raise seven kids when Harry had trouble enough just keeping up with two. Then again, Harry had also never been happier than he had been as the three of them explored the more interesting parts of London together.
Monday had been spent wandering around the London Zoo for close to fifteen hours. Tuesday had found the trio visiting the Tower of London. On Wednesday, Harry had taken the boys to the London Aquarium (which had opened two years earlier). And Thursday had seen the trio visiting the National Maritime Museum and the Cutty Sark Museum Ship.
Needing a break from the overcrowded tourist hotspots, Harry had called Hermione the night before and asked her if she'd come over to watch Teddy for a few hours. Harry had then taken Naruto to watch the newly released animated film Faeries at the cinema (during the theater's slowest hours) and eat a late lunch at one of the city's Japanese restaurants where Harry got his first taste of ramen. Harry had found the soup to be a bit too salty for his tastes but it wasn't terrible and while he doubted that it would ever become one of his favorite dishes, he wouldn't be opposed to having a bowl every now and then; something that had pleased Naruto.
Harry had chosen that particular film to gauge Naruto's reaction to the concept of 'magic' and 'magical creatures' as he'd been having a hard time determining whether or not Naruto was aware of the wizarding world. His cousin hadn't shown any reaction to verbal references to magic (a few examples including the words witch, squib, dementor, and house elf) and while Naruto appeared amazed any time Harry performed a spell, he showed no surprise over the fact that Harry was doing magic. Then there was the way Naruto had immediately jumped to the conclusion that there were wards surrounding the house that first night.
Yet his cousin had shown no reaction to Harry's full name when he'd read Harry's letter and he knew for a fact that the Japanese wizarding community was well aware of exactly who he was (his story was known world wide and he had been required to attend an emergency meeting of the International Confederation of Wizards shortly after he'd defeated Voldemort). Naruto had also claimed to love flying but had not once asked Harry to take him for a ride on his broom and he knew the kid had seen his Firebolt more than once since he'd arrived.
So, Harry had decided to give his cousin a test of sorts in the form of the animated movie knowing that a child raised in the magical world would wonder why muggles had been allowed to make a movie about magical creatures and a muggle child was more likely to ask if the magical creatures seen in the movie were real. The movie would also provide a nice opening for Harry to bring up the subject of magic on the off chance that Naruto did not ask either one of the expected questions. It was a conversation that Harry knew he needed to have with his cousin because he needed to make certain that Naruto was fully aware of the magical world before he eventually took the kid to Diagon Alley for the first time.
Harry was slowly starting to drift off to sleep in the middle of his plotting and planning when he was jolted back into wakefulness by the sound of his cousin calling his name.
"Harry…?"
"What did you need, squirt?"
"Can…, ano, I mean; may I ask you a question?"
"You are welcome to ask as many questions as you want."
"Is Kreacher one of those hobgoblin things like Broom from the movie?"
Harry arched an eyebrow in surprise, that was not exactly one of the questions he'd been expecting but he supposed he should have considered the possibility that the kid would see the similarities between Kreacher and the hobgoblin from the movie (in behavior and duty if not in looks). He then smiled proudly at his cousin before he drawled, "No, he's not."
"Oh," Naruto replied half in confusion and half in disappointment.
"House elves are closely related to hobgoblins though," Harry added with a slight smirk as he saw Naruto start; his blue eyes growing wider. "Kreacher is what most people would call a brownie."
"Did you just try to prank me, itoko?" Naruto demanded as his eyes narrowed slightly.
"Can you fault a bloke for trying when pranking runs in his blood?"
Naruto tilted his head to one side as open surprise and excitement painted his face as he asked, "Really?"
"Truly; my father was the unofficial leader of a group of legendary pranksters, my godfather was the group's second in command and their number one idea man, and my godson is the son of the man that was the group's main researcher and strategist. I'm also the financial backer for one of the wizarding world's newest joke shops which sells all of the latest pranking innovations and the sole owner of the oldest joke shop still in business in the wizarding world best known for supplying 'classical pranks' to magical children everywhere."
"What kinds of pranks have you done?"
"Well, there was that time I threw fireworks in my rival's potion and made it explode during class," Harry mused as Naruto perched himself on the edge of the coffee table right beside Harry's feet. "Then there was the time I pretended to be a ghost and tricked the school's poltergeist into letting me and my friends escape instead of turning us in for breaking the rules. Oh, and I can't forget the time I tricked this real jerk into freeing his house elf in order to save the elf from the abuse the man's family heaped on him. That one was a classic. My best prank ever didn't get many laughs though."
"What did you do?" Naruto asked curiously as he leaned closer.
"I played dead to trick a terrible, terrible man that was more monster than man and at the same time hurt my friends and those that I considered my family. I had to make the man believe he'd won though."
A stricken look appeared on Naruto's face as he flinched back and hoarsely demanded, "Why…?"
"The answer to that is a very long and very dark story," Harry solemnly stated as he pulled his feet from the coffee table and sat up straight. "It is also a very sad story filled with pain and death. Are you certain you want to hear it?"
"Yes," Naruto answered firmly after thinking about it for a split second.
