The Root of Darkness

by Amorphis760

I was nothing special before I died the first time but when something offers me the chance to live again I take it. Reborn into a world of death I will survive. There will be no mercy and no pity. For there are monsters that roam this world and to survive I might have to become one myself. Elements of the Gamer and X-overs in later chapters.

34. Training Starts

Author's Note: I've found that longer chapters for the Potter verse work out because it allows me to expand on what Shiro is thinking during all of this. I also want to thank you all as the story has passed the 1500 follower mark along with the 200k word mark. Thank you all so much and enjoy the longer chapters while they last.

The walk to the Dumbledore's office was mostly silent between all four of us although Severus would intermittently glare or sneer at Harry. I wonder what had happened to create such enmity between the two or perhaps he was following orders. I played back Severus' actions towards Harry in my mind and had to conclude that it wasn't an act, he truly disliked Harry, but he was playing it up. Curious.

A flood of memories hit me as one of my clones popped. It would seem that our three stalkers back in Diagon Alley were nothing more than opportunistic thieves that had seen me flaunting my wealth and decided to have a go at us. Eh, sucks to be them but I had three new wands to study now and my medical autopsy reports showed that all three of them had enlarged glands in their heads. My initial hypothesis would be that these glands were responsible for these people's abnormally high spiritual power.

I focused back to the present when we arrived at a stone gargoyle and Dumbledore said a password that caused the gargoyle to move upwards revealing a set of stairs. You would think the Headmaster would be a bit more available to students then hidden behind a password protected gargoyle but perhaps he's just the standoffish type. Hmm, I pondered as we walked up the stairs and there was nothing I could do, unless I wanted to do something extreme, as an identification ward took my chakra signature and added it to its database. I really needed to study runes here if they could do something like this. The security applications were astounding if annoying to deal with now.

We entered the large circular room that must be Dumbledore's office. It was filled to the brim with books, paintings and an assortment of odd devices that continuously whirled about along with numerous windows that showed stunning views. The thing that caught my attention the most was a device that emitted puffs of smoke and had the faintest connecting thread of magic to Harry along with a stronger thread that trailed off to the south. The only reason I knew the connection was there at all was because Harry was so close to the device otherwise it would have faded into the background.

I was jolted out of this revelation by a flash of flame by the large desk in the middle of the room. A Being of fire flew out of the flames and landed on a perch nearby before it trilled at us. Oddly enough I understood what it was saying. Oi, pet human! I demand more berries! "Ah, Fawkes. How lovely of you to join us here today old friend." Dumbledore reached out to gently scratch Fawkes' head and the Being cooed. Yes, right there. Hey wait! I didn't tell you to stop and where are my berries? Oh, mother would be so ashamed of me if she saw I couldn't even tame my pet human properly. Dumbledore sat down at his desk and conjured two chairs for us to sit in by waving his hand. A nice theatrical move if I hadn't felt his Death stick pulse when he did it. "Please make yourselves comfortable. Would either of you like a lemon drop?"

We both declined and he shrugged before popping one in his mouth. "Now Mr. Shiro," he paused for a second. "I'm sorry is that your first or last name?" Ah, the probing questions begin.

"It is my first name. I have not earned my last name yet." I noticed Fawkes perk up. Hey, you speak my language. Tell the bearded one to give me berries.

Dumbledore's eyebrows rose. "Truly? Forgive an old man but I don't seem to recall any magical communities that practice that tradition."

"Ah, we are a hidden village surrounded by a vast forest. I sorry to say that I can't tell you the name of it."

"Can't or won't?"

I smiled at him. "Yes." His eyebrows twitched at my non-answer. Don't ignore me or I'll come over there and peck you. My eyes darted over to the Being who was unfolding its wings as though to launch itself at me so I cleared my throat. "I'm sorry for the complete subject change but your friend Fawkes wants berries."

Everyone shifted their gaze to Fawkes who was bobbing his head up and down while warbling happily. Dumbledore's eyes traveled back and forth between Fawkes and I before he smiled politely. In that moment I knew that he knew that I could understand Fawkes somehow. "Of course, nothing but the best for my dear companion." He reached into his desk and withdrew a packet of berries. He took out three and placed them within easy reach of Fawkes who trilled happily. "No more than three though. Anymore and you have terrible gas." Silly human, nothing about me is terrible. My mother told me I am majesty given form.

There was a brief surge of happiness within me as Fawkes' beautiful songlike voice rang throughout the room before it was smothered by calm once more. Everyone else seemed to be entranced by it before Fawkes cut off his song and they returned to their senses. "Thank you Fawkes that was delightful as always." Dumbledore turned to me. "Shall we get back to the business at hand?"

I gave him a nod and he continued. "I believe that the guest rooms on the second floor are furnished. You may stay there for the time being and I'm sure Severus would be delighted to show you to them after we are done here." Severus looked anything but delighted to show me anywhere but didn't complain. "Now all that is left is to work out a schedule around Harry's classes…" He trailed off and his eyebrows nearly touched as he gazed at Harry. "Harry my dear boy. Why are you not in your house colors?"

