Chapter 008: The Great Return
True to Harry's prediction it was only a week into their vacation when Naruto felt a tug on her conscious that told her Dudley must have placed blood on the seal she had drawn on him. They quickly got everything sealed up and back into their bags. Kurama advised them to shift into their younger selves before they left, as he himself transformed into a red little kit and stood on Naruto's shoulder while Alberich again melted into Harry's skin like a tattoo and was covered up with a long sleeved black shirt. Harry and Naruto looked at each other and nodded before both used magic to shapeshift until they looked like they did before they left for those magical three years in the box. They nodded to each other one again, dressed in normal looking teenager clothes they held hands and teleported to where Dudley which happened to be the house he used to live at, but Dudley wasn't alone, Vernon and Petunia were cowering behind Dudley who had his arm extended out with a small amount of his blood placed on the seal Naruto gave him. Harry looked behind his shoulder to see mad eye moody, red haired Tonks and several other people standing behind him wide eyed at the two teens who practically showed up out of nowhere.
"Oh hi guys." Harry said nonchalantly like he didn't just show out of nowhere in a flash of yellow light, trying his best to remember the person he was before but drawing a blank.
Mad eye moody snapped out of his shock and grabbed Harry by the back of his shirt pulling him along to the front door, "Don't 'hi guys' me Harry James Potter where have you been for over a week? And who the bloody hell is this girl?" Naruto was getting stared down by the rest of the people in the room, and she raised her hand in mock surrender at the suspicious looks, Tonks got a tick mark above her brow in annoyance at the blond, wand raised just in case she happened to be the enemy.
Harry pulled away from mad eye moody with no effort who looked shocked when Harry stood up proud and straight, and motioned for Naruto to come stand next to him, "This is Naruto, she's been helping me and I think she will be a big help in the battle with Voldermort." He made his statement short and to the point, Mad eye moody looked at Naruto up and down critically and with his usual mad look on his face he sighed and motioned every wizard and witch outside to the dark street, closing the door Dursley's house with a slam on his way out.
Once outside they all stood in a line facing the opposite street mad eye moody looked at Naruto, "You know how to fly a broom?" Naruto smirked and nodded, Kurama tucked nicely into her orange zip up hoody hidden from everyone. "Good now no one break rank." Mad eye moody made a motion and a broom zoomed into all of the wizard and witches ready for them to grab onto with their hands. Everyone mounted the brooms and like lightning zoomed across the river and houses to the front of connected brick housing compartments many miles away from Harry's home. They waited and looked up when they heard a noise like bricks scrapping against one and another, the housing compartments where pulling apart with windows slamming in and little pot holders popping out of the side to form a new housing apartment that wasn't their moments before. Harry smiled and tugged Naruto along with the rest of the group who entered the house, once inside they heard both loud yelling and low voices, discussing about Voldermort, the people who had come to get Harry pushed past quickly and went into the room as well and Harry stared when he saw an older man in his late thirties early forties with scraggly long black hair and a small black beard on his face wearing all black, the man stared back at Harry as well in a sort of shocked expression when a plump older women with light red hair in a patterned dress and apron came out of the same room blocking the teens view of the people inside and closed the door behind her so not to let them hear or see what was going on which annoyed both teens greatly.
She was smiling happily at Harry at first but then it turned into a look of confusion when she saw him connected hand by hand with a unknown girl with blond and flaming red layered hair, and the brightest blue eyes she swear she has ever saw.
"Hello Harry dear and ….?" She left the question hang in the air hopping to be answered with a name.
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki." She said with a slightly forced smile, still slightly annoyed at being treated like a child but tried not to hold it against the older red head, she did look like she was only sixteen.
Still confused to as to who she was she didn't question it nodded her head with a wide grin and showed the two upstairs to the rooms, "Well Naruto I wasn't expecting you so we don't have a room for you, so do you mind sharing…" She didn't get to finish her sentence.
"I'll share with Harry." She grabbed Harry's hand went in the room, avoided Ron and Hermione launching themselves at her and Harry and closed the door on the three British wizards' stunned face.
