Harry Potter and the Sunshine in Spring
Even great wizards aren't infallible; when Dumbledore makes a mistake on that cold Thursday night, the predestined Master of Death meets Death early, and Death is none too keen on having a master. Character Death and Rebirth; Harry Potter may have breathed his last but Haruno Haru has just breathed his first, and the two most unimaginatively named children in Konoha are about to shake up the story.
WARNING: Story features Violence, Death, Bad Language and Icha Icha.
The two year old squirmed fitfully on the table. The metal was cold on his exposed skin – the sliver of back where his t-shirt had ridden up, his elbows down and the back of his neck. His arms hurt. Dark eyes were watching from the corner. Where were his familiar people? He whimpered.
There was a strange whispering in the air. Was that a familiar sound?
The door opened.
Someone entered.
White skin. Black hair. Yellow eyes. Haru tried to cry but there was something over his face. There were eyes like that in one of his picture books. They stared out of bushes and trees and from under the bed. Monster eyes.
"Well well," said the monster. It had a deep voice, even when it whispered. "Awake?"
It moved toward him. There were children under the monsters arms. Dangling. Not moving.
It got them already! Haru's eyes widened in terror but something was holding him down. He couldn't run away!
There was a deep, wicked chuckle.
"Now now, oxygen is expensive you know. Don't go using it all up with your panting."
What did that mean?
The two children were flopped onto another table, toes touching. The monster did strange things, like measuring one of the little boys; his feet and his hands, his head and his torso. Haru knew what the white tape was but kaachan never used it like this. The monster pulled the boys mouth with its fingers, so that his teeth poked out.
"Three," declared the monster at last. Haru recognized the number. The monster moved to the other one. "And four. A little old perhaps, but they shall suffice for now."
The monster moved away. Haru couldn't see him anymore. There were sounds though, like glasses hitting glasses in the sink. And the monster was still talking. Haru didn't understand most of it.
"I'm impressed to see you wake up so soon little one. Perhaps that too is part of your limit. Truth be told, I would have liked to have observed your family some more, find out who you belonged to, but the opportunity was just so good." There was another frightful little laugh, somewhere Haru couldn't see. "Perhaps your mother will be more picky about the babysitters she hires in future, hm? Genins can be so simple."
A face appeared above him. Haru hiccupped his distress into the mask on his face.
"Let's see if we can replicate your delightful results in the park, hm?"
The face moved. Haru followed the monster with his head. It hurt his neck some but he had to watch it! It could hurt him.
But the monster stopped over one of the other little boys instead. Haru tried to hold his breath but the mask made him choke. The monster leaned over the boy with the light hair and then suddenly there was a knife in his hand and something on the table with a long, sharp needle and the monster cut the boy with the knife and he screamed and Haru screamed-
The room was full of rushing water. Tanks were draining out. Things on shelves were falling or dripping off them and things that never should be mixed were mixing.
Then the explosions started. It was loud and hot and frightening and Haru couldn't see the monster anymore, only the other little boy crying and bleeding and-
BOOM.
Blackness.
…
Inoichi pulled out of the toddler's mind, patting the child's back with one hand and massaging his temple with the other. Children's minds could flitter so quickly from thought to thought. It gave him a headache. Red-hemmed robes moved into his line of vision and the fitful toddler was taken from him. The Sandaime straightened, rocking soothingly.
"It's the Harunos' child," Inoichi confirmed, shifting to a more respectful kneel, now that he was unburdened. "His memories are a little disjointed but it's pretty clear. Orochimaru took an opportunity when it presented itself. A genin team was child-sitting but became distracted by his sister in the park. Too easily, it must be said. They let their frustrations get the better of them."
"I will speak to their instructor. They will be kept from further missions involving children. Continue."
"The source of the explosion is unknown but the brief glimpse I got, something happened to the glass containers. Volatile chemicals ignited and from there it was a chain reaction. He didn't manage to do whatever he intended to do with the children and Haru's tissue samples. This is concurrent with the memories I observed in the other boy."
Haru himself was now drooling into the Hokage's collar, exhausted but bandaged up. The Sandaime showed no inclination to return him to his hospital bed, and had not, in fact, stopped stroking the toddler's back. The poor child deserved some comfort.
