Jet Jaguar landed near the village, dropping Harry and his luggage off near his hut. Harry, excited to be home, ran towards Mothra's den to start telling his whole extended family about his year. The whole group was already gathered there because the robot had already told them that Harry would be coming home today.
Mothra was like a grandmother… a colossal, moth-shaped grandmother, but she still radiated the kind of maternal instinct and agedness Harry believed a grandmother would have. She was curious to see what he had learned that year, forcing him to sheepishly admit that he couldn't show her anything, not because he didn't want to, but because his wand had been destroyed during a battle to the death.
Naturally, that got Godzilla's attention, and from what Harry could tell he had a mixed reaction. The King of the Monsters had no problems with Minilla getting into fights… but that was because he was always there to intervene if another monster (Kamacuras or Kumonga ninety-nine percent of the time) tried to make it a fight to the finish. He demanded a vivid description of what happened.
Harry said that that happened at the very end of the year, and he'd get to it eventually. His dad huffed like a spoiled child being asked to wait. He talked about his year and his friends, and elaborated a bit on the troll incident. Jet Jaguar helped, growing and shrinking until Harry told him that he was troll sized. Godzilla nodded his approval, but then growled a bit more as he realized that wasn't the fight to the death because Harry still had his wand at the end.
By this point many of the villagers had gathered, and Harry got a bit more dramatic in his descriptions, talking about meeting Fluffy, receiving the invisibility cloak, and helping Hagrid keep his dragon. The kaiju remembered Hagrid. They approved of him and were glad he got to keep his "daughter."
Harry suddenly burst out laughing as he remembered the Christmas holidays, realizing all at once that Fred and George Weasley had been pelting Voldemort in the face with snowballs and the Dark Lord had been forced to grit his teeth and bear it.
Of course, saying that earned murmurs from what was now the whole village, and Harry had no more excuses to delay explaining how things had ended. Quickly rushing over how every other part of his year had been great (besides potions; history was still good because it was essentially a free period), Harry explained how he and his friends had determined that the villain would strike when Dumbledore was gone.
He detailed the obstacles and earned more approval when he said he had just kicked the door down rather than looking for the key. Finally, he got to the encounter with Quirrell.
"It turned out that all the stuttering and incompetence was an act. He blocked or countered every spell I sent his way, so I tried to set him on fire. Then he cast this weird spell that took all the flames and sent them back into my wand and made it explode, and I got so distracted by that that he was able to conjure ropes and bind me. Then he unwrapped his turban and he had Voldemort's face on the back of his head. The face started talking to me about how it was immortal and how it only believed in power. I really thought for a minute there that I was going to die, but instead of doing that, I did this!"
As Jet Jaguar finished translating for the monsters, Harry exhaled blue flames drawing gasps from the crowd and thunderous applause from Godzilla and Minilla.
Harry took a bow. While the Infant Islanders regarded Harry as strange, they knew he'd been trying to do that for years and they happily cheered for him, and over the roar of the small crowd Harry heard Godzilla grunting his approval. With all the noise, Harry almost didn't hear Mothra suddenly screech, and the Shobijin shout "Harry, move!"
Knowing better than to disobey such an urgent command Harry dove and rolled in the direction of his dad, looking back from a crouched position to see a puff of fire appear mere inches from where he'd been standing. As it subsided, it revealed Albus Dumbledore standing there, some magnificent red and gold bird perching on his shoulder.
Completely ignoring his surroundings, the headmaster looked at Harry and went into lecture mode. "Harry my boy, I've just spoken to your relatives and they tell me that you said some very hurtful words and refused to go home with them. Now, I am sure that it was all a simple misunderstanding. I've already smoothed it over with your aunt and uncle, so if you'll come with me…"
He extended his arm, only faltering briefly because once Jet Jaguar translated that the professor was here to take Harry away Godzilla let out an ear-splitting roar of rage. The headmaster also found himself confronted by a wall of spears on one side and a combat-ready android behind him. It went without saying that the atmosphere was tense, at least partially because with a threat to his younger son in the area Godzilla's atomic breath was now on a hair trigger.
