"Thanks for the ride," Harry said as he stepped onto the wooden dock of Wave Country with Hedwig on his shoulder. He swayed unsteadily and tried to get his bearings on solid ground.
Even though the night sky was a murky purple and black, the town he entered was flooded with light and people. Bright lights, loud music and paper lanterns everywhere- Harry had never been anywhere quite like this before. And the people here looked so carefree and welcoming. They smiled at him before turning back to their own business.
With a pang of sorrow, he realised that Diagon Alley would never be like this. Not when Voldemort finally came out in the open. He frowned, remembering that Ron and Hermione hadn't said anything about Voldemort.
Harry headed towards the most lighted regions of the town searching for an inn. The bridge to Fire Country was on the other side of the island and Harry wanting to rest before taking the next time.
As much as he wanted to find his family quickly he was short on reliable information- no dependable map, no concrete clues about his clan and no usable currency. Things that would make him stand out in a crowd. Something he couldn't afford when he was by himself. If Ron and Hermione were here, then things would have been different—he wouldn't feel the need to hide, they'd have kept an eye out for trouble.
Maybe this trip is a good thing, Harry thought to himself. If Harry survived this trip by himself, then he wouldn't have to bother Ron and Hermione with Voldemort. The prophecy didn't include them and he had no right demanding their help.
He bit his lip in guilt as he remembered their injuries from the Ministry fight. They had just given him exasperated looks when he'd tried to apologize.
"Shut up," Ron griped, "I'm trying to sleep here."
"I think what Ron is trying to say is, we don't blame you. You shouldn't apologize for something you didn't do," Hermione said patiently when Harry eyed the bandages on her neck.
"Yes," Ron added, "now go eat something, you skinny prat."
But no matter what they said, he felt responsible.
Hedwig eyed everything curiously- the loud people, the old buildings, the mouth watering scents of food- but she remained on Harry's shoulder as they moved through the crowds.
Harry passed numerous stalls that sold food, animal masks and a variety of other things. He couldn't buy any souvenirs without actual money. Harry hoped that he'd find an inn-owner would be willing to take his wizarding money. At the very least, he hoped they'd tell him where to go to trade some of his bronze knuts and silver sickles. He'd keep his gold untouched for now.
He found a small wooden inn on the far side of the town, well away from the water and the crowds. A young couple welcomed him into the inn with warm food and friendly concern. They'd been more than willing to take the bronze nuts as payment and had even given him a lot of paper money for the rest of the knuts and sickles he held out to them.
"Enough to reach Suna!" the innkeeper had said as he carefully handed Harry a thick wad of bills. He wondered where Suna was exactly.
Harry felt guilty at their generosity- he had re-used the story of the coins belonging to his dead 'craftsman' guardian. The lady had gotten slightly teary eyed and had immediately brought out some food while the man took a good portion of the knuts and sickles with a sad understanding expression on his face telling Harry to keep some to remember his guardian.
Harry frowned at the easy acceptance of his flawed cover-story and wondered if the wizarding world had charmed their currency in case muggles ever got a hold of it. It sounded like something wizards would do in their paranoia to stay hidden from the muggles.
Harry ignored his grim thoughts, sincerely thanked the man and stored the paper money is his Mokeskin pouch, knowing that no one but him could open the pouch. Even his remaining wizarding money was safe, stored in the scroll that couldn't be opened by anyone outside of the Uzumaki clan.
Harry ate dinner with the couple- he'd fumbled a bit with the chopsticks but a temporary sticking charm made it look like he'd used them his entire life. He didn't say much but listened to the couple talk about food item prices and other mundane things that came with owning an inn. Hedwig sat quietly on the back of his chair watching the couple with intelligently curious eyes.
Harry belatedly realized that he looked a lot younger than he actually was and that had probably made the inn-owners more eager to help him. His clueless attitude about things could have also made them more helpful.
By the time dinner was done, Harry felt a bit knowledgeable about the world's currency. First of all, he knew it was called Ryo. And he knew way more than he needed to about grocery shopping on a budget. He had tried to equate the Ryo to the British pound, but ended up with a headache. No matter how he tried to convert it, he felt like he couldn't come up with a proper conversion rate of Ryo to pounds.
He decided that they must have given him money based on the value of the metal itself. That made it easier to guess how much each wizarding coin was worth. Harry wasn't too worried- his wad of cash was big, he wasn't much of a spender and he had enough wizarding money, untouched Gold galleons included, to convert if he ended up in a pinch.
Harry sighed contently as he entered a small cozy room at the back of the inn. He pet Hedwig gently, opened the room's window and whispered, "You can go hunting. Just don't go too far and get back by morning, okay?"
He locked the door behind him, dumped his things on the ground and slumped into the bed, feeling asleep without any difficulty.
X-X-X-X-X
"I couldn't find anything about the red eyes, not with the books I have." Hermione explained apologetically through the mirror.
Harry stifled a yawn, "At least you found those spells. They'll help when I travel." Harry looked out at the darkened window and estimated the time to be somewhere around three in the morning. The odd buzzing and Hermione's voice from the mirror had shocked him awake. And even though he'd felt bone tired, he grabbed the mirror and said hello.
