I would like to thank loneicedragon, Makurayami Ookami, Spellcaster Hikaru, Mikutalla, Rakuen Seeker, and stuck-in-a-tree. THANK YOU ALL! For those 222 people that read this story, YOU NEED TO REVIEW! I'm working really hard on this. I want my work to be noticed by my review count. Also, I apologize for not updating sooner, but I've been very busy. I got attacked by what I think was a brown recluse yesterday and I've been kinda hiding ever since. In case you don't know what that is, it is a huge, brown, incredibly venomous spider. Its poison rots your flesh away. Luckily, I didn't get bitten by it.
Ron: Ugh. I hate spiders. (shiver)
MA: I know. Ugh. (shudder) And to think I nearly got bitten. (more shuddering)
Ron: Sick. (slightly pale)
MA: THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN SEVERELY EDITED.
Disclaimer: I don't own YYH or Harry Potter. Haven't I said this enough already that you would get it! HUH!
Chapter 3: The Story
Everyone grabbed some chairs to sit in while they listened to Dumbledore's story. They were very eager to hear what he had to say. The listened intently to the old headmaster began his tale.
"Let us start after Severus had hit me with the killing curse…"
(Before. In the Astronomy Tower.)
Dumbledore stood there in the tower hovering over his own body. His old, battered, dead body lay crumpled at the foot of the Astronomy Tower. Severus…He had trusted the man who had just turned and killed him. He should have listened to Harry on that one.
He could hear the yells and screams inside the castle. Oh, how he wished he could help those frightened children inside the school, who must have awoken by now from the yells, screams, and bangs of the fighting. And Harry, poor Harry had just witnessed his death.
He directed his attention at the battle unfolding on the grounds. Hagrid was blocking the gate, trying to prevent the Death Eaters from escaping. He looked to his right to see Snape and Malfoy running out onto the grounds towards the gate, with Harry hot on their tails. But then two Death Eaters came up behind him, one shot a spell that sent Harry face-first into the ground. And when he finally looked back up, his face was smeared with blood. He shot a spell towards one of them, got up, then turned and continued his chase after Snape.
He watched as Harry shot a curse towards Snape, who pushed Malfoy ahead with a yell and turned to face the scrawny, black-haired boy. Harry continued to shoot spells at Snape, who was lazily blocking them or stopping Harry from completing the incantation. He seemed to be mocking the boy before him, another Death Eater came running up behind Harry and shot him with the Cruciatus Curse.
Horrified, the headmaster took a step forward, as though he wanted to go help the boy who was keeled over on the ground screaming. But Snape ordered the Death Eater to stop and keep running. Harry stumbled towards Snape, shouting another curse, but Snape repelled it as he had done the others. He moved towards Harry, who was looked as though he were about to send another curse at him. Snape yelled something and Harry was sent soaring backwards once more.
Dumbledore saw out of the corner of his eye flames encasing Hagrid's house. Fang's howls and Hagrid's yelling drowning out all other noises. He wished he could help them, but how was he to help if he was dead?
His gaze switched back to Harry and Snape as he heard Snape roar furiously, "DON'T CALL ME A COWARD!" The greasy-haired man swung his wand in a slashing motion, sending Harry flying back and slamming into the ground once more.
Buckbeak flew over Harry towards Snape, slashing his large, razor-sharp talons at the man with all his might. Snape staggered backwards from the attack before turning around and running as fast as he could towards the gates, with the hippogriff flapping and screeching behind him.
Dumbledore saw Harry finally sit up holding his head. Harry looked towards where Snape was running and began frantically fumbling around for his wand, but by the time he had found it, Snape had already Disapparated, leaving Buckbeak circling around the gates from up in the air.
Harry started looking around dazedly, shouting for Hagrid. Dumbledore turned his head to see the half-giant coming out of the flames of his house, carrying his large boarhound, Fang, on his back. Harry had seen Hagrid and sank to his knees from relief and exhaustion.
Hagrid ran over to Harry and picked him up by the arms, setting him upright. Hagrid raised his pink umbrella, said something,—most likely 'Aguamenti' judging from the results—and a jet of water spurted from the tip. Harry joined him and together they extinguished all the flames, though the house was still smoking and burnt.
The two seemed to be having a short discussion, then Hagrid shook his and said something, and they both headed towards the castle. People in dressing gowns had started uncertainly stepping out of the castle, and already people had started walking over to where Dumbledore stood over his own body.