More than a bit of anger appeared on Harry's face as he spoke. "I was expelled from Gryffindor because apparently I was unbecoming of it after my name came out of the Goblet."

Dumbledore's seemed truly puzzled by this turn of events. "The students do not have the power to expel you from Gryffindor only censor you. To truly expel you they would need the approval of your head of house and Minerva would never do such a thing without at least telling me."

"Well they did." Harry stated mulishly.

"Excuse me for a moment." Dumbledore cast something forming a construct of light and happiness that took a form similar to Fawkes. He whispered something to it and it flew off. Presumably in search of Minerva. "Do not worry Harry we'll get this sorted out quickly and get you back to Gryffindor." Beat him while he's down why don't you.

"I'm not going back." Harry's voice was almost a whisper before he repeated it louder. "I'm not going back. Whether they succeeded or not at expelling me they made their choice."

"My dear boy I'm sure they didn't-"

"NO!" He shouted then lowered his voice. "No, they did and I won't go back."

"Just because you're a spoiled rotten child doesn't mean that you always get what you want Potter. Not this time. Not after you disrespected the Headmaster."

"Severus, please, not now." I could almost see Dumbledore switching tactics. "Harry, what is done is done but you can prove yourself the better person by forgiving them for their foolish act. After all forgiveness is the most wondrous of human traits."

I want whatever he's smoking. It must be nice to see everyone in a better light. Still, I feel I should interject. "Perhaps it is, but forcing forgiveness only leads to bitterness. Sticking Mr. Potter back with the same people who cast him away not a day later would be like throwing salt into an open wound."

He blinked as though he didn't expect me to comment as he threw Harry back to the wolves. "But what about his friends in Gryffindor. Surely they will miss his presence."

"My friends were part of the group expelling me." Harry said bitterly. "I don't think they see me as their friend anymore."

Dumbledore opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by a white cat construct bounding into the room. "THEY DID WHAT!?" An older woman's voice boomed out of the cat and everyone winched at the volume. It had taken an iron effort of will not to slam my hands over my ears. Sometimes having superior hearing sucked. "When I get to the bottom of this they'll be the ones wishing they were expelled!" With its message delivered the construct fell apart and we were all left with ringing ears as an awkward silence fell between us.

Dumbledore was the one to break the silence. "Well it seems like Minerva is on the case. I'm sure she'll sort things out quickly." For a headmaster of a school of magic he deals in surety a lot. "There is still the matter of Harry's sleeping arrangements. Harry, my boy, I implore you to look past this and rejoin your colleagues in Gryffindor tower." I glanced over at Harry and saw him buckling down on the matter.

"Listen," I said to stave off any further argument. I really just want to go start working on my new skills and you're all delaying that. "It sounded like Minerva in no way agreed to expel Harry from Gryffindor, right?" Everyone acknowledged the fact so I continued. "So he's still a Gryffindor but forcing him back could be detrimental to his performance in the tournament. So why not let him sleep somewhere else and let tempers cool off between him and his house? This way he can forgive them on his own time and focus on surviving the tournament." I tacked on the forgiveness for Dumbledore. If it were me I would have had both middle fingers up and shouting obscenities as I left or been silent and made their lives miserable down the line. One of the two. It depends on how vindictive I was feeling.

"I would like that." Harry interjected quickly before anyone else could say anything. Another silence fell between all of us as Dumbledore stared at Harry before letting out a sigh.

"I wish I could dissuade you from this matter but it would seem your mind is made up. There is another guest bedroom next to Shiro's that I can open for your use. Now there is still the matter of classes and Shiro's mentoring."

"Since I'm in the tournament I don't need to go to classes, sir." Harry interjected quickly.

"Another rule of the tournament?" There was an equal hint of exasperation and frustration in his voice.

"Yes sir."

"Then I can only encourage you to attend to your classes as while the tournament is important your education is still crucial to you." He turned to me. "May I at least have an observer to watch over some of your lessons? I merely fear that your lessons might not be appropriate for a boy his age." While it would probably stop him from learning any of my jutsus, if he even could, I still had a plan on how to teach him and an observer wouldn't hinder me. Additionally we had won most, if not all, our verbal engagements. If we didn't throw him something then he could start causing trouble. Give and take is the key as long as you come out ahead.

"That decision is up to Harry. If he has someone he trusts to observe us then I have no problem with it."

Harry was looking at me with his mouth wide open as though he couldn't believe I would throw this on him while a calculating look had appeared in Dumbledore's eyes and he gave me the tiniest nod as he acknowledged the move. "Err, are you sure Shiro?"

I nodded calmly. "If you trust someone enough to have them observe us then yes I am." And we could always have secret training at night when we weren't observed. He looked back and forth between Dumbledore and me.

"Um, can I have some time to think about it?"