On hearing that he was at an inn, Hermione had said, "Did you use the Imperturbable charm to protect your room?"
Harry wondered why he hadn't thought of using it- it had been their biggest obstacle in eavesdropping on the Order meetings. The charm prevented any sounds he made from going out, and also prevent attacks on the room from the outside.
"The disillusionment charm seems a bit finicky to use while travelling." Harry mused going over the other spells Hermione had mentioned. "It won't cover up noises and I don't think Hedwig will appreciate being under a spell while we walk."
Hermione interrupted him. "Disillusionment is meant for short distance trips. Or for when you're travelling in the air and there's less chance of you stumbling. It's not the most reliable thing for going unnoticed, sort of like the invisibility cloak. Even if you can't be seen, you can still be sensed."
Harry nodded, he'd realized the same disadvantages.
"Why don't you fly, Harry?" Hermione wondered.
"I would, if I knew where to go. But I have no solid clues except for granduncle's guess of Fire country. And Fire country is huge." Harry sighed. "Hermione, isn't there some spell for me to trace my blood relatives? I mean the scroll can check if someone is part of the clan, but that's not really helpful when I don't have anyone to test it on."
"I've just found a spell that will help you determine how a person is related to you. That's for when you've found them. But I'm working on it; I have some new books coming in and Professor Lupin said he'd look through Grimmauld Place." Hermione frowned, "Harry, surely there's some sort of place where they keep records of people?"
"I don't know." Harry confessed.
Hermione mused. "There has to be a Hall of records to keep track of their citizens, especially for big towns, right?"
"I suppose." Harry wondered if he had passed any buildings that could be a Hall of records. Or just anything that was administrative in nature. He decided that it would have to be out of the way, so that people couldn't just barge in if they wanted to.
"Harry" Hermione interrupted, "Didn't anyone ask you for papers?"
"Papers?" Harry muttered.
"Yes, identification papers. Surely Fire country will have some sort of check point to screen people who enter. It's bigger than the place you're in now, right?"
Harry panicked, realizing that Hermione's words made a lot of sense. "Grandmum never mentioned…"
Hermione spoke to him calmly. "Things might have changed since you're grandparent's time. You'll need to ask around, maybe some sympathetic people will give you the right information. If you need papers, then you can say you lost yours or you got robbed."
Harry nodded, feeling a little better at having a plan.
"If you get into trouble, you could always use the Confundus charm," Hermione mumbled sheepishly. "Though, I wonder why the stone never gave you the required information. The monk knew about you…"
Harry bit his lip. "I just assume it was the stone that made me learn the language. But it could have been anything."
"Maybe it was your granduncle's energy," Hermione suggested, "if he created the portal, maybe that energy gave you the language. Of course, it wouldn't explain how the monk knew about you and the wizarding world."
Harry shrugged. "I'm glad for this little bit, wherever it came from. As it is, I'm short on all sorts of information. I'm really depending on a whole lot of blind luck."
"I can't believe you didn't think of the language barrier before you left." Hermione stalled his argument, "I know your grandmum's letters were in English, but Harry, she'd already lived here for a few years by then."
"I was going to say that I had planned on getting a translation book but in the rush of things I forgot." Harry said, "I just wish I had some helpful clues. I asked one man about Whirlpool and he just gave me a funny look, so I had to start talking about fishing conditions." Harry rolled his eyes, remembering his horrible attempt of information gathering with the ferryman who had brought him to Wave.
Hermione's forehead creased as she thought. "Don't be upfront about it. You just don't know enough about that world to know how people would react to certain topics."
"What if I, sort of, spy on people?" Harry questioned. It had been something that nagged him since the boat ride. While people seemed talkative, he knew that they wouldn't talk openly unless he proved to be knowledgeable to them.
"Harry, that's not safe. The disillusionment charm and even your invisibility cloak aren't…"
"I know that, but what if I put the disillusionment charm on something smaller." Harry grinned and said, "something that could tell me what's going on in a place far away while I'm safe somewhere else."
Hermione's eyes widened. "You mean the twins'…"
Harry nodded and mirrored Hermione's excited expression when she said, "That could work, but you'd need to put up some repelling charms just in case. Repelling charms work best on objects and places not on people." She forestalled Harry's thoughts about using repelling charms on himself while travelling to keep attackers away.
Harry frowned. "The only repelling spell I remember was the one for muggles that they used at the Quidditch world cup. You think that'll work here?"
"The spell is meant to repel people who don't have magic. So, it should be fine." Hermione asked, "Didn't your granduncle say that no one has magical abilities over there?"
"Yes, but we can't just rely on his words."
Hermione stayed silent in obvious thought for a few minutes. "I think the spell will classify everyone in that world as muggles."
"The spell will do what?"
Hermione huffed. "Didn't you pay attention to Flitwick last year?"
Harry quirked an eyebrow.
