WARNINGS: This is AU in which Naruto characters are set in a Harry Potter world, so if you know not an inch of J.K. Rowling's masterpiece, then you will be lost (and a complete failure at life…j/k) Also, this will be yaoi. Uh huh. It all begins with mild ItaNaru goodness, so if you can't even stomach THAT then you are, once again, a failure at life (joke! I love heterosexuals!). Don't fret for I won't write any lemons, unless people BEG me, then I might just bend to your whims, and possibly risk flames, since you people are capricious nerdholes!
PAIRINGS: All begins with mild ItaNaru. Then they get to school and it's SasuNaru, GaaNaru, SakuNaru (you heard me! Sakura is seme! ), and a hoard of other inconsequential pairings that I'm just too tired to mention.
DISCLAIMER: I hold not a single dime of claim to the voluptuously smexy characters of K. Masashi or the brilliantly whimsical world of J.K Rowling who I think should mate in the heat of the aurora borealis and give birth to dozens of magical ninja babies whom I will name each twenty six starting with a letter of each alphabet (the X one is Xena, boy or girl)!
Prologue
Only barbarians are not curious about where they come from, how they came to be where they are, where they appear to be going, whether they wish to go there, and if so, why, and if not, why not.
Isaiah Berlin
It was a normal evening, like the many others before it over the tasseled lawns of Privet Drive. When one would think of Privet Drive, one would imagine clean cut hedges by the walk, blooming magnolias by the window sill, and the prompt sprays of the sprinklers among other things. It was an image captured by the most ordinary of paintings; a picture of suburbia where every house down to every shrub was as typical as the next. People such as the Dursley's valued this normalcy above all else, dreaming about it as they slept comfortably on their plain colored bed sheets.
Unknowingly geared to threaten this normalcy was a man of which Privet Drive had never dared imagine. He appeared seemingly out of thin air, emerging from the shadows without origin.
It didn't seem to occur to him how unusual he looked; donned with a crimson sunhat and a clear white mantle framing either side of his old face. A heavy white robe billowed with every step. A fuming wooden pipe bobbed lightly between his teeth as he made his way to one particular residence.
"Remember this Itachi, for this is what a muggle house looks like," said the man gently to the little boy clutched tightly to his hand who was no more than half his height. "It's very much a shame that you don't have the opportunity to see much of this, sheltered in the forests and all. Sometimes you Uchihas…" the man trailed off, sighing regretfully.
They boy called Itachi narrowed his blood red eyes up at the quaint little abode. Apathy was etched on his beautiful young features, forming lines above his cheeks. "Do all muggle's sleep on the same bed Sarutobi-san?" he turned to the old man, his eyes were rarely inquisitive. "Why don't mother and father sleep on the same bed anymore? Hm?"
The man named Sarutobi remained silent for a while, gaze not faltering from the bedroom window. "The extent of the sharingan's capabilities never ceases to astound me, especially from one so young."
The boy pouted, narrowing his eyes further when the old man didn't answer his question.
He chuckled then, enjoying the cute look the young Uchiha was sending him. Sometimes, the seven year old looked like such a prude; no doubt his father had much to do with that. "No, Itachi-kun. Not all non-magical folk sleep on the same bed. You shouldn't worry; your mother and father are merely having a quarrel. You'll understand once you get a wife of your own." He smiled dazzlingly past his still smoking pipe.
Itachi looked away, not really convinced. His parents had been fighting for quite some time, even after the Akatsuki began their reign of terror. Like any normal seven year old, he was worried for his family. And since his father had become strictly harder on him lately, it might be his fault.
He didn't realize that the elder's eye had not left him alone to his musings, a knowing glint shining serenely through his gaze.
With one hand still gripping to Itachi's, the other began rummaging in his pockets, drawing out what appeared to be a deck of throwing stars.
"What are those for Sarutobi-san?" The boy asked shyly. They weren't gonna kill the people in that house were they? What wrong had they done him other than being muggle?
"Just a precaution Itachi-kun." He held the conspicuous items in the air and flicked them out one by one. Itachi was surprised and then impressed when a streetlight went out with every flick of his thumb. Soon, Privet Drive was completely shrouded in darkness with the exception of Itachi's flickering gaze, alighting with his emotions.
