Disclaimer: I do not own, nor do I gain anything (but writing and editing experience) by using the plot and characters from these works. Naruto and the Harry Potter series belong to their respective creators, editors, publishers, and companies.

Summary: They were all trying to escape, whether it was from fate, war, grief, abuse, hate. They were all trying to escape. Rated M for language, and mature themes. Many Harry Potter spoilers for those who have not read the books, and spoilers for the Naruto series

A/N: This is the second part of the introduction, it's to give you a background of what's happening when we actually start the story in with Harry. Also, thanks should be given to Stella600 for pointing out corrections in the last chapter and in this one, thus making it easier to read. ALSO, Hikagi has also looked through this chapter and through her critics it has been improved. Enjoy! – dperessedchildren

Key:

"Dialogue" opposite language of the world they're in. So English when in Naruto world, Naruto language when in the Harry Potter world.

Text this is text

Levi Corpus a known spell which is being cast.


Introduction partie deux de trois


"Father!" a small child with dark, wild hair called. He was standing on the ceiling with a disgruntled expression marring his face. He ran along the ceiling, moving around the light fixtures as he sought out his father.

Grinning like the Cheshire Cat, he dropped down behind a man who was walking calmly down the hallway. "Found you father!" the boy exclaimed as he jumped on the man's back.

"Your brother-in-law taught you that, didn't he?" Charlus asked the six-year-old boy; his tone was warm but there was an air reluctant acceptance to his words.

The boy swung himself around his father's body like one might swing around a small but sturdy tree. He used his momentum to land a few paces from the man with a grace found in acrobats. The boy straightened out from his landing crouch with one jump, and a large smile distorted his features. He was nodding adamantly in affirmation to the question with his hands clasped in front of him in what could only be anticipation.

"Well, now that you found me, I suppose it's time for bed," the middle-aged man explained as he scooped up the young child.

The boy's built up excitement vanished at the word "bed" and a frown began to replace his smile. However, his brown eyes lit back up and his smile reclaimed his face. His renewed excitement and its source became apparent with his following question: "Will you tell me more stories about the bijū?"

"I suppose," the man sighed, teasing his son slightly while he walked along corridors toward the boy's room. It was a short walk, made shorter by the man's long strides. Soon the boy was giggling happily as he was dropped onto his bed.

All of the Order members left by this time. Their bi-monthly, randomly selected meeting, which happened to be at the Potter residency this time, was finally finished, and the next meeting would occur at another Order safe-house. Thus with no guests about, James was free to leave his room and play anywhere in the big house that he so wished. He never suspected what went on when all those "old people" showed up, but his father said it was pureblood politics in practice, and just having to learn about them from James's tutors was mind-numbingly boring as is. So James was happy to play in his room with his toys and the house elves while the old people visited.

Charlus plopped onto the bed next to the boy while he thought over which stories to tell. He had learned much about their family history from the Potter vaults, and now that he knew the Elemental Land language he could translate the scrolls with ease. The stories and histories within those scrolls were fascinating. There were not only spells like the one they found to transport them to the Elemental Lands, but also the original jutsu which sent their ancestors to the Wizarding world which had been hidden amongst other jutsus.

Perhaps tonight would revolve around family history.

"Long before the Hidden Nations divided the Elemental Lands into countries, long before the first war, and long before the main clans were anything more than a few anomalies…there was the Jūbi and the Rikudō Sennin. The Jūbi was the most powerful demon in our," Charlus cut himself off but quickly corrected himself, "in the Elemental Lands, and it ravaged the already war-torn world."

"Father!" James interjected, his arms crossed in front of his chest atop his comforter. "I already know about the Rikudō Sennin, and the Jūbi!" the little boy exclaimed, the disappointed frown he wore made his father chuckle.

"I know, and I will not go into much detail, however it is important to our family history,"

"I thought the Uchiha and Sen" James was cut off by his father shaking his head. James huffed, but did not go on with his question.

"As I was going to say: our ancestors were his first followers. In fact, it was our unique mind abilities that allied us with him. By no means are we related to him or his descendants, because we left before our clan could mix with the other newly formed clans" Charlus was once again unable to finish his sentence.

"But isn't the Yamanaka clan…" James's question faltered at the frown his father was directing at him. James knew it was impolite to interrupt but he couldn't help it! Usually his father just talked about when the bijū were sealed away the first time by their family and - what would eventually become - the Uzumaki clan, however he was now talking ancient myths that everyone knew.

