AN: This is an Escaflowne/Harry Potter crossover, my first FanFic! Credit goes to www.britishairways.com for the name of the airport in Tokyo; to for info about the Japanese school year; to the Harry Potter Lexicon, for info about all things Harry, including calendars; to http:www.cse.unsw.edu.au/altse/japan/1212.html for information about and pictures of Narita airport; and to for information about international time zones.
Disclaimer: None of the characters from Escaflowne or Harry Potter are my own.
Review Responses:
To Sabrina Yutsuki: I'm glad you liked it! As for that spell, I had to have a way to break the language barrier - originally, it was gonna be a potion, but I figured a spell would be more interesting.
To Honeypot: Thanks! More about Sirius below ...
To Askylla Madison: I'm glad you enjoyed it! Escaflowne is my favorite anime also, hence this story.
To Bradybunch4529: Thanks!
To Kovah: Thanks! I'm glad you like it.
To Nakoya Moonwind: I'm glad you liked it, and I hope you continue to R&R!
To Enu: Yay! The plot will now thicken even more ...
To Bee3: Thanks! I'm glad you think so.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Feel free to e-mail me at misekichanyahoo.com anytime you like. I hope you like this next chapter! A lot of help came from my esteemed friend, Kurome Shiretsu, for beta-ing this story and helping with ideas. She has a few things up on here, including a one-shot and a YYH/X-Men crossover. Check out her work!
I have fixed the errors that were found in the other two chapters, and updated them ... they were just minor typos, nothing major. Oh, by the way, I forgot to say this before ... this story is a rewrite of Harry's fifth year. Also, there is a part of this chapter that is a flashback, when one character is telling another a story. I thought I should tell you that now, so you wouldn't be too confused, and I wouldn't have to put "FLASHBACK" in big letters right in the middle of the story. Enjoy!
--Miseki
Chapter Three: Reunion
"Harry!" A shrill voice called up the stairs. "Harry Potter! Come down here this instant!" Harry sighed grumpily, closing his textbook and stomping down the stairs.
"What?" He snapped.
"You'll not take such an ungrateful tone with your Aunt, boy." Uncle Vernon threatened from the parlor. "She took you in - "
"Yes, I know, gave me a place to sleep, and all that." Harry paused, trying not to lose his temper. He looked at Aunt Petunia. "What do you want?"
She sniffed, crossing her arms and peering down her nose at him. "Look after the supper." She said, not bothering to explain.
"Why?" Harry asked bluntly, not moving. He was feeling very grumpy lately - his friends' letters were annoyingly empty of news, and he had not heard from Sirius at all. It was his birthday, but no one had remembered; it was as if they had all forgotten that he existed.
Aunt Petunia opened her mouth to chastise him, but he just turned and walked away. "Whatever, it doesn't matter," he said, trudging into the kitchen. Harry was leaning on the counter, moping and grumbling, when the doorbell rang.
He didn't even look up, just continued to stare moodily into space, until he heard Dudley scream. Curious now and hoping to have something to tease his cousin about, Harry dashed into the hallway. He caught a glimpse of Dudley cowering at the foot of the stairs before turning his head to the door. What he saw there surprised even him.
A tall, thin, good-looking man with short black hair was standing in the doorway, leaning on the frame and twirling a wand casually back and forth across his fingertips. "Hello, Harry," he said with a nonchalant smile.
"S ... Sirius?!" Harry sputtered, his jaw dropping. Dudley squealed again and scuttled upstairs as fast as his fat legs could carry him. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia burst in, both looking confused and angry. "What is going on - " Uncle Vernon started to shout, his voice chopping off abruptly when he saw the man in the doorway. "Who are you?" He said menacingly. He had not yet noticed the wand.
Aunt Petunia had. "Vernon!" She shrieked, jumping behind his considerable bulk. "He's got a - "
Vernon saw the wand and glared, but before he could say anything more, Sirius stepped into the hall, casually kicking the front door shut behind him. "Allow me to introduce myself," he said, grinning and cutting an elaborate bow. "Sirius Black, at your service."
Uncle Vernon gasped, his face turning purple, and Aunt Petunia screamed. "He's an escaped convict, Vernon! He's going to kill my Dudders!" She tore up the stairs after her son.
"You stay away from her," Vernon growled, seeming less intimidating as he had hoped, since his fear was quite evident. After one last glance at Sirius's wand and mischevious grin, he fled.
Harry stared. "But you ... how did you ... what are you doing here?" Harry asked feebly, at a loss for words. Suddenly he started to worry. "Why are you here in broad daylight, the Ministry is looking for you - "
Sirius laughed merrily, shocking Harry again. "Not anymore!" Harry froze. He couldn't think of anything to say. "I'm free, Harry!" He said gleefully, throwing his hands in the air. Seeing Harry's dumbfounded face, he frowned pensively. "Maybe I had better explain ... "
Hitomi coughed, covering her nose and mouth with her hand as clouds of dust rose off the dark wooden cabinet she was attempting to clean. "This thing's ancient," she said, pouting.
"Everything here is ancient," Sirius mumbled. He frowned and glared at the cabinet with disgust.
There was a soft knock at the door. "I'll get it," Sirius-san sighed, and he slouched off.
I hate this rotten place, Sirius thought. He reached the front door, and when he pulled it open, eight freckled and red-haired faces confronted him. "Arthur! Molly! Welcome!" He whispered, holding the door open. "You have to be quiet, or you'll wake my - " But it was too late. The Weasleys bustled in, dropping their luggage on the floor with loud thunks and chattering amicably. The drapes at the back of the hall flew open, and his mother's portrait began to scream.
"Filth! Scum! Horrible traitors, defiling my house! Mudbloods, Muggle-lovers - " Sirius tried desparately to force the curtains shut, with no success. A young girl came out of the parlor, sprinted right past the confused Weasleys who all had their hands over their ears, and shut the curtains with ease. The roaring suddenly died.
Sirius put a finger to his lips and led them all into the kitchen, leaving their luggage behind. "Welcome," he said, starting to make some tea. "Dumbledore has explained the situation?" He asked. Arthur, Molly, Bill, and Charlie all nodded, but the rest of the children all shot mystified looks at each other. Sirius ignored them. "Good. Your rooms are upstairs - I'll show you where - but be quiet in the hallway." He smirked. "The slightest noise wakes that portrait up, and the only person who can shut her up is Hitomi." At their quizzical glances, he gestured in the girl's direction.
She was young and thin, with short light-brown hair and green eyes. She blushed a little, and bowed. "I am Hitomi Kanzaki," she said. "It's nice to meet you." As the Weasleys introduced themselves, the tea kettle started whistling, and soon they were all sitting around the kitchen table, talking. Hitomi remained rather quiet, but when they had all finished, she volunteered to help the younger Weasleys unpack.
Sirius showed the Weasleys their rooms, and once he showed Arthur and Molly where they'd be staying, Molly immediately took over, whirling around the room and unpacking things at top speed. Sirius shot a meaningful look at Arthur, and they retreated to the safety of the hall, where Sirius leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. The stairs below him creaked, and he looked over to see Hitomi stick her head in a door, say something, and then slip in, closing it behind her. I wonder, he thought, staring back at the ground. He was still staring into space, musing, when the Weasley's youngest son, Ron, came crashing out of his new room.
"Mum!" Ron shouted, running down the hall. "Mum! Something's happened to that girl!"
"Keep your voice down, Ron!" Molly Weasley whispered, stepping out into the hallway. "What's going on?"
"It's that girl we met downstairs! She was helping me unpack, and her eyes rolled up into her head! Then she just fell over - I think she might've died or something!" Ron grabbed his mother's wrist and tugged her into his room, pointing wildly at Hitomi's prostrate from. "See! There she is! I didn't do anything, I swear, she just - "
"Collapsed." Sirius finished, walking through the door and crouching at Hitomi's side. "Snape told me the same story. He says she does that when she's having a vision."
Ron gaped. "A vision? What?"
"Why don't you go get some warm water, Ron." Mrs. Weasley said, in a tone that meant now. Ron shuffled reluctantly out, and Mrs. Weasley turned to Sirius. "What is going on here, Sirius?"
He sighed. "She's a Seer, Molly. An amazingly talented one. From what Snape tells me, just about anything can trigger her having a vision - even just seeing someone or touching a certain item. Dumbledore sent Snape to Japan to bring her here, to protect her from Voldemort."
Just then, Ron came back with a pot full of steaming water, and Sirius picked Hitomi up gently and placed her on Ron's bed. Hitomi stirred, and her eyes flew open. She leapt off the bed and turned to Sirius, a strange look in her eyes. "He's planning something!" She told him, as if that were explanation enough. "We have to go!" She left the room.
Sirius shrugged and turned to Molly. "I had better go see what this is all about." He said, starting to follow the girl. "Look after the house for me, won't you?"
"She's a Seer?" Harry asked.
"Yup." Sirius nodded over his cup of tea. "From Japan. She's kinda strange, but nice enough, I guess."
"But that doesn't explain why you're - " Harry began, but Sirius cut him off again.
"I haven't finished the story yet!" He exclaimed. "Anyway ... "
Sirius caught up with the girl just in time to stop her from running out the front door. He grabbed her arm and pulled her into the kitchen.
"What are you doing?!" She shouted, tugging her arm free and whirling to face him. "He's going to kill those innocent people!" She was just opening her mouth to shout at him some more, but a white mist poured out of her mouth instead. She gasped, confused, but kept right on talking anyway - in Japanese. Once she realized that he couldn't understand a word she was saying, she glared at him and mimed the casting of a spell. Chuckling, Sirius shot the spell in her direction, and once the mist cleared away, she was speaking English again.
She was not pleased. "Stop laughing! A whole innocent family is in danger, and you're just ... standing there!!" She turned to march angrily out the door, but Sirius stopped her again.
"Hitomi, wait." She glared, but allowed him to steer her into a chair. "Now, tell me what's going on."
Hitomi continued to glower at him, and Sirius had to choke back his laughter at her excellent impression of 'Snivellus' Snape. "I had a vision!" She said. "I saw a small, balding, watery-eyed man coming into a house, saying something about that dark lord - I knew that something terrible was going to happen!" She swallowed. "He's going to kill someone, I just know it! He's waiting for this family, he'll hide until they come back, and then ... his master sent him to kill them!" She was talking at the speed of light, and Sirius couldn' get a word in egdewise. "I saw the address in my vision. I don't know why, but I have the feeling that he's there for revenge. Someone betrayed the dark lord ... and the watery-eyed man is there to punish him." Her eyes welled up with tears. "I can't just let that family die! We have to stop him!" She jumped up.
"Hitomi, you're being irrational." Sirius said calmingly. "You and I can't do anything right now. You are not even supposed to be in this country, and I am an escaped convict with a price on his head." Sirius scowled at the ground, thinking. Suddenly he looked up, a dangerous glint in his eyes. "Wait ... describe that man one more time."
"He was short, and bald, and he had small, watery eyes and big teeth. But why does it - "
"Pettigrew." Sirius growled. He looked murderous, and Hitomi stepped back, a little afraid. He turned to her. "He's the reason I have a price on my head," he explained. Suddenly he realized what she had said. "He's here in London? Right now?" She nodded. "If we can catch him ... " Sirius stared into space for a moment, then turned to Hitomi, full of energy. "We have to catch him!" He dashed out of the room and up the stairs, bursting into Arthur and Molly's room eagerly. He explained the situation, and they both nodded, and then turned to dig in their trunks for black robes and broomsticks. Sirius ran back down the stairs, tiptoed through the hall to aviod waking his mother, and went into the kitchen, where a mysitfied Hitomi was waiting.
"I have a plan. Since I can't go get Pettigrew myself," he frowned a little, "I've convinced Arthu and Molly to go in my place. Will you go with them?"
Hitomi nodded. "Of course!" She hurried out, met Arthur and Molly, and shortly they left, Hitomi riding on the back of Molly's broomstick.
Sirius scowled and kicked a nearby chair, knocking it over with a resounding crash. Once again, I'm left behind, he thought, picking up the chair and sitting down to wait.
"I didn't have to wait very long. I was just starting to worry when they came back, Arthur and Molly carrying a struggling Pettigrew between them."
Harry stared. "You caught Wormtail?! Then what happened?"
Sirius laughed again. "Well, pretty soon, Dumbledore showed up, and I explained everything. We talked for a while about what we should do, and finally decided to bring him to the press first. Dumbledore said that old Fudge would just lock him up and refuse to believe the truth if we went straight to the Ministry." He grinned. "The press jumped all over it, and in three days the story was on everyone's lips. Old Fudge was outraged! He called an emergency hearing, and Dumbledore brought Pettigrew before the Wizengamot." He waved his hand in the air. "I don't know the details, only that the Ministry believed him. They must've used Veritaserum or something. Anyway, the whole wizarding world knows about it. Not only that, but once the Ministry heard Pettigrew's story, they realized that they had been chasing the wrong man. I'm free, Harry! They cleared my name! Your friend Hermione produced Rita Skeeter and used her to convince the public that I - " he posed dramatically - "am a tragic hero, locked in Azkaban for trying to protect my friends. The stories have been running for three weeks now. People come up to me and apologize in the streets - perfect strangers! I bought a new wand, Harry, look!" He produced the wand that he had been playing with earlier.
