Chapter 3
Harry couldn't believe his luck. He had expected to get in trouble for running away and doing freakish stuff and being afraid, but he didn't get in trouble at all! Genma just smiled and held his hand and walked with him to the edge of the forest.
He should be happy, but all he could think about was how his snake friend got hurt for helping him. He couldn't stop hearing his friend's scream of pain as the knives came out of nowhere and slashed him. Was he okay? Was he able to run away and hide?
I wish I could ask.
Genma was friends with the man in the sunglasses and trench coat who attacked his snake friend, and he didn't know how to feel about that. Genma was nice, like the fireman, and that made two whole people who liked him and were nice to him.
Just the thought made him feel like the luckiest boy in the whole world.
He followed Genma and Coat Guy into a village, walking slowly and marveling at how different it was.
There were no cars or roads anywhere, just dirt paths winding here and there, and all the buildings looked very different from what he was used to. People dressed weird too.
Genma walked slower and let him look around, and he thought it was really nice of him. Aunt Petunia would have scolded him for not paying attention and pulled him along.
Where am I? Where are we going?
Eventually Genma and Coat Guy took him to a building guarded by two men in green sleeveless jackets. Gemna and Coat Guy just nodded at the men and walked on in.
Who are they? Is this the police station? Are they gonna call Aunt Petunia to come pick me up?
Hari started shaking he was so afraid as Genma led him inside a room down a hall. Two people were inside waiting for them at a table. One was a scary looking man that reminded him of one of Aunt Marge's dogs while the other was a woman with short black hair wearing a coat and a short shirt.
Hari tried to hide behind Genma as he spoke to the scary man for a while. Eventually, Genma looked back down at him.
"Hari?" Genma said, probably to get his attention because he was ignoring him.
"Yes, sir? I'm sorry, sir." He replied quickly, looking up at him.
He won't tell Aunt Petunia I've been ignoring people, will he? I'll be grounded forever now!
Genma led him over to the table and sat down, gesturing at him to do the same. Hari immediately sat down in the chair beside Genma, and he was glad he got to sit across from the woman. She wasn't as scary looking, even if she did make him feel uncomfortable.
"H-Hello? I'm Hari." He said, thinking he should probably say something.
The woman waved at him before introducing herself. "Anko!"
The man gave him a small wave as well. "Ibiki."
The women bit her thumb, slapped it on the table making him startle badly, and in a poof of smoke a small snake appeared on the table.
She said something to her snake, and it talked back before turning to him.
"You ssspeak sssnake, hatchling?" It asked, sounding surprised.
"I'm sssorry." He replied, ducking his head in embarrassment.
Was that not normal? He didn't want to be a freak, he just wanted to be normal.
"Very interesssting. None of the humans sssspeak sssnake so we all have to learn Japanesssse. I shall ssspeak to Manda about sssigning a contract." The little snake replied.
"What's a contract?" He asked
"I will tell you if Manda approves of the contract. Now, my master has some quessstionsss for you to answer. What is your name and where are you from?" The little snake continued, abruptly changing the subject.
That explained things. This little snake was translating for the police.
"My name'sss Harry James Potter, I'm ssseven yearsss old, and I'm from Little Whinging in Sssurrey. That's in the UK. I live with my Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. Do you need their phone number?" He replied, his entire posture slumping in defeat.
They were going to call his relatives to come and pick him up. As scary as his encounter with the coat guy and the knives and getting the collar taken off had been, he would rather stay here than go back home and face the wrath and punishment that was waiting for him.
The snake relayed the information back to Anko, who relayed another question for the snake to ask while she got out a piece of paper, some ink, and a brush.
"Yesss, my massster would like their phone number and addressss." The snake relayed.
He told them his phone number and address and she wrote it down, awkwardly, using funny looking letters he'd never seen before.
More words were exchanged between Anko and the snake.
"Who put the bomb collar on you? How did you get here, and what was your purpose?" The snake asked.
Harry sputtered. Bomb?
"No, no, sir, that was a shock collar not a bomb! I was being punished by my Aunt Marge so she put me in a dog kennel, fed me cereal out of a dog bowl, and put a shock collar on me. I don't know how I got here, it was like magic. One moment I was in the kennels and the next I was in the forest." He replied, shuddering at the memory, but desperate to convince them he wasn't a bomber. He didn't want to hurt anyone! He hadn't even meant to be here, it was all one big accident after another.