Hermione snorted but elaborated, "Spells derived from repelling spells are similar to wards. They bear a bit of sentience to scan people and even things they come into contact with. The muggle repelling charm ignores non-living objects and was modified to search for magic in blood. Didn't the monk tell you about magical blood properties?"
Harry nodded remembering the monk's vague talk about magic and blood being intertwined to make wizards live longer.
"The muggle repelling charm has a fixed definition of magic based off the wizarding world here, because it was created here. If the spell finds a person without recognizable magical properties in their blood, it'll classify them as muggles. And since you're the only wizard that went to that world…"
"I get that," Harry sighed, "but I'm still iffy about the ninja people."
"Didn't your granduncle say that their abilities came from a chakra system?" Hermione asked patiently.
"But Hermione, that's the thing, the chakra is present in people's blood. That's how they make storage seal things like the ones on grandmum's scroll. Even the non ninjas have a bit of it in them. Chakra lets them do stuff that muggles couldn't do without machines." Harry pointed out in dismay.
After a few minutes of deliberation Hermione stated, "Chakra isn't magic. No, listen to me, from your granduncle's explanation, chakra-fuelled abilities are limited. Sure, they've found a way to harness naturally occurring energy from their own body in order to fight. But can that energy, chakra, conjure items that have not been stored beforehand? Can it make animate object inanimate or even the other way around? They may be able to do some things we can, but they're relying on something completely different."
Hermione continued, "From what I understand so far, chakra isn't limited to anyone in that world. Even the civilians there have traces of it in their blood. So it's most probably not a rare genetic trait like magical ability. We can assume that chakra isn't magic. The spell won't count chakra as magic, especially since it seems to have its own…"
"I lost you, didn't I?" Hermione eyed Harry in a mixture of exasperation and fond amusement.
"A bit," Harry conceded. "You know me. The only way I understand things is if I experience it myself."
"Well, do you know the incantation?" Hermione asked.
Harry nodded, "I remember seeing it in Quidditch through the Ages. Repello Muggletum, right?"
"Right. Use the spell on an area and check if people avoid the area," Hermione suggested, "if it works on the non-ninjas who have weak amounts of chakra in them, then surely it'll work just as well on the ninja population."
"Yeah! We could keep guessing the difference between our magic and their chakra, but a test run is the best way to know for sure," Harry said.
"Yes, worst comes to worst you can modify the initial repelling charm and add…" Hermione gasped. "I've just, I might have something to help you."
"I guess that means goodbye, right?" Harry smiled knowingly.
"For now, yes, I'll message you later. And Ron will be with the mirror next..." she reminded him about the mirror rotation that Ron and she had decided on. She stared at him for a long while.
"What?" Harry frowned.
Hermione bit her lip and her eyes softened. "You seem… lighter. I mean, happier. I was skeptical about you being by yourself, but it's really doing you a lot of good. We haven't talked like this for a while, not since…"
Harry nodded in understanding and shrugged. "Voldemort is staying away from my mind these days. And I'm usually so tired of walking and everything around me that I fall into a dreamless sleep almost every night. So I'm a little less cranky than usual."
"I didn't mean…" Hermione protested.
"I know." Harry muttered. "I know I wasn't the best person to be around the past year. Honestly, sometimes I still feel… but here, well I can't afford to wallow in my thoughts for too long. I need to stay focussed and it just leaves less room for the other stuff, you know?"
Hermione glanced at him shrewdly. "There's nothing wrong with breaking down once in a while. You just have to remember to get up and move forward."
Harry sighed. "I can't afford to, not now."
She sighed gently. "All right. Be careful, Harry. Ron and I want to meet your family too, you know."
"I'll try, Hermione," he assured her. "I'll tell you what happens with the spells."
Harry couldn't sleep after that conversation. Too many thoughts and questions swirled in his mind. Questions about magic and chakra mingled with his worries about lack of proper papers and they kept distracting him from creating a workable way to spy and gather information.
Of course, it wasn't really spying- he didn't plan on listening to people in their own homes. No, he'd just listen in on conversations in public places.
Remembering the incident at Hog's Head last year, he'd realised that bars were a good place to get information. Bars were common and packed with different kinds of people. He'd hear different kinds of information in the same place. Sure most of it would be gossip, but even knowing useless gossip would make him blend in better when he talked to people.
Harry's musings were interrupted by a loud thump near the window. He cringed when he saw Hedwig hovering near the open window and rushed over muttering, "Finite Incantatem" removing the Imperturbable charm he had place on his room. "Sorry Hedwig, I was trying out a spell Hermione sent…"
Hedwig hooted in understanding as Harry rubbed the top of her head. He recast the Imperturbable charm and even added a Colloportus to seal the room for good measure. As he placed Hedwig on the back of a chair- he finalised a rough plan as he re-read Quidditch through the Ages and prepped himself to actually go through with it.
"Don't worry, I'll be back in a while," Harry whispered gently to Hedwig getting a soft hoot back.
With the firm intention of getting things done and out of the way, he left the room after moving everything important from his backpack into his scroll. The irreplaceable items in the scroll would be safe- no one could open the seals unless they had Uzumaki blood. His backpack just had some food and clothes in it at the moment.