Harry had been staring over in his direction as well, and Hagrid noticed the people huddling at the foot of the Astronomy Tower. Hagrid directed Harry towards where the headmaster was standing, looking curiously around him. Dumbledore didn't understand why no one could see him. Everyone around him was looking down at his feet where he body was. They all looked horrified, distressed, and sad. Many of them were even crying.
He looked curiously down as well, vaguely wondering why there were two of him. Then he realized he must have become a ghost. But then, if he had become a ghost, wouldn't everyone be able to see him?
He looked up to see Hagrid had pushed his way through the crowd with Harry. Hagrid let out a moan of pain and shock as he reached the front of the crowd, while Harry slowly continued forward to crouch down beside the headmaster's body.
Dumbledore stood in front of Harry on the other side of his body. He watched as Harry reached forward to straighten his spectacles and wipe the blood from his mouth. Dumbledore felt a tear come to his eye at the gentle way Harry regarded his body.
Then Harry looked down and picked up the locket that they acquired. It had opened from the fall. Dumbledore leaned down to look at it as Harry examined it. It was small and plain, with a piece of paper jammed tightly into where a photo would be placed, and Dumbledore realized that this was not a Horcrux.
Dumbledore moved behind Harry to see the message written on the parchment that Harry had taken out and unfolded:
To the Dark Lord
I know I will be dead long before you read this
But I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret.
I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can.
I face death in the hope that when you meet your match,
You will be mortal once more.
R.A.B.
Dumbledore looked down at the boy beside him. Tears had begun to stream down Harry's face and Fang had begun to howl behind them. Hagrid came forward to try to convince Harry to come, but Harry refused.
"It's very sad, isn't it? It almost breaks your heart," a female voice said softly from behind him. Dumbledore nodded and turned around to see who had spoken, even though he knew that the person could not possibly have been speaking to him.
What he saw was a girl with bright, sky-blue hair and purple-pink eyes. She was wearing a pink dress, which looked more like a cross between a robe and a dress, and from what he knew of Japanese culture, he believed it was called a kimono. She was holding an oar that was about as long as she was tall. He vaguely wondered why no one had noticed this strange-looking girl.
"Very pleased to meet you, Dumbledore-san, though I wish we could have met under better circumstances. My name is Botan," she said softly, holding out her hand towards him. He reached forward and shook her hand, wondering how she was capable of seeing him and touching him when nobody else could.
"I'm the chief pilot of the River Styx, or as they call me, the Grim Reaper. Koenma-sama has asked me to bring you to Reikai to see him for the fact that you weren't supposed to die yet." She sat sideways on her oar and floated just above the ground. Botan patted a spot on the oar next to her, motioning for him to sit down.
As soon as he had sat beside her, she floated up towards the sky, slowly leaving the scene on the ground behind. As they left, Dumbledore found the need to ask her a few questions. "Reikai? Koenma-sama?"
Botan giggled. "Sorry, I'm used to speaking in Japanese. Reikai means Spirit World, basically what your culture calls Heaven, Hell, or the Underworld. Koenma-sama means Lord Koenma. He's the prince of the Spirit World and the son of King Enma."
"And what do you mean, 'I wasn't supposed to die yet'?" Dumbledore pressed, believing that death was something that could not be held on a timeline.
"Just what it says. You weren't supposed to die. With Voldemort causing havoc around the world, people have been dying unexpectedly, and Spirit World is running out of places to put them all. Koenma will explain everything when we get there."
As she said this, a large, swirling, blue portal opened up before them. The portal took them far above a desert-like land with a large and extremely long river. Up ahead there were cliffs on either side of the river. "See that?" Botan asked pointing to the river below them, "That's the River Styx."
As they were entering between the cliffs, Botan pointed up ahead, "Up ahead you'll see the Gate of Judgment just as we're coming out of the cliffs." And surely enough, as they exited the cliffs, Dumbledore was able to see an enormous Japanese palace with a series of doors inside doors at the front, as though the door could be opened by differently-sized people. He was a bit frightened to think of who would be big enough to use the largest of the sizes.
They had gotten to a platform that appeared to be floating in midair and landed there. Then Dumbledore walked behind Botan along a narrow, curvy path that connected the platform they had landed on to the gates of the palace.
Dumbledore looked over the edge of the path to see very strange creatures working along the sides of the river or out in the tan, grassy plains that expanded about 2 or 3 miles around the perimeter of the palace. The creatures looked almost human, but they were very well-built and were various colors, ranging from orange to green. They were all wearing loincloths or something that looked a bit like a toga and they appeared to have at least one horn on their head, sometimes two, and large protruding fangs.