Harry looked at Naruto with laughter in eyes, "you had to do that didn't ya?"
Naruto put her hands on her hips, just as amused, "Of course I had to get back at the ol' lady for treating us like children." She heard Mrs. Weasley usher Hermione and Ron downstairs, both were grumbling and confused, she heard three pars of footsteps head down the stairs and spread out her chakra to make sure that no one was eavesdropping,"Think we should tell them you're not actually fifteen anymore?"
Kurama poked out his head from Naruto's baggy jacket, "That right now might not be the wisest plan right now. They are already pretty disturbed about the whole events with Voldermort also Naruto you were not OBVIOULSLY part of their plans, so I say we wait on telling them the truth right now but I have a plan for this situation and get ourselves some allies. It will be going over the Order of the phoenix's heads because it's quite obvious that they have not made the best plans for you Harry. Also you two are a one man army and while allies will be good not if they hold you back purposely like the Order of the phoenix has. Now here is the plan…."
Now while Kurama was making plans above a coven of Witches and Wizard's those same people were down stairs conversing about one blond kunoichi and what to do with her who in turn were getting spied on by clones of the three ninja's above them. The Witches and Wizard's either stood or sat around an oval shaped mahogany table in a darkened room that was very old and had cob webs on in the corners of the ceiling and old pine wood planks for a floor, Rebus was the first to break the awkward silence that all were fidgeting about. "Moody, who the bloody hell is that young women with Harry?"
Moody looked up from the corner, "In all honesty I have no clue." There was slight protest from everyone in the room at the answer but everyone quieted down when Mad eye raised his hand in a silencing motion, "Now listen here, I am not so reckless to just bring someone I have no clue if she is a spy or not, but she showed up WITH Harry in a flash of blinding light after the muggle Dudley boy placed blood on a strange marking on his arm, so that tell me she has been with Harry this whole time. Do you think if she was really part of Voldermort's crew she would have not just killed him then and there also she would have not been able to enter the house because of the charm that protects that house from those who follow Voldermort and Voldermort himself, or have you lot forgotten that?" Everyone looked down in annoyance, "Now the girl doesn't seem to provide a threat and Harry said that she may even be able to assist us in the extermination of Voldermort, I don't know how she can help but right now we can take all the help we can get." Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. "Now onto what's going to happen now with Harry, Dumbledore has been with the ministry for the past week, fighting for Harry to have a proper trial for these so called transgressions of underage magic in front of a muggle, which we all know is total crap, but for some reason," His tone turned sarcastic, "They find that it's fair to just say he's guilty and be over with it…. Our justice system has got to bloody hell." Everyone nodded in sullen agreement. They were going to continue the conversation the main topic being Harry but there was a loud screech and a large grey and brown owl flew through a window and dropped a parcel onto the mahogany table. Mr. Weasley quickly snatched it up, ripped it open and read the small note that was on the inside. His eyes got wide and he ran out of the room and upstairs, up hidden in the shadows the shadow clones dispelled so the three in the room knew that he was coming. A moment later, without even a knock Mr. Weasley entered Harry and Naruto's room, ignoring Naruto's prescience he grabbed Harry by the arm, and was about to pull him out of the room and down stairs but a hand on his wrist stopped him quite literally in his tracks. His head snapped over to his shoulder to see the girl he just ignored hold him like it was nothing with a look in her eyes that told him he did anything that seemed like he was going to hurt Harry that hand would no longer be there, his body started to tremble a fear like a small animal under the gaze of a predator, and as fast as that fear came it was gone when Harry took her hand off his wrist and smiled at her, and this time it was Mr. Weasley being pulled out of the room, her eyes watching him as he left until the door closed shut, his body still stiff and adrenaline coursing through his body made him have a thought in the back of his mind, he now knew what a rabbit felt like cornered by a fox. He was so out of it that he hadn't noticed that they were now down stairs with Harry trying to snap him out of his daze.
" !" Harry finally yelled getting the attention to the older man who let out an unintelligent 'huh?' "You wanted me for something correct?"