The strange old man waved his hand in front of the boy like a magician having vanished a pack of cards. "Shadow shurikens. Invented them myself back in my prime after realizing that shurikens are starkly useless in combat. You have to admit their pretty useful now, don't you agree?"
The boy nodded meekly, having never used a shuriken therefore not being able to reciprocate the old wizard's opinion.
"You think the dark's going to keep me from finding you Headmaster?" a feminine voice resounded a ways down the street.
The sudden yell startled Itachi and hid behind his guardian. Sarutobi didn't seem perturbed in the least and in fact smirked; flashing one side of his teeth though no one else could see it. "I was wondering when you'd get here Tsunade. Now do you mind coming closer? You're scaring my companion," said the man in jest.
The boy wondered why he hadn't heard those footfalls the first time. He could just picture the shoes those sounds were attached to; long pointed heels that his mother had stowed in droves in her closet. The things were also enchanted so that they'd make that same clogging noise no matter what they stepped on. But it made sense then, for they were on solid pavement and not on moist earth.
The woman named Tsunade came close enough that Itachi could see her clearly with his sharingan. The witch strutted vivaciously, her bottom swinging fluidly from side to side. She had on the most dazzling emerald robe, clean and pressed as if she hadn't just come from a battle. Tsunade had always been characteristically defiant of the dress code, and so made her own minor alterations with a sash wrapped tightly round her waist and a space made revealingly down her breast line, exposing a delectable show of cleavage. Blond hair flowed down to her surprisingly broad shoulders, meshing beautifully with her caramel colored eyes. Her most endearing feature, in Itachi's opinion, was the opal glued to her forehead; whatever its purpose the boy could only hope to guess.
For some reason he had avoided the bundle wrapped protectively in the witch's arms; it was a baby. Itachi gasped, knowing that thin mop of black hair anywhere.
"Sasuke?" said the youth, revealing himself with a new spurt of courage. "Why do you have my brother you old hag!" He knew he was being rude, but he would readily take offense to any stranger holding his little brother, especially in those dark times.
A vein throbbed on the woman's temple and the old man held back a chuckle. "Why if it isn't the other Uchiha brat, should have known you would need someone's breast to hold on to as well." Tsunade shifted her bundle.
Itachi sneered at the comment, sharingan glowing dangerously.
"That's enough you two." Sarutobi came between them with a smile; leave it to Tsunade to pick fights with children. "I'll have you know Tsunade that Itachi has been a very brave little boy. Isn't that right?"
Itachi crossed his arms indignantly with a puff of his cheeks. "I'm not little…" he muttered, subconsciously trying to prove his superiority to the stubborn old hag.
Tsunade "hmph'd", tightening her grip on baby Sasuke. "Don't blame me if the impression passed me by. He was hiding behind your back like someone was about to chop his wand." She snickered good-naturedly, getting a rise out of the already fuming boy.
"Give-me-my-brother!" seethed the boy, gritting his teeth for effect.
The blond flippantly waved him off. "Relax you uptight little shrew. I'm not going to eat him. My lips have met only his skin and nothing more. I promise."
Itachi huffed once more and let it go. There was no arguing with the unreasonably large witch. He was only curious as to why his brother was in the arms of someone else. The last time he checked his mother would bite off anyone who dared touch their precious Sasuke. He grimaced just thinking about it.
"Now that that's taken care of," the old man smiled warmly at the boy who merely looked away. "Since you're here Tsunade, and cradling the youngest Uchiha no less, I assume that the situation has made sharp turn?"
"Indeed it has professor." She nodded with a grim frown.
"So? As the muggle's would say; make like a mug and spill. Or something of the sort."
Tsunade scowled at the poorly used metaphor and set it aside for the more significant matters. "Yes. There has been another death added to the Uchihas."
Itachi's eyes went round at this with a frightened stare. Sarutobi massaged his head assuredly.
"It was Obito, the youngest of Fugaku's brothers in which one side of his body had been crushed upon infiltrating the enemy's lair." She swallowed deeply, feeling a particularly nasty taste down her throat. "He died shortly after; the clerics couldn't get to him in time."