He left Hedwig behind because she needed to sleep and if someone other than him came in, she'd attack them just for disturbing her rest.
The first thing he wanted to do was check the effectiveness of the muggle-repelling charm. He warned the innkeeper's wife not to disturb Hedwig who was sleeping in his room. The lady had given him an odd look before stating that they'd hosted ninjas before.
Harry had no idea what that had to do with anything but nodded gratefully as she handed him breakfast. He made quick work of the food and walked out into the streets.
Harry noted all the buildings, stores and stands he passed by- jewellery store, grocery store, clothing store, bookstore and oddly enough a wig store. He headed to the bookstore first, knowing Hermione would scold him for not taking the opportunity to learn about the world when he had the chance.
He ended up with a few books on useful herbs, confusing looking politics and general historyabout the ninja nations and wars. Unfortunately he didn't find anything about chakra.
With a slight huff, he left the bookstore with his purchases and searched around. With a discreet check of his surroundings, Harry waited for his intended target to look away and twirled his wand carefully in a complex pattern mumbling "Repello Muggletum".
There was a slight hiss of air as a faint blue spell flew close to the ground and hit the front of the wooden stand silently. Harry turned around in fear as the four corners of the stand flashed a brilliant blue, but relaxed at the obvious lack of reaction from people. The grocer stood behind the stall arranging fruits and everyone continued with their own actions. Harry held his breath and watched discreetly as a woman walked towards the stand.
The woman stopped directly in front of the stand, her face went slack for a spilt second before her brows furrowed in worry. "I forgot the money."
Harry slumped sullenly, telling himself that the spell hadn't worked.
But then the next lady who stood in front of the stand also walked away after forgetting something.
Harry gaped in disbelief but smiled when he realized that he'd make the spell work. His warm feelings of pride evaporated when he realized that he'd never be able to spy with this spell because people would keep walking away from the conversations.
Admitting defeat, Harry removed the repelling charm from the stand and headed back to the inn. Hedwig slept as he searched thought his magic books.
Twelve books later, Harry took a break and walked around town noting the bars in the area. Even if his plan was currently a no-go, he refused to scrap it completely. He found three bars, one near the docks, another at the very centre of town and a tiny one that was pretty close to the inn.
All three bars looked prosperous, their well-maintained buildings showing that they probably made a lot of money. As he contemplated the idea of security for places that made so much money, Harry stumbled back to the inn with a new idea. Harry pulled up an old history of magic book that dealt with goblins and banking.
Harry grinned with renewed enthusiasm when he came across the spell, Oculus transeo, that would make someone's eyes pass over or just ignore an area. It was perfect. Maybe he should do a test run in the inn before the actual spying. And if it worked, he'd have to prepare a quill and some paper.
X-X-X-X-X
Harry watched mesmerized and in amazed disbelief, as his enchanted quill hovered near the listening end of an Extendable Ear and wrote out everything it heard exactly like he'd planned and hoped for.
After disillusioning and placing the Oculus Transeo spell on the twins' string like creation- the Extendable Ear- he had tested one out at the inn. He celebrated when he heard the clear conversation of the couple, a clear sign that his spells didn't affect the original product.
Harry had even gone down to the innkeeper and talked to him while fiddling with the Extendable Ear in his hands. The man's eyes simply glazed over his hands. With the success, Harry had gone back out to scout the bars again. He needed a clear picture of where to send the Extendable Ears. He decided to listen in at the bartender's station at the two bars closest to the inn.
Harry scanned over the paper and flinched when he realised that the quill wrote everything it heard from the extendable ear phonetically in a big blob of English text. Harry read it silently while listening in on his own Extendable Ear. He had to read the words out loud and listen to that before his brain understood what had been written.
Annoyed that the illegible writing from the enchanted quill would take so much time to decipher, Harry consoled himself with a variety of reasons why this worked in his favour. He personally liked the reason that other people here would never understand what was written if they ever found his papers.
He stopped reading and listened to the second extendable ear. Most of the drunken ramblings so far were about family life- Harry knew more than he needed to about local gossip. Some people talked about the increased trade with Mist country because of the new Mizukage, which he guessed was some of leader.
The most interesting and amusing bit of news he heard was the rumours of a giant three-tailed turtle creature that a few fishermen, who sounded rather drunk, had sworn seeing on their fishing expedition.
The only mention of Fire country, the entire night he had listened to and read was a brief mention about increased security at checkpoints. "Taka's been going mad updating everyone's papers according to the Fire country's new standards."
Harry spent a few hours catching up on his sleep and planning his next course of action- namely getting his papers from the Taka-person and then taking the bridge to Fire Country.
Harry decided to risk asking the innkeepers about the papers. With his backpack, scroll and Hedwig on his shoulder at eight in the morning, Harry declined breakfast and scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "Can you tell me where to go to get my papers updated?"
"Oh, right! You're headed to Fire Country," the woman realised. "You definitely need new papers if you're going to Konoha. You should definitely meet Takamura at the administration building near the dock…"
Harry's eyes glazed over as she continued talking.
