A/N: I edited the last chapter a bit and took out the paragraph on magic measurement thanks to a suggestion from The 214th Rabid Fangirl. It doesn't really change the chapter too much, but it helps it flow a bit better without it. I will most likely add it later in a more appropriate scene.
I would like to inform everyone that I have not clue as to how Child Abuse cases are dealt with in court or how long such cases take, so I have that some liberties to adjust things to fit my mental time-line of this story. If it doesn't make up with reality then oh well.
Also if anyone reading this is from England or Japan (or more familiar than I am with England or Japan), I would like to request you help with issues such as dialogue, culture, etc. As of right now, for example, I have tried to avoid using any dialogue that sounds too British for fear that I would mess up how something would be said or used. However, I want to be able to include these things so help would be greatly appreciated.
Chapter Three
Saguru sighed as he climbed out the cab. It was difficult to believe that it had been exactly one month, four days, sixteen hours, twenty-seven minutes, and 19.028 seconds since Harry had been admitted to the hospital for the dog bite he suffered at the Dursleys. During that time Harry had spent a week in the hospital, the maximum amount of time that Saguru's mother could keep him under observation for risk of infection, before he was released to child services.
While in the hospital Saguru had spent most of his free time visiting the younger boy. During this time he had observed that Harry was extremely distrustful of adults, though he had begun to warm up to Saguru's mother, and he was almost fearful of the few children his age that he had come into contact with in the hospital. Strangely Harry seemed to not know how to deal with teenagers and approached them with a cautious, but hopeful attitude. When Saguru had questioned Harry, in an indirect way, about his interactions with each age group he found that Harry's reactions matched well with his experiences.
His relatives had routinely neglected him and, due to their lies, Harry had been ostracized by the vast majority of the adults in the neighborhood. Even those that did not believe the lies had never tried to help Harry, being too absorbed in their own lives, presumably, to give aid to a child in need. His cousin had been a chronic bully and due to his influence , and tendency to use violence towards any child who tried form a relationship with Harry, and the parent's discouragement of forming social bonds with the 'problem child' Harry's only interactions between those of his age group had been marked with pain and fear. Harry's interactions with teenagers had been drastically different from those with adults and children. With teenagers being too old for Dudley's group to bully and too independent to blindly listen to their parents biased opinions, they had been the only source of kindness Harry had been in contact with. Harry's interactions with teenagers had included such events as being saved from Dudley's gang, being given candy, and first aid given during the times where a group of teens had found him after a physical alterations with Dudley's gang. In fact, Hakuba discovered, there was a group of high school students that had made it a point to routinely seek Harry out to protect him from his cousin and take care of Harry. They had even visited him in the hospital after discovering where he was at a few days after the bite.
Saguru had found himself more emphatic of their worry for Harry than he would have anticipated. He couldn't understand why, but something in him wanted to personally see that Harry was going to be fine after the abuse Saguru had witnessed. Logically he understood that there were children that have suffered worse, but he had been responsible for helping this child and had seen first hand the circumstances and consequences of his situation... or at least that was the reasons he was trying to use to convince himself to keep from becoming too attached to Harry.
After Harry had been release into Child Services Hakuba had originally meant to have less interaction with him. The court case was coming up and it was likely that Hakuba would need to be ready to serve as a witness so he needed to prepare. However, he found that in this case his experience with cases worked against him. He had everything prepared for court within a few hours. During the subsequent free time he often found his mind wondering back to Harry and worrying about how the boy was doing. He only managed a few days away from the boy before finding out that his mother had arranged from them to pay him a visit.
When they arrived the Social Workers had warned them that Harry had shut himself off from all social interaction. He responded to commands and answered yes or no questions, however, besides that he would just sit and ignore everything that happened around him. Saguru and his mother had had a short conversation and agreed that Saguru should go in the room by himself first to see how Harry reacts. Then if everything goes smoothly his mother would join them. It seemed, however, that their worry had been pointless. As soon as Saguru had called Harry's name the boy had been out of the chair and wrapping his arms around the startled teen. Saguru had hesitantly returned the embrace before asking Harry about why he was refusing to talk to anyone.
Harry had responded "Adults never really care, they are just trying to make themselves look good. They don't really care about me, so why should I listen to them."