Itachi swallowed too, the news kept him from blinking. Uncle Obito…dead? He rolled the words in his head, not really understanding. He easily loved Obito more than his own father at times. So why?
His crimson eyes wandered to the baby nestled by Tsunade's chest. Another point that Sasuke had over him; he would never remember losing anything that day.
He stiffened upon the pressure on his shoulder where the old man was now gripping it. He felt better, but only a little. The warmth told him that someone understood how he felt, and so he wasn't going to cry. He didn't need any more reason for the woman to make fun of him.
"And what of Kakashi? He must be taking the news severely." He whispered.
"I don't believe he's even heard the rumors, from how he barricaded himself in his father's house." Her chocolate brown eyes connected imploringly with black. "If he has heard the rumors, it would have easily destroyed him. So, please tell me…is it true? Are the Uzumaki's…" She trailed off, leaving her question unfinished but not any less understood.
Sarutobi bowed his head, eyes hidden behind his hat. The grip on Itachi's shoulder made him wince.
Tsunade gasped, one hand shooting to her mouth while the other still held the dozing infant. "No…it can't be…not Lily and Arashi…Oh my God…" She seemed ready to falter, to fall down to her knees and sob, but she held it all back. "But the baby, Naruto, I heard that he's…"
"He lives." Said the headmaster without a shred of emotion in his tone. "The demon was not able to kill him." He left it at that.
"So it's true." Tsunade inched closer, her robes trailing on the pavement. "But how was that possible? When the demon has killed so many people, including several of them! We found bodies lining the chamber where the demon was said to have been summoned, not to mention slaughtering hundreds of our own! So how?" demanded the woman with so much desperation in her tone. It made Itachi flinch.
Sarutobi merely shook his head.
"How did Naruto survive?" she said enigmatically and in barely a whisper. "How is that possible? They said that Arashi must have cast some sort of spell before his death, saving his son but still! How did a baby boy live when no one else has?"
"We may never know Tsunade."
"So where is he?" she asked. "The baby I mean. Mikoto entrusted me with her own son while they scourge what remained of their clan so I couldn't…"
"It's alright Tsunade," he interrupted the anxiously rambling blond. "He is safe I assure you. I've sent Jiraiya to retrieve him from the ashes of the Uzumaki estate."
She raised an elegant blond eyebrow incredulously. "Jiraiya? Are you certain you can trust that pervert with such a task?"
Sarutobi smiled without a single thread of doubt on his lips. "I would trust Jiraiya with my life, and I'm much certain that you would as well." His smile broadened.
The woman scoffed at the insinuation. Her eyes trailed to the house they stood before, analyzing it skeptically. "You told him to take him here." It was not a question. "Why?"
All their eyes returned to the crème colored brick walls and the laser-trimmed hedgerows. "His aunt and uncle live here, and they are the last remaining relatives he has left," he quietly said.
"Here?" Tsunade cried, pointed at the house with disdain. "After his dear parents' death he is supposed to live here?! With muggles?! Have you gone senile?!"
Sarutobi sent her a withering look. "I am most assuredly not."
The woman twitched. "Fine. You're not! But there has to be another way! Naruto will become a legend, a star! There won't be a wizard in the whole entire world who won't know of his name if what you told me is true! His existence will be the inspiration to us all and you send him to live with muggles?!"
The old man sighed gravely, taking a deep drag from his pipe. He had expected no less of a reaction from Tsunade; it was just like her to blow things out of proportion. "I feel that Naruto would be most protected by those who share blood with him. I have never given you a reason not to trust me Tsunade, remember that." A smoky ring escaped from his thin lips.
Tsunade stared at him for several moments before rubbing her head with a sigh. "You know I trust you, you old fool. But don't blame me for not understanding the logic behind all this; leaving a legend to be caged in a dreary muggle suburb never to know his birth until he turns twelve is beyond my comprehension."
"In due time, you will understand. In due time."
"What's that?" Itachi cried, tugging on the old man's hand as he pointed to the sky. He was going to do so anyway for he hated being left out, but then a strange rumbling and a light in the sky caught his attention.