"…he'll be able to get you your papers in a few minutes as long as you have the required forms…"
Harry jolted at the mention of required forms. "Right! Thank you for your help. Goodbye." He bowed and left the inn.
Hedwig bit his ear with an annoyed trill and looked back at the inn.
Harry winced and headed towards the docks. "I guess I was a bit abrupt, but I can't go back in now. It'll be twice as awkward."
After a couple of dead ends, Harry stood in front of a grey run-down structure that didn't seem like much of an administrative building at all. "Takamura-san?" Harry entered the building and stared at the man hidden behind stacks of papers in a small room at the side.
The man glanced up wearily and sighed, "What do you need?"
"I'm headed to Fire Country and…" Harry paused when the man groaned in dismay and muttered noisily under his breath.
Takamura sighed once more and straightened. "Hand over your forms and old identification papers…"
Harry grimaced, "Here's the thing, I've lost them."
Takamura gave him a bland look and turned back to the pile of papers in front of him. "Then I can't help you, you'll need to get a letter from your town's leader and…"
Harry blanched at the amount of work the man listed. He couldn't possible do any of that. He wasn't even from this world. Harry winced, unholstered and pointed his wand at the man's bowed head. "Confundo!"
Harry sighed in relief when the man's brow only showed himself that this was nothing like the Imperius Curse, Harry said, "I need you to make all the required papers I'll need to travel to fire country."
Harry felt nauseated when the man immediately complied and started creating a new set of papers for him.
Harry shakily answered questions the man asked – name (Harry didn't give a last name), date of birth, country of birth- while Hedwig cooed at him. The calendar on the wall showed that the months were similar in both worlds. But even this odd tidbit of information couldn't distract him.
Takamura took a Polaroid of Harry and continued with his form-filling and stamping. He didn't know how much time passed until Hedwig perked up and glanced at the door. Harry panicked as he heard voices and didn't pay attention to his answers. He sighed in relief as Takamura put a final stamp and held out a tiny bundle of papers just as the main door clicked open.
Harry gathered his papers slowly, muttering a Finite Incantatem to remove the Confundus spell. As the spell vanished, Takamura looked around in confusion but said, "You'll just need to show the pass at checkpoints or when entering Konoha."
"Thank you sir." Harry bowed once more and walked out of the office slowly nodding at the newcomers. Just as Harry stepped out of the building he heard a loud laugh, "Takamura, you need a break, you're starting to look like…"
Harry sighed as he looked at the papers in his hand and shoved them into his Mokeshin pouch, unable to brush away his guilt. Though Takamura would remember making the papers, he'd never dwell on why he did it. Harry wondered how many times a Death Eater had used the spell to get what they wanted.
Harry caught sight of the bridge after only two hours of walking, and felt pleased that his quick pace and lack of breaks had allowed so much progress. When he neared the bridge, Harry saw a ridiculously large sign on the road side. The Great Bridge Builder, Tazuna lives here.
Harry snickered at the graffiti on the board but walked in the direction pointed by the board. "What do you think about a little diversion, Hedwig? We aren't on a fixed schedule and I want to hear the story of the bridge."
The white owl just tucked her head under a wing.
"Oh, come on, it won't be that bad!" Harry approached a house standing over the water cautiously and knocked at the door. No one replied.
"Can I help you?" a loud voice yelled.
Harry swivelled around and found an old lady staring at him from the distance. "I'm looking for Tazuna, the bridge builder!"
"Tazuna took his family on a trip to visit Waterfall country. Did you have some business with him?"
"No, I just," Harry said, "Someone said that Tazuna would tell me the story behind that bridge. I'm not sure if I'd ever stop by here again so…"
The old lady chuckled. "Someone recommended Tazuna?"
Harry nodded sheepishly as the woman burst into laughter. "Ah, well. I don't really need to know or anything."
"Don't be like that. That bridge is our country's symbol of triumph. You can't leave without knowing the story behind it. I may not be Tazuna, but I can still tell you what happened, if you want to know."
Harry bit his lip. He didn't really have to hear the story, but knowing the story could be used as proof that he'd passed through Wave Country. He shrugged and sat down. "I'd love to know what happened."
She began with Gatou- a man came in with false promises who ended up enslaving their small country. "Tazuna decided to go to Konoha."
"Why Konoha?" Harry prodded, curious about the place that had been mentioned to him before.
The lady explained fondly. "As the capital of Fire country, it was the best place to get ninja for a reasonable price. Konoha always helps people even if they can't pay. They've always believed in justice."
"It sounds like an ideal place to live in," Harry wondered absently.
"Fire Country is the safest place," the lady said, "especially for people who want protection and a chance for a new life…"
Harry thought it sounded like a good place for refugees. More specifically, Uzumaki refugees. He rolled his eyes as he caught the tail end of the lady's talk. Somehow she had ended up talking about the cat population of fire country- something about them having unnaturally long lives.
"So Tazuna-san brought a group of ninja guards here?" Harry re-directed the woman to the bridge.