"The Harunos do not have a bloodline limit as far as I am aware," he mused, stroking his beard. "The beginning of a new limit in the village?" A snot bubbled popped in the sleeping Haru's nose. Sarutobi chuckled.
"We will see how things turn out. He is too young yet and I have no desire to traumatise the boy with tests. He has been through enough."
His opinion wasn't needed, but Inoichi nodded his agreement anyway.
"Have someone sent for the Haruno's," Sarutobi ordered quietly, settling the little boy in his hospital bed. "And send me the jounin instructor for the genins. I would like to know why he was not with his students."
The snake-sannin's defection was village-wide news by morning. By then, ANBU had already lost his trail.
Haru panted as he rounded the last stall in the market square and legged it into an alley. He paused a half second to gulp down a lung full of air, and then he was off again. The jeering sounded from behind him. Something whizzed over his head. He clambered clumsily onto the dumpsters, lids down thanks to the food waste that the restaurants which backed onto this alley threw out – nobody wanted to smell rotting food, no matter how expensive that food had started out. It took Haru two jumps to successfully grab hold of the fire escape railing and two kicks to dislodge the hand that grabbed his ankle from below. He hauled himself up before someone else could try, breathing heavily. He chanced a look down. There were two boys propping up a larger third, who was rubbing his cheek and scowling fiercely.
'You'll pay for that, Haruno,' he growled.
The heavyset boy lurched forward to climb the dumpster again. Without Haru's kicking, he'd have no trouble reaching the railing – he was a good head taller than the Haruno, with a longer reach. Deushi Daisuke and his gang had made a regular game of Haru-Hunting as they called it, and that really tells you all you need to know about the bullying boys.
Haru fled. The railing jangled loudly with his pounding feet and louder still when the three successfully mounted the metal fire escape behind him. Ahead was the shopping district; if there was a decent crowd he could lose them in it.
Haru hit the end railing of the fire escape with a thud. No way down. He looked up. There was a ladder riveted to the side of the building, completely vertical and – he shook it – slightly wobbly. The three bigger boys were almost on him, grinning triumphantly. They closed in on their prey, the end of the hunt near at hand… Haru chanced it. The metal was slippery from the morning's dew, and the rungs slightly too far apart. Sheer, desperate adrenaline propelled him upwards. If there was no way down from the roof, he was done for. Daisuke would get him back for that kick with triple vengeance.
Clang clang clang.
Daisuke was already coming up the ladder below him. Haru's heart leapt into his throat. Daisuke's arms were longer, the ladder was easy for him. He was coming closer and closer, faster and faster. Haru's wild eyes fixed on the rooftop, three rungs to go, two, one-
Daisuke's hand closed. He grasped at the air where Haru's foot had been a scant second earlier. Daisuke growled and threw himself over the ledge and onto the rooftop and bared down on the trembling six year old… and stopped, gaping, frozen on the edge of the precipice, looking at the building falling away below him. Haru stared at him from the roof across the alley. The gap was too wide to jump, way too wide for a kid so how had he-?
Haru came to his senses first. He fled the roof.
"Get back down the ladder!" Daisuke shouted. "Cut him off!"
But by the time the boys' stumbling confusion had resolved itself, and they'd made it safely back to the ground, Haru was long gone and the shopping district had filled with shoppers.
Haru darted between people, confident that he'd lost Daisuke and his idiot 'gang' but unwilling to chance it, and headed for the park at a dash. He entered an almost empty street. He could see greenery ahead, and behind him, he could hear nothing. He chanced a look back. Empty. He'd done it! He had just begun to slow when he crossed the threshold of the little park and saw three large outlines looming in front of him. And in front of them was a trembling, sniffling shape with pink hair. Haru didn't even think before he sped up and tackled the largest at a straight run from behind.
"Ami!" The other two screamed as their friend suddenly bit the dirt. Too late, Haru realised that he'd just tackled a girl, but this girl was twice the height of his sister and so were her friends. She had to be older even than Daisuke and she made his sister cry. Haru hopped up in front of Sakura with an expression of righteous fury on his face. The spluttering girl spat dirt left and right, her face red and her bottom lip bitten.
"You little snot!" She screamed at him. Haru scowled defiantly.
"Leave my sister alone!" He shouted right back at her. "I don't care if you're a girl. Leave her alone or I'll hit you!"