"Alright. Our story starts with a desperate young witch from a once great family that had fallen on hard times due to the poor decisions a number of her ancestors had made. This young witch was not pretty, had very little magic, and while she was not stupid, she was not very smart. She was also very, very poor and had no hopes of ever achieving her dreams because her father was a bitter old man that belittled her for those things that she lacked. Her name was Merope Gaunt and her dream was to marry the handsome young man she'd fallen desperately in love with the moment she saw him."
"Tom Riddle was the handsome and privileged son of Thomas and Mary Riddle and everything that Marvolo Gaunt, Merope's father, hated; he was rich, rude, and worst of all he was a muggle. When Marvolo learned that his daughter had fallen in love with the Riddles' only son, he was furious with her and ordered her to stay away from him. Merope refused to listen to her father though… she was in love and that was all that mattered in her mind…"
Harry closely watched Naruto's face as he continued to speak of how Merope used a love potion to make Tom Riddle fall in love with her and how Riddle had subsequently left her when she stopped feeding him the love potion at one point; abandoning a pregnant Merope who would later die giving birth to Riddle's son. Harry then spoke of how Tom Marvolo Riddle (Merope's son) grew up in an orphanage where he was often bullied by the older boys, discovered his ability to use magic, nurtured his hatred for those he lived with, and used his magic to get revenge and bully those that had once bullied him. After that, he spoke of Tom's years at Hogwarts and the series of murders he'd eventually commit in his quest for revenge and power; taking care to gloss over the darker details.
The nineteen year old savior didn't fail to notice the troubled look of understanding and guilt that had crossed Naruto's face during that part of the story. Harry knew part of it was because Naruto was an orphan (just like Tom and Harry) but feared the rest was because Naruto knew what it was like to be bullied and had at one point wished to get revenge on those that had hurt him (much like Harry had at one point). The wizard was also certain that Naruto would never follow Tom's dark path due to the way the child had reacted to the choices Tom had made; making Naruto more like Harry and less like Tom.
Not long after that, Harry reached the point in the story where his own history began; though he purposefully left his and his parents' names out of the story because he wanted Naruto to focus on the over all story for now and not on his own personal history. And so Harry spoke of the Marauders, Snape, his mother, and the growing war. Of his mother's and Snape's friendship and their falling out, of the Marauders' borderline bullying, and of the mistakes people make and the lines that they cross when they are angry.
Harry took a short break after that to take care of Teddy and to give Naruto time to absorb everything he'd learned up to that point while the three of them ate steak and kidney pie for supper. He picked up where he'd left off over dessert as they ate treacle tart and vanilla ice cream while Teddy played on the floor with an animated stuffed wolf between bites of ice cream.
This time he covered the history of the Order of the Phoenix (which included a brief history of Albus Dumbledore), the battles his parents and the other Marauders had fought in the escalating war, and the spy in their midst. From there he spoke of the prophecy that had been given, the enemy that had overheard half of the prophecy, the destruction of his own family (again leaving out names), and the Dark Lord's first fall. He then spoke of how the wizarding world celebrated the defeat of the Dark Lord, how the baby was hailed a hero just because he'd not died, and of the chaos that followed as the wizarding world slowly recovered from the terrible war.
The wizard then spoke of the child hero's cold and lonely childhood (still leaving out many details and names) as he supervised Naruto and Teddy's bath. He took care to point out how similar the baby savior's childhood mirrored the Dark Lord's childhood in many ways before pointing out the biggest difference that set both hero and villain apart; their choice in how they reacted to the hate that had been directed at them by those that had been meant to take care of them and the children they interacted with. Harry and Naruto then tucked a yellow haired and green eyed Teddy into bed before they retreated back downstairs to finish the story.
Harry got lost in his memories as he spoke of his first three years at Hogwarts, of the friends he'd made, the adventures he'd inevitably got mixed up in each year, and of the wonders and horrors he'd discovered along the way. He grew tense as he covered his fourth, fifth, and sixth years; each of those years marked by a death that had affected Harry deeply. His voice fairly shook when he reached what should have been his seventh year at Hogwarts; the pain and grief he felt for those that had been lost during that terrible year still as fresh as it had been well over a year ago.
"The death of the Dark Lord Voldemort marked the end of the war, though it will take years before the scars the war left on the wizarding world heal and fade. Even today, people fear to speak the Dark Lord's name for fear that it will bring him back once more," Harry finished tiredly before he sipped at the mug of thick hot chocolate that Kreacher had silently delivered to him at some point towards the end of the story; the silky smoothness of the rich chocolate soothing his sore throat even as it banished the terrible memories that had been stirred during the course of the story.
"Ano; who is the Boy-Who-Lived? Why didn't you tell me his name? Do you know his name? What happened to him after he defeated the Dark Lord? And you still didn't tell me why you played that terrible prank to make everyone think you were dead. Were you just copying the boy hero?" Naruto pointed out after a few minutes as he scrunched up his face in confusion.
Harry closed his eyes and sagged back against the couch with a sigh before he quietly answered, "His name is Harry Potter and he is still trying to pick up the pieces of his life after fighting in a war he never wanted to take part in but could not walk away from for fear he would lose those he held dear."
Translations: Japanese to English
Gaki – brat
Itoko – cousin
10-24-15: Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes.
