I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season! I certainly had fun!

This chapter was certainly hard to write. Sorry if it came up short. I'm looking forward to writing the next one!

Enjoy!

Chapter 4

Connecting

"WHERE. HAVE. YOU. BEEN?" Molly screeched. She had never felt so angry in her life. Three of her sons and one of their guests stood there like a deer in headlights. Her eyes then landed on an additional guest. "Harry dear! How lovely to see you!" she said sweetly before returning her attention to her sons. "Do you have any idea how worried I was?"

"But… but…" Ron tried before being silenced by his mother.

"Beds empty! No note! Car gone - could have crashed - out of my mind with worry! Did you care? You could have died! You could have been seen!" she continued. She cleared her throat and turned her attention back to Harry. "Of course, I don't blame you, Harry dear."

While Molly was switching between scolding her sons and welcoming Harry, Shiro was scolding Rin.

"You better have a good explanation for why you went along with this stunt," Shiro sternly said.

"We wanted to rescue Harry from his relatives," Rin tried explaining.

"Did you have to sneak to Surrey and back to do it?"

Rin shrunk at Shiro's tone. "We knew you'd say no…"

"With good reason!" Shiro snapped, causing Rin to flinch. "You guys could have gotten into serious trouble if you were caught! What if you crashed? What then? You guys had no means of contacting us if something went wrong!"

"We had Harry's owl -"

"Not on your way to Surrey, you didn't! Did you even think about what could have happened if things went wrong?" Shiro angrily asked.

Rin lowered his head. "Sorry…"

Shiro folded his arms. "Don't just apologize to me. You owe Mrs. Weasley an apology too. She was worried sick about all of you," he said. "After breakfast, we're going to discuss your punishments."

"Punishments? As in more than one?" Rin asked, surprised.

"You're not the only one who is being punished," Shiro replied as he walked back to the house.

Rin looked at the Weasleys. Molly had just finished scolding her sons and told them to get into the house. Rin ran up to Molly and bowed to her.

"I'm really sorry for worrying you, Mrs. Weasley," he apologized.

Molly faced the blue-haired boy and smiled. "That's quite alright, dear. I know you all meant well, but I hope you've learned not to scare us like that again. It would break our hearts if something happened to any of you."

Rin stood up and gave her a smile of his own. "I'll keep that in mind. Sorry again. I'll make it up to you somehow," he offered.

"Oh, you don't have to do that, Rin dear…"

"But I feel really bad about what I did!" he insisted.

Molly put her hand on Rin's shoulder. "If you insist, then we'll discuss it later. Now, let's go have some breakfast."

Rin felt a strange warmth he'd never felt before in his chest. For some reason, this feeling made him feel happy and decided he liked it.

~0~0~0~

Yukio entered the kitchen and saw his brother, Ron, and the Weasley twins sitting at the table. Judging from their miserable looks, it seemed that they were caught and got the scoldings of their lives. Their plan was successful, however, since Harry was also present.

"Good morning," he greeted.

Everyone turned and greeted him as well, although Rin and the Weasley brothers were not as enthusiastic.

Molly looked up from cooking sausages on the stove and smiled warmly. "Good morning, Yukio sweetie! How did you sleep?" she greeted.

"Very well, thanks," Yukio answered as he sat down and helped himself to some scrambled eggs. "Welcome, Harry. Glad you came."

Harry smiled. "Good to see you too, Yukio."

Ginny Weasley suddenly came into the kitchen. She saw Harry, gave a small squeal, and ran away.

Harry furrowed his eyebrows. "...What did I do?" he asked.

"What's with Ginny?" asked Rin. This was the first time he'd spoken since he entered the kitchen.

"She was pretty worried about you," Yukio told Harry. "She talked about you a lot last night when these idiots went to get you." Rin scowled at his brother at the last part of that remark.

"Try all summer," said Ron.

"Yeah, she'll be wanting your autograph, Harry," Fred said teasingly. Molly gave him a withering look and he silently went back to his breakfast.

The back door opened.

"'Morning, Weasleys, Okumuras, and Fujimoto!" Arthur Weasley greeted as he entered the kitchen.

"'Morning, Dad," the Weasley brothers greeted.

"'Morning, Arthur," Shiro greeted from behind the newspaper.

The Weasley patriarch sat down with a huff at the head of the table, next to Harry. "Nine raids - nine!"

"Raids?" Harry asked Ron in a whisper.

"Yeah," Ron answered with a mouth full of scrambled eggs. He swallowed before continuing. "Dad works in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office at the Ministry. He loves Muggles, thinks they're fascinating."

Rin nodded. "You have no idea how often I've seen Mr. Weasley ask my dad questions about Muggles," he said to Harry. "Last week, he asked my dad how a lightbulb worked."

Arthur then noticed there was an extra guest at the table. "Hello! Who are you?"

Harry straightened up. "Oh, sorry, sir. My name's Harry, sir, Harry Potter."

Arthur's eyes widened. "Good Lord; are you really?"

Harry nodded and offered the man a friendly smile.

Shiro lowered the newspaper he was reading and smiled at the scarred boy. "Oh, Harry! How rude of me not to greet you sooner!"

Harry smiled at the Japanese priest. "Nice to see you again, Father Fujimoto," he greeted.

"When did he get here?" Arthur asked his wife.