"Who do you think you're talking to kid?" The girl was standing up now with her friends at her back. "Don't you know a shinobi when you see one?" She postured. "I'm almost out the academy already, and you-"
"You're a bully," said Sakura. And it was the first time she had ever said anything back to Ami. Ami's eyes flashed. Haru grinned at her and for one glorious moment it felt like someone stronger and braver was speaking through shy little Forehead Girl. "You're not a shinobi, you're just a civilian. Your dad works in the fish market." And so saying, Sakura stuck her little chin out as if to say, 'so there.' Ami was furious. Her chin was aching and likely to be purple by bedtime thanks to this little snot, and now Forehead Girl thought she could talk back to her? She raised her hand.
"Who's not a shinobi?" she shrieked and slapped Sakura hard across the face. Sakura yelped. Ami yelped. Haru had bitten her. And then both of her friends, instead of dragging off the rabid kid, pointed at each other and screamed. Sakura, even though her cheek was red, began to laugh. Ami scrambled to her feet only to stop dead as her hair swung in front of her eyes. She finally saw what the girls were screaming about. All three of them, down to their very roots, had electric blue hair.
"Aaaiiiiieee!"
Sakura and Haru watched, bemused, as all three girls disappeared, squealing, down the street in a cloud of dust.
When it was just the two of them in the park, Sakura looked at her toes, allowing her hair to hide her face.
"That was really brave Haru," she whispered.
"You were really brave," said Haru, who genuinely thought so. Those girls were a lot bigger than Sakura. This thought made him frown again. "Why were they picking on you?"
Sakura's head, if possible, sank even lower. She mumbled something. Haru leaned in close to hear her better.
"I have a big forehead," she confessed. Haru was confused.
"Do I have a big forehead?"
"What?" Sakura jerked her head up so fast she nutted him. "Oww."
Haru stopped rubbing his forehead long enough for Sakura to look at it. "No," she said.
"Well then you can't," he said matter of factly. "Twins look like each other," he explained when she looked unconvinced, "everyone knows that. So if your forehead is big mine must be too, and you just said it isn't so yours mustn't be either. That girl's a liar."
Sakura's expression cleared and she grabbed her brother in a tight hug. "What did you do to their hair, Haru?" she asked, taking his hand and leading him somewhere. Haru tilted his head.
"I thought you did that?"
Sakura shook hers.
"Weird," said Haru, and then, because this matter had been praying on his mind, "Why didn't you say you got picked on?" He was really quite cross about that. Sure, Sakura and he hadn't played together as much since they started the academy, because Daisuke liked Haru-hunting too much, but she should have said! Sakura was looking down again.
"So I wouldn't look like a coward for hiding." She stopped them by their joined hands and pointed. They were in a little copse of trees bordering the park, and here in the thick of them there was a tyre swing. "I normally hide here," Sakura went on, sounding very upset, "but Ami found me today."
Haru thought about running away all morning, and tugged on his sister's hand to get her attention. "I was running 'cos I was running away from Daisuke and his gang," he admitted, and was surprised that Sakura looked so surprised. "He likes Haru-hunting." Sakura's face transformed instantly, into a fierce scowl.
"You should have said," she said.
"You should have said."
They frowned defiantly at each other for a long minute, as only children can.
"Say next time," Sakura ordered. She put her hands on her hips just like their mother did when she really meant something.
"If you teach me how to hide good, I won't have to say, 'cos they won't be able to chase me if I'm hiding." Haru grinned hopefully at her. Sakura's face was morphing from frown to enlightenment.
"If you teach me how to run fast, I won't have to hide," she said, in a tone of wonderment. Haru was getting excited by this idea.
"Ninjas have to run and hide really well, Iruka-sensei said, remember? We'll be the best ninjas and no one will pick on us anymore!"
"Yeah! Or we'll turn them blue!"
"Team Haruno!"
And so pumped up were they that the two children grasped hands and spun wildly in a circle until they fell, laughing, onto the grass in front of the swing.
"Best ninjas ever," Haru declared, holding out his pinkie finger.
"Best ninjas ever," Sakura echoed, linking pinkies.
The sole child and heir of the Yamanaka clan frowned minutely at the ribbon in her hand. She was sitting on the low wall that surrounded the Konoha young ninja's academy. She had had big plans for today. She had hoped to make a friend.
The six year old had first noticed her during their flower-arrangement classes. It was a curriculum sponsored by the Yamanaka clan in particular, and Ino was proud to be one of the best in that class already. Kunoichi had to be able to behave like ladies, so they could blend in when they needed to. This is what Ino's mother told her, and this week Iruka-sensei had given them the ninja word for it: in-fill-tray-shon. They had to be careful with flower-arranging though, because some of the prettiest flowers in the woods behind the academy were actually on poisonous plants. Poison was something a kunoichi could use too. Chihiro-sensei said that.
The little girl with the pink hair had a flower name, and Ino liked that. She was shy, and she blushed the same colour as her hair when Ino talked to her for the first time. Ino liked that too. Sakura was cute, like a doll, and even though she didn't talk much at first, Ino liked the thought of being the one to bring her out of her shell.
She had noticed that Sakura was picked on by Ami, and that she didn't have many friends. In fact, she seemed to eat lunch alone most of the days, usually in a quiet corner where she could watch for bullies. So, Ino didn't think Sakura would reject her friendship. In fact, she was sure she wouldn't. Ino could see it. She would swoop in and help Sakura stand up to Ami, and then when together they had frightened the bullies away, Ino would give Sakura her friendship ribbon and declare them best friends forever.
But, that was days ago.
Sakura hadn't been eating lunches by herself for days. She spent her lunchtimes playing ninja. With her brother. Ino didn't even know she had a brother.
She could see them now, tucked away in a corner and hurriedly finishing their onigiri so they could start hiding in bushes again. They were whispering and grinning.
Ino wilted. It looked like Sakura didn't need her, after all.
Without thinking, Ino let the ribbon slip through her fingers. The wind caught it. Dismayed, the blonde girl snatched for it but missed, forcing her to jump off the wall and chase her ribbon across the courtyard. It tumbled to a stop on the far side of the building, landing on the dusty cobbles and getting all dirty. Ino's lip wobbled.
She rubbed it viciously on her shirt, trying to clean it up. The dust was dry and loose, so it was working, albeit leaving a chalky smear across Ino's front instead. She lifted it up to her face for a better look, then paused when something caught her attention. Someone. There was that Uzumaki Naruto on the rope swing like always. But behind the tree close by was another little girl. She was…watching Naruto? Ino scrunched up her face in confusion. Did she want a go on the swing?
Struck by the sudden urge to talk to the other girl, Ino tip-toed forward. Hyuuga Hinata: that was her name. From the clan with the white eyes. Her cheeks were pink, Ino noticed. Another shy girl?
Suddenly, Ino smiled. Maybe she could give her ribbon to someone after all.
It took British law enforcement several months to find the home of Severus Snape, one Spinner's End, and they did not remember it afterwards.
It took Severus Snape approximately thirty cuss-filled minutes to get Albus-Percival-Wulfric-Brian-Dumbledore on the end of the floo.
It took Dumbledore less than an hour to confirm the news for himself, and about as long for Severus Snape to leave Spinner's End. He had just walked free of imprisonment for services to the Dark Lord, he wasn't going to have the death of Harry-freaking-Potter on his back as well.
Despite having, for all intents and purposes, actually died, Voldemort was nonetheless able to use his own wand to perform magic after his rebirth. Diary-Riddle was also able to cast spells on his own. This leads me to think that magic is tied, not to the body, but to the soul canonically. In Naruto, we get an explanation of chakra that indicates it's very much a part of the body.
For these reasons, it makes sense to me that Harry Potter's soul would carry whatever magical abilities he has over to whatever empty body he happens to end up inhabiting. If that body is a chakra-capable ninja-body, then he will be able to perform jutsu. Without training, however, both would be useless.
I did have a lot of fun thinking about how Haru's accidental magic might affect the shinobi world, though. J
Rowling, J.K (1997) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Bloomsbury Publishing Co. Chapter ONE:
- Harry is shown to have turned his teacher's hair blue; shrunk one of Dudley's ugly old sweaters to the point that it was unwearable; found himself mysteriously on the roof once when his cousin and his gang were chasing him; grow all his hair back when Aunt Petunia cut it all off and accidentally let a boa constrictor free from a zoo after he spoke to it in Parseltongue, and vanished the glass of its terrarium.