Nothing Saguru, or later his mother, said on the matter could convince Harry otherwise so they stuck to other topics such as what they had been doing everyday and Saguru's past cases. When the visit was over they had a discussion with the child psychologist working with Harry who believed that Harry was just dealing with abuse in the only why he knew how and that he would come around in time. Saguru, however, believed that the matter was not anywhere near as simple as that.
After the first visit Saguru had tried to come see Harry as often as possible between school, which had begun again, cases, and helping with the trial. On one such visit Saguru had finally asked Harry about his interest in Kaitou KID, Harry's favorite subject to ask about.
"Kaitou KID was one of Uncle Vernon's favorite things to yell about. He yelled about KID almost as much as he yelled about me. About what a no-good, not-normal freak he was and that he should be shot and rot in jail. One time when some how my hair had grown back after Petunia cut it he said that I was just as much of a freak as KID was and that one day I would never be worth anything just like KID. So since KID is just like me, but I'm not a bad person, I thought that KID might be a good person who has to do what he does for a good reason."
Saguru still did not know how to respond to that besides assuring Harry that he was in no way a freak. While he firmly believed that KID was wrong for stealing, Harry had brought up one of the main reasons that Saguru had returned to England. The longer he had chased KID the more his motives had become less clear. In the beginning it was easy to believe that KID was a just a thrill-seeker with a passion for taunting the police. However, things changed. KID heists began to become more of a public event, he focused almost exclusively on gems, and, even though he was never present for such an occurrence, there were sporadic shootings at a few of the heists.
Then there was the added confusion with Kuroba's personality. While Kuroba may be the most adept person at getting under Saguru's skin, he also could not deny that Kuroba did not seem like the kind of person he had first invisioned KID alter ego as when he had first heard of the Thief. He was still convinced that Kuroba was KID, but there were so many things he was becoming unsure of about this case. In an effort to gain some understanding by distancing himself he had moved back to England for a while.
The day before yesterday Saguru's father had arrived from Japan and had accompanied Saguru and his mother to meet Harry. At first the boy had been clearly intimidated by the size of his father, who was a rather large man, however his joyful personality and interactions with his wife and son had eventually calmed Harry. By the end of the visit his father had even surprised a laugh or two out of the young boy with some kid-friendly gossip from work.
Yesterday Saguru had been unable to visit Harry due to some paper work that needed completed from his latest cases, including the Dursley case that had been decided earlier this week with the dog being put down, a guilty verdict, and Harry finally being officially free from his relatives. His parents had also disappeared for the day and at dinner they had refused to share what they had been doing with their son. They kept saying that it was a surprise and he would find out tomorrow. Today Saguru had gone to visit Harry after class only to discover that a family had been applying to adopt Harry for the last two weeks and the final paper had been completed yesterday. The parents had come by to pick Harry up earlier that morning. When Saguru had asked who had adopted Harry he had been told that the information was confidential. While Saguru was happy that Harry would have the chance to have a loving family, he was also upset that he had not gotten the chance to say good-bye to the young boy that was quickly becoming a younger brother to him. This was why, even though he should be happy to be able to spend time with both his parents together back at their real home in London, he felt despondent as he opened the front door and called out an emotionless "I'm home."
"Welcome home, Saguru!" The last voice he had been expecting to hear shouted from the staircase just inside the door. Saguru looked up just in time to catch Harry as the boy flung himself at the startled teen.
"Harry?" Saguru asked in confusion, pushing the boy back enough to see his face.
"Mr. and Mrs. Hakuba brought me here. They said that I'm your brother now!" Harry responded with a slightly uncertain smile.
"Mother and Father? What?" Saguru looked behind Harry to where his parents had appeared in the sitting room doorway. "You were the ones how adopted him?"
"Yes, after that first night in the hospital I called your father and spoke to him about it. We discussed it for a while and decided to do it. We where originally going to talk to you about it after your father joined us, but it was so obvious that you cared for him that we thought it would make a nice surprise for you. So after your father arrived we introduced him to Harry and then yesterday we finalized the paperwork." Saguru's mother explained smiling gently at the adorable sight the two of them made.
"Do you not want me to be your brother?" Harry questioned hesitantly, loosing his grip about Saguru's waist.
"I would love for you to be my brother. This is a wonderful surprise." Saguru reassured, tightening his own grip around the boy who happily returned the hug.
Meanwhile in the Ministry of Magic
"Mrs. Bones! Can you explain to me why I have not heard of this before now!" Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, ordered slamming a newspaper on his desk as said woman stepped into her office. "Does Dumbledore even know about this?"
"No he does not sir, and as the Head of the Magical Law Department I felt that the best action in this situation was to use select Auror forces to make sure that the Magical world stayed out of it and let the Muggles handle things." Amelia responded calmly. A glance at the newspaper had revealed that it was one of the many reporting about Harry Potter's removal from his Aunt and Uncle's care. Fortunately, her department has been doing a wonderful job so far at keeping the details from the press. She knew it was only a matter of time until details began to leak through, but she would keep it up for as long as she could.
"You saw not need to inform me of the situation? Or inform Dumbledore?" He asked, pacing back in forth in front of his desk.
"The law is quite clear when it comes to this types of situation and I followed it accordingly." She said.
"Oh really? What do the laws say regarding the welfare of the most influential child in the Magical World!" Fudge ranted.
"The law states that any problem regarding a magical child in the care of Muggles should be solved by Muggles unless such an action would result in the harm of said child. The law makes no allowances for any fame within the magical world that the said child may or may not have." She recited.
"We have an obligation to keep the Boy-Who-Lived safe and to do that we need to know where he is!" The Minister protested.
"We have an obligation to uphold the law and the law states that Harry Potter's relatives, who are Muggles, have been deemed by a Muggle court as unfit guardians." Amelia retorted.
"Fine...Fine!...We'll just place him in a Wizarding family!" Fudge declared.
"That is not possible." She informed, a hint of a smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth.
"Why not?" Fudge yelled in frustration.
"Because according to our laws such an adoption would have to be conducted through the Muggle system and even if you were to find a family knowledgeable enough to do so it would be too late. I inquired at the Muggle Child Services earlier today as was informed that Harry Potter has already been adopted by another Muggle family." She explained.
"Well, then tell me the name of the family! We will pay them a visit and get everything straightened out!" Fudge ordered.
"That is also not possible. According to Muggle laws such information is confidential and according to our laws we have to respect their laws in regards to all Muggle-born children." Now she allow her smirk to fully show. "If that is all sir, I have more important work to do then inform you of laws you should already know about."
"Wait!" Fudge called as she made her way towards the door. "What should I tell Dumbledore?"
"Quite honestly, sir, I fail to see how it is any of his business. He has no say in any child's life unless they are orphaned whilst attending Hogwarts and he assumes the role of the guardian." With that she shut the door will a sharp snap. As she made her way down the hallway, giving the toad-like Undersecretary a superior smile, she was already planning what she would tell Arabella that night.
In Japan a few weeks later
"BaKaito! Are you listening to me?" Aoko yelled, shoving the newspaper Kaito had been reading out of her way so that he would be forced to look at her.
"I was trying not to," Kaito grumbled carefully smoothing out his paper.
"Why are you reading a newspaper in English anyway?" Aoko asked, calming down slightly now that she had his attention.
"Just keeping an eye on everyone's favorite British teen sleuth." Kaito replied, snapping his fingers and making feathers rain down on a random classmate's head.
"Really? Did he solve any interesting cases recently?" Aoko asked as she absently smacked Kaito on the back of the head for making a mess in the classroom.
"I think this one came with a little surprise for are dear Tantei-san." Kaito answered with a mischievous smirk. "Maybe I should send him a present for a job well done."
In England Hakuba was interrupted during the middle of revealing the criminal of his lasted case by a rather large sneeze. As he returned to his explanation, he sent up a quick prayer that he was coming down with a cold and a certain Magician Thief wasn't planning anything.
A/N: I'm sorry for the short length of this chapter, but at least Kaito finally made an appearance and in the next chapter Harry will be taking his first trip to Japan! So look forward to it!
Also if you could take the time to visit my profile and participate in my poll I would be very grateful! This time it concerns this story. However, if you like Reborn! Then you should give my other story a shot while waiting for me to update this one! The poll will only be up until Monday, Feb. 11 so if you are going to vote make sure to do so soon.