Anko's expression darkened when the words were translated back to her, and he shrunk back down in his seat despite sensing the anger wasn't directed at him.
"Ssso you weren't given a job to do? No one ordered you to come here?" The snake relayed.
"No, sir. Aunt Marge and Aunt Petunia will be so mad at me that I'm here shirking my punishment even on accident." He replied, dejectedly.
The snake relayed the words to Anko, and everyone talked around him for a few minutes, tensely discussing something. The scary man with the scars on his face left the room and then the snake spoke up again.
"You will sssstay with Genma until your family comesss to find you." Then, without even saying goodbye, the snake disappeared in a poof of smoke again.
Harry followed Genma, taking his outstretched hand and following him back to his house. He ended up staying with Genma for a whole week, and they slowly settled into a quiet routine.
At first, Harry was terrified of making a mistake and getting in trouble for breaking a rule Genma couldn't tell him existed. He slept on the couch that first night after a filling dinner of something called curry and had been surprised to wake up his first morning there to an empty house.
"Genma?" he called out.
No answer.
Did he go to work already? Probably.
Harry decided to get to work doing chores, even though Genma hadn't left a list out for him. He really couldn't, at the moment, with the language barrier. Better to be caught being productive even if it was unwanted and unnecessary than to be caught being a lazy freeloader.
So he set to work cleaning Genma's entire one-bedroom apartment. It wasn't dirty, but it wasn't cleaned daily like Aunt Petunia's either. He swept the floors with the broom he found in the pantry by the trash can before making his way to the bathroom. The rest of the kitchen was best left for after breakfast. He couldn't read the labels, so he guessed which bottle did what by looking at the pictures on the front. Afterwards, he looked at the clock and saw it was nearly 8am, so he got started on making himself breakfast.
He looked through the cupboards and couldn't find any cereal, so he got out some bread, milk, and eggs instead. He had been halfway through frying himself two eggs to go with the two slices of toast he had popped in the toaster when Genma walked in.
"Tadaima." Genma called into the house, still taking his shoes off at the door.
Genma was home. Harry's stomach dropped.
Oh no! I didn't make Genma breakfast! I didn't know he was coming right back home.
He hurried to finish up and plate what he had prepared for himself, stammering rushed apologies as Genma walked in looking surprised, confused, and concerned all at once. He nearly forgot to turn the stove off and remove the pan from the burner in his haste. Aunt Petunia would have slapped him silly for such a dangerous mistake and grounded him to his cupboard without breakfast or meals for the day for trying to burn the house down.
Genma tried to tell him something, holding his hands up in a placating gesture as he frantically ran around the kitchen to set the table, but he was too scared to understand.
Genma sat down to eat the food he'd presented to him, but he didn't look happy as he watched him go right back to the stove to make himself his own portion.
Is that enough? Should I make him another egg? I should have cut up some of the fruit in the bowl. That can't be enough food for an adult. But does he even like a big breakfast? Aunt Petunia doesn't.
He worried over it the entire time even as he sat down to eat his own plate of food. He was so nervous he could hardly stomach his food. He wasn't hungry anymore, but he knew better than to turn down the opportunity to eat. He'd made so many mistakes this morning and Genma had yet to ground him for any of them.
Genma finished before him and said a word to him that started with a 'g' that he didn't understand before going to the sink and starting on the dishes. He even offered to wash his plate when he was done, holding out his hand for it when he brought it over to the counter.
"Thank you, sir." Harry said, hoping he understood.
"Arigato." Genma said, his tone correcting him.
"Ari…Arigato. Arigato." Harry repeated.
Is he teaching me how to say thank you?
Harry was thankful for it because he didn't know how to hand wash dishes and he really didn't want to burn his hands trying.
Genma didn't give him any orders, so he started wiping down the counters and the table instead before sitting back down at the table awkwardly, waiting for instructions. Best to at least be helpful and out of the way.
Genma packed two lunchboxes and then coaxed him to put his shoes on and took him out to a big open field where three big kids were waiting for him, all wearing the same forehead bands. Harry watched them practice fighting each other and doing different exercises until lunchtime.