"No professor, I'm staying with my real family," Harry replied firmly.
"Harry, this is clearly a hostile environment, it cannot be good for you. Once you are at your relatives' house you will be protected."
Gesturing to the kaiju, the villagers, and the robot, Harry asked, "What could you have possibly done to that house that I would be better protected there than surrounded by everyone here?"
The professor looked reluctant to answer, but replied, "All those years ago when your mother sacrificed herself to protect you, her love, her protection, bound itself to your blood. You can only truly be safe in a home with your blood relatives, where I have created wards that will protect you."
The Shobijin drew attention to themselves by asking a question, whether to attempt to reason with the old headmaster or to distract him Harry did not know. "Do you truly believe Harry will be better protected than he has been for the last ten peaceful years?"
Looking at the fairies, Dumbledore simply replied, "Yes."
That answer was the last straw for Godzilla. According to Jet Jaguar this strange man offered nothing but insults and threats to take Harry away. He was too close to Harry for incineration to be an option, so he knelt down and reached for the old man.
Dumbledore apparated a short distance back, watching the King of the Monsters and clearly trying to determine whether or not he knew a spell that could take down a creature of that size.
Even if he did, he would not get the chance. Jet Jaguar stepped forward to prevent him from doing anything, but he paid a price for his initiative: the bird apparently saw him coming and landed on his arm, and then both of them vanished in a burst of flame.
"NO!"
There were shouts and roars of outrage as the respected robot disappeared, but Harry – and to everyone's surprise, Minilla – were the only ones to lose control. Harry blasted a stream of fire and Minilla backed him up with a radioactive smoke ring.
Blocking the former and seemingly unable to dispel the latter before it could reach him, Dumbledore called out "Fawkes!" and when the bird appeared moments later, they both disappeared in another puff of flames. A second too late to do anything, Minilla's smoke ring sizzled against the ground.
It was with a somber mood that everyone parted. The villagers did their best to console Harry and to keep an eye on him in case Dumbledore returned, but it seemed that the headmaster was content with whatever he was doing to Jet Jaguar, because he did not return, at least not that day.
It was a disturbed sleep Harry had that night, filled with surreal dreams. A firebird took him to a walrus and then disappeared, and then the walrus stuffed him in a box while a horse and tub of lard called him names. Then a shadowy figure appeared outside the box and laughed as green light filled Harry's mind's eye.
In the waking world Harry tossed and turned beneath his father's cloak before starting to dream again. This time he saw Jet Jaguar trying to fight off a firebird inside some swirling vortex of flames before he melted into a puddle of molten metal, pointing an accusing finger at Harry in his final moments.
Finally, in the last dream he had before waking up he was a puppet tangled in his own strings as Dumbledore tried to make him perform various nonsensical tasks while lecturing him about forgiveness, redemption, and love. For reasons Harry did not quite understand, this dream was the most disturbing to him.
Author's Note: After over month without updates, Harry Potter: Adoptive Kaiju has returned. I know that this chapter is shorter than most of the others, but it's setting the stage for Harry's second year. Some of you have made requests for certain things to happen in your reviews, and I've taken them into consideration, but I won't make any promises.
Some of you want more kaiju action, and that will eventually happen, but the important word there is eventually. Unfortunately I can't say anymore without giving away future plot points.
There is one concern that I feel that I can nip in the bud right now. Some of you have expressed worries that first year was too close to canon. Harry made friends with Neville instead of Ron and learned to breathe fire, and that's about it for differences. I want you to remember that the prophecy talks about "power he knows not." The fire breath can never work again because Voldemort will know that it's coming. Harry will push himself to learn magic, but he's only just been through his first year – he needs a solid foundation to build on. Second year is where I can really get going with the changes.
So hold on to your butts everybody (so no keeping wands in your back pocket lest you accidentally remove a butt-cheek), because second year is where things start to get crazy.
Finally, there is one more thing that I must do, even though I will have to punish myself for it later: my story has OVER 9000 views! I apologize for the meme, but it had to be done.