Disclaimer: All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites.

Warnings: AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up.

AN: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.

Chapter 5: Temper, Temper

Thursday, August 05, 1999, Early Evening
Hogsmeade Village, Scotland

Harry whistled a merry tune as he dusted the soot from his dress robes, waved cheerfully to Madam Rosmerta, and made his way out of the Three Broomsticks to meet Ginny at Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop. In his pocket he carried a velvet box that held a rather expensive diamond engagement ring; the nineteen year old wizard intended to propose to his long time girlfriend. He wasn't really ready to propose but he was feeling pressured by the entire Weasley family (mostly by Ginny herself) and he figured an early and subsequently long engagement (since he was due to start auror training in less than a month) would at least get them off his back.

He'd barely gone five steps passed the pub's front door when an eagle owl dropped down out of the sky with a screech and began circling his head. Harry frowned as he offered his arm to the agitated bird the moment he saw the envelop it held clutched in its beak. The bird landed but refused to release the letter it held until Harry paid the postage fee (a huge red stamp declaring the amount of postage due emblazoned on the front of the envelope). Harry stuffed the required two sickles and eight knuts into the pouch the owl had tied to its leg before tossing the bird off into the air once it had relinquished the letter it had brought him.

A glance at the return address on the front of the envelope had the green-eyed wizard arching an eyebrow in surprise with the other eyebrow joining the first when he noticed the word urgent had been scrawled messily beneath his name on the front. His brow then furrowed as he tried to think of any reason why his cousin would contact him (they weren't exactly friends after all); especially about something that the other teen thought needed to be addressed immediately. Shrugging his shoulders, Harry checked the time to make certain he wasn't late for his date before he leaned against the wall, ripped open the envelope, and pulled out the short letter inside that had been dated some three days earlier.

Harry,

I need your help. A man showed up today with a kid that claims he's related to us
and mum freaked out really bad. The man disappeared and left the kid behind and
mum's gone and locked him in your old cupboard all the while ranting on about
freaks and monsters and how she won't have another in the house.

I need you to come fetch the kid before mum and dad hurt him. I'm going to spring
him once they've gone to sleep but I don't know how long I can hide him before they
realize what I've done and I don't have anywhere else I can take him right now. So,
please contact me as soon as possible and let me know if you can take him or not.

Dudley

Harry paled in concern as he sprang away from the wall before fury surged through him at the thought of Petunia and Vernon potentially treating another child the way they'd treated him. All thoughts of his date and the ring sitting heavy in his pocket were forgotten as he spun around on his heel and apparated directly into the backyard of No. 4 Privet Drive. His holly wand practically jumped into his hand as he stormed up to the back door. When he reached the door, Harry didn't even bother to knock as he blasted the door open with a flick of his wand; startling both his aunt and uncle as the door slammed open hard enough to crack it in half.

"Get out! Get out! Get out!" Petunia shrieked the moment she caught sight of Harry dressed in elaborate wizard's robes with his wand out and in plain sight.

"Put a sock in it you dried up old hag," Harry snapped as he flicked his wand at the woman and silenced her before he knocked her back into the chair with a weak banishing charm and wrapped her up in ropes. Vernon received the same treatment when the man made to charge at Harry. "I'm not exactly in the best of moods right now so you'll need to forgive me if I'm a little short with you because I had to jump all the way down here from Scotland in order to protect another innocent from your sick and twisted perception of normal."

"The two of you had better not have harmed a single hair on the kid's head or so help me I will personally teach you a lesson you won't soon forget. If you didn't want to take him in or have anything to do with him all you had to do was contact me and I would have gladly come to collect him or you could have allowed him to leave. I'm not surprised that you resorted to your freakishly unnatural behavior though; seeing as how terribly you treated me for years before you began to fear that I would use what I learned to pay you back for all of the abuse."

At that point, Dudley burst into the room carrying a cricket bat. The bigger teen immediately skidded to a halt and lowered the bat he held the instant he recognized Harry standing in the middle of the kitchen. The blond sagged as he gave Harry a shaky smile and declared, "Boy am I ever glad to see you, Harry. I was beginning to fear that you wouldn't get my letter in time and dad was planning to take the kid and dump him in a river this weekend."