Charlus sighed, "Yes the Yamanaka clan is an offshoot from our own. They took our ability down a different path as it evolved with other clans. Coming here kept our ability pure since there were no other bloodlines to interfere with ours, and the fact that occlumency helped protect our ability from some of its more negative side-effects our bloodline flourished without adaptation. Now…if I may continue with the story?" Charlus asked with quirked lips and a raised eyebrow. James's face flushed but he gave small nod to which Charlus chuckled and ruffled his son's hair.

"Hmmm…" with a smile in his eyes Charlus turned to his son, "Where had I left off?" he asked.

"Our clan was the Rikudō Senin's first followers," James piped in quickly, which earned him a large smile from his father.

"Ah...yes. Now, our innate ability to read minds consequently led us to understanding how the Rikudō Sennin sealed the Jūbi inside of himself. We could see the demon's cage and the seal that kept it at bay within the great Senin's mind. If we so wished, we could manipulate and shape the seal without sacrificing our souls; much like how a jinchuuriki can modify their own seals. …" Charlus paused with his lips pursed as he contemplated this scenario. "Well, I suppose if we succumbed to the bijū's will our soul would be destroyed, " Charlus mumbled to himself, "so we could risk our lives doing such modifications."

Though Charlus knew nothing about the ninja ways and did not have any chakra to begin with, he had witnessed a jinchuuriki's seal for himself. There had been no midwife in their village when they had first come to the Elemental Lands, and so the couple had gone to Konoha for Mei's birth. He had run into Uzumaki Mito while he had waited for his family. He had briefly made eye contact with the elderly woman when he was transported into the woman's mind and had been brought before the caged Kyūbi. It was such a strange thing…he had felt as if something had been pulling him toward the flimsy paper seal, and all he would needed to do was lift up his hand to the paper over the bars and pull for the demon to be free. However he had retracted his mind before such a thing could happen.

Charlus blinked several times as he pulled himself out of his memories. His son was quietly looking down at his comforter, and fighting with himself over asking a question he seemed to desperately want to ask. With a deep breath, James overcame whatever inhibition had been holding him back from asking his question. "Why would they look into the Great Sennin's mind?" he asked with wide eyes.

Charlus chuckled softly with a fond smile softening his face. He was glad his son asked this question, so often the boy would like to know what their clan could do but not what the consequences were.

"If you unlock our clan's ability you will come to understand that it is impossible to not slip into another mind when your own has become open. With this open mind we can create powerful genjutsus but are also very susceptible to them. You will also find that if we are consciously making an effort to focus on our own thoughts we cannot enter other minds, hence why our clan were never much for fighting. I can only imagine how dangerous and disorienting our ability could be when applying it to a fight. Sometimes I find being in a crowd disorienting, but that is where occlumency comes in." Charlus paused for a moment to see if James had followed him.

The father would likely repeat all of his several times when/if his son unlocked their bloodline. Unfortunately Mei never had time to unlock her mind, which in their family usually occurred during one's adolescent years. It also appeared that if the parent had not developed the ability there was no possibility for offspring to unlock the ability as well, which kept the bloodline limited to their family. Of course there were a few Blacks and Malfoys who had unlocked the ability, but their children had not which caused the line to cease in those families. Charlus supposed it came with being sensitive to one's parent's accidental intrusions. Charlus could remember feeling a presence in his mind when he was child and it only grew as he entered his teens.

Removing himself from his ponderings, Charlus was pleased to note James was wide-eyed. He often worried his son would unlock the ability and be unprepared for the backlash. It would be best to drill in the importance of the wizarding ways now, especially since his son was disconcertingly interested in his shinobi relatives and their ways. It often seemed the boy looked down on his father for being a wizard and not a ninja like his brother-in-law or nephew.

Charlus fixed his son with stern gaze, hoping he would pay close attention to his following explanation, "Occlumency has saved our ancestors from going mad, which was frequent in the Elemental Lands.

"James, by obtaining our bloodline our mind is open for all, thus any legilimens could see right through us with little effort. We can never keep a legilimense from our minds but we can keep them from our thoughts and memories through occlumency. Occlumency even keeps our own minds in side our heads." Charlus paused for a moment before his mouth dipped into a frown, "Though making eye-contact will immediately put us into another mind," he added, sighing.