While Dumbledore had been distracted with the creatures, he did not notice that they had reached the gates. Botan had walked over to a device on the wall and said something strange that Dumbledore didn't understand as she held down a button. The doors opened before them and they walked into a giant hallway that vaguely reminded him of the Great Hall at Hogwarts, only darker and looking more like a giant throat.
Finally, they came upon a set of smaller doors. When she pushed the doors open, Dumbledore saw more of the strange creatures from before. They were rushing around frantically, screaming names and yelling about needing someone's files. They looked quite comical as they reached passed each other and bumped into one another. Every once in a while, beginning to cry when they dropped a stack of papers.
Botan was careful to avoid bumping into the creatures as she walked across the room, and Dumbledore decided to follow her example. Luckily, they had managed to get to the other side of the room without walking into the frantic creatures, and they had come upon another set of doors.
Botan knocked upon the doors 4 times before they opened of their own accord and she bounced happily into the room. "I brought Dumbledore-san, Koenma-sama!" the blue-haired girl exclaimed cheerily, as Dumbledore stepped in and the doors shut behind him.
The room looked like an office. There were a few plants around the room and there was a desk directly in front of them. Behind the desk was a large blue cushioned office chair that had its back facing them.
The chair turned around after a moment, revealing a tall teenage boy with brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing very formal Japanese clothing and he had 'Jr.' printed on his forehead, slightly covered by his bangs. The oddest part about this boy, though, was the pale blue pacifier in his mouth.
The boy, whom he guessed was Koenma, handed Botan a large manila folder and told her to give it to someone. She grabbed the folder and took off out of the room quickly. Suddenly, the boy yelled, "Jorge! Bring a chair in here for our guest! Now!" Almost immediately afterwards, one of the creatures from before—this time blue with one horn, a leopard print loincloth, and long, straight yellow hair (though he appeared to be balding)—ran in with a chair held over his head.
He set it down a little overenthusiastically and one of the legs broke. "OGRE! YOU BAKA! YOU BROKE THE CHAIR! THAT'S COMING OUT OF YOUR PAYCHECK! NOW GO GET ANOTHER ONE!" Koenma hollered furiously. As he calmed down, the ogre, as the creature had now been titled, ran out of the room faster than he had run in.
"I'm sorry, Dumbledore. This past week has been so hectic; I've had so much paperwork to do it's not even funny," Koenma sighed as he ran a hand through his hair.
"I see. Well, I don't want to cause too much trouble. I'll simply provide my own chair," Dumbledore replied as he took out his wand which, surprisingly, he still had. Koenma looked at him curiously, wondering how he could possibly do that. Dumbledore gave a swift flick of his wand and a large comfortable armchair stood before him. Koenma was astounded.
"I almost forgot that you could do magic. It's quite impressive when you actually see it," he murmured softly. He sat a little straighter in his chair. "Well, let's get to business."
"I suppose you want to know why you are here," Koenma asked. Dumbledore nodded.
"Well, as Botan has told you, you were not supposed to die yet. Because of that, we do not have a place for you yet. This is mainly because of Voldemort, who was supposed to have died 16 years ago. Because the ferrygirl who was sent after Voldemort only ended up finding a piece of his soul and because Voldemort escaped from her, he has managed to throw us for loop. We've had many unexpected deaths because of him and have been running out of space to place all the souls."
"After viewing your record and viewing the happenings of your world, the Wizarding World, I have decided to give you 2 options."
Dumbledore listened intently to his choices in order to carefully weigh them. "1. We can continue on with the judgment process and send you to your place in the Spirit World, or 2. We can bring you back to life and give you an offer. I will not tell you of this offer unless you choose this. Think this through carefully."
Dumbledore thought carefully for a moment, weighing his options. "Well, if I am not supposed to die yet, then I choose to come back to life. I will be of more help if I am alive than dead." "Great! To be completely honest, I was hoping you would pick that one. Now back to business. The offer I am to give you will give Harry Potter an even greater chance at winning against Voldemort and not dieing in the process. My father has given me permission to allow Harry to be taught under my ex-spirit detectives, considering the magnitude of this war. Harry will learn some new things that will greatly aid his cause, not to mention the fact that he will be completely safe from Voldemort at where he will be staying."
"But how is that possible? No place is safe from Voldemort," remarked Dumbledore. "Simple. Harry will be staying with my ex-spirit detective, that really shouldn't have been fired, and some friends of his. Only someone with serious mental problems would try to attack them, and if Harry is around them, then he will be fine," Koenma stated calmly.