"Hari, obento." Genma said, handing him his lunchbox.
"Arigato!" he replied, thanking him and smiling broadly as he opened it up and looked inside.
Aunt Petunia never packed me a lunch. I can't believe he'd go through the trouble just for me.
Genma had packed him a lunch of rice, an egg roll, some little sausages, and some kind of salad with a bottle of water. Harry ate with them, silently, but he could feel all three of the bigger kids looking at him periodically, curious.
Harry felt happy and surprised that Genma not only tolerated him, but liked him as well.
He spent most of his days like this with Genma and his team of students watching them train and do jobs like yardwork and construction. Genma had continued to pack him a lunch everyday and told him goodnight every night.
Oyasumi.
It had quickly become his favorite of the dozen or so new words and phrases he had picked up on. He'd never had someone like him enough to tell him goodnight before.
"I'm home. Good morning, Hari." Genma said, walking in from morning training to find Hari at the stove making eggs. Plates, the toaster, and a loaf of bread were ready on the counter for the toast.
By the time Genma was done showering and changing clothes, he had set down plates of eggs and toast with a glass of milk for their breakfast. Genma never bought bacon or beans, so he didn't make any. It was a lot of work cooking and setting the table and fetching the plates from high shelves all by himself.
"Thank you, Hari. Itadakimasu." Genma said.
Harry blushed, still unused to the praise, and stumbled over how to reply back in Japanese. "Yes, sir, thank you. Itadakimasu."
He liked that he could eat this meal half with his hands, because he still hadn't quite figured out how to use chopsticks yet. He got a lot of looks from Genma's students for eating half of his lunchbox with his hands.
At some point during the meal, Genma paused and got a funny look on his face before continuing as if nothing ever happened. Harry shrugged it off and helped Genma clean up after breakfast as usual before going out to meet Genma's three students for morning practice. It was this simple, quiet everyday routine that Harry had come to love over the past week of staying here.
Well, that's where he thought they were going when he put his trainers on, but instead Genma took him to see someone called Hokage.
Most of Genma's conversation with the middle-aged man with grey hair and a scar over his eye behind the desk went way over his head, but Harry was much more preoccupied with not staring at the old man in the dress with a pointed hat standing a polite distance away from Hokage's desk.
Who was he? Why was he here, and what did he have to do with him? Was Aunt Petunia finally gonna give up on him and put him into a group home? Aunt Marge always liked to say it's what he deserved. Maybe Aunt Petunia thought so too now, after his apparent attempt at running away.
Harry's stomach churned with anxiety at the thought. He had been told in horrible detail all of the bad things that were sure to happen to him in foster care. Much worse than staying with Aunt Petunia or even Aunt Marge.
His hand tightened around Genma's.
Don't let the social worker take me away. I like living with you, I don't want to go home with him!
But he knew his place, and he didn't have the words to say what he was thinking anyways. He had barely learned the words for I'm home, mealtime, lunchbox, thank you, and goodnight.
The conversation was tense at first, but eventually the old man pulled out a bag of money and offered it to Hokage while mentioning his name. A whole new conversation began then, much more professional and polite.
Why was the social worker paying Hokage?
When the adults were all done talking together in Japanese, the old man turned to him.
"Hello, Harry." He said, speaking perfect English this time. "My name is Albus Dumbledore, and I'm the headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I knew your parents when they attended Hogwarts, and I also oversaw your placement with your aunt and uncle. I'm so very sorry, Harry. I had hoped that the bonds of family were stronger than Mrs. Dursley's hatred of magic. You will be staying here in Konoha for now until you're old enough to come to Hogwarts and learn magic like your parents. You're already in the Book of Admittance as of last week. Would you like that?" Mr. Dumbledore said, immediately overwhelming him with too much information.
This man was a headmaster, not a social worker? Or was he both? Magic was real? This man knew his parents? His parents were magical? He was magical? Is that how he got sent away from Aunt Marge?
He settled on the most important question to ask first.
"Are you a social worker? Am I a magician, too? Is that how I got lost?" he asked.
The old man just chuckled. "No, Harry, I'm just a headmaster. Yes, Harry my boy, you're a wizard, and yes that's how you got lost. It's called accidental magic and it's not your fault at all. It happens to everyone. Children your age aren't old enough to control their magic yet. Starting the September after you turn 11 you will be allowed to attend Hogwarts to learn how to do magic."
Aunt Petunia's words echoed in his mind.
And now you're lying, again! You knew very well what you're doing, you freak!
"So all the bad stuff I do, its just magic? Like when my teacher's hair got dyed blue last year? And when the wind pushed me onto the school rooftop mid-jump?" he asked, curious and desperate all at once.
Bad things always happened around him and nobody ever believed him when he said it wasn't his fault. What if it really wasn't, and it was all just magic?
"Yes, Harry, all accidental magic. Your parents would have had instances of accidental magic too, they were both magical just like you. Did Mrs. Dursley not tell you?" Mr. Dumbledore asked, looking sad.
"No, sir. She said my parents died in a car crash drunk coming home from a Halloween party and that I got my scar from the crash." He replied.
"Oh, Harry. I'm sorry, my boy, your parents weren't drunks at all. They were both very brave, honorable people and they loved you very much." Mr. Dumbledore replied, making him emotional as tears sprang to his eyes.
It was embarrassing how quickly this man's words reduced him to tears. Not one but two people had loved him. Not just liked him like Genma and the fireman, who he supposed were probably just nice people by nature.
He pulled off his glasses and wiped at his tears, frustrated at crying in front of everyone, and waiting for ridicule that didn't come.
"So, will I see you at Hogwarts?" Mr. Dumbledore asked, finally, when he was done crying and drying his tears.
"Yes, sir! I'd love to go to Hogwarts like my mum and dad." He replied.
"Good choice, Harry. Well, I must return home now and get back to bed." Mr. Dumbledore said.
He couldn't help his curious expression, and Mr. Dumbledore had to elaborate. "It's still 1am back where I live. Goodbye, Harry, and I hope they treat you well here."
He really wanted to ask Mr. Dumbledore what his dad's name was as the man turned and walked back over to Hokage. But he'd already done so much for him that he didn't want to bother him more. Aunt Petunia had always called him 'that awful boy', and he'd only just found out his mum's name was Lily a week or so ago. He really should be content with that, but it was all he could do to keep the question from springing forth anyways.
Mr. Dumbledore said some words to Hokage before drawing a wand out of his pocket and teleporting away with a pop. If Genma and Hokage were surprised, they did a great job of not showing it. Harry's mouth fell open, staring wordlessly at the spot on the rug where Mr. Dumbledore had just been.
Harry was happy to be returning home with Genma instead of going back to Aunt Petunia or Aunt Marge. Very quickly, Genma added apartment shopping to their daily routine. Harry wouldn't have minded continuing to sleep on the couch, because even that was an improvement over his dark, stuffy cupboard filled with spiders, but Genma seemed set on shelling out lots of money to buy a whole new apartment with a second bedroom and furniture just for him.
It was overwhelming, really, when Genma opened the bedroom door to show it to him after he was all done moving them into their new apartment in a new neighborhood two months later. He had a bed of his very own for the first time in his life, a nightstand with a lamp, alarm clock, and a coaster already on it, a dresser, a small bookshelf, and a desk with another lamp, coaster, and a pencil cup with a few pencils and an eraser in it all ready for him to use.
Tears sprang to his eyes again and he tried not to cry, touched by the gesture. He has his own bedroom now, just like Dudley. It was a feeling he'd never felt before – of being wanted, and cared for.
"Arigato, Genma-san." He said, thanking his guardian and adding an honorific for 'mister' because it seemed like the thing he was supposed to do.
Genma wasn't just his babysitter anymore, and he wasn't just an unwelcome guest. He had a place he belonged now.
Author's Note: Sorry it took so long! I kind of had writer's block on what to do tbh. There'll be a timeskip next chapter. Leave a review and let me know what you think! Sorry for all the Japanese, I tried to translate it in-story and give the feeling of Harry awkwardly trying to learn a new language without anyone to translate for him.
Going forward, standard font is Harry's current country's native tongue while bold is the foreign language. So while Harry is in Konoha, standard font is Japanese but if he portkeys to Diagon Alley, standard font becomes English. Is that easy enough to remember, or should I change it?
If Harry's handful of Japanese sentences truly bothers people I can edit them out.