James had a frown on his face as he processed the words. It seemed foolish for his ancestors to broach such a great warrior's mind, but they had no control over their abilities so that had to justify it. James really hoped he unlocked the family ability. To be able to know what others were thinking was something James couldn't wait to be able to do, but now he wasn't so sure. If he could see into anyone's mind, then they could see into his just as easily if they had any legilimency experience. It would be bad for anyone to know about their world, the Elemental Lands that is. Their ancestors must have picked up occlumency as quickly as they could.

"Father, was that how our family made such good seals?" Charlus raised an eyebrow at the question before he understood what his child was talking about.

"All jinchuuriki sealing requires a sacrifice to the shinigami, however we could alter the original seal if we were strong-willed enough. The first jinchuuriki's often succumbed to their tenants' will and ultimately released them, however our family enhanced whichever seal was initially on the jinchuuriki, thus the vessel was not overpowered by the demon or forced to take on too much of the demon's chakra too soon.

"They had the seal visually before them to work with and so could make small corrections here and there without expending too much chakra or risking being overpowered by the demon. Often with fuin it is a large change that is made and the flaws in the original seal were often difficult to see once it was made.

"Our family taught those that were willing to learn how to create better initial seals on the jinchuuriki, however, they had help from a precursor to the Uzumaki clan. And it was by working with the Uzumaki clan ancestors that we discovered how to leave that violent world behind. But that will be a story for another night," Charlus stated softly as he patted his son's hand and was prepared to leave the room.

"Please Father, I'm not tired!" James called; his brown eyes were wide in worry that his bed-time stories would be cut so short.

Charlus smiled and resumed his place on the bed, how could ever deny his son history about their family. In fact, how could he deny the boy anything? After losing Mei he was all the more precious. Of course they had their grandson, but who knew when he might pass on in that war riddled world. If James grew up a wizard they would not have to fear a sudden or gruesome death, though it was still a possibility it was less likely to happen in this comparatively peaceful world.

"Very well," the father began while he collected his thoughts. "Our clan worked closely with the clan who made the first contracts with the summons. They watched with fascination as the other clan summoned gigantic toads and wolves and any other summon you could think of. It was seemingly impossible that such a large creature could disappear into nothing only to reappear hundreds of leagues away. This teleportation fascinated them, especially the toad summoning." Charlus was not sure whether to chuckle or not at his son's amazed expression, but hurried on instead since the boy seemed to not be breathing.

"You may not know this, but the toads can do a reverse summoning with a human that has signed a contract with them. This means that a human can travel along the same path the summon had taken." The genuine amazement on his son's face delighted Charlus despite that the boy was amazed with ninja methods, "Several of our ancestors signed contracts with summons and went through a reverse summoning. Though the travel was nearly instantaneous, they noted something peculiar in this passage.

"As they experimented with this form of travel, they discovered a world hidden away within this summoning tunnel. They looked into space-time techniques, which had allowed them to initially slow down passage-time through the summoning tunnel to see this other world. Their techniques became more elaborate as they prodded at this other world. Some of our ancestors who had already been driven mad by their abilities actually unlocked a way into going to the other world. The first was never heard from again, his body was most likely torn apart in the travel between worlds," James gasped at his father's story, his brown eyes widened in a mixture of shock and horror, however Charlus continued with his story, "but the second one to try was able to come back after half a year.

"This ancestor was much saner than he had been, and he told his clan members the peace he had seen in that other land. Our clan had been working ceaselessly to discover what that one insane clan member had accomplished. Now they knew they could travel between worlds and that they could live in a world that was not filled with the strife of constant war. The majority of our clan came to this world, the few that remained behind became the Yamanka clan or killed themselves to escape insanity."

"So that's why the letters always come on birds?" James asked with his head tilted to the side and his brow scrunched up in thought.

"Hmmm….?" Without meaning to, Charlus peered into his son's mind and discovered his train of thought, "Well, yes I suppose that is why. Something non-living cannot go through the same portal that a summon can, since it is meant to transport something living. Though we do not have to use birds, we could use mice or any creature really," Charlus mused, smiling at his son's cleverness.

"Like a summon?!"

Charlus frowned for a moment as he pondered this possibility, "I am not sure since the summons are tied to the Elemental Lands which had created them. Perhaps if you ever obtain a summons you could test your theory?" Charlus encouraged with a small smile. It was hard to see the boy cast his wizarding heritage to a place of low importance, but he would always support the boy.

