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 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. There are many Harry Potter spoilers for those who have not read the books, and spoilers for the Naruto series as well.
A/N: This is the last chapter Stella600 has been able to beta, and Hikagi has done a lot to improve this chapter as well. I have learned a lot from the editing critics and I am very thankful to Hikagi. Please enjoy! Much love, depressedchildren - edited 2/9/13
Key:
text is text
levi corpus a known spell, usually a perversion of a Latin phrase
"Dialogue" the opposite language of the world they are in
Introduction trois de trois
Sirius Black was a nuisance at first. He was shocked that he had been sorted in Gryffindor, hell, the whole school had been in shock. How could a kid from a notoriously dark and Slytherin family be in Gryffindor? The kid received a Howler the next morning. Everyone could hear his mother shrieking about how he was going to soil the family name and magic. She went on and on about "filthy mudbloods this", "filthy half breeds that", then she proceeded to accuse him of being a dishonor to the family.
With the kid's wounded pride, he either snapped at everyone or acted too friendly. He just couldn't find a happy medium, but now that it was approaching All Hallows' Eve, the boy seemed to settle. It at least made James, Remus, and Peter's lives much easier.
James did not pester Remus about why the "wolf" boy spent certain nights in the hospital wing, but that did not stop Sirius and Peter from doing so. Minato had gotten back to James by this time as well. The bird carrying his nephew's letter seemed to startle many around James when it burst into being with a puff of smoke accompanied by a flash of light.
Minato explained that Remus's seal was in a different language but his sensei, Jiraiya, was able to decipher it. Apparently it was a flawed seal, but was similar in some ways to the ones used on jinchūriki. The flaw in this seal was that it would break once a month. James wanted to smack himself in the face! It should have been obvious after the first month; Remus was a werewolf.
It wasn't that big of deal, at least to James. He was acquaintances with Uzumaki, and she had a demon inside of her. But like with Uzumaki, it would be better not to bring attention to Remus's "condition," for the boy was kind to James and most everyone else; besides, who knew who would abuse such information. Everyone in the know in Konoha feared Uzumaki would be kidnapped for her tenant, but for Remus, his life could be ruined if word got to the wrong people that he was a lycanthrope. No, the best strategy would be to stay quiet. A ninja thought ahead, and Remus could become a good ally someday in the future, one never knew.
Though, on a lighter note, Minato commented on his lack of taunting. The younger boy seemed to miss the constant teasing. What? No scathing comments about my "ginger complex?" Are you ill? Minato then proceeded to tease James about his love life, asking him if there was a fiery red head in his sights. And oh there was!
The girl was named Lily Evans, and she had been sorted into Gryffindor.
When James had reached the stool and had placed the Hat upon his head, he had immediately begun to push the other mind out of his own. However, he had reminded himself it was a necessary invasion of privacy and had relaxed his mental defenses.
"Hmm…" the Hat had whispered. "A lot of courage, a lot of cruelty," the Hat had muttered to which James had heard himself growl, and his face had contorted in a scowl. He wasn't cruel, and in reflection he still denied that he was! "Cunning too, so much cunning….Yet rash….not terribly ambitious except when in competition with your nephew, I see…" the Hat had trailed off as it was browsing deeper into James's mind, which in turn had caused James to shift in discomfort at the other presence riffling through his mind. It had taken all of the boy's might to keep his own mind in place with occlumency.
Who was the Hat to talk, it had glanced through James's mind quickly, and the eleven-year-old knew how little such a quick glance gave the viewer. The Hat could not have been able to see enough to judge the boy the way the Hat had been, but the Hat had continued on despite James's discomfort.
"Challenging, yes, challenging to place… However your Gryffindor attributes outweigh your Slytherin…yes, yes that is it. GRYFFINDOR!" the Hat had called to the Great Hall. Well, despite what the Hat had said, he now got to be closer to the powerful red haired girl he saw on the quay.
However, his first encounter with her had been less than savory… Lily Evans just might have a worse temper than Uzumaki. James could understand his nephew now. Though thankfully, Lily was on the smart and level-headed side of the coin compared to Tomato.
As James had thought earlier, her childhood friend seemed to be getting in his way. It wasn't James's fault the slithering Slytherin was so pathetic. That sniveling Severus was just asking for someone to "toughen" him up – which depending on the perspective it was looked at may or may not equate to physical blows and emotional or psychological harm. Hell, a few jinxes were nothing compared to the various chakra techniques James had been subjected to while sparring with his nephew.
Black was another problem. The boy had begun to hang around James, perhaps because he was the only other person from a well-known pure blood family in their House and year. James shook his head in disgust. The boy was like an energetic puppy. He had a puppy, a skittering rat, and a lycanthrope as roommates!