"He only managed to get a regular genin team, three young genins and their jounin instructor. Tiny little things, they were." The lady prattled. Harry didn't have the heart to interrupt her.
Halfway through her story he felt his mirror buzz with a message from Hermione. Even though he wanted to excuse himself from the lady, he stayed and listened to her entire story. "So, this Naruto person didn't have a last name?"
"Of course, he did," she scoffed, "It was Uchimazi. Very spirited child, that one, he rallied the entire village to fight back." Harry grinned at the old lady's tone, "I remember thinking to myself, this brat is going to be important, one day."
It may have been overly exaggerated, but Harry thought it was a wonderful story. That Naruto person, though, he sounded like a very interesting person. Like a regular hero out of a novel.
"So, what do you think?" the old lady asked at the end.
"I think," Harry mused, "I think you're a good story-teller." The old lady laughed and invited him to lunch.
X-X-X-X-X
Harry listened to the Hermione's instructions on the mirror message. Homenum Revelio definitely sounded like a very useful spell especially since it would help him detect people anywhere around him. The range of the spell was fairly big- good enough to give him a good warning if someone was getting close to him. The only downside was that he'd have to keep casting it in order to get real time information about his surroundings.
Harry cast the spell to practice, and immediately felt like he's cast a different version of the Ostenerospell. The spell created little pinpricks of light for the people and an instinctual knowledge of where they were in relation to his own position. Harry had heard of something similar used by muggle army - Radar? Sonar?
Harry sensed the old lady in the area behind him, pretty far away with some people in her area. There was no one in front of him for a good distance. Good. He could explore the area around the bridge.
Harry didn't know why he wanted to see the graves. But something about the story's ending had made him want to see. He wanted proof that the story was real - that the two people managed to find peace even though they had a bad deal in life.
He stumbled through the scraggly trees and reached the clearing that the old lady had mentioned. He paused as he caught sight of a huge sword and two grave markings.
"I…" Harry had never been near a grave before and found himself wondering if his parents had a grave. And before he could stop himself, he realized that Sirius would never have a grave.
"I'm…" he pushed aside his bleak thoughts and re-started, "I'm glad you've found your rest. I heard the story. It was a bit sappy at the end," he admitted. "But I think it was a perfect sort of ending, you know? Not a happily ever after or anything."
"Anyway, this is a nice place to be buried," Harry complimented. "You don't mind if I stay here for a bit, right? No one's been here in a while and I need a place from prying eyes."
Harry wondered why he was asking a grave permission and smiled oddly. "A few weeks ago, I was completely ready for this. I was living on borrowed time anyway. What did it matter if I died?"
Harry fiddled with a thread on his sleeve, suddenly ashamed. "Sirius had gone…" He swallowed the lump in his throat, "He had been so excited to take care of me. No one…I wished…" His legs buckled underneath him. Things he had kept hidden, even from Akira, poured out, "I need to find them. What if I don't? What will keep me from wanting this again if I fail?"
He blinked back angry tears. "I'm afraid. I'm afraid and I hate it. I just hate being afraid even without trying."
A cool breeze ruffled his hair gently and he took deep breaths to calm his erratic thoughts.
"I don't want to go back empty handed. I don't want to fail." His voice rose. "I can't." Leaves rustled softly making his lids heavier.
Hours later, Harry cricked his neck painfully and sat up confused as Hedwig flapped around him noisily.
He glanced at the graves and felt a lot lighter. When he'd talked to Akira, he'd felt comforted but the ghost's lack of knowledge but his own worry and doubt had weighed down on him. And while Hermione and Ron were supportive, they weren't around to reassure him every time his doubts he tried to consider the trip as training for his eventual showdown with Voldemort, he felt lost without them by his side.
"You just have to remember to get up and move forward," Hermione's voice from the previous day reminded him.
Harry took a deep breath feeling relaxed, turned to Hedwig and asked, "Ready to leave?"
Hedwig hooted in reply.
Harry rose. Ignoring his stiff back and neck, he bowed to the graves, turned around and paused. He looked over his shoulder at the large sword gleaming in the sunlight. He moved back to the graves and tapped his wand against the sword muttering a few spells he hoped would be useful.
"That is just a thank you for listening and helping me move forward," he explained and turned towards the bridge. "Come on, Hedwig."
The bridge was boring.
Sure he'd never seen anything like it before. Heck, he'd never been over such a huge water body. But after two hours of walking with the same scenery, the bridge lost its exotic appeal.
Harry grew cautious when he found guards stationed at the end of the bridge, a clear sign that the increased security rumours were true.
The guards asked him for his papers and examined them closely. "They're all new, did you get robbed or something?" a guard asked.
Harry smiled sheepishly. "I wasn't paying attention and…"
The guards nodded and let him pass without any more questions.
Harry entered the port town of Fire country and stopped at the bookstore but found nothing interesting. He left the tiny town soon- there weren't any bars to eavesdrop in- and entered a region filled with trees. Harry could see the difference from Wave country. The air itself felt more energetic while the large trees were thick, old and strong. Harry shook his head in irritation irritated that his mind was going off in useless tangents again.