James nodded his head in response but it was a slow and heavy movement. His eyelids sagged, they fluttered for a moment before he snapped them open. He felt so tired now and his excitement was melting away because of physical fatigue. He felt the bed shift as his father got off and James forced himself to keep his eyes open.

"Father, when can we visit Minato again?" the question was followed by a drawn out yawn.

Charlus smiled wryly, for each night the boy asked the same question in hope that his parents might change their minds. The uncle and nephew got along famously, and whenever they came to Konoha the two boys got into much mischief. In fact, the first time they had come back to the shinobi world, James had been three but somehow got all of his and his nephew's toys out of their locked chest. It was accidental magic they knew, but their son-in-law did not know that and was convinced, in spite of the Potter's assurance that James exhibited magic, the toddler was a prodigal ninja that could pick locks with his chakra. The toddler did nothing to discourage his brother-in-law, and begged to learn more about his family and the other world. Since that first visit, the Potters had begun to spend summers there, explaining their absence as a vacation in France.

"In the summer, as always Son," Charlus explained as he kissed James's forehead, ceasing further conversation. James knew that was his good night kiss. With a sigh the boy snuggled into his covers as his father moved to the door way.

"James, you must start speaking in English. I am afraid you cannot become a ninja like your nephew," Charlus paused and shook his head at the sleepy glare directed at him. "You will be going to the wizarding school in five years," the boy scowled darkly but nodded his head in a stiff motion.

"You can still train with them, of course," Charlus stated from the doorway. This lightened the boy's expression and brought a smile to his face before he mouthed a thank you to his father. A yawn ripped from him again and his father nox'ed the lights with a wave of his wand.

Eleven- year-old James sighed in his seat on the red train his parents had abandonedhim on. He pulled out some parchment and began to write a coded missive to his nephew.

The passing years had only made the uncle and nephew closer. During the summers they would sneak off and pull pranks on the other villagers, and they even had bouts of accidental magic helping them in their trickster ways. In the afternoons they would "play ninja" with the other academy kids and James even got to learn from the Academy while he was there. Though James was a little miffed that his nephew was already a ninja, when he would likely never become one officially, but Minato was James's best friend and vice versa.

Sighing, James began to explain, in exaggerated fashion, how boring and weak everyone was in comparison to the people of the Elemental Lands. He went on and on about how his parents just shoved him through a brick divider and onto the sleek red Hogwart's Express. He was about to tease his nephew about the chubby redhead he liked so much when a flash of red hair in his peripheral vision caught his attention. It wasn't red like the Uzumaki girl, but it wasn't a Weasley or Prewitt red either.

James set down his quill and examined the girl standing on the quay through his compartment's window. He could feel her energy from here; it was nothing compared to Uzumaki, but then again, Tomato was a jinchuuriki, but Merlin! This girl on the quay was powerful. Even if he could not see her energy like his father, he could feel the power beneath the surface like any ninja ought to be able to if their opponent was not masking their chakra.

He sought out her gaze, but when she was about to make eye contact, she turned away to the boy running up behind her. The two embraced and began to talk amiably. James was aware that he was scowling; a rather uncharacteristic behavior for him considering why he was scowling. Chiding himself, he turned away from the girl. She appeared to be a first year like him due to the lack of Hogwarts House decal on her belongings, which meant he could get to know her. The only problem would probably be that dark, thin, greasy boy following after her like a lost puppy.

Well, he couldn't tease Minato about redheads anymore, and Toma-Uzuamki gave one mean hit when James teased her about her weight. Never anger a female jinchuuriki; it was not worth the bruises!

With nothing to tease the blonde about when it came to the Kyūbi container, James omitted his usual taunts from his letter. Usually his letters ended with playful boasts; for though they were best friends, the uncle and nephew you were quite competitive. A lull in a conversation between them would be resolved in the proceeding fashion:

"Neh, I feel the ground moving, Tomato must be approaching."

"Shut up., Kushina-chan could kick your ass any day, James!"

"Bah!"

"Then I'll kick it for her!"

"No way Nephew. I excelled on the taijutsu portion of the practical class, so I can kickyour ass any day!"

"Yeah, well I'm a good three inches taller, Uncle! And you forget that I completed training ground five's obstacle course in five minutes. I have speed where you have strength!"

"Yeah, but you're also forgetting that you fall for my genjutsu every time."