"This morning," Molly said irritably. "Your sons flew that enchanted car of yours to Surrey and back last night! What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Did you really?" Arthur asked his sons eagerly. "How did it go? I - I mean," he faltered at the sight of his wife's scorching look in her eyes, "that was very wrong, boys - very wrong, indeed!"

Shiro couldn't help but chuckle at the exchange.

CRASH!

Everyone, save the Weasleys, looked up startled and saw Errol the owl sliding down the kitchen window. Mrs. Weasley retrieved the comatose owl and the mail he was carrying. "Here, Harry, dear, Dumbledore's sent us your Hogwarts letter," she said.

"We got ours weeks ago," said Ron.

"Us too," said Yukio.

"I don't understand how he knows where you are, Harry," said Shiro. "I've known him for several years and I still don't understand how he ticks."

"You and the rest of us," Arthur agreed.

"There wasn't exactly any way for me to get ahold of any letters from the Dursleys," Harry said, frowning at the thought of Dobby stealing all of his letters.

"What do you mean?" asked Shiro.

"Someone was stealing Harry's mail over the summer," Rin explained.

"Pretty sure it's illegal in the wizarding world as it is in the Muggle world," Shiro muttered.

Yukio looked at Harry's school supplies list. "I guess the list is real if you're getting the same things," he noted.

"What do you mean?" asked Harry.

"Look at every school book on your list. Every book, except Miranda Goshawk's, is written by someone named Gilderoy Lockhart," Yukio pointed out.

"Isn't he the guy you have a crush on, Molly?" asked Shiro. Molly walked by to gather the empty plates and smacked Shiro on the head with a wooden spoon. He snickered. "What? I'm just kidding!"

"It's true," said Fred.

"Mum fancies him, Lockhart," added George. Molly responded by smacking both twins upside their heads.

Shiro chuckled. "Arthur, you didn't tell me that Molly occasionally meets with this Lockhart guy to sit in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

All of the boys and Arthur howled with laughter at Shiro's joke as Molly threw her wooden spoon at Shiro's head (which bounced off his forehead).

"Worth it!" he laughed.

~0~0~0~

Harry was getting ready to head upstairs the following evening. He noticed Father Fujimoto sitting by himself in the living room.

"Father Fujimoto?" Harry called out.

Shiro turned his head in Harry's direction and gave him a half-smile.

"Harry," he said, "Heading to bed?"

Harry nodded. Shiro nodded back. "Good to know," he said.

The scarred boy noticed something was off about the priest. "Is everything alright?" he asked as he approached Shiro.

Shiro stared directly at Harry from head to toe. "A perfect combination of your folks," he noted.

Harry blinked. "You knew my parents?!" he asked in shock.

Shiro nodded. "The spitting image of your old man, minus the eyes. Those are your mom's eyes," he observed.

"How did you know my parents?" asked Harry. "You're from Japan. My parents have never been there… have they?"

"Your mom came to the monastery once," Shiro recalled. "She was pregnant with you. The boys were only a few months old. She saw them, gushing over how cute they were, and how she wanted to arrange play-dates with them and you."

Harry sank down into an easy chair. "She met Rin and Yukio?" he asked.

Shiro waved his hand dismissively. "Like I said, they were a few months old. They have no recollection of that visit."

"How did she meet you? How did she know you?"

"I saved her butt from some demons in Wales. That's how I met her," Shiro explained. "She and I got really close. James and I became drinking buddies. In fact, I took him out for drinks when he announced that he was going to be a father."

"Did you teach them how to fight demons?" asked Harry.

"I taught them a few tricks to get by. The Magic Branch of the True Cross hadn't reopened yet, so they couldn't get the proper training to become exorcists," Shiro explained.

"When did the Magic Branch of the True Cross reopen?" Harry asked curiously.

Shiro looked up, deep in thought. "Let's see… Your parents died almost eleven years ago, Demonology was added to the Hogwarts curriculum the following year… I'm going to say about thirteen years ago… Yeah, it took both the Ministry and the Vatican a whole year to form a truce. I knew your parents for about three years before they died," he thought out loud. "One year of meeting and getting to know them, one year of helping them prepare for parenthood, and one year of occasional visits."

Harry looked down in his lap before asking another question. "Did my mum ever bring me to meet Rin and Yukio when we were little?"

Shiro chuckled. "If only," he said. "Lily desperately wanted to bring you over for play-dates. Riding a broomstick was too dangerous for a baby, she didn't want to risk Apparating with you in her arms, and Floo Powder is not exactly baby-friendly."

"Couldn't you bring Rin and Yukio to the UK?" Harry asked.

Shiro's face suddenly became serious. "That… was out of the question," he said grimly.

"What do you mean?"

Shiro stood up. "It's getting late. I think it's time we both went to bed," he announced.

Harry stood up and was herded upstairs before he could ask any more questions. As soon as Harry entered Ron's room, Shiro made his way to Charlie's room. He sat down on the bed and took out an old Muggle photo from his wallet. It showed Lily and James holding baby Harry inside a church with James's friend, Sirius, standing next to them. Shiro was standing on one end of the group while his friend, Stephen Swain, was standing on the other end.

Shiro smiled at the photo in his hand. "Well, Lily, it looks like you got your wish in the end," he said.

I hope you guys liked this last bit with Harry and Shiro. I wanted them to get to know each other throughout the series.

Keep those reviews coming, folks!