"But how can someone be as powerful as to make Voldemort fear them?"
"Have you heard of him attacking anywhere in Japan?"
"No."
"Exactly. He has attacked everywhere but Japan. He fears the wrath of my ex-detectives. Even though they don't work for me anymore, doesn't mean they won't fight. They may not be permitted to help the rest of the world now, but they can still protect Japan."
"Very well," Dumbledore sighed in defeat, "But may I request that Harry's friends come along as well?"
"Well, of course!" Koenma said happily. "It's easier if Harry has some help. I found that out with my ex-spirit detectives," Koenma said thoughtfully, then he began to fall into other matters, "In fact, I should convince my dad to let me rehire them. But they'll probably want to be paid. But I can work with that. They can't make a living without being paid and if I pay them, then they'll be full time. This would make it easier." He continued to mutter to himself for a while, so Dumbledore just thought about everything that just happened while he waited.
(Present Time)
"So now, -Harry, Ron, Hermione- You will be training under a woman named Genkai for the rest of the summer."
"But professor, I didn't want to go back to Hogwarts this year," Harry interjected. "Really?" Dumbledore asked thoughtfully. His friends turned to him with startled looks on their faces.
"Yeah, I was kinda hoping to look for the horcruxes," Harry mumbled. Most of the people in the room didn't hear the last bit, but Dumbledore managed to catch it.
"I see. Well then, I suppose that you could train at Genkai's temple longer than you were originally supposed to. I shall inform Koenma of your decision. In fact, I believe you will be able to learn more and become stronger with this extended period of time."
Harry jerked his head up in surprise to look at those twinkling blue eyes. He had been expecting the headmaster to insist upon him returning to school. He could have sworn that he was dreaming, but he knew better than that. So instead his thoughts wandered to this Genkai person.
"So Harry is going to go to Japan to train with a woman named Genkai, whose temple is supposedly impenetrable by Voldemort?" Lupin asked, completely astounded by the absurdity of this.
"Why would You-Know-Who be afraid of some woman in Japan?" Mad-Eye asked angrily, "If this woman is so powerful then why has she not come to help us?"
"She has her own reasons Moody. It is not our business to meddle in her affairs," Dumbledore replied wisely.
"Shouldn't some of the Order escort these three? Wouldn't it be safer?" Shacklebolt asked cautiously.
"I suppose so. Then you will be able to meet Genkai and the ex-spirit detectives yourself."
"Who exactly are these ex-spirit detectives, anyway?" Ron asked.
"From what I heard from Koenma's ramblings, their leader is named Yusuke. I believe their job is to protect the world from evil beings," Dumbledore stated.
"What? Then why did they not come to help us?" Moody asked fiercely.
"From what I have heard, they are about Harry's age, and were fired 2 years ago. Therefore, they would not have known of our problem with Voldemort."
"How can someone so young be trusted to protect the world!" Hermione yelled.
"Ah. I believe you are forgetting our dear young Harry?" Dumbledore asked.
"Oh. But he was prophesized. Do they even have a reason for saving the world?" Hermione retaliated.
"I'm not sure what their reason is. But you may ask them when we arrive there."
Harry quickly became tired of listening to people argue back and forth about his safety and if they could trust these people or not. The way he saw it, if they brought Dumbledore back to life, then he could trust them. He was tired any ways. All he wanted to do was go to sleep. So he broke the arguing with his own question. "When do we leave?" he asked quietly.
There was a shocked silence as everyone ran over the same questions in their minds, How can he be so trusting and willing? and Is he mental? Finally, Dumbledore began to chuckle.
"I have been told that we shall leave in two days time. In the mean time, I believe I am correct in assuming that you need to pack your things to prepare for your trip. We shall be going by portkey and landing in a clearing in a small forest near a muggle town called Mushiori City."
MA: All right! Cliffy for you all! Especially the ones that read and don't review.
Harry: You really don't like them, do you?
MA: Nope.
Hermione: I think it's a brilliant idea to leave cliffhangers like this. It makes the reader excited and eagerly anticipate what will happen next.
Ron: Why do you use such big words?
MA: You talkin' to me or Hermione?
Ron: Both. You two are like twins.
Hermione: Well, thank you Ron.
MA: Anyways, you people reading this need to R.E.V.I.E.W. See I even spelled it out slowly for you.
Harry: Yeah, I heard her mumbling about putting Malfoy in this too. She said you have to review and tell her what you think. (EXTREMELY IMPORTANT) (MUST READ)
MA: Should I or shouldn't I?