"Of course my boy. Could I expect an answer with a day or two?" Harry nodded and he continued. "I believe that concludes our business here unless there's anything else? No? Severus could you please escort them to their rooms."

Severus grumbled something about a spoiled brat but nodded and escorted us out after we had said our goodbyes. As we were walking along Harry's robes changed color to have red and gold on its trims and on his tie. He frowned at the change but didn't say anything for the moment. After a while we came to a painting of a knight with a gleaming halberd. "Good day sirs. Might you be needing to access to the guest room?"

"Yes," Severus said smoothly. "The password is ice mice and you may choose to change it after I leave. Potter your room is across the hall and your password is slug worm. If there is nothing else I shall take my leave." He glided away and I looked over to Harry.

"Let's go get your stuff shall we?" He nodded and made to speak but I continued on before he could. "I find it fascinating that these paintings can move between frames and talk to one another. Do you think they gossip about what they see in the halls?"

His mouth clicked shut and I saw him eye the surrounding paintings in a new light. Good, now he would watch his tongue around them. After all the best spies are the ones that blend in so much that they become inconsequential even if seen. "I suppose so. I've never thought about it before."

"Always be aware of your surroundings." I stated firmly and left it at that until we managed to make our way to the entrance of the Chamber of Secrets. It wasn't until the pillars had closed behind us that I began to speak. "Same thing as before with the goblins. What did you observe? What questions do you have?"

He started off and by the time we got to the bottom he was almost finished except for one question. "You were doing so well until you agreed to have an observer. Why did you let me decided to have one or not?"

I picked up his broom and handed it to him. "It was for precisely that reason that I did that. I'm an outsider that Dumbledore has no knowledge of mentoring one of his students. If I didn't make a concession he could have made our lives as difficult as possible while still abiding by the rules of the tournament as he was trying to do in the beginning. Besides any observer can't be there all the time."

I made a clone go off and start absorbing the standard seven year course work for Hogwarts. It would give me an idea on the average skill level people graduated with and plan accordingly. "If you want to we could start your training now." I said as we walked into the now nearly spotless chamber. Dobby worked fast I see.

"Really? That would be brilliant." I nodded and motioned for him to draw his wand.

"What's the strongest spell that you can cast repeatedly?" Harry's face furrowed in thought.

"Well I know the Patronus but if I'm supposed to use it repeatedly then I guess Expelliarmus."

"Good. What I want you to do is cast that as many times in a row as possible. We'll use that as a benchmark as we go on so you can see your progress yourself. Cast whenever you're ready." He nodded and took up a stance before he began casting.

As that was happening my clone popped giving me the first year spells. It was probably a good thing that it only had the first year spells because I felt a dribble of blood run out of my nose. 'Too much too fast,' I thought as my head felt like it was exploding. Despite this internal pain I didn't outwardly show it except to clean up the blood while Harry repeated shouted out his spell. Just another thing to work on if only so I wouldn't have to listen to him yell all the time.

He got to 89 spells in a row before it proved to be too much and he dropped to his knees gasping for breath. He still had quite a bit of spiritual energy left but it would seem that his physical side once more held him back. "89 spells in a row, not bad at all." He gave me a flimsy smile before he resumed trying to catch his breath. "Now that we know your limit the only thing left to do is improve it. In this case I can tell that your physical side is the thing holding you back so we'll work on that first. Before that though would you allow me to perform a medical examination on you? I need to know if there's anything wrong so I can either fix it or know not to push you to hard."

He shifted uncomfortably. "Do you have to?"

"No, but if I do then it'll allow me to create a more thorough plan." He dithered and dallied for a while before cautiously nodding. "Great. Why don't you lay down on the sleeping bag and we'll get started." He did so and I spent the next thirty minutes using my mystical palms to diagnose him. This is not to say that I was being slow it was just there was so much stuff wrong with him. As I finished I leaned back with a sigh which made him look at me with worry. If I could I would use Angel's Breath on him but with all the foreign stuff in him I think that would be a bad idea. Not to mention the fact that I had no intention of using that technique unless they were unconscious and dying with no one able to see what I was doing. I might not even use it even if that was the case.

I ran my hand through my hair as I thought about where to start. "Alright, bad news first. You're malnourished, borderline starving, which is why you're short for your age group." He flinched and looked away but I kept going. "You also have older bone fractures and breaks that never seemed to heal properly. You're good for now but later in life they'll cause you problems. Your right arm's bones are a completely different age then the rest of your body for some reason so I suspect that it was regrown somehow." I took a deep breath before I continued. "Your blood is… poisonous as it somehow contains a small volume of basilisk venom. How this is possible without your organs liquefying I don't know but it doesn't seem to be affecting you along with something else that I can't identify. Then there's this." I poked his scar.

The action caused Harry to flinch away from me and reflexively rub at his scar. "What's wrong with my scar?"

"Do you know what a phylactery is?"

"No, what is it?"