Mr. Weasley finally snapped all the way out of his daze and panicked and grabbed Harry once again by his arm and dragged him through he room he had the door previously closed on him, everyone was still in there but staring at the frazzled red head man, "We need to go NOW, Dumbledore just sent a message saying that they finally gave you a trial but only gave you a few minutes to show up apparently." So he grabbed floo powder, poured some in Harry's hand, "Say 'Ministry of Magic' I will be right behind you so do not move until I get there alright." Harry nodded his head and did as instructed. Once Harry was gone he looked to the rest of the occupants in the room, "Watch the girl….she's… she's not normal…." Unbeknownst to them Naruto was in the room and smirked as she blew sparkling white powder into the room on top of them, everyone got a glassy in their eyes and just as fast as it came it was gone, and like nothing happened Mr. Weasley looked at his watch and rushed to use his floo powder and get to the Ministry of magic. Naruto left the hidden house and walked down the street, hands folded behind her hand nonchalantly whistling a small tune, she disappeared in the shadows.
~*With Harry*~
Harry was ushered into a large room that circle in shape, with hundreds of people lined in the seats, most of them were obviously supposed to be the jury and an odd looking a chair in the middle with Cornelius Fudge dressed in what Harry thought to be a silly looking judge outfit, was in the middle overlooking the chair with a critical eye. Harry looked around the room there was very few that held contempt in their eyes as they watched him, he felt the need to send a bit of killer intent at them but suppressed that feeling to attempt to act like a lost boy, which must have been convincing because no one paid him any mind other than to send nasty looks at the boy who apparently liked to disturb their false peace of mind with rumors of Voldermort. He sat off to the side, and saw Dumbledore there dressed in a grey wizard cap and gown, not one white hair out of place. He smiled, he missed Dumbledore but that didn't stop him from wanting to beat the piss out of him for all the hiding, misleading, and preventing of him to better himself to do the damn job of killing Voldermort. He stared at the back of the old wizard's head for a moment before looking to the doors he just came in from to see Ms. Figg his neighbor walk in with a fearful look on her face at all the witches and wizards gathered around and now staring at her. An interrogator by the name of Amelia bones started off by asking Ms. Figg her name, what she witnessed and what not, Fudge tried to wave off her eye witness account because she was a squib, Percy Weasley surprisingly nodding in agreement to everything that fudge was saying making Harry shake his head in disappointment at the young man's ignorance, but Amelia ignored Fudge and took her witness account. Harry kind of tuned them out after a few minutes, because he found the whole thing to be uninteresting and not very good info to store away from later, plus if there was anything important his little buddy attached to his shoulder would tell him later. After Ms. Figg recanted what she saw that happened, she was dismissed and Harry was called up to speak to the court. He looked up at Fudge and felt both pity for the ignorance of the man and contempt for that same ignorance that he refused to budge on his opinion of Voldermort, no wonder the dark lord was winning with people like this in power of a society of magically inclined retards who don't tend to think for themselves in most aspects. The pudgy man right in front of him was opening his mouth to start his spew of irrelevant information in a campaign discredit Dumbledore and Harry, but Harry looked up and he stared at fudge straight in the eye, the man stared back but after a moment or so he turned his head uncomfortable at the young man's gaze, the words he was about to let loose caught deep in his throat. Harry let a ghost of a smirk cross his face and turned to the second of the interrogators, Amelia bones who was looking at Harry with a critical but fair judgment kind of eye. He liked that, and decided there that she was going to become an ally.
She saw how uncomfortable Harry's gaze made Fudge so she started asking the questions, "State your name for everyone please." She was startled when the young man's green eyes went to her and she could have sworn she could see depths of pain and experience in those eyes like she's never seen before in someone his age.
"Harry James Potter Ma'am." His answer was smooth and controlled, not one quiver of fear passed it tone, and it confused many that a child could be this controlled in the face of his fate.
"Mr. Potter, Ms. Figg recanted what she witnessed on August 2, 1995 the night you used magic, even though against the law prohibiting under aged magic. Is this correct in assuming that she recanted what happened correctly?" Her tone was businesslike and commanding, but it didn't seem to bother the teen.