"Huh?! When did you-"

"Hahahahahahaha, a ninja never tells his secrets!"

It would always begin with an insult directed at Minato's crush, and his nephew's spluttering retaliation. This would set up the joking mood for boasts and harmless jibes at the other's individual skills and talents. It was all in good fun, and rather juvenile, but it allowed both boys to relax and find a new start for a conversation or a spar.

Today, James decided he would brag about his genjutsu ability. Fortunately his nephew did not know how to make any like James was able to; otherwise the uncle would be in trouble. Though Minato often retaliated to this boast by rubbing in the fact James couldn't sense energies like he could, which infuriated James. How come he couldn't sense things like his father or nephew and why was it becoming more and more difficult to develop the ability past a basic ninja capability? Regardless, James was content with the sufficient amount of boasting he put into his letter.

With a smile, James signed the parchment and waited for the ink to dry. It was at this time that the door to his compartment opened. A haggard boy entered. He was pale with sandy hair and amber eyes. James thought nothing of it, except, that when they made eye contact he was transported briefly into the boy's mind.

He saw a cage before him with a vicious wolf growling at him from behind it. It was not unlike the jail the Kyuubi was put in, but the seal on the door was weak and in different characters than he was familiar with. James had yet to understand seals, for it was a complex and potentially dangerous study that Chūnin and above were allowed to begin without the presence of a fuin master.

James quickly pulled away from the other boy's mind before the other child could possibly notice the intrusion. James then began to scribble a post script to his nephew and copied the seal he had seen at the bottom of the parchment. Perhaps Minato could get his father or sensei to decipher it. James then sealed off his letter and stuck it into his empty owl cage.

"Do you mind if I sit in here?" the tired boy asked. James shrugged, and gestured with his hand to the empty seats. The tired boy gave a relieved yet small smile, and mumbled, "Thanks."

"No problem. I'm P" James cut himself off, closing his eyes and thinking before he spoke again; English was his second language and he often got jumbled up, especially when he had just been writing and thinking intently in the Elemental Land language. "James Potter," James then extended his hand toward the other boy. If the boy had a demon inside of him, whatever, James had "talked" with Kyuubi for an hour; it was quite pleasant when one knew the snarling demon was behind bars. At least death threats no longer have that great of an effect on James.

"Remus Lupin," the boy stated as he took James's hand hesitantly. His smile grew slightly after realizing James wasn't going to shy away from him. "Were you writing to your parents?" the boy asked as he got comfortable in the seat across from James.

James's eyes twitched slightly, his mouth dipped into a slight scowl. "No, I was writing to my best friend. He's going to Durmstrang," the dark haired boy replied, just barely keeping his annoyance from sounding in his voice. No one in the wizarding world knew about Mei or Minato, and James's parents drove home the fact that they must because then the wizards would ask where they were and how were they to explain another world existing?

Remus had the courtesy to flush in embarrassment. "Sorry, I've already seen five people writing letters!" the boy explained, which made James relax slightly.

"Sorry I…snapped. I just…I wish I was at Durmstrang with my friend, but my parents say "it's a dark school" and "Potters have always gone to Hogwarts!"" The boy rolled his eyes just as the warning whistle sounded and children were quickly ushered onto the train. Before long the noise on the quay was but a hum compared to the clamor in the train corridors.

"Oh," Remus mumbled but was drowned out by the ruckus. The train then began to roll in a jerking fashion while it picked up speed. Remus fidgeted in his seat when James continued to look out at the window and seemingly ignored his presence.

With an exhale Remus looked around the train compartment in an attempt to find something to do. Just then there was a rattle at their compartment door as a large boy entered. The large boy's eyes darted between the other boys and his knees trembled while he pasted his back to the door of the compartment.

"C-can I stay in here?" the new boy's voice quavered slightly. James could practically smell the fear wafting off the boy, and he wouldn't be surprised if Remus could too. Remus nodded quickly and patted the seat next to him. James resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He was a ninja in training, and ninja weren't supposed to express emotion, even annoyance.

James already knew why the boy was scared; he saw it in his beady eyes. Some pure blood, most likely Death Eaters in-the-making, snobs were trying to terrorize the large boy. In a way, he reminded James of an Akimichi…. Shaking his head, James introduced himself, the boy's eyes grew wide and he stuttered out his name.