I didn't know any way to put this delicately so I just bluntly told him. "A phylactery is the physical object in which a person places their soul to escape death."

It took a moment to sink in but as his breath quickened and his pupils shrank I knew he understood. Well, that and he was going into shock. A light backhanded slap across his face took care of that for now. "You hit me." Harry said incredulously as he rubbed at his cheek.

"Yes. I don't have time for you to go into shock right now. Call Dobby and have him fetch whatever was used to regrow your arm bones."

"You hit me." He said still in a bit of a daze which made me sigh.

"Yes and I'll do it again if you don't call Dobby." I said as I unrolled a scroll and started writing seals on it.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm creating a seal that will stop the soul from escaping when I remove it from you. As it is right now it is merely a bundle of spiritual energy trapped between your skin and your skull." Sealing Tailed Beasts and a free floating soul seemed similar enough as both were just masses of energy although Tailed Beasts had a physical component.

"Oh… Dobby." As soon as Harry said his name he appeared with a pop.

"Dobby is here."

"Dobby could you please get a potion of skelegrow. I'll be needing it soon." At least his voice contained some hope now. I didn't focus on what Dobby said in return but soon enough he returned with a foul smelling potion in hand as I continued to writing seals on the scroll. "So how are you going to do this?"

I didn't respond as I finished and directed the seal off the scroll towards Harry's forehead. He let out a gasp as the inky lines impacted him but stood still until the last bit had transferred to his head. I moved his bangs aside to see his lightning bolt scar surrounded by a black circle with regular swirls facing outwards. "Now that the soul piece is sealed I'm going to remove a large chunk of your skull."

"Okay." I raised an eyebrow.

"Just okay? You're taking this quite calmly all things considered."

"I think I'm actually still in shock but you said you can remove it so I think that's helping quite a bit. I'll probably be angry at you later because you hit me."

"Hmm, good for you. Anyways I need you to be conscious so you can drink that potion. Now I'm going to numb your forehead." I injected some localized anesthesia as soon as I said that and waited until it took effect. After some prodding to assure that it was working I took out a scalpel and infused it with wind chakra. Four careful slices later and I was holding a portion of Harry's skull as he drank the skelegrow. It must have tasted horrible if the stench was anything to go by and his grimace just confirmed it.

As he was doing that I set the removed portion of his skull to the side and started working on healing him. It was actually kind of fascinating to watch his skull bubble as it regrew the portions that were lost. I helped it along by supplying some energy to it which sped up the process tremendously. It took about 3 hours to finish sealing the hole in his forehead along with growing his skin back. I also did some touch up on older injuries just to be thorough. When I was done the skin on his forehead still looked red and tender but it would do for now. Curiously enough his scar reformed on his forehead although I couldn't detect anything that would cause such a thing to happen. Still, I've done all I could for right now so I stepped back from Harry.

"So, how do you feel?"

Harry looked down at his hands before flexing them and looking around. "I feel good. Really good, like some burden I didn't even know I had was lifted." His gaze focused on his removed portion of his skull and he shuddered. "Are we going to destroy that now?"

"You know how to do that?"

"Yeah, I've encountered a phylactery before or at least I think it was. It held the memories of Voldemort as a teenager in the form of a book and it was trying to suck out someone's soul to regain its form." I nodded. That sounds like a phylactery to me although how a 12 year old got mixed up in enough stuff to kill a medium sized summon then encounter a phylactery was a mystery.

"You did destroy it right?"

"Oh, yeah, down here in this chamber actually. I stabbed a basilisk tooth into it and it destroyed him." The pieces of the puzzle clicked in my head. So the basilisk venom also destroys spiritual energy. I glanced at Harry. That doesn't explain how he's surviving with it in his bloodstream or why it didn't destroy the soul piece though.

"Sounds like a story to tell your grandchildren." I held up a vial of basilisk venom. "Do you want to do the honors?" He grinned widely and poured a generous amount onto it. We waited for a moment and Harry was just about to pour more when a black tar like substance started oozing from the scar. Not a second later a small wisp of dark smoke burst out of it and formed a face before screaming in agony as it disappeared.

"That was Voldemort." Harry said woodenly as I took the vial back from him. "That bloody wanker had a piece of his soul stuck in my head. I mean as soon as you said I had a soul stuck in my scar I thought it was him, but still." He trailed off looking quite ill before he suddenly leaned to the side and started vomiting. I checked him to make sure he wasn't feeling any side effects of having a soul removed from him but it was just a natural body reaction so I stepped back.

He continued vomiting until nothing more was left. Then he dry heaved for a bit longer until he whipped an arm across his mouth. When he stood and turned to face me I could see the fire within his eyes. A driving need to improve himself. 'Good. Let's see how far that drive goes.'

"I want, no, need to become stronger. Can you help me?"

"Of course. I'm your mentor after all." I tossed him a field ration and cleaned his vomit from the floor with a charm. "Eat half of that now. I know it tastes like wet cardboard but it'll start you on the road to becoming a healthy weight." He unwrapped it and started eating, only gagging slightly at the taste. I didn't blame him. What he just ate would be considered a full days calorie requirements along with vitamins and something to keep you alert. Great for a meal on the go in the field but it tasted horrible. When he was done he tucked the half eaten bar in a pocket and looked towards me. "Good. We would do some physical exercises but I don't want to stress your body too much right now so we'll work on your magical side for now."

Harry nodded eagerly and I motioned him to sit down as I sat across from him. "Pull out your wand." He did so and looked towards me for further instructions. "Tell me what is in your hand."

"Err, my wand."

"No! What you have in your hand is a crutch that shapes your magic for you. Your power grows stagnant as you don't actively direct it to your will but allow a tool to do it for you. What we need to do is ween you off your reliance of your wand to work magic." He rolled the wand in the palm of his hand with a complex mix mash of emotions running across his face before he looked at me.

"I know you can do wandless magic, but you're from another world. Do you really think I can do the same?"

"Yes." I stated simply. "Wizards and witches must have been able to use magic before the wand was invented so by that logic you must be capable of wandless magic. To get you more in tune with your magic I'm going to put you through a sensor course."

"What's a sensor course?"

"It's something we use to train people to sense chakra or magic in your case. I'll need your wand and glasses for this." He handed them over with a frown and I pulled out a blindfold to place over his eyes. "You're going to be devoid most of your senses until you complete this. All you have to do is follow the magic."

"Whaz?" His speech came out slurred as the muscle relaxant took effect along with the general anesthetic.

"Remember follow the magic." I said as I hopped away from him and flared a bit of chakra. He didn't react so I increased it until he gasped and started to crawl towards me. 'Good, just like that.' About an hour into it he suddenly stopped and I felt his magic change as he looked right at me with an awed expression on his face. I tilted my head at the display and started moving to the right yet he unerringly looked right at me.

With a grin I turned up my chakra dampening to nearly max yet he was still able to follow my movements with only minor difficulty. The training was a success then. I walked over to him and removed the blindfold from his head. The first thing I noticed was that his eyes had changed. They had been brilliantly green before yet now they almost seemed to glow. "I'm going to assume that you can see magic now or something of that nature, right?" He only jerkily nodded as I set about fixing him up. "What do you see then?" I asked as I helped him sit up while placing his wand and glasses in his hand.

"I can see why everyone was reacting oddly around you." He stated in an almost whispered tone as his eyes never left me. I was a bit peeved as everything on this damn world can seem to see through my chakra dampening technique. It's really not fair. I snapped my fingers in front of his nose making him blink.

"I'll think you're channeling Hina if you keep looking at me like that."

"Who's that?"

"A friend of mine. She can see chakra but also see through objects." I leaned in close like I was telling a secret. "She's also one of the biggest closet perverts ever because of it." It brought me no small amount of amusement to think that somehow, someway, Hina was twitching because I was spreading rumors about her again. The blush that spread up Harry's face as he quickly looked away was just a bonus.

"Anyways, try looking at yourself now."

He looked down and gasped. "You know I really should be angry at you for drugging me out of the blue like that but being able to see like this more than makes up for it."

"You can be angry all you want as long as it doesn't interfere with your training. Just don't bottle up all your emotions or you'll explode over nothing one day." The sheepish expression that came over his face told me that he's done something similar before. "Regardless of that you need to learn how to turn your new sight on and off. I'm sure you don't want to be half blinded just by looking at Hogwarts. Oh, and a warning for you. If your eyes ever starts to become irritated when you're using your new sight turn it off immediately. It's usually a sign that you're overusing it."

He nodded seriously and we spent the next half hour just getting him used to turning his, what I'm calling Mage Sight, on and off. After that we timed it to see how long it took before his eyes started to become irritated. It turned out he could hold it for 10 minutes before he had to stop because his eyes started watering. A decent amount of time all told. Then, after he had recovered slightly, I set him on the next part of his training.

"Take out your wand again and if you're able to use your Mage Sight as you cast lumos." Harry nodded and did as I asked him. "Did you see how the magic was shaped?"

"Yeah," he looked up from his wand. "You want me to try to do this wandlessly now right?" I gave him a smile. I do like it when people can think ahead.

"Yep, put your wand away and try it."

An intense look of concentration appeared on his face after he put his wand away and held his hand up. It was like he was almost trying to glare his magic into submission but I did feel his magic shifting as it traveled up his arm. It pooled in his finger and went no further. Harry gritted his teeth and with a growl of lumos a brilliantly bright light formed over his finger. He looked at it in awe for only a moment before he stumbled and the light cut off. I caught him before he fell and set him to the ground.

"That was bloody brilliant." He exclaimed before yawning widely. "Why do I feel so tired from such a simple charm though?"

"That's because you didn't stop the flow after you let it out. A small portion went into the charm but most of it was lost because you couldn't control it. Just another thing to work on."

"Hurrah." He said drolly and I gave him a chuckle.

