Rating: M

Warnings: Slash/Yaoi, Het, blood and stuff, underage (technically)

Disclaimer: Yeah, do you really think I'd be writing fan fiction about them if it was mine?

Note: Got epic flying! Hurray! Anyway, homework is just as heavy as always, and twice as headache inducing. It might be a while before I update again as I only have the next chapter written and I don't like to post unless I have at least two chapters done.


Harry idly turned the page of his Herbology book. There was only one place he had the training to survive in outside of Hogwarts that was still on the grounds, so he was familiarizing himself with the poisonous and dangerous plants in the Forbidden Forest.

It wouldn't hurt to know which ones were safe to eat either. The Creevey's had come to him to let him know that they had permission from their father to sign up for his school. They'd even gone so far as to show him the letters as proof.

"Potter!"

Green eyes looked up to stare at Ron, who was turning a frightening shade of red. "Why the hell did you tell a Slytherin where our tower is?" Harry rolled his eyes and went back to his book. "Don't ignore me! Some Slytherin kid is at the portrait saying he wants to talk to you and there's no way a lower year could have found it themselves!"

"Maybe he asked someone in his house where it is Ron. We don't exactly keep the tower entrance a secret." He nudged Seamus up and stretched. "So a younger year is out there waiting for me?"

"That's what I said Potter." Ron scowled at him as he put a marker in his book. The redhead's glare only cut off once Harry had stepped out and closed the portrait.

A boy that was slightly taller than Harry shifted nervously in front of him. His Slytherin tie looked like it had been worried extensively, sitting mussed against the boy's chest.

"You wanted to talk to me?" Harry tucked his hands into his sleeves and leaned against the wall.

The Slytherin fidgeted nervously, then seemed to shake himself and straighten up. "Yes I…my older brother said you made an alliance with our house?"

Harry stared at him. He'd only made an alliance with Blaise and this kid looked nothing like him. Though Blaise's mother was known as the Black Widow. Perhaps this kid's father had married her at some point? Was married to her? He didn't really know if she was married currently.

"What's your name?"

"James Harper, but my older brother is Blaise Zabini. He said you could help me." The boy fidgeted under Harry's stare. "You see, I'm not that good with magic and while Mama Zabini says she doesn't mind, I'm starting to fall behind in classes. I just can't do the things that they're teaching."

"And Blaise guessed, correctly, that my school wouldn't only focus on magic. Does your mother know you want to transfer out of Hogwarts?" Harry waited for the nod before sighing. "Alright. Wait here while I get the papers."

A quick trip through the portrait hole retrieved his bag and he motioned for the younger boy to follow him into one of the many unused classrooms in the castle. "You just have to fill out this form here. Before you do though, you should know that we'll be living in the Forbidden Forest."

James blinked at him in shock, the quill in his hand falling to the desk and leaving a splatter of ink on it.

"You'll be safe enough. You won't have to worry about getting killed unless your stupid about it and go for a walk alone." Harry scratched at an itch on his cheek and watched the Slytherin shake himself again.

"You promise it will be safe?"

Harry quirked a small grin. "As safe as the Forbidden Forest ever is. We'll be set up there while this tournament is going on. After that I'll see if anyone wants the school to continue and if they do I'll move it to a different forest."

Nibbling his lip a little, James nodded hesitantly. He didn't really have much choice since he honestly didn't have the power for anything higher than third year spells. So, with a shaky flourish, he signed his name twice and squeaked when the parchment rolled itself up and vanished.

"Okay. I'll owl your mother to let her know about the change and we'll have a group trip to the Alleys after everything is set up to get you a tent and any equipment you'll need. It's expected that you buy your own equipment and if you want anything better than the basics you'll have to buy your own tent. I'll only pay for the necessities." Harry handed him a copy of the papers he'd just signed and tucked the rest into his bag.

James nodded dazedly, staring after Harry as the older boy left. His first meeting with Harry Potter, the boy who his brother held in such high esteem. He'd been sure the Gryffindor would be snotty like Malfoy, but he'd been just as helpful as Blaise had said he would. He hadn't treated James like an idiot either, like some of the teachers did.

With a lighter heart and a tentative smile, James left the classroom and headed back into Slytherin territory. He'd soon be out of Hogwarts. Maybe he'd even get to start learning that strange language his brother spoke!

Nearly a week later, Harry was questioning the wisdom of starting his own school. He'd gotten the signatures he needed and the whole group had descended on the various Alley's to get the supplies they'd need for living in the wild.

Somehow though, he'd ended up with more people than he'd thought he would. Rick Creevey had learned from his sons that Harry wasn't just teaching magic and had requested leave from his work in order to stayed with them for a few weeks. Harry was certain he'd be teaching the man how to use his chakra if only to keep him from being eaten by the forests denizens.

Rick wasn't the only unexpected addition. When they'd been going through Knockturn Alley, having used The Moonshine as the meeting up point, they'd somehow managed to pick up three of the Knockturn orphans.

It seemed that Mikael played with them during the summer and had sent them an owl before hand to ask if they wanted to join him. Harry had frowned at his partner for not warning him about the additions, but it wouldn't be to hard to get their equipment.

Their first stop was the tents. Basic three man tents with minimal kitchen and a toilet. Three tents heavier, Harry hurried back to the tavern to drop them off.

"Mikael, take everyone to get their things. Save the wands for last, no need to have them pick pocketed. If you get hungry make sure you eat something healthy. Oh, and you three better have at least seven outfits for each season by the time I meet up with you!" Harry pointed to each of the three children that had joined them.

Dirty little faces stared up at him with something akin to awe, so he adjusted Jonathan's carrier on his back and hurried away. It was a little unnerving to be looked at like sunshine shone out your pores.

Harry waved at a few people he recognized and easily avoided the stalkers Dumbledore set on him. He needed to set up a deal with the surplus store that usually provided food for the restaurants around the Alleys.

Sure he planned to teach his students how to hunt in the forest, but it wouldn't be right for them to take as much game every day as they would need to survive. Not to mention the need for healthy meals rather than just filling ones. If he was going to be teaching them to survive, he'd be teaching them how to use their chakra and a healthy body was vital to that.

Unless you were an Akimichi and body size was a part of your family jutsu.

They all met back up in The Moonshine as the sun was going down.

"Food is taken care of, so are the tents. Does everyone have their clothes? We'll be mostly outside during winter so you'll want to make sure you have something warm." The group murmured agreement and Harry jostled Jonathan on his hip to keep the sleeping child from falling off.

"Okay, I'll be providing books for you to use, but does everyone have a wand." He pursed his lips at the disbelieving look a few of them threw him. "It's a valid question. The only person who doesn't need one is Rick and that's because he's a muggle."

Another round of murmuring, some of them even pulling their wands out to show him. "Well, so long as you all have your things I suppose we just need to set up once we get there. We'll do that in the morning though. I don't want to deal with the forest at night until we have a base of operations set up."

"Now! Mark has graciously allowed us to use four of his rooms free of charge. We'll be getting up early so I suggest you go to bed immediately once we're done. We'll hike into the forest for about half an hour and set up at a clearing I've prepared." Harry jostled Jonathan again, then smile thankfully at Mark.

The man waved the thanks off and poured another drink for the night's only customer. Lukus, a vampire that had been around the tavern for as long as Harry had been there. "Come on Mikael, it's time for bed."

Mikael bit his lip and looked at his friends. Harry rolled his eyes and reached out to tug on chocolate brown hair reprimandingly. "You can see them tomorrow. They'll be living with us after all."

He nodded reluctantly, waving goodnight to his friends and climbing the stairs after Harry. He could hear the Creevey brothers dragging their father up the stairs and his three friends following. The strange Slytherin boy who'd silently followed them around the alley bringing up the rear.

Just as Harry said, the next morning was an early one. All the children were blurry eyed and Jonathan was sleeping in a larger version of his chest pouch. The only people really awake were Harry and Rick, though they'd both had suspiciously large cups of coffee already. Neither usually drank it so Mikael was certain they were tired as well.

"Everyone here?" Harry glanced around, counting heads. Mikael, Rick and James had the extra tents on their back, Harry's own already positioned around the chest harness. "Everybody have their things?" A general murmur of ascent came from sleepy mouths.

Nodding to himself after he checked to be sure everyone had their backpacks on, Harry held out the portkey that would take them to just outside Hogwarts' gates. Everyone grabbed a section of the rope, Rick looking curious and a little unsure.

Then a sharp jerk behind his navel took Harry's attention from everyone. He closed his eyes and held tight to the rope with one hand, the other coming up to make sure Jonathan didn't accidentally fly off.

Landing, Harry only managed to stay on his feet because everyone had the same death grip on the rope he did. "You're all okay?" Wide awake eyes stared at him, then hesitant yes' rang out. "Good. We'll set out immediately. We need to put up our camp before anything else. Once that's taken care of we'll have breakfast."

Harry turned toward he forest and began walking. Mikael hurried forward to walk beside him with a little huff. "Why didn't we eat breakfast at Moonshine?"

"Because I wanted everyone to have an incentive for getting everything done fast. The clearing I picked in the one we met Black and Lupin in, and it's safer than most of the forest. But there is still danger in not having shelter at night there." Harry ducked under a low hanging branch and smiled when he heard someone's head connect with it.

Raising his voice a little, he called out to the people following behind him. "First lesson. Always be aware of your surroundings. The forest is dangerous to someone skilled in survival, it's downright deadly to someone who doesn't even pay attention."

No one answered so he continued forward. Mikael chuckled quietly beside him, smirking at the unhappy grumbling he could hear. Did they think living in a forest would be easy? It was only really James complaining though, so the werewolf remained quiet.

When they arrived in the clearing a tent was already set up there. It was a little more elaborate than the basic ones they'd bought for the others, but not by much. A deep green with black accents helped to hide it in the foliage.

"Lupin! Come help set these tents up. You're the only one qualified outside of me." Harry tapped lightly on the side of the tent and hummed quietly to settle a waking Jonathan.

Sandy hair and golden eyes poked out to peer around at them blankly. "You're here?"