The only things James truly looked forward to were transfiguration class, and sending or receiving letters from his nephew. He did so at night and in secret. It was, after all, a family made technique. His father had taught him the technique when he had been nine and James could handle the strain the technique would deal to his body. Due to training his chakra he was able to do such a complicated incantation but it did wear him down for a little while. It would almost be easier to do the seal method if James knew how.
The more he learned in his classes, and connected it back to his scattered Academy training, the more James began to discover the differences between chakra and magic. Magic was a rawer energy, untamable but through some form of a median or intense and exhausting concentration. It was around him in their world, but it didn't interact with magical beings much.
James hypothesized that it may only interact with muggle children that would later become witches and wizards. He had no grounds to base this off of, but that he could feel their world's magical energy pulsing faintly from his muggle-born classmates when they cast spells. It was very faint though, and it didn't feel like chakra or the muggle-born's individual magic. He brought this up to his parents once but they asked why there were just chakra users in the Elemental Lands when something similar but much more powerful pulsed in the shinobi world.
It was curious. Magic made the impossible possible, much like chakra, yet they were both so different. Chakra was tied to one's health and stamina, whereas magic relied more on will than physique. Though chakra was from within like magic, chakra could manipulate what was around the user through an elemental connection of chakra, but that was only done by having an elemental type chakra to utilize and manipulate within one's body. Magic outside of one's body couldn't be manipulated, maybe one could draw the magic from around them inward, but it was nearly impossible to do anything else if magic would not interact back. It was all so fascinating. James had to admit though, the energy in their world paled to the energy pulsing throughout the Elemental Lands.
As the years passed, traveling back to the shinobi world became increasingly more dangerous, for another war broke out suddenly. Everyone had thought relations with the other nations were fine, but no! Minato was fifteen when the last remaining members of his clan died. He had developed frightening techniques under the tutelage of Toad Sage Jiraiya and together the two were formidable opponents that gave Konoha an advantage. By this time, Minato had also saved his red-headed love from being kidnapped by Kuma. So many of their forces were focused on the war that when the Kyūbi jinchūriki went missing Knoha were almost too late.
From the brief missives his nephew sent, James understood that the younger teen was in the middle of most of the fighting. On a positive note, Kushina had finally accepted him in many ways, but to Minato the most important was her accepting him romantically. James was also informed that "Tomato" was no longer…that. It seemed she had developed into quite the looker; however, James was certain his Evans far surpassed Minato's Uzumaki.
James began to accept Black and found him to be a wonderful companion. Belatedly, he realized Sirius was like a darker colored and non-ninja version of Minato. However, their personalities matched up well and their mannerisms were quite similar. Perhaps it was their Black genetics, but the two had the same stormy blue eyes, the same wolfish smile, the same laugh… They both had the ability to be carefree one moment and down to business the next when it came to a precious person's safety. And their pranks! Both teens were out of the box thinkers, though Minato had to be if he wanted to master seals. After James's last visit to the Elemental Lands, it took all he could to keep from calling Sirius "Minato" when they met up on the train and began to plot pranks for unsuspecting students – mostly Slytherins.
Pranks, James and Sirius were not the only ones involved in them. Peter and Remus were wrangled in as the four of them spent more and more time together over the years. They became very good friends and all the more close after Remus explained his condition. They had studied endlessly on ways to help him through those tough nights. Then they found their answer in becoming animagi. They now shared an illegal secret, but they were also the school's most feared pranksters and tightly knit friends.
Besides pranking the unsuspecting, they continued to torment Severus, in the hopes that the boy would leave James's Lily alone and let him have a chance with her, but no such luck. Sirius was only too happy to help him in tormenting the greasy git, and Remus was often there to reel them back in from going too far.
The years seemed to fly by, and before James could even comprehend it, he was graduating. Lily finally reciprocated his feelings after Snivelus Snape had a falling out with the unforgiving red-head. It had been his own damn fault; the half-breed should have known better than to call Lily a "mudblood."
However, it was all so bitter sweet to James. The war had taken a turn for the worst; he had been recruited into the Order after the several of the headquarters were attacked mid-way through his seventh year. His parents were dead and his ancestral home was in ruins. Sirius, who was like a second son to Dorea and Charlus, was devastated. The two teens had each downed a bottle of fire-whiskey the night they received the news.
James was certain he would have gone out and killed every last Death Eater if it hadn't been for Lily's calming presence. She was also recruited; in fact, many of the brightest and most "light" witches and wizards within the graduating class were a part of the Order, the majority of the recruits were from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw.
James proposed to Lily shortly after graduation and received many taunts from his nephew as well as a Damn, she still won't even let me hold her hand in public, how am I going to marry her before you marry Lily? Everything was a race, but it was all in good fun. James understood that it was a very difficult time for them in the Elemental Lands, hence his nephew's joking response.