"Indeed. Eat the rest of the field ration then we should make an appearance at dinner."

He made a face at that but started eating the bar. "Why do we have to do that?"

"For Dumbledore. He wasn't okay with you skipping classes but if you skip all your meals as well he could throw a wrench in our plans."

"Why would he do that?" I shrugged helplessly.

"Any number of reasons and more that I'm not familiar with. The biggest one would probably have to do with saving face with the other schools. After all how would it look if one of their champions is thrown out of his house and ostracized by the rest of the school?"

His brow furrowed in though. "Not good, but what about you then? Wouldn't me having a mentor also look bad to the other schools?"

I made a so-so gesture. "I don't think so as it is within the rules but I don't know the political scene well enough to answer that. I'm certain that people will be searching for any scrap of information about me though." I gave him a wink. "After all can't have the local celebrity be taught by a disreputable sort now can they?"

A light blush spread across his face before he rallied. "Well you did take to Knockturn Alley as one of the first things you did." He gave me a sly look. "I guess I'm being taught by the wrong sort."

I snorted as I waved the comment away. "I was merely broadening your horizons. Think of it as an educational experience and besides, without me you would still have a soul piece stuck in your head." He paled significantly and looked a quite ill at the reminder.

"Yeah." He said quietly. "I don't think I can ever thank you enough for doing that." A bit of anger entered his voice. "I just don't understand how it wasn't found before."

"Well, if you don't mind me asking, how did you get that scar on your forehead?" I knew as soon as I said that I stepped on a landmine. A hurt look entered his eyes and he took a shuddering breath. "Nevermind, you don't have to tell me if it brings you pain." Stupid idiot, you never ask about scars unless the other person volunteers the information. You know this. Why did you ask?

"No," he shook his head. "It's pretty well known." He took another fortifying breath before continuing. "When I was a baby Voldemort set out to kill my family. I don't know why but he killed my parents. I can still hear my mum begging for him to spare me and take her instead. He killed her then attempted to kill me with the Killing Curse." His hand rose to brush at his scar absently. "Somehow the curse rebounded and destroyed him but he survived even with his body destroyed. I guess we know how now." The last part was said bitterly as though he thought himself responsible for Voldemort's continued survival.

I held my tongue for the moment. I could see some glaring holes in the story the main one being how did anyone know what happened if everyone in the room was dead or a baby but that didn't matter for now. "I'm sorry to hear that but at least you truly know your mother loved you if she was willing to sacrifice herself to save you."

"I-I never really thought of it that way." There was a quiet note of bittersweet joy in his voice. "I was always focused on the fact that they were murdered and that the one who did it is still alive."

I opened my mouth to say something but I was distracted by a gout of flames heralding Fawkes' arrival. My henge was back up in an instant as the bird circled overhead before landing on my shoulder. I could feel the chakra shell ripple but it held for now. It surely wouldn't if Fawkes dug his claws into it though. "Hello Fawkes," I reached up and stroked his neck feathers so he would be less tempted to do so. "Why have you joined us?"

He trilled in pleasure before he spoke up. The bearded one wants you both present for dinner and I wanted to see you again. I think you would make a great pet human being able to understand me and all. What do you say? My smile was perfectly polite as I looked at him. "I'll consider it carefully." He let out something close to a whoop of happiness as he launched himself from my shoulder and disappeared in a ball of fire.

As soon as Fawkes was gone my smile faded and I turned to Harry who was still in a happy daze from his song. "So, we're requested to join the rest of the school for dinner. Also would you happen to know what kind of bird Fawkes is?"

Harry shook his head as though to clear it before he stood up. "He's a phoenix. Can you understand him?"

"A bit." I said simply as we began our trek out of the chamber after Harry had gathered all his things. It was mostly silent as we made our way up the pipe and I knew Harry activated his Mage Sight when he reared back as though struck when we were out of the bathroom.

"How can you stand being here when there's so much magic in the air?" He said as he rubbed at his eyes.

"Remember I don't see magic like you do but I will admit it's fraying on my nerves." I also think the castle is playing with me sometimes. The fact that some of the armors waved while the spiritual energy bubbled with laughter was a big hint.

"Oh, can you turn your method off?"

"No." He fell quiet as we continued to his guest room where he placed his things and we continued on our way to dinner. On our way we would run into other students and while they threw looks of scorn towards Harry they looked at me curiously. None of them were brave enough to actually step up and ask me who I was though. Right before we entered what I assumed was the dining hall I stopped Harry and pulled him to the side as I set up a silencing charm around us.

"So I think that Dumbledore's going to make some show about me being here." Which I knew courtesy of a clone hidden outside one of his windows. Had to make sure I could turn up the killing intent if he tried to mess with us in a way that was against the rules. I only had to do it twice more before he desisted for the moment. "Other than that I'll follow your lead in regards to where we sit."

"Where we sit?"

"Yes, are we going to sit with the Gryffindors," he frowned at that part, "Slytherins, Hufflepuffs or Ravenclaws? Where you sit will make a statement."

"Is it really that complicated?"

"A bit. Sitting with the Gryffindors means you side with them even after they kicked you out. Hufflepuff means that you're supporting Cedric or trying to steal his glory. Slytherin means you've turned your back completely on Gryffindor and Ravenclaw would be neutral."

"Urk, how do you even know that when you've been with me the whole time?"

I gave him a smile and tapped the side of my nose. "I'm just that good." He pouted as he rolled his eyes incredulously.

"If you don't want to tell me then just say so."

"Tell you what. I'll answer any three questions you have if you win the tournament."

"Really?" I could tell from his tone that he didn't believe me one bit.

"So much disbelief. That hurts." I tapped my heart. "Right here." Of course he would be right. I said that I would answer three questions, not that they would be truthful answers. "Anyways, where are we going to sit?"

Harry bit his lower lip as his eyes shifted from side to side. "Ravenclaw, we'll go to Ravenclaw."

"Alright. Sit at the end seat and I'll sit on the inside. That'll limit the amount of people that can annoy you with questions unless you want to do something different?"

"No. Thank you for that." I nodded and lowered the silencing charm. Let's do this then. As soon as we entered the diner hall the noise level in the room dropped drastically before it resumed in a slightly lower tone. I took everything in as we walked towards the end portion of the Ravenclaw table. The entirety of Gryffindor looked miserable as they cast glances towards Harry while everyone else had varying levels of scorn or hate that they were directing towards him.

We sat down and I saw a few teachers stir at our choice. A stern older looking woman made to rise but then seemed to think better of it and sat down with a miserable air around her. Dumbledore merely twinkled at us as he rose and the noise level cut off completely. "I have a few important announcements that need to be made before dinner can commence. The first and foremost would be that evidence has come to light that shows that the Goblet of Fire has been tampered with to select Harry Potter as an unwitting champion." Murmurs sprung up along the hall but he motioned for silence and they deceased. "The second announcement would be the introduction of Harry's mentor for the tournament, Shiro. Mr. Shiro will be with us for the remainder of the year and I will ask that you give him a warm Hogwarts welcome." I stood up and gave a small wave as they politely clapped. "Thank you for letting me take your valuable time to announce these things and let dinner commence."

As he finished talking food of every variety appeared at the table and people started digging in. All throughout dinner I either deflected personal questions or asked questions of my own to the surrounding Ravenclaws. All in all it was a rather awkward dinner because I couldn't actually eat the meal without dropping the henge which meant that any food I pretended to eat ended up on my head. Or it would have if I hadn't learned the vanishing spell. It was a beginning fifth year spell but I had found that if I absorbed half a years' worth of material per clone and spaced it out a bit the headache was manageable.

All of this meant though was that the majority of the students focus was on me leaving Harry to eat in semi peace even if he'd already eaten the field ration before. I considered the entire thing a draw between Dumbledore and I. He got to show us off to the school just not where he expected us and we had to actually be there.

Almost as soon as it was possible Harry made to leave and I followed along after making some hasty goodbyes to the people sitting near us. I heard a young girl with bushy hair start saying Harry's name as he retreated from the dining room but that only made him go faster. I caught up to him easily enough and the rest of the walk to our rooms was quiet until we actually got to them.

I threw up another silencing charm to make sure no one could listen in before I started talking. "For the rest of the night I want you to meditate."

"Meditate?"

"Yes, meditate and try to move your magic around your body. For example, build it up in your right finger, then your foot and so on. It'll help with your control immensely without actually wasting any magic. Then if you have time go through all your magical textbooks from earlier years and make sure you actually know how to do those spells."

"Okay, but what are you going to be doing?"

"Studying all those books I bought in order to help you with higher year spells." He seemed amendable to that and I wished him good night as I went to my quarters. Surprisingly I didn't find anything that could spy on me. I had pegged Dumbledore as a control freak but I suppose spying on a guest as they slept was a bit too much even for him. Better safe than sorry I pulled out one of my tents and set it up.

The inside was tastefully done with a large open common area that had a table in the center of it along with clothe doorways leading to the other areas. I had a quick perusal to the other areas and found them to be in order so I went to the storage area which was empty for now. It was time to do a physical workout while my clones kept on absorbing more magical skill books for me. At nearly 11 at night I was finished for the day and it was finally time to implement the next phase of my operations.

I created a clone and followed it invisibly to the outside where it changed the current password then went back inside. As for me I had something else to do. I quickly made my way out of the school, making sure my henge was up, and ran for a couple of hours until I considered myself far enough away from the school. Gathering the required amount of chakra I created an empty ID. I needed to know if the man who kidnapped me was telling the truth about the Nibi.

Even before the world completely reformed I knew he was telling the truth. The corrupting feel of the Nibi's chakra was spread throughout the ID yet it wasn't fully formed yet. It felt more akin to something gathering energy or pulling itself back together. 'Damn. I'll need to start creating a containment seal strong enough to hold it if I ever want to use my ID without fear.'

I took one last glance around before I switched to the zombie ID. If I was going to seal the Nibi I wanted to be a lot stronger than I currently was. As the new ID formed I held back a frown. It felt different than before and I wasn't talking about the Nibi's chakra that I could still feel. A zombie stumbled out of the bushes yet upon seeing me it didn't let out a high pitched scream. Instead all it did was quietly moan and raise its arms as it walked towards me.

'What was going on?' I thought as I dispatched it with ease. It didn't give me any experience at all and only one measly knut. 'Did the kinds of zombies change because it's a different world?' I sent out my senses and got a response about a 100 meters out. One of the zombies felt like wizards do except I knew it was dead. I couldn't help the frown on my face as I went towards it and sure enough the zombie was dressed in robes as it clutched a wand in its hand.

"Damnit," I muttered as I retreated from my position to near where I had started after I killed the zombie wizard. It had only given me 1 experience point and a sickle. Biting back a sigh I exited the ID.

As I entered the clearing there was a group of grey robed people muttering over where I entered my ID. An odd device swung towards me and whistled causing them to look towards me. "He's the one who did this. Capture him!"

I was already considering killing them all for simply discovering this but that cinched it. With a burst of speed I ran towards them only to stop 5 meters away as, to my senses, a glowing blue dome sprung up around them. Without knowing what it did I was wary enough to not smash into it. Turning on processing speed the world slowed down around me as I studied it and casually dodged the spell fire coming at me.

It would seem that the dome is the equivalent of a one way sticky trap. Anything that touches it would be trapped at their opponent's mercy. "Vampire," one of them slowly shouted as I studied the magic dome to try to find a way to break it. Now that's just rude. Orochimaru might be unnaturally pale, have snake like eyes and a taste for the melodramatic but he was in no way a vampire. A burst of light as bright as the noon day sun came from one of them and I squinted my eyes.

Ah, I had it. The dome doesn't cover anything below ground. I sunk into the ground and burst forth right in the center of their formation. It was no contest now as I simply used my superior speed to decapitate four of them and knock out the other two before they could react. I kept two alive for now because I need to know who I was dealing with.

From there it was simply a job to strip them all of everything and dispose of the 4 bodies. Then I took the remaining man and woman away from the fight as the area burst into flames. That should keep people away long enough for the magical signatures to fade and if they used magic to put out the flames their signature would cover mine up.

I spent the next hour running and making sure that no one was following me. When I was as sure as I could be about that I made a cave and prepared my two prisoners which meant cutting muscles so they couldn't run, sealing their magic and silencing the area so no sound got out. When I was ready I woke them up.

They were understandably terrified as they realized their position, naked and hanging from the ceiling by their arms, yet they didn't make a sound. Which, admittedly, was my fault as I had silenced them for the moment as I took out a coin. "Here's how this is going to work. I'm going to flip this coin after you choose either heads or tails. The person that loses will not enjoy it as I ask the winner questions."

I removed the silencing charm on both of them and the woman was the first to break the silence. "Why are you doing this?"

"You were trying to capture me so I captured you two. Heads or tails?" She flinched away as my hand moved towards her but didn't answer my question. "If you don't answer within the next 10 seconds you'll be the one tortured as I ask your companion the questions." Tears started to form in her eyes as I began a count down.

Right as I reached one she blurted out tails and I flipped the coin. It landed on tails and I could see the hidden relief in her eyes as I turned to the man. Time for some answers. Three hours later and I had everything I wanted to know and a bit more. The woman had completely broken and revealed everything she knew. I disposed of their corpses and then started making my way back to Hogwarts. If I timed it right I should get back right before breakfast time. I would keep an eye out for any more of these so called Unspeakables in the future.

Age: 10 years - 4 months

Title: Root Shinobi, Son of a Kage

LVL: 31 - 3% to next LVL

HP: 1,750/1,750

Chakra: 97,287/97,287

Elemental Affinity: Water, Earth

Bloodline: Crystal Release

STR: 180(234)

VIT: 175

END: 167

DEX: 189(208)

INT: 200(214)

WIS: 150(160)

LCK: 50

Points: 18

Money: 921,402 ryo/ 15,276 galleons

Charms Mastery(Passive) LVL 1 – 56%

The unique subset of spells classified as charms. As your mastery rises the cost and control over charms improves.

Decreases cost by 0.1%

Increases control by 1%

Transfiguration Mastery(Passive) LVL 1 – 5%

The unique subset of spells classified as transfiguration. As your mastery rises the cost and control over transfiguration improves.

Decreases cost by 0.1%

Increases control by 1%

Dark Arts Mastery(Passive) LVL 1 – 7%

The unique subset of spells classified as dark art including hexes, jinxes and curses. As your mastery rises the cost and control over dark arts improves.

Decreases cost by 0.1%

Increases control by 1%