Like a slowly beating drum, the sounds of one weight colliding against another increased in both volume and frequency with every passing second. The lone figures could feel the earth shaking beneath their feet as the cause of the disturbance bounded closer and closer. It was with one final quake that a giant ball fell right out of the heavens to land right before them.
In the darkness, they could see huge amber eyes and the flickering glow of pores on its skin. It was to one boy's horror that he was met face to face with a giant toad and he took a step back, returning to hiding behind his guardian with a yelp.
The frog was huge, a bus compared to the man perched on its back. The man slid off and the toad gave a hearty "ribbit". The man in question wore not a robe but a scarlet tunic over a dark shirt and pants. His sandals tapped on the ground just as loudly as Tsunade's heels and were styled straight from Japan. Shaggy white hair went in all directions like a lion from a long nap, and if that wasn't enough a stream of bushy white came down like a pony tail to his ankles. Itachi noticed his face and the two red tear stains, or at least that's what he thought they were, flowing down from each eye. In comparison, he looked no different from his chariot.
"Should have known you'd make an entrance, as if apparating just isn't good enough for you," Tsunade boredly said, but with an amused smirk nonetheless.
Jiraiya grinned, exposing teeth that were of the same pallor as his hair. "Sorry I'm late, got held up on the way to the estate. It was crazy like you couldn't believe! I could barely get in with the ministry riffraff all over the place, surrounding the area and probing muggles every few yards away. I had to wrestle the brat away from the authorities who insisted on doing tests on him. I had to conjure a frog since they erected barriers that kept anyone from apparating. You're gonna have a lot of explaining to do once the night is over sensei."
Sarutobi winced, knowing full well just how forceful the ministry could be. No doubt they were currently in an uproar from having Naruto Uzumaki taken from them. He wasn't getting any sleep tonight.
"Hey, what's up with all the kids? We starting daycare or something?"
"You can say that," grumbled Tsunade, but her tone tended to contrast with her emotions as she gently cuddled the baby in her arms who had just woken from slumber.
"You okay there little guy?" Jiraiya bent over to Itachi's level, who was cowering behind the old man's robe, eyes locked with the toad's who was flicking his lips with a dangerous looking tongue.
"Any other complications Jiraiya?" asked Sarutobi.
"Nope, everything went by smoothly on the way. I tended the baby with an anti-sickness charm so he wouldn't puke his milk out. Toads aren't exactly the most comfortable rides around." He voice became softer as he reached behind him and returned with a blond infant blinking warily in his arms.
Sarutobi and Tsunade bent over the bundle in the man's arms, hearts softened as the blond savior cooed adorably.
Tsunade noticed the scars on the boy's cheeks. "Is that…?" she asked to no one in particular.
"Yes. Those scars will stay with him for as long as he lives," said Sarutobi in a mixture of intrigue and sadness. More sadness, for he knew the cost of those scars. "They will be what make this boy Naruto Uzumaki, the savior of our kind," he said in the most loving tone he could manage.
Tsunade sniffed, bringing her own bundle right next to Jiraiya's. The babies cooed together, as if they were meant to be.
"Mikoto and Lily always said how happy they were that they had children so close to the same age," she sniffed again, moisture strangling her throat. "That, they would be bestfriends and support eachother, just like Fugaku and Arashi before them," tears flowed freely down her cheeks. "And now…"
With his other arm, Jiraiya rubbed Tsunade's back, letting her have her tears.
"At least…" she sniffed. "At least in about eleven years, they'll know of eachother. Just like Lily wanted."
"Can I see?" Itachi asked tentatively, too young and oblivious to the somber atmosphere.
The adults regarded them, smiling through their tears. Jiraiya kneeled down, allowing Itachi his desire. The older boy froze, for never in his youth had he ever seen anything so beautiful. A thousand jewels couldn't compare to the light behind the little blonde's eyes, staring up at him, seeing more than he could ever with his sharingan.
"You will protect him someday," whispered the old man, kneeling down to grip the Uchiha's shoulders. "When the time comes, you will guard him and bring him to our world, show him how a wizard holds their wands or rides their brooms. I know you'd like that very much."
"Yeah." Jiraiya agreed, wiping a stray tear with a pinky. "You'll be eighteen by then, and well of age, old enough to walk among muggles unrestricted. Better for me…" The man in red pulled out a perversely printed handkerchief and blew his nose. "I can just spend…(hiccup)…the better of my time ogling ladies and…" it was with one final hiccup that Jiraiya broke down howling, startling the children.
"Jiraiya! Shh!" scolded Tsunade, who was blinking back tears herself. "You'll wake the muggles!" it was her turn to gingerly caress his back, muttering soothing words.
Sarutobi took the blond from Jiraiya's flaccid arms and held him close to Itachi, who remained lost in a spell. "I know it is a very long time from now, but I would insist if you became Naruto's future guardian, I'm sure you're parents won't mind."
Itachi nodded absently, not really hearing the words as much as the beat of his heart, but he had a feeling it was significant. He could see with his own blood red gaze that there was something behind those giggling blue eyes, a force that simply refused to release him.
Until the old man took him away, placing him gently on the welcome mat and putting a letter between Naruto's open fingers.
The party stepped back and simply gazed down at the quickly dozing boy for a full three minutes. Jiraiya's shoulder's shook, biting back a howl as Tsunade wiped her own tears on Sasuke's blankets. Sarutobi stared with his hands clasped behind him and Itachi wasn't far off.
"This is it," Sarutobi finally said, tipping down his hat to hide the pain in his eyes. "There is nothing more to do. His relatives will take care of him until the day the young Uchiha retrieves him." He gazed significantly at the indifferent little boy beside him. "And the wizarding world will welcome him."
Tsunade nodded fiercely, flipping back her hair and adjusting her load. "Personally, I think I need a tall shot of sake right about now," she crinkled her nose with a grimace. "And I think Sasuke needs a diaper change."
Jiraiya hastily pocketed his hentai hanky and forced his eyes to leave Naruto's sleeping form. "You wanna ride Tsunade, I mean, if you don't feel up to apparating?" He asked hopefully with furtively pleading hands.
Tsunade only needed one look at his ride to make her decision. "No, I think I'll manage. Have to think about the baby you know." She answered tartly and strutted darkly from whence she came and vanished with a shallow pop.
Jiraiya bowed his head in disappointment, but quickly banished it away. "I guess I should go too sensei, as long as baby Naruto is safe and sound," his eyes jumped to Itachi. "Take care little guy and you better prepare yourself. Eleven years ain't enough practice time if the kid's anything like his father and mother." With a sniff, he clumsily climbed on his toad and waved. The frog leaped what was probably a mile, landing in Greenland for all they knew.
The old man returned to gripping Itachi's hand. "Time to bid goodbye. You'll see him again soon though so don't fret," said the man silently.
Itachi meekly nodded, mentally looking forward to it. He wanted to see those eyes again, the ones that were a refreshing contrast to his family's.
"Good luck Naruto," he muttered, walking calmly down the street with the boy willingly at his side. Itachi cast furtive glances over his shoulder, worried that someone might take the baby from the doorstep. He only managed to glance a mere eight times before returning home.
A breeze swept though Privet Drive, gently cooling Naruto's blushing cheeks as he shifted in his blanket. For eleven years he was destined to live a life of obscurity, of hardship, of quietly pleading to the heavens as to what awaited of his destiny, with only the broken ceiling and the rotting wood of the Dursley's attic to answer his cries. He would never know that he was special, that he was a legend, that all who held wands knew of his name, knew of his legacy. He knew he was different, that was a fact that his relatives would pound into his innocent mind for the rest of his time in Privet Drive. In actuality, it was only a boy with crimson eyes who had ever gotten the chance to see just how different he really was.
No one would ever know just what had changed that night. It was just another normal evening as the lights returned to Privet Drive.
Normal; at least until the morning.
If I don't get any reviews for this, then I'm just going to delete it and pretend it never even happened (come on! I deserve at least ONE review, as pathetic as that is…).
I'm not really sure, but if you know of another fic with the same concept, then feel free to tell so I can delete this, I wouldn't want to impose on someone else's genius (though not intented).
On a final note, I can't think of any decent names for the school! WAAAHH!! So if there's anyone out there with any good ideas, then feel free to share them. Or else I'm just gonna wing it and go with "Frogwarts" (00) just to spite you!
The story begins in the next chapter, so see me there.