Sirius's happiness was contagious, but Harry still had a few questions. "Er ... what's this 'headquarters' you keep mentioning?"
"I can't say anything here - " Harry frowned, " - but Dumbledore asked me to give you this letter." He handed Harry a glossy piece of folded parchment, with green writing on the front.
Hitomi knocked gingerly on Dumbledore-sama's door. "Dumbledore-sama?" She asked. "May I come in?"
She heard a muffled, "certainly!" and slid into the room. Dumbledore-sama was sitting at his desk, quill in hand, and staring down at a blank piece of paper.
Hitomi coughed nervously, and said, "Dumbledore-sama, I overheard you talking to Sirius-san earlier today," she blushed, "about someone called 'Harry.' Somehow I could tell that you were worried about him." She saw his confused look, but continued anyway. "So, I decided to do a Tarot reading for you, to see if I could help." She paused, unsure of herself now.
"Go on."
Hitomi looked down, and said quietly, "The cards told me that you really are worried about Harry. You know something terrible about him, something he doesn't know, but you're afraid to tell him." She looked up, and her voice got louder - she was practically shouting. "This is a mistake! I don't know why, but if you don't tell him ... you will both be in great danger!" Hitomi wavered for a moment, then turned and ran, slamming the door shut behind her.
Dumbledore stared at the door, amazed. "What if I have made a terrible mistake?" He murmured to himself. True Seer indeed, he thought, sitting back in his chair. Slowly, he lifted his quill and began to write.
"A letter?" Harry asked, looking down at it.
"Yeah." Sirius shook his head. "I have no idea what's in it, but when he gave it to me, Dumbledore seemed a little upset." Sirius smiled and clapped Harry on the back, rousing him from his reverie. "I brought something else for you, too!" Sirius dug in his cloak - which he had tossed on the sofa - and triumphantly produced a large box, handing it to his godson with a grin.
Harry stared at Sirius, and then grinned and took the package. Eagerly, he ripped the ribbon off and tore the box open. Inside was his very own Quidditch set. "Wow, Sirius!" He said gleefully, pulling out the Snitch.
"And that's not all. Ron and Hermione asked me to deliver these." he pulled out two smaller boxes, one with chocolates in it and the other full of oddments from a joke shop. Sirius smiled, and Harry grinned back. "Happy Birthday, Harry."
Harry had to agree.
Harry had invited his godfather to stay the night, and once Sirius was stretched out on the couch, fast asleep, Harry pulled Dumbledore's letter out of his back pocket. Mystified, he broke the seal and began to read.
Dear Harry,
I have been thinking of late, and I have come to the conclusion that some of the decisions I have made with respect to you were not the best ones. I deemed myself to be acting in your best interest, although now I realize that I was wrong.
I know how much you dislike your Muggle relations, and I know now that you must resent me for forcing you to stay with them every summer. I was acting, however, with your safety in mind. You see, and I regret never having informed you of this, your mother invoked an ancient magic when she died to protect you. As I have said before, this protection, this love, resides in your very skin, and this is what stopped Lord Voldemort from killing you so long ago. However, this protection lives in more than just your skin; your mother's sacrifice lingers on in all who share her blood, including her sister.
The reason I insist that you live with your Aunt and Uncle for at least part of every summer is that, while you stay with your mother's family, Lord Voldemort cannot harm you. Your mother's sacrifice protects you still, in the form of your Aunt Petunia and her house. Until you come of age, Harry, no evil can touch you while you are living at Privet Drive.
I also feel obliged to tell you that I have reorganized the Order of the Phoenix, a group that, in the years before you were born, fought valiantly against Lord Voldemort. I realized that you might be very worried without this information, and that you should also know that our efforts are not in vain. Your godfather will have told you by now about our capture of Peter Pettigrew.
There is one other thing that I have neglected to inform you of, but a letter is no place to do so. Although it is more dangerous for you, you have proven these last four years that you are quite capable of taking care of yourself. I would like to invite you to stay the remainder of the summer at the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. If you wish to come, your godfather would be delighted, I'm sure, to bring you here.
The most important information of all is that which I have not told you yet, and I will not do so in this letter. If you decide to come to headquarters, I will speak with you inside its walls, where I am sure we wil not be overheard. If not, I will do so at a later date, in person. I am deeply sorry I have withheld so much information from you for so long, and I hope that you can forgive me.
Sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore