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It was Boxing Day, but Harry didn't know or care about a holiday celebrated in the west. The fact that the wizards didn't celebrate it either didn't help much. All he knew was that he was itching to find a place. He wasn't sure where it was, or why he waited so long to look. He just knew that he had to find a private place for himself to practice. The feeling that someone was watching him kept haunting his practice sessions and he needed to be rid of it. He quickly got dressed and snuck a peak around the room before silently slipping out the door.

The forest seemed to invite him into its dark depths. Normally it felt as if the forest was trying to push him away, but maybe it had decided he belonged. He was stubbornly refusing to stay away even though both it and the humans around told him to avoid it.

Harry silently slipped through the trees. His passing was nearly soundless as he sought the sanctuary he knew was here. The canopy was getting denser and soon there was very little light. Harry started at the feel of something brushing by his leg, but was too slow to bound away before it ensnared his limb. It was a crushing embrace and he struggled. Whatever it the thing was started cinching on his lower body before he gave into the primal urge to scream. It wasn't impressed.

Harry felt himself getting weaker as it cinched his arms to his sides. He was struggling weakly when a dim light appeared in his vision. Harry noticed that the thing that had him shied away from it and let up its grip a little. The light came closer and Harry was unsure if this rescue would not just put him into another problematic situation. Reasoning that if the carrier of this light were worse, it would be better not to be here, he struggled harder. It still wasn't impressed.

Soon the light arrived to reveal Hagrid.

"'Arry? Wut're you doin out here?" The friendly giant hadn't noticed the predicament Harry was currently in.

"Being crushed to death apparently." Harry tried to sound sardonic, but ended up managing to sound like he was a creaky rocking chair. Hagrid brought the lamp closer and the grip loosened fractionally.

"Yeh've found yerself a Devil Snare, Jus a moment." He said.

Harry rolled his eyes while Hagrid pulled out his umbrella.

"Co'ver yeh eyes." Harry didn't and was blinded by the bright flash that came from the tip of the umbrella. The vine retreated and Harry could move again. He fell to his hands and knees and relished in the unobstructed breathing.

" . . . 'Ow long 'ave aye been tellin yeh. Yeh canno go in'a the forest." Harry sat on his heels and smiled cheekily.

"Oh, just as long as you've known me." Hagrid scowled, "And you'll be telling me till the day I leave here."

"Now see 'ere. Yeh don' know enough to be safe 'ere. Yeh canno come back."

"I'm learning." Harry replied with another grin, "And I've got you to help me."

Hagrid scowled again, but Harry could see humor in his eyes.

"Yeh know I canno do tha. Yeh to stay away from da forest."

Harry finished getting his breath back.

"You know I won't. Thanks for the save." He bowed and darted off before Hagrid could do anything.

Harry's near death experience wasn't enough to dissuade him from entering the forest and his next few trips were less eventful. He found a nice little clearing that gave him enough space to move around. It was near a half mile into the forest, without a clear path, but Harry liked it and soon went about to claiming it for his own.

It was during one of his trips back from the clearing that he found it. Harry stumbled across an injured unicorn. The poor creature was bleeding from a long gash in its neck. Harry immediately knelt and tried to stop the bleeding. His mind was working frantically trying to recall all he knew about first aid and how to apply it to animals. As he thought his hands were automatically taking the steps he knew would help the animal.

Slowly, the blood stopped flowing. The unicorn was fidgeting weakly but gave no resistance to Harry's first aid. Harry looked around for any herbs he knew were good to make into a poultice and others he could use as a bandage. Unfortunately there weren't any in visual distance and Harry didn't want to leave the unicorn to look. Harry racked his brain again for anything that might help and remembered that he'd seen some of the priests heal by lying on hands. The only problem with that was, he wasn't a priest. Maybe he could use magic. It would be worth a shot, he'd figured out that a lot of the way the spells they'd been casting worked was a combination of desire, concentration and the right patterning of magic.

The first two were easy. It was the right pattern that had Harry stumped. He had this dilemma and only two of the three resources. He'd hope that the desire and concentration would help the pattern fall into place.

After making some soothing sounds to the unicorn, Harry closed his eyes and found his center. He tried to pull some of his lively energy out slowly and gently brought it to the unicorn's wound. The wound sopped it up like a dry sponge and soon Harry got woozy. He tried to stop the flow of energy but it wouldn't. It didn't take very much time before the world left him.

, . , . , . , (some time passes) , . , . , . ,

Harry woke up to the gentle nudging of his cheek. He groaned and tried to push the offender away but got a soft wicker and another nudge in return.

It took a few more moments and nudges until Harry groaned and sat up. He started spitting once he noticed a bitter metallic flavor in his mouth.

Opening his eyes was a mistake. The world seemed to have turned into a vast collection of colors with distinct shapes in the middle. The trees had a light hazy green obstructing them. Harry felt queasy as he looked towards a bright silver glow. He could see a unicorn within it. The unicorn nudged him gently and whickered again. The movement made his head spin.