People were dying left and right, and his nephew was used to his comrades dying at his feet because he could not be everywhere at once. To add more worry and anxiety on his nephew, there were fights over possession of the jinchūriki. In addition to everything else, there was the mysterious Akatsuki group who kept throwing wrenches into everyone's plans. His nephew was trying to let it not get to him, but it showed in everything Minato wrote. A ninja war that dragged every nation into the fray would be upon the Elemental Lands
Sometimes James regretted not being a ninja, but he was truly happy with where he was now. He was at least genin level, but if he had gotten to train more he could have been chūnin by now. But then there was his nephew, jōnin and growing legend. There were also rumors about him being trained to become Hokage. Just hearing how far along Minato was left James almost unsatisfied with the direction his life was going.
Yet he did see his fair share of action. Sirius and James began training to become Aurors, a department that was right up both their allies.
James found his days after Hogwarts filled with training to be an Auror, fighting against Voldemort in general, getting to know Lily's family, and getting to goof off occasionally with his friends.
Everyone was rather disturbed with how easily James took the death tolls in this war, but honestly, they were not that impressive. The last Ninja War had death tolls around five-thousand (shinobi and civilian alike from every country), and the Wizarding War was barely six-hundred (including known muggle deaths). Of course the emotional impact of these deaths was greater to the wizards than in the shinobi world, often the casualties in the Elemental Lands were of those who were expendable. It was a ninja's duty to die for their country. Naturally, someone was mourning those KIAs or MIAs; but not like everyone in the wizarding world did for their own.
The wedding had been pleasant. James only wished his nephew could have been there, standing next to Sirius. However, the growing conflict had made Minato a crucial element and made it impossible for him to come here. Still, James treasured these moments, even as the war around him picked up intensity.
It was February of 1980 when they received word of a prophesized child who would have the power to destroy the Dark Lord Voldemort. Lily was pregnant, barely into her second trimester. The two had nothing to worry about; if the baby was early then they would worry, the divined date of birth was five months away.
It turned out that they did have something to worry about. James had informed Minato that he might have to move his family to the Elemental Lands, however, the jōnin advised otherwise. Many families, despite having been protected by Konoha walls, had been killed by small enemy infiltrations.
The Potters were forced into hiding, and after changing Secret Keepers three times, they decided on Peter Pettigrew. The war continued to worsen, it seemed Voldemort would win soon if the chosen infant did not do something and fast.
All of this made James antsy and feel trapped. He had a sinking feeling when it came to Peter, and as October rolled around during the following year, the bad feeling increased tenfold. Peter refused to visit, saying it could jeopardize the charm on the house – perhaps someone might follow him to the house. But James knew the truth the moment a dark energy burst through his front door.
Thinking quickly, James locked eyes with the Dark Lord just as James was hit by a stunning charm. James knew the finishing blow, or curse in this case, would come next, but the eye contact had been enough. The bastard was under his illusion, even if James felt like his mind had gone through toxic sludge to plant the illusion in the wizard's mind. Voldemort would think he had succeeded in his following attacks, but something was wrong…
Instead of Voldemort standing there like a lemon, that vile snake of a man began to move toward the nursery. He seemed to think that James was dead and was proceeding to his next target. James was still trapped in the stunning curse, and his mind was still half within the other's and focused on enforcing his illusion. James tried to put his will on the other mind, but he was too late.
James could see Voldemort's thoughts: his plan to kill Harry, and his bargaining. James couldn't stay in that dark mind when the bastard was plotting to kill his wife and child. James reeled his mind back to him, but now he was fully aware of what was around him despite the headache he received from such a careless extraction.
He heard Lily yell as she pleaded for that monster to kill her and not her baby. James focused through the pain in his head and managed to break free of the spell. He dashed up the stairs, cursing himself for not investing in speed training when he was younger. He could have used Minato's speed in this moment. What was strength when you couldn't even reach your target?!
He saw the green flash of Avada Kadavra and heard Lily's cry cut off. He was blinded for a moment, but then he heard the incantation spoken again. However, something was off; the spell deflected and struck Voldemort. He burst into flame, a spectral thing rising from his previous position. The nursery had caught fire from the refracted spell as well.
No…no! His baby, his little Harry was the Prophesized Child. He stared at the boy, crying and bleeding from his little forehead.
James's body moved without his mind's consent, he picked up his son and began the incantation to travel to the Elemental Lands. His eyes trailed to the pale and horrified visage of his dearest love. He wasn't strong enough, his illusion had not worked how it was supposed to, he had not been fast enough to reach her in time; he was not strong enough to protect those around him. He was weak; he could not defend his precious people. He failed…he had failed to protect her.
He knew where he would go and what he would do. He would never be weak again, and neither would his son; he'd make damn sure of that. The Wizarding World could take care of their own problems from now on – his family had suffered enough!
The flash of light and puff of smoke which accompanied the teleportation between words occurred long before Sirius Black or Albus Dumbledore arrived. They only knew two things: one, the Potters were dead, and two, Voldemort was nowhere to be seen, just like Harry and James.
À suvire