"P-peter Pe-ettigrew," his voice rose up at the end, as if in a question.

Hiding his chuckle with a close-mouthed smile, James stated, "It's a pleasure to meet you," and extended his hand forward. Remus followed suit and introduced himself. Remus seemed much more comfortable than when he first entered the compartment.

Remus and Peter began to talk about their fears for the school year: "What if we get lost and lose our House points", "Could the ghosts possess you?", "What would they make us do for detentions?", and the big one: "How do we get Sorted?"

James's parents may have gone to Hogwarts but he too worried over these questions. Adults might talk about a prank or event that happened but seldom what happened during detention or how their peers reacted to the loss of House Points, thus these were the fears of nearly all first years. One may know the Houses, who the founders are and so on, but all parents and older siblings withheld these trivial answers from their children if only to laugh over it later. However, James had gleaned information from his reminiscing father when he asked how he would be sorted. James did not delude himself into thinking he could slip through all of his father's mental defenses. Of course Charlus let James see those fleeting images of the Sorting Hat and the detached voice whispering into his head, most likely it was practice for James with handling another's memories.

With a knowing smile, James laughed. The two boys immediately turned their attention to him with indignant expressions that quickly morphed into expectant looks when they caught the dark haired boy's smile. After a minute of staring, Remus growled, "Well?"

"You'll just have to guess. I had to figure it out for myself, why should I just tell you?" James asked with a cocky smirk distorting his features. However James amended his resolve when he noticed the two boys across from him looked like kicked puppies, "I'll give you guys some hints, okay?"

Remus and Peter lit up at the addition. Their posture straightened and they were smiling again.

"Do we have to do magic?" Remus asked excitedly.

Was it magic? James deduced from his father's memories that the Hat entered the wearer's mind and sorted through their memories to best determine their potential in each house. Nope, they weren't doing magic, the Hat was. James knew that if he did not answer soon, all their questions would be over what kind of magic they were to perform. The two boys were too anxious to wait much longer and would begin throwing out any type of magic they knew.

James came to his decision and shook his head quickly before specifying, "You do not do any magic," Peter and Remus shared a look before Peter asked the next question.

"Is it a test?"

James shrugged which caused the other boys to furrow their brows in thought. Remus looked to be thinking intently. James had not given a definite response, and by making brief eye contact James could see thoughts whirling around in the amber eyed boy's mind. It was dizzying and so he looked away to break the connection.

"Does someone use legilimency?" James looked back up at Remus but avoided his eyes, and gave Remus an appraising look before nodding slightly.

"Legilimency?" Peter questioned as he turned toward the boy next to him. Remus's face flushed and he looked down at the ground.

"It's a mind art where one can enter your mind and look through your memories," James explained for the other boy, though he too was curious about how Remus knew about legilimency.

James let down his mental shields a little and quickly found himself once more before the caged wolf. Above him floated a series of distorted images. A younger Remus was curled up in a ball and was flinching at every movement those around him made. These people were medi-witches and wizards - Saint Mungo's personnel, judging by their uniforms.

"We aren't here to hurt you Mr. Lupin, we are here to help you," one witch soothed, but the boy on the hospital bed whimpered and curled up tighter.

When another witch reached out to touch him in a calming manner the boy lashed out like a cornered animal.

"You must tell us what happened Mr. Lupin," a medi-wizard spoke this time, "We can't help you if you won't tell us what happened."

Remus continued to whimper and whine, even as the medical personnel moved away from his bed to discuss amongst themselves. Perhaps these witches and wizards thought the boy would not hear them but even in the memory James could hear their hurried whispers.

"Perhaps we should call a Legilimense?" one witch suggested, a frown marred her wrinkled face.

"You know one?" a younger witch asked incredulously.

"We've had several traumatized children in here before, back when Grindlewald was a threat," the older witch responded with her nose in the air.

"I believe our Legilimense from those dark times has passed on," an elderly medi-wizard stated to which his female colleague smirked.

"We had a few Hogwarts students going into their second or third year come here during that dreadful summer we were swamped, do you remember?" the smirking witch asked, and the old man nodded his head slowly. "Albus Dumbledore came to help his students so they would be fit for school," the elderly witch preened at her colleagues' surprised gasps.

"James?!" James blinked several times as he came back to his own mind and quickly re-erected his mental barriers. His head spun and his vision went in and out before he came back fully. He could feel his mind wanting to escape the shield holding it back, but he was still so disoriented.