Harry ignored the beast and focused on taming his queasy stomach. It settled down after a moment and he stood. Just to fall over again, his limbs felt weak and detached. The unicorn nudged him again.

'What?' He asked irritated, he wasn't sure what was going on and it kept interrupting his attempts to sort himself out.

It whinnied and moved away, then looked back. Harry grunted and tried to get up again. While he still felt weak and detached, he managed to keep his limbs under him. That is until he tried to take a step. The unicorn came closer and stood by him while he dragged himself up again. It nudged him with its shoulder and he put his hand on it for balance.

The unicorn gently moved forward and Harry barely managed to keep his feet while using the creature's help. As time passed and they got closer to the edge of the forest, Harry's footing became surer and he stopped leaning on the mare. He still felt horribly clumsy when they reached the edge, but he could walk on his own. The mare stopped walking and watched as Harry looked back at the castle. Harry didn't want to go back there now, the colors the walls were spraying everywhere were making his eyes hurt and his stomach remind him that it wasn't up to snuff.

The unicorn gestured toward the castle and whinnied once more before turning around and trotting off into the forest. Harry stood staring after the mare for a while before he turned and headed for the castle. His gait was wobbly and slow and he hated it. He couldn't figure out why he was so weak and his center of balance was off, but he vowed that he would fix it as soon as possible.

Harry spent the next couple days in rigorous training. He had to master his body before the rest of the students came back, specifically Draco. The colors wouldn't leave his vision and he was getting headaches from them. Harry hoped the headaches would leave in time but until then he stubbornly bore them. It was when he was walking back from dinner that he stumbled across it. Harry was at first entranced for within the mirror's glass there were no bright and interfering colors.

He could see the image clearly. The image did not show himself standing in front of the mirror, but it showed an image of him sparring with Ryouga while Ranma sat off to the side. Harry moved closer to the mirror so he could touch the surface. He felt a great surge of longing fill his heart. He slowly tore his eyes away from the sparing pair and looked at the image of Ranma.

It was the creature sitting in Ranma's lap that made him jump away from the mirror. It couldn't be. Harry shook his head to clear out the fear. Ranma would never hold one of those demons. He was just as afraid of them as Harry.

Harry looked back to the surface in time to see the image Ranma hand the demon to his image self. Harry couldn't believe it. It was wrong. It was evil, whatever this mirror was he had to get away from it. It took scares moments for Harry to back peddle and retreat from the room.

Harry avoided that room for the rest of the break.

AN:

Yeah Yeah it's short, But it IS an update.

Now to answer questions

Simpleinsanity: Thanks to your help I did figure out this nice little transition chapter, and yes He does run into people, but no, He doesn't make friends easily. Think of his history. Harry's been growing up on the move. He's learned that it's simpler and less painful not to make friends cite Ukyu. I do promise to try to show what the other teachers think of Harry, but for me it's hard due to the fact that most of my HP pals are obsessed with Snape, it's easier to figure out how he'd react.

Gourry-gabriev610, First off, Nice handle, second Yes we'll see Ranma, but he'll be in China, but so will Harry. Harry's going to spend most of the summer with Ranma and Genma. I do like the back bone personally. Thanks for the review.

Rachel Sedai, to sum up answers to your questions, Many, but not many human, Yes in third year, Yes and no, in third year.

Expanded, Harry's developing friends, but due to circumstances, I.E. not knowing the language, looking very different, he's not well accepted by the majority of students. Children are really horrible to the odd man out and he's used to that so doesn't even try to make friends. The ones he has have attached themselves to him. He is a little like Hagrid in the "Dangerous animals are fluffy and cute" way so he's making friends there. Two: Harry's good at repressing the terror if he can get away from the cause e.g. a cat. If he cannot get away, as in the case of a Dementor bringing out his worst fear, then he'll start to meow. Three: He will eventually acknowledge that he is from the Potter bloodline, but will still claim the name Saotome. He will do his filial duty and honor the Potter ancestors, but he's proud and worked hard for the name and won't give it up.

Max Krugman, Even though you didn't ask a question, I have to say I'm flattered, You obviously are a critical reader and are not afraid to tell it the way you say it. I know and admit that I'm not a good writer, that's why I'm an engineer professionally, but if I start to stray into the having Harry speak like a 25 american girl, tell me. PLEASE and I'll try to fix it.

B.M.Gray, I promise he won't turn into Pantyhose, I've got other plans for him, more sinister plans.

Fornax. Sorry about that. Ever since I was forced to read Jane Eyre(head) I've been spiteful about foreign languages in stories and no explanation of the text. So I explain.

Yamada is a surname, fairly common so it's something like Jones. If you want to know the exact meaning of the characters that make it up they are Yama, mountain, and da or ta which is rice field. While Uchitsukesugita is a sentence form which translates to "Hit too hard", the you is understood.

Alagon, Thanks for telling me, I know, I'm a dumb american when it comes to international holidays and considering that when I see it on the calander it has can. by the name and the Harry Potter books never mentioned it, I assumed it was local to Canada. As you can see I've changed it