Harry decided to do a checklist of everything he had accomplished in Wave. He pulled out his papers, to make sure they were still with him and read them. He was officially Harii the travelling… craftsman. The panic of people walking in must have made him say it.
How was he supposed to pass for a craftsman? He couldn't build anything. He usually broke things and depended on a Reparo to fix things.
Harry gasped in realization. That could work.
A craftsman who fixed things- well, except for electrical things. But that wouldn't be a problem. This world didn't seem to depend on a lot of electrical items.
I can make it work. Definitely. I just need someone to vouch for my… fixing skills, Harry thought to himself in amusement and vowed never to mention his new job title with Hermione of Ron. They'd never let him live it down.
Hedwig hooted from above him signalling that she'd spotted someone or something up ahead. He took out his wand and cast the Homenum Revelio spell. His eyes widened as the spell revealed a long caravan of people up ahead. The forest must have muffled the sounds of the people. Which was concerning. He'd thought that his odd sense would have prickled with people around. But then he realised that was a stupid thought. His neck tingled only when he was in danger of being killed.
He frowned in concentration at the information in his mind. It looked like something had happened. They stood still in the same position huddled together in one area. He concentrated and gasped. There was a prone figure on the ground.
He'd have to check it out. They were in his way.
Harry sighed. With a faint sense of dread he headed towards the large group of people. The closer he got, the more paranoid he became. He clenched his wand in his hand. If things got bad, then he could blow something up to create a distraction and escape in the chaos. It was a crude but simple plan.
But how was he going to find out what was going on without getting too close?
Harry smacked his forehead in irritation. The extendable ears would do a good job- especially with all the spells he'd put on it. He hurriedly grabbed one of the extendable ears he had spelled. "Go," he whispered. A slight shift of air was the only thing that told him that the disillusioned extendable ear was rushing towards the group.
"…did you find the snake that bit…"
"Yes, but it's useless, we don't have the antidote for this one"
"Damn it and the nearest town is two hours away."
"What do we do boss?"
Harry flinched as a woman sobbed loudly. A horrible chocking sound broke his resolve to ignore them and walk away. Harry sighed, another delay. "Looks like we're taking a detour," He told Hedwig.
Harry walked out of the tree cover with a brisk pace while Hedwig flew above him. While he wanted to act as though he'd just come across them, he didn't want to waste crucial time that could be used to save the person.
Luckily he didn't have to do any odd acting, because a couple of people saw him walking towards them and one of them actually ran towards him.
A young boy with dirty blonde hair huffed, "I'm …sorry …to trouble you. But do you have any …antidotes for a purple lyre bites…"
Not recognizing the name of 'purple lyre', Harry frowned, "No," the boy's face fell, "but I can treat it."
The boy beamed and dragged Harry towards the throng of people.
"Shuu, what are you doing?" a man growled at the blonde boy.
"He said he could treat…"
Harry ignored the conversation, moved towards the prone figure and frowned at the disgusting purple colour that crept over the tiny shuddering body. It was a child. "Move," he demanded and pushed his way to the boy while slipping his backpack off. His fingers slipped into one of the bag's pockets searching for the small round item.
With deft fingers, he shoved the tiny bezoar into the boy's mouth ignoring the confused and anxious shouts at him.
Harry kept an eye on the boy while he searched for the required potion. The shuddering calmed down and the purple receded. The people around him became oddly silent. He pulled up a potion of yellow liquid labelled, Asiatic Anti-venoms.
"Is he?" the woman asked.
Harry tilted his head. "I'm not done yet." He opened the vial and dribbled the potion down the boy's throat. Harry snorted mentally as he imagined Snape's reaction to finding out just how helpful Harry had saved lives by using things he'd learned about in Potions class.
Harry emptied the vial into the boy's mouth, placed his open palm on the boy's cheek making the tip of his holstered wand touch the boy's neck and experimentally whispered, "Ostenero."
The shadowed image in his mind made him sigh in relief. No permanent damage. It seemed like the combination of the Asiatic Anti-venoms potions and the bezoar destroyed all traces of the original venom. He opened his eyes and smiled. "Its okay. The venom's all gone."
As though to prove his point, the tiny child opened dark brown eyes and glanced around. "Mom?"
"Thank you! Thank you so much" The mother of the child sobbed as she hugged him tightly.
Harry patted her back awkwardly. "Err…no problem."
The other people from the caravan around him seemed to take his awkwardness in good spirit. They were definitely less tense as conversations restarted.
"Now, now Masaki, you're frightening the boy." A man pulled the sobbing lady off of Harry. The mother turned to the child and promptly fussed over him.
Harry sighed in relief, prompting laughs from the people around him, and stood up to leave.
"You did a good job, we wouldn't have been able to do much for him," the man who had saved him from the woman's hug said. "Anyway, why are you out here by yourself, kid?"
"I'm… uh, travelling to start my own crafting business. Just searching for a good place to set up," Harry blurted out suddenly thankful for the minor blunder of having craftsman as an occupation on his papers.
"So you're heading to Konoha?" the man asked.