"Sorry, what?" the two boys across from him looked at him with matching levels of concern.

"W-we've been calling your name," Peter stated, his words initially caught up in a stutter.

"Oh," James gave a sheepish smile his nephew often wore when they got in trouble for one of their pranks. "Got lost in thought," James stated with a light laugh.

The two boys settled back down and James slowly dropped his smile. After a moment James spoke again, "What did I miss?"

"Remus asked if Professor Dumbledore was going to use legilimency on us, and then we argued that Professor Dumbledore couldn't do that," Peter filled in James with minimal stuttering.

"Oh, no," James shook his head for emphasis while he smiled.

"See" Peter began quietly, but he was quickly cut off.

"I don't think he'd be allowed to use legilimency on his students," James voiced his thoughts. He knew Dumbledore was a legilimense since his father stressed James needed to know occlumency well enough to keep his memories of the Elemental Land from any legilimense before going to Hogwarts. This meant the Hogwarts's legiliemense was Dumbledore, especially when considering that the old man was the only one with whom his father had contact with on the Hogwarts faculty and had met enough to know the man was a legilimense.

Peter's small eyes widened and his mouth hung open. Remus's eyes, however, narrowed slightly, "I could have been throwing out a name," there was a touch of accusation in his voice. "Besides, how do you know what legilimency is?"

"Honestly?" James asked before shrugging, "There have been a lot of legilimense in my family and my father is a really good occlumense," Remus's brow only furrowed at James's explanation.

"Professor Dumbledore tried to use legilimency on your father?" James felt his breath catch in his throat at Remus's question. James could hear his pulse quickening in his ears, but he kept his facial expression relaxed – as much as an eleven-year-old could in such situations.

"Well, to Dumbledore my parents kind of vanished just before Grindlewald fell, and then they returned shortly after I was born. So Dumbledore didn't really trust that they were who they claimed they were, and that's how my father found out," James managed to explain in an easy voice. Remus relaxed and the matter was dropped in favor of figuring out how they would be sorted.

"S-so someone uses legilimency b-but it's not Dumbledore, and it probably can't even be a teacher, right?" Peter tentatively asked to which James nodded his head.

"Is it an object?" Remus asked after a short contemplative pause. James genuinely smiled and nodded his head once more. This other boy was very intelligent and connected the dots so quickly. If James was to guess where Remus would be sorted, he would put his money on Ravenclaw.

"Is it an artifact from the founders?" Peter asked cautiously, "It has to be as old as Hogwarts, right?"

James nodded to both questions which caused the boys to purse their lips in thought. However the contemplative expressions quickly turned into a stumped look. What artifacts did the founders leave that could enter their minds, in fact, what artifacts did they leave behind? They were at a loss but they did not give up. They began suggesting out different objects, like a chalice full of a potion that would sift through their memories and tell them what House they would go into.

In desperation they began listing less fantastic objects, and then in complete exasperation, Peter asked, "What is it, a piece of clothing?"

With a smile James nodded his head and left the two boys in shocked silence.

"It's a piece of clothing?" Remus asked incredulously. "How can a piece of clothing use legilimency?"

James only shrugged in response to the question, which caused Remus to sigh and Peter to gawk. The two boys across from James looked at each other briefly before slumping into their seats.

"Is it a robe?" Remus asked almost dejectedly.

"A cape?" Peter suggested with desperation in his voice. James shook his head, he found this rather amusing.

"A hood?"

"A hat?" James nodded, but the two boys did not seem to register the difference between a nod and a shake. They were so used to all their other guesses being shot down it didn't seem like they would ever figure out what would sort them.

"A shawl …wait you nodded!" Remus stated while he blinked a few times in disbelief. "It's a hat?" he asked incredulously.

"Yeah, "James relished in the other boys' wide eyed looks. "I'm guessing the founders animated it, but so that it knows what each House looks for most in students. Then it digs into your mind and looks for the House where you have the greatest potential, based on what I said before," James preened at the astonished noises the other boys made when he finished his explanations.

Remus and Peter shared shocked expressions before laughing at their previous concern.

"Though it is done in front of the entire school," James added offhandedly, which made the two happy boys pale and lose their smiles.

Smirking, James realized this might not be all that bad. It would be less dangerous than the life of a shinobi, but he could still have fun. At least this way, he'd have lots of stories to tell Minato.


À suvire