"Mrs. Bones, Ms. Figg was correct in her witnessing of the incident on August 2, 1995 and if you wish to test that then you may give me the truth potion so you KNOW that it is the truth if you do not wish to go off my eye witness's words. Also under the 'Decree of reasonable restriction of underage sorcery' ma'am I was well in my rights to defend myself." There was hushed whispers going through the stands at Harry's words, but they were all silenced by Amelia Bones, even though from the look on Fudge's face he was very upset my Harry's words and wished very much to shove the whole vial of truth position down the teen's throat.
"That Mr. Potter will not be necessary in a small case such as this, and you are correct about defense being a very good reason to bypass the law if determined you are in the right, now is it true that you used the Patronus spelled to protect yourself and the muggle Dudley Dursley from two of the ministries Dementors?" She asked, giving a look to Fudge when he wanted to intervene at her saying it was even a POSSIBIBLTY of it being Ministries Dementors that caused this.
"Yes Mrs. Bones, I had used the Patronus to protect both myself and my cousin from Dementors that had come to kill myself and I assume anyone with me." He sat up straight and look straight into the women's eyes as he answered her as there was whispers going around the court about someone so young using such an advanced spell.
Amelia Bones questioned Harry for a good ten more minutes, making sure she got all the information she and the rest of the people needed to determine a verdict for the young man. Amelia Bones stood up, "All in favor of the verdict being guilty, please raise your hands." There was a few hands, of course Fudge raised his hand a scowl on his face at how his plans were ruined by the look of one boy. "All in favor of the verdict being not guilty, please raise your hands." Not surprising almost all in the room except for those few who thought that he was guilty raised their hands in agreement. "Alright, we have a verdict." She looked at Harry, "On the charges of underage magic, the jury has found you not guilty Harry Potter, you are free to go."
Harry smiled at the interrogator, which surprised her. "Thank you very much. Have a nice day." Harry put a hand in his pocket and left the room with a small wave over his shoulder at the older women, making her wonder whether she should be annoyed at him for how casual she is with him or smile. She decided to just smile and go on with life, but she didn't get very far as she turned and was confronted by two people. Cornelius Fudge and Dolores Umbridge stood there both with ugly big frowns on their aging faces.
"Yes?" Amelia Bones she asked in a dignified voice but she was obviously annoyed to be cornered by the two other interrogators. They continued to stand their scowling. "If you have nothing to speak to me about then if you'll excuse me I have work to do that does not involve condemning an innocent boy." The faces of Fudge and Umbridge turned beat red as Amelia walked away from them.
~*With Harry*~
Harry walked down the large marbled hallway next to Mr. Weasley who obviously was holding his breath through the whole thing, and now was his cheerful self again, talking to Harry about wonderful muggles were, Harry just smiled and nodded not truly listening to the elder redhead because he was strategizing his next move in making Amelia Bone an ally. He only stopped his plotting when he sensed a familiar presence, and looked up to see Dumbledore there seemingly waiting for him. Mr. Weasley gave him a pat on the shoulder and went on ahead towards the floo powder transportation area. Harry now stood in front of the aging headmaster.
"Hello Headmaster. It's good to see you again." Harry greeted him with a smile, which he received one back, even if it seemed a bit strained.
"Hello to you also Harry, I wanted to see how you were holding up after that ordeal." He asked placing a hand on Harry's shoulder.
"Fine Headmaster, it was nothing. I knew I was innocent, and I hoped that the jury had enough brains to determine that also." Harry's reply was short and right to the point, and he felt that he had surprised his headmaster with his behavior and knowledge so right now he was probing for information. He stretched and let out a yawn, "Headmaster not that it isn't nice to see you again, but may I speak with you another time, I've seemed to have worn myself out with all the commotion."
Dumbledore slightly shocked, let out a small smile and motioned for the boy to follow the elder Weasley to the floo powder station. His mind swimming with questions as to why Harry seemed not to be Harry anymore, and seemed to have changed somehow, he needed answers and he didn't seem to be getting form Harry.