"Probably." Harry muttered awkwardly, wondering why people kept mentioning Konoha to him that day.
"Good to know that young kids today are so serious about their lives." The man nodded.
Harry blinked. "Right."
"So what do you make?" The man asked.
Harry shrugged. "I just fix things."
The man blinked in surprise. "Fix things?"
Harry swallowed and explained the effects of a Reparo with a bit more confidence. "Yes, I can make things look brand new. You wouldn't know it was broken before. It's a family technique." He didn't consider that a lie, since magic was hereditary.
"That sounds interesting. You'll definitely have a good market in Konoha. The ninja are always breaking things," the man said, "I'd love to see your work, if you don't mind. I have an old music box that I'd like fixed."
"Sure" Harry mumbled. "It takes a while and I only work at night because I don't need much sleep, so you'd only get it back tomorrow." Harry explained, hoping to dissuade the man.
"Well the, it's a good thing you're travelling with us."
"I am?" Harry wondered.
The man raised an eyebrow. "You think I'm just going to let a young kid like you travel alone? Besides I owe you for saving my nephew." Harry protested but the man persisted. "Don't be silly, we're on our way to Konoha. We'll be making a few stops on the way. If you're going to set up a business, then travelling with us will help you get earn some money with your skills."
Harry wanted to protest, but he realised a potential advantage. A caravan that travelled regularly would be the perfect cover for him to pass through the security. "Thank you, sir. I don't want to be a bother or anything."
"The name's Isshin, not sir," the man replied.
X-X-X-X-X
Harry enjoyed his week with the caravan. For one thing, he'd managed to establish his "fixing" skills. When Isshin handed him a cracked music box, Harry fixed it with a Reparo when most of the caravan slept. The only reason he managed it was because he slept separately from the caravan, so no one witnessed the instantaneous repair. He'd felt guilty for claiming to have spent a good portion of the night fixing it, but realised it was a necessary evil.
After that, the caravan paid him to fix many broken things. Harry fixed the items at a slow pace, few items per night depending on the size, and always took the least amount of payment. Isshin thought Harry had no business sense and promptly gave him a long winded lecture on proper prices for his work.
Hedwig had taken to watching over the small boy Harry had saved. Harry swore the boy was some sort of snake magnet. He lost count of the amount of snakes Hedwig killed-snakes that had tried to bite the boy.
Harry also learnt a lot without having to spy on people. He knew what a Daimyo and Kage was. But that didn't mean he stopped information gathering. Every town they stopped at, he spent the entire night eavesdropping on the town's busiest bar's conversations.
And it was a good thing he did.
The small town of Kozakai was only famous for its abundant tea shops. Harry didn't understand the point of so many tea stores, but he had to admit they made good tea.
While it was always fun to hear people's odd conversation, Harry's concentration was never the best and his mind drifted a lot. He'd somehow started thinking of Umbridge being some sort of kitten eater when he heard it.
"Oh, I heard Konoha sent Uzumaki, you know, Jiraiya-sama's apprentice."
Harry's heart stopped and his mind blanked. Had the man just said Uzumaki? He cursed himself for not using the enchanted quill to record the conversation.
"… of course it's reliable. You know Juuho? He says he saw a team heading towards Suna. Said he'd recognize Uzumaki anywhere."
"Yeah right! Isn't Juuho the half blind drunk that claimed to see dragons?"
Harry tuned back to the conversation he was listening in on.
"Remember when he came here with Jiraiya-sama? I felt bad for the brat. Always training so hard while Jiraiya-sama peeped at the hot springs." The man laughed loudly.
"That reminds me, did you see the new Icha- Icha…."
Harry waited patiently hoping to hear another mention of Uzumaki. But the entire night passed with talk of mundane things like the increasing cost of tea. And it made him cranky.
"How many stops till Konoha?" Harry greeted Isshin as soon as he saw him the next morning, his body buzzing with lack of sleep and the need to go to Konoha.
"We have two more stops, Otafuku Gai and Tanzaku Gai. It'll be at least a week till we get to Konoha. Why? What happened?"
Harry opened his mouth and paused as the Hermione like voice in his head berated him and reminded him that he needed to stay with the caravan to enter Konoha, the ninja capital filled with suspicious ninja, without problems. The caravan was his character reference for the ninja. He couldn't just leave them.
"I guess I'm just not suited for long travelling." Harry shrugged sheepishly.
Isshin laughed loudly. "I can see that. Don't worry! We'll get to Konoha soon enough and I'll even help you set up your shop."
Harry sputtered in embarrassment. "You don't have to Isshin-san. I can do it myself. And I don't have enough to actually open a store or anything just yet. I don't know for sure if I'll actually open a store there. I might move if I don't feel it's the right place."
"At the very least, I'll put you in touch with the right people, so you can open your shop when you're ready." Isshin smiled gently.
"Yeah, thanks, Isshin-san," Harry nodded as he went to the back of the line silently.
Two more stopsdidn't seem too long.
Two more stops and he'd be one step closer to the Uzumaki those people at the bar were gossiping about.
Two more stops.