Harry rolled his eyes and moved away to set up his own tent. "Yes Lupin, we're here. Rick is a muggle and the kids don't know how to set up the tents. Please help them. You too Black!"

A grunt made Harry turn around and stare down at Remus. The man was sprawled in the grass and a sheepish looking Sirius was standing in the entrance of their tent. "Sorry Remus, I didn't realize you were still standing there."

Some unintelligible grumbling let everyone know that Remus was fine, so Harry went back to his tent. A quick wave of his wand once he had it on the ground made the structure unfold and put itself together. As soon as it was set up Harry started making breakfast for everyone as he'd promised.

Outside the tent, Mikael was helping his friends from Knockturn Alley set up their beds. The tents each came with three twin size beds. Basic bedding was provided in a small closet, and that's what they made the beds with.

When that was done each child threw their packs on a bed and opened them. First thing out was a blanket each. Mikael had insisted they have something a little nicer than the pale blue flannel blankets. Krista's was a deeper blue that went with the theme of the tent.

Taylor and Garrett had decided to get matching blankets as they were practically inseparable already, despite the fact that Taylor was eight while Garrett was eleven.

"So is Harry really going to take care of us?" Taylor looked up at Mikael from his newly made bed, blue eyes wide.

"Of course he is. He said he would right?" Mikael flopped down on Garrett's bed, grinning when the younger boy mock scowled at him for messing it up. "Harry is Shubousha-sama, the ringleader of us. A ringleader takes care of his circus and Harry will take care of us."

Suddenly, a brown head popped in and Collin grinned widely at them. "You guys talking about Harry?" The three younger kids nodded warily and Mikael lifted a hand to wave it negligently in the air.

"Oh wait! Could you bring my pack to Harry, Collin? I'm helping these three get settled in." Mikael turned a pleading on the boy and Collin made a face.

"If he foists Jonathan off on me, I'm bringing him to you! I like the kid and all, but my dad wants us to explain everything to him before breakfast." Mikael nodded, a pleased grin on his face.

When Collin had left with Mikael's pack, Krista whapped him on the head. "You can't be looking after Taylor and Garrett with a kid Mikael!"

"Oi Krista, I'm older than you by a year!" Krista ignored Garrett and continued to frown at Mikael.

The older werewolf rolled his eyes and crossed his hands behind his head. "Relax Krista, Harry isn't gonna let anyone look after Jonathan for a little while. He wasn't kidding when he said this forest was dangerous. He won't trust any of us to keep my baby brother safe until he feels we're properly settled."

Golden eyes narrowed, then relaxed as the younger girl sighed. "Fine. But what was it you called him before? Shu-shubishosana?" She stumbled over the foreign word.

Mikael blinked, mouthing what she'd said to himself, then laughed. "You mean Shubousha-sama?"

"Yes, that. What's it mean?"

"It means leader, or ringleader. Since Harry really is the one in charge here, I figure it's a pretty good title. Don't worry if some of us say things you don't understand by the way." He scratched his nose, a little embarrassed for not having thought to warn them. "I'm sure you'll be taught it, but we all learned an ancient version of Japanese to make learning what Harry had to teach us easier."

He perked up as a delicious smell wafted under his nose. "Oooo, it smells like Harry's got breakfast nearly done. Should we go see?"

Krista sniffed the air with a suspicious frown. Her face lit up quickly though and she darted out of the tent before any of the boys had even gotten off their beds.

Several chairs had been set up around a newly formed fire pit. The wood in it wasn't lit, but Rick was showing an interested Sirius how muggles did it. James was already seated, his cloak wrapped tightly around him. Brown eyes flickered up to look at them, then turned back to the little pile of sticks that wasn't even smoldering.

"Youngest to oldest, come get your food! And do it calmly please. My kitchen isn't that big," Harry called from the flap of his tent.

Mikael watched his friends go in like their lives depended on it. The Creevey brothers went next followed closely by a shivering James. He glanced at the pair of adults crouched around the fire, shrugged, and went in to get his own breakfast.

Remus was helping Taylor decide what he wanted while the others had all pretty much filled their plates and were leaving the tent to eat around the fire pit. Harry spared a brief smile for Mikael as he dressed Jonathan for the cooler air of the morning.

"Just so you know, Mr. Creevey is trying to show Sirius how to start a fire the muggle way. They might be a while." Mikael scooped up a large portion of rice and scrambled eggs, then took three slices of bacon. Once he was outside he carefully mixed the rice and egg together, then crumbled the bacon into it.

Nearly ten minutes later he was done and watching as Rick and Sirius became more and more frustrated with the non-existent fire. From the amount of times Harry had glanced away from Jonathan's feeding at them he was getting frustrated too.

"That's it," Harry muttered. Sticking the spoon in the bowl of porridge, Harry quickly made some hand seals and spat a little ball of fire at the twigs.

Sirius and Rick jerked back with cries of shock and stared at the merrily crackling flame.

"Well? Put some bigger logs on it and go get your food. It's probably gone cold with how you two refused to eat until you'd proven you were men." Harry sniffed haughtily at them and resumed feeding Jonathan.


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Taku