Vernon's eyes bugged out and he began thrashing about in his bindings over that small revelation. Harry scowled at the man before hitting him with a stunner to prevent the man from giving himself a heart attack.

"I dropped everything and rushed straight here right after I got your letter just a few minutes ago," Harry explained as he lifted his left hand to show the crumpled letter and envelope in question. "Where's this mysterious little cousin your letter mentioned? Were you able to get him out of the cupboard?"

"Naruto is upstairs in my room; I told him to hide when we heard the door burst open since I wasn't exactly expecting you to show up with a bang tonight. And, yeah, I busted him out of the cupboard on the first night; I couldn't stand the thought of him having to stay in there like you did."

"Glad to hear it. If you'll go fetch him for me, since he knows you already, I'll just explain a few things to my favorite aunt and uncle while I wait for you."

"I know you don't like them much but don't hurt them; they aren't worth it, Harry."

"I don't plan on it… but I will be altering their memories so that they'll forget all about the kid and so that they don't give you grief about breaking him out or contacting me."

"Don't bother, let them keep their memories. I was planning on moving into the flat that my girlfriend and I are in the process of leasing soon and once she hears about what they were going to do to our little cousin, she'll insist I move in with her family now. I've already packed up most of my stuff while I was waiting for you to reply to my letter. I would have just taken Naruto with me to my girlfriend's but there just isn't room at her parent's tiny place and their landlord is a right berk."

"If you'd like, I can give you a hand packing up the rest of your stuff," Harry offered as the worst of his anger began fading now that he knew the kid hadn't been hurt.

"You wouldn't mind?"

"Not in the least; so long as you don't mind me using my freaky hocus pocus to help."

Dudley laughed weakly over the rather poor joke before he replied, "Come on up to my room then and I'll introduce you to Naruto at the same time. And, no, I don't mind if you use a bit of magic; so long as I don't end up with another tail or overlarge tongue."

Harry snorted in return before he nodded and flicked his wand at Petunia once more to knock her out for the moment as he trailed out of the kitchen after Dudley. As they moved down the hall, Harry scowled at the cupboard under the stairs and flicked his wand at the door that was locked shut with at least twenty-five locks (including a few padlocks); turning the door to sawdust and the locks to puddles of metal. Dudley jumped in surprise in response to the unexpected show of magic before he snickered over the resulting mess.

Just a couple of minutes later, Harry slowed to a stop in the doorway leading into Dudley's room as the taller teen called out to the well hidden child, "Hey, Naruto, you can come on out now; there's nothing to worry about. Harry arrived just now with a bit more bang than expected."

A head of sunshine yellow hair poked up from beneath the bed and Harry soon found himself looking into a pair of worried deep blue eyes set into a lightly tanned face that sported a trio of whisker marks on each cheek. Harry had only a few seconds to inspect the kid before his attention was drawn back to Dudley as the other teen provided introductions.

"Harry, meet Naruto Evans; our eight year old cousin from Grandpa Evans' side of the family. Naruto, this here is Harry Potter; he'll be taking you somewhere safer than here. If that's alright with both of you?"

"I wouldn't be here otherwise," Harry automatically replied as he continued his earlier inspection. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Naruto; though I wish I could have spared you the trouble of dealing with Petunia and Vernon's pettiness."

"You don't look anything like Kic… er, like Uncle Gregory," Naruto accused with a slight frown.

"Ah, that would be because I'm the spitting image of my father aside from my eyes. I got my eyes from my mum."

"Oh. Where are you going to take me and what are you going to do with me?"

"We'll be staying at the Burrow with the Weasleys, Hermione, and Teddy; you can bunk with Teddy in the temporary nursery for tonight and Mrs. Weasley will love having another kid around to mother. We'll figure out what happens after that in a few days once we've had a chance to get to know one another."

"Who're Teddy, Her-mii-o-nii, and the… the weasels?"

"Hermione is the smartest person I know and my very best friend, Mrs. Weasley and the rest of the Weasleys are very close friends of mine and my second family, and Teddy is my godson."

"How old is Teddy? Does he live with you?"

"Teddy is only fifteen months old and yes, he now lives with me full time; his parents died shortly after he was born and his grandmother's health recently took a turn for the worst a month and a half ago and she is too sick to take care of him anymore. We should probably get moving though, before the two old windbags downstairs wake up and give me another headache with their perpetual bellyaching. Where are your things? Did Petunia or Vernon take them and lock them up somewhere?"

"They never touched my stuff and everything I have is in my backpack."

"That's good; I was worried they might have destroyed your things. If you'll come stand over here against the wall by me where you'll be out of the way, I'll help Dudley pack the last of his things before we head out. Where did you want me to put everything, Dudders, and did you want me to pack the furniture for you as well?"

"I have the boxes over here and you'd better leave the furniture, mum and dad will be mad enough about me moving out and helping the two of you; I think it would be best not add thieving to the list of my 'crimes' right now."

"Alright, best move back a bit," Harry instructed as he stepped into the center of the room. He then concentrated on gathering all of Dudley's belongings as he snapped his wand hand sharply and firmly ordered, "Pack!"

Naruto and Dudley both gasped simultaneously as everything in the room (and several items that were not in the room) jumped up off the floor, crawled out of the various furniture, and flew through the air before tucking themselves into the indicated boxes. Three minutes later, the room was bare of everything bar the furniture and the small stack of boxes had been sealed shut and neatly stacked beside the door.

"Sugoi!" Naruto exclaimed as his eyes danced with excitement.

Harry gave the kid a dramatic bow as he grinned at the kid's enthusiasm before he straightened up as a thoughtful look crossed over his face. He then called out three summoning charms in a row, "Accio Harry Potter's property. Accio Lily Evans' property. Accio Lily Potter's property." Moments later (following on the heels of a few loud bangs and crashes), several boxes, a couple of trunks, and a number of pieces of jewelry zoomed into the room to land in a pile at Harry's feet. "I had hoped I was wrong but I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that Petunia hoarded things that rightfully belonged to me and my mother."

The wizard quickly shrank the boxes and trunks and tucked everything into his pocket before he turned to address Dudley one last time, "Thank you for thinking of contacting me, Dudley; you'll have to send me your new address once you get settled so we can get together and catch up over tea sometime. I'm sure Naruto here would like to keep in touch with his savior as well."

"I'd like that," Dudley stated as he walked up to Harry and offered the wizard his hand. "I appreciate you dropping everything like you did to help the two of us out."

"Not a problem; anything for family. Speaking of which, your parents should wake up in a few hours and the Silencing Charms will eventually wear off on their own. I'll send them a howler to yell at them some more later, since I didn't get to say everything I planned to say before you interrupted my rant. Are you ready to go, Naruto?"

"Do you need a lift into London? I'll be going that way anyway since my girl lives on the northern side of town."

"Thanks for the offer but we're actually headed in the opposite direction so we'll just take the Knight Bus to Ottery St. Catchpole."

"I'll see the two of you later then," Dudley replied as he turned from Harry to ruffle Naruto's hair. "Take care of yourself, runt."

Naruto grinned and hugged Dudley around the waist before he bounced over to Harry, his earlier reluctance and distrust no longer evident in his eyes. Harry chuckled and felt the last of the worry that had been knotting his chest since he'd received Dudley's note unwind with the knowledge that his little cousin (and how strange it was to learn he'd had even more relatives out there) had not been harmed thanks to Dudley's intervention. The green-eyed wizard then led the way through the house and took a moment to cast a dust magnet jinx and an ant attraction charm on the house (to torment his aunt for a week or two until the magic in the spells faded) as they boldly walked out the front door.

He then took perverse satisfaction in purposefully walking on the lawn (completely ignoring the walkway) and through the flower beds that lined the driveway. It was childish and petty of him but he didn't really care right that moment. Once they reached the sidewalk, Harry glanced down at the kid walking beside him as he wondered how the kid had ended up at the Dursleys in the first place and where his parents were. Figuring that it would be best to save his questions until the kid felt a little more comfortable with him, Harry shelved that line of thinking as he automatically snagged Naruto's hand with his when they reached the end of Privet Drive and crossed over to Magnolia Crescent.

He felt Naruto jump in surprise the moment their hands connected and Harry looked down in concern only to find the kid beaming up at him with bright blue eyes. Harry offered a smile in return as he guided the boy towards the empty and somewhat rundown park where he'd once taunted Dudley during the summer between his fourth and fifth years at Hogwarts. Once they arrived outside of the park, Harry glanced up and down the street and at each of the houses that were close by before he stuck out his wand to call the Knight Bus. The garish purple bus appeared with a bang just a few minutes later and Naruto jumped and ducked behind Harry before peeking around to stare at the huge contraption with wide eyes.

"Sorry 'bout that, Naruto; I forgot how startling the Knight Bus can be if you aren't expecting it," Harry apologized as the doors to the bus opened and a young woman in her late twenties stepped down to greet them.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus; emergency transportation for the stranded witch or wizard.*"

"Evening, one adult and one child for the Burrow in Ottery St. Catchpole," Harry stated in a slightly strained voice as the memory of the last time he'd seen Stan Shunpike (the former conductor of the Knight Bus) flashed before his eyes; the gossip loving wizard glassy eyed under the influence of the Imperius Curse as he chased after Harry and Hagrid on Voldemort's orders the night he'd left Privet Drive just before his seventeenth birthday. The man had not survived that night; he'd been cut down by another Death Eater's Killing Curse when he got in the way at the last second.

"That'll be fifteen sickles, nineteen sickles if you want us to include two cups of hot chocolate, and twenty-three sickles for a pair of water bottles and two toothbrushes in your choices of colors."

Harry passed over a single galleon and accepted two sickles back in change (the nineteen year old knew better than to buy a drink while using the Knight Bus and he had no need for extra toothbrushes). He then shuffled Naruto up to the empty second level before the witch recognized him and warned the kid to hold on tight as they sat down on a single bed. The eight year old stared at him funny until the magical bus jumped into motion with a loud bang and the kid nearly flipped backwards off the bed due to the unexpected jolt.

Once he got over his shock, Naruto whooped with glee each time the bus jumped locations and their bed flew across the floor to crash into the other beds or the walls of the bus. The young war veteran felt the knot of grief and guilt he been carrying around for the last two years ease a touch as he watched his young cousin finding pleasure in something as simple as shifting beds (much as it did when he spent time with Teddy). The pout Naruto adopted when their stop was announced over an hour later made Harry chuckle as they trooped down the stairs and climbed down off the bus. The bus vanished with a loud crack almost as soon as they were off.

"Can we ride the purple bus again, Potter-san?" Naruto inquired as he bounced excitedly on the balls of his feet and stared at the place where the Knight Bus had been sitting just seconds earlier.

"You can call me Harry," Harry absently stated as he grinned at the eight year old in bemusement. "And I can guarantee that we'll ride the Knight Bus fairly frequently when it is just you and I traveling from place to place as you are a bit too young for me to take you with me when I apparate and Teddy is far too young to ride the bus."

"Cool!" Naruto crowed as he jumped up and punched the air before he glanced around at the rather empty countryside where they'd been dropped off in the middle of a dirt lane. "Ano, Pot… Harry-san, were we supposed to end up in the middle of nowhere?"

"Yes, the Burrow, which just so happens to be one of my three most favorite places to be, is just a ten minute walk down the lane. What does the word you keep saying after my name mean?"

"Catherine-sensei called it an on-or-if-ic and a sign of respect. She also said it is the same as saying mister or missus in English," Naruto answered as he stumbled over the pronunciation of the word 'honorific'.

"Oh, in that case, you don't have to add san to my name; I'd much prefer it if you just called me plain old Harry," Harry insisted as he led Naruto towards the Burrow. "I've heard the word sensei used before… it means teacher doesn't it?"

"Yes. Do you know some Japanese then?"

"Not really, I just know a few words that I picked up from the shows that Dudley used to watch when he was younger. Do you speak Japanese fluently?"

"Yeah, I was born just outside of Japan. I didn't start learning English until earlier this year when I met Naoki-jijii."

"Really? You speak the language very well for someone who just started learning it."

"Thanks," Naruto murmured shyly while a light flush of pleased embarrassment colored his face. The kid's jaw then dropped to his knees as the Burrow came into sight. "That house is falling over!"

"It sure looks that way, doesn't it? I know I thought the same thing the first time I saw the Burrow but it's been standing for decades now. Don't let its appearance bother you too much; it's much studier than it looks," Harry declared as he let them in through the gate and directed the blond towards the kitchen door; the chickens scattering as the two of them crossed the yard. Anything else Harry might have said about the Burrow was lost and forgotten as an angry redhead burst out of the house and aimed a verbal explosion at the wizard.

"Harry James Potter, just what the bloody hell did you think you were doing standing me up for our date tonight and completely humiliating in front of everyone!? Do you know how embarrassing it was to sit in Madam Puddifoot's for an hour and a half waiting for a boyfriend who never bothered to show up!?" Ginny demanded as she brandished her wand beneath Harry's nose, sparks trickling from the tip and singeing his sensitive nose hairs. "I've half a mind to curse you from here to Hogwarts and back for what you put me through tonight!"

"Oh… oh!" Harry meeped as his eyes got really wide; he'd forgotten all about Ginny in his rush to save his cousin. "I'm so sorry, Ginny; I completely forgot about our date after reading the urgent letter Dudley had sent me. There was a small family emergency…"

"I don't want to hear your pathetic excuses, Harry Potter!" Ginny hissed as she forced Harry to back up a step by jabbing him in the chest several times with her wand. "You could at least have the decency to tell me the truth instead of making up lies about your muggle cousin when we both know you hate the Dursleys almost as much as they hate you and they'd never send you so much as a Christmas card, let alone an owl!"

"Now just one minute," Harry cut back, angry that his girlfriend had just called him a liar when he'd never once lied to her about anything; his eyes cutting to the nervous blond that had backed away from the loud and very angry redhead to make certain the kid wasn't in the line of fire. "You've no business accusing me of lying; you damn well know that I've never lied to you about anything even if I did withhold information during and after the war. I went to Privet Drive the moment I learned that my aunt and uncle had gone round the twist when another cousin popped out of the woodwork unexpectedly and collected Naruto before they could hurt him any more than they already had."

Ginny turned to take note of Naruto for the first time since she'd barreled out of the door to verbally lay into Harry and her eyes narrowed the instant she saw just how young the kid was and the fact that there were no other adults present as she demanded, "Where are the little brat's parents?"

Harry scowled briefly over the barely disguised venom he heard in his girlfriend's voice before his expression morphed into a puzzled frown as he again wondered just where his cousin's parents were. He then turned his questioning gaze to the blond in the hopes Naruto would clue him into the mystery of his absent parents. He grew concerned when he saw the pained expression on the child's face and he almost knew exactly what the kid was going to say before he said it.

"I'm an orphan; I came to England looking for the only family I have left alive. I didn't think Petunia would hate me the second she saw me."

"Forget about that spiteful old hag; she's not worth your tears and she treats everyone and everything like trash if they don't fit her idea of perfectly normal. You're more than welcome to stay with me for as long as you wish and if you need anything, you only have to ask."

"Really?" Naruto asked in surprise as he stared up at Harry with disbelief and hope.

"Of course," Harry began only for Mount Ginevra to explode a second time.

"Oh, no; absolutely not! I was willing to tolerate you saddling me with your snotty little godson without discussing it with me first but at least he has magic unlike the little lost squib you let tag along with you tonight; he didn't even register on the wards when the two of you stepped on the property. I refuse to stay home to watch over two brats that aren't even mine when I have a pending contract with the Holyhead Harpies."

"Excuse me?" Harry asked in shock as the revelation that Ginny was apparently just as prejudiced when it came to those that were born without magic as the pureblood bigots he'd been up against during the war.

"And to top it off, it'll be all over the papers tomorrow how you jilted me on the night you were supposed to propose to me! Do you have any idea what kinds of terrible things they are going to say about me tomorrow!? You'd better not have cost me my contract with the Harpies with your fool stunt!"

"Who told you I was supposed to propose tonight?" Harry demanded softly as he focused on the most recent turn the argument had taken; his mind still not able to wrap itself around the idea that his girlfriend not only thought squibs were beneath her but that she wanted nothing to do with his godson and his youngest cousin. "Last I knew, my decision on whether or not I asked you to marry me tonight was nothing I discussed with you and was meant to be a surprise."

"Of course I knew you would ask me! Ron told me that you'd finally stopped dragging your feet and bought my ring weeks ago. Why do you think I set our date for Puddifoot's and let all my friends know before I sent a tip to the Daily Prophet so the night my dreams came true could be properly documented and everyone would finally realize that the Boy-Who-Lived was mine!"

Harry's insides froze as he heard that Ginny had intended to make a public spectacle of what was meant to be a private moment just so she could gloat about how she'd claimed the famous Boy-Who-Lived. His eyes narrowed and turned a darker shade of green in anger as he coldly hissed, "So the truth comes out; little Ginny Weasley is still nothing but a little fan-girl looking to one-up all of the other fans out there that hope to claim possession of the famous Harry Potter and his considerable fortune. And that's on top of being one of the very bigots that I fought against in the war; attacking children with her spiteful and cruel words without a care for whose feelings she's trampling. You seem to have forgotten that those two orphaned boys you are determined to hate are my family."

Ginny's face paled as her eyes widened in fear before narrowing again in anger as she stubbornly jutted out her chin and delivered an ultimatum, "I don't have to take your attitude, Mr. Potter; until you can treat me with the respect I deserve and until you get rid of both brats, I don't want to see your face."

"That suits me just fine," Harry retorted in an even colder voice as he straightened up and glared at the redheaded witch with frozen emerald eyes. "Consider us well and truly over because family will always come first and you've made it perfectly clear that you don't want to be part of my family; you simply wanted me to be a prize you can dangle on your arm. Come on, Naruto, we wouldn't want our presence to sully Miss Weasley's delicate sensibility."

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Ginny screeched when Harry stepped around her and steered Naruto towards the open kitchen door where three pale faces had observed the entire unfolding drama.

"In case it escaped your notice, my personal effects are currently sitting in the room I share with your brother and I will need to collect both them and my godson before I take my cousin home and reassure him that the entire world isn't filled with selfish little harpies like you and my Aunt Petunia."

Harry stepped into the house that he'd considered a second home for about seven or eight years now as the individuals standing in the door fell away to allow him entrance. He kept one hand protectively on Naruto's shoulder as he felt the kid trembling with emotion; Harry suspected that Ginny's words had hurt the kid deeply.

"Harry, I'm not sure what to say…" Arthur murmured in a pained voice as he helplessly gestured to the fuming Ginny who was still standing out in the middle of the yard where Harry had left her.

"You don't have to say anything, Mr. Weasley; that wasn't your fault and to tell you the truth, I think tonight's fight was a long time coming. Your daughter and I changed too much during the war and whatever it was that Ginny and I had back in my sixth year was long gone before we got back together last summer. I won't hold the things she said tonight against the rest of the family; I realized that most of it was just her temper speaking. It was partly my fault anyway; I should have at least had the forethought to send her a message before I took off to rescue my cousin from my relatives."

"Are you going to be alright, Harry?" Hermione asked worriedly as she helped Harry gather up Teddy's things that were spread about the living room.

"I'll be fine," Harry assured her as he purposefully cut his eyes down towards the quiet kid sticking close to his side as the kid's blue eyes darted every which way as he took in the organized disorder of the Burrow.

"Where will you and the boys go, dear?" Molly inquired fretfully as she wrung her hands and glanced between Harry and stairs leading up to the room where little Teddy had recently been tucked into bed (the matronly woman had grown fond of the toddler over the past month).

"We'll head to Grimmauld Place for tonight at least; Kreacher's been cleaning the place up because I was thinking about selling the old place."

"I'll pack some food for you and the children," Molly immediately insisted upon hearing that before she bustled off to the kitchen to bang the pots and pans around in her distress as she packed up the leftovers from supper.

Harry sighed and headed upstairs with Naruto in tow so that he could pack up his things and the rest of Teddy's things from the nursery into his old trunk. The subdued blond perked up a bit when Harry lifted Teddy up out of his cot after checking the kid's nappy and Harry smiled as he gestured for Naruto to come closer as he crouched down so the kid could get his first look at the sleeping toddler in his arms.

"He's got bright blue hair," Naruto blurted out as he reached out to touch said hair as if to determine whether or not it was real; true blue hair not a color often seen in Konoha (Mizuki-sensei's being the closest and his was more of a pale blue gray than a true blue).

"Yes; for now his hair is blue," Harry replied with a soft laugh. "Blue means he's happy. When he's upset his hair turns red, completely white if he's scared, and a dark orange when he's hungry. And when he's being held by someone he likes, his hair and eyes will match the color of their hair and eyes perfectly."

"Really? That is so cool! Does that mean he has a Kekkei Genkai?"

"What is that?"

"I don't know what it means in English but a Kekkei Genkai is a kind of special ability that runs in families."

"Ah, then yes, Teddy's ability to change his appearance is like one of those Keckye things; his mother had the same ability and she could make herself look like just about anybody. She once made herself look just like me. Teddy doesn't really have any control over the ability right now because he's still just a baby though."

"Cool."

Harry chuckled in agreement as he stood back up before he leaned down to grab the handle of his trunk and gestured for Naruto to lead the way back down the stairs. The wizard immensely pleased to see the kid opening back up so quickly after Harry's fight with Ginny and the terrible things she'd said about him. Molly attempted to press a heavy hamper filled to the bursting with all kinds of food into Harry's already filled hands as the three of them reached the ground floor only for Naruto to spring forward to catch the basket before it dropped (the older witch still far too upset to realize what she was doing).

"I already popped down to the pub in town and called a cab to take the three of you up to London," Hermione announced as she tucked Teddy's shrunken diaper bag into Harry's pocket. "Do you have enough cash on hand to pay for the fare or do you need me to loan you some?"

"Thanks, Hermione; you're a lifesaver as usual. And I have more than enough cash on hand to pay for the cab; I've made a habit of keeping a couple hundred pounds on me since Andy signed custody of Teddy over to me because he's still too young for me to travel with the usual way."

"You're welcome, Harry; and if the three of you need anything, I'm just a Floo call away," Hermione insisted before she turned her attention to Naruto and gave him a smile that was tinged with a bit of regret. "I look forward to meeting you properly the next time I see you, young man."

Harry thanked his friend again as she gave him and Teddy both a kiss on the cheek before the three boys were out the door and heading back up the lane to wait for the taxi to arrive. Thankfully, Ginny was no where in sight as Harry had no desire to fight with her again while he was holding his godson and his wand hand was occupied with his trunk.

Translations: Japanese to English

Ano – uh, um, or huh
Kekkei Genkai – Blood inheritance limits (or bloodline limits)
Sugoi – wonderful/wow/awesome or dreadful/terrible (depending on how it is said)

Techniques/Skills:

Notes:

Ginny's tirade – okay, I feel the need to clarify Ginny's rant and anger. This is not actually a bashing moment; Ginny was angry as well as being hurt over being stood up. I have no intention of bashing Ginny in this story. Her comments were mostly just her temper getting away with her mouth and her stubborn pride preventing her from apologizing right away. The things she said were also said in the heat of the moment and not necessarily something she actually means; though that does not alter the fact that she was looking for public recognition for her relationship with Harry.

Her relationship with Harry will also not be repaired; as I'd pointed out in the story earlier, the two of them were having trouble almost from the moment they got back together. There's also the fact that she did the unforgivable in Harry's mind; she was looking to use his fame to rub the noses of his other fans in the fact that she had snagged the Boy-Who-Lived. While she did mature, I see her as never growing out of her fan-girl stage.

I used to like Ginny as a character right up until the end of books six when she made that asinine comment about Harry only being happy fighting Voldemort or some such rot. I'm sorry, but Harry was never happy facing Voldemort time and time again. He did what he did because he felt he had no choice (IMO) and to protect others not because he enjoyed it. The fact that Ginny would say something like to Harry that is why I firmly believe that she will forever be a fan-girl; since, to me, it proves that she doesn't really know him as well as she pretends to.

* Partial quote from chapter 3, page 33 of the US paperback edition of HP & the Prisoner of Azkaban.

10-24-15: Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes.