(Timeskip: One week after returning to home dimension, Harry's PoV)
A week has passed since the night I'd come back from his journey and a lot has happened in those seven days.
I'd gained a student, joined a supernatural faction, dealt a massive blow towards my enemies the Death Eaters, destroyed some of Voldermort's Horcruxes, and enacted a jailbreak for, who I now knew was my Godfather; Sirius Black, and those were just the highlights of that week!
Of course, in between those momentous occasions, I'd focused on training my protégé; Kunou, in various forms of magic and martial arts, something she thankfully found very enjoyable, and healing Sirius, which had taken a few days of intense effort on Eris and I's part. Thankfully as of now, Sirius is once more a healthy, mostly sane, and can often be seen playing a prank, or two, on a poor yokai, or dozen, usually with the help of either Kunou and/or I being accomplices, or flirting with some of the female inugami {Who seem to be oddly attracted to him.} I thought with some mild amusement. Apparently, the Dogfather was strong in him, who knew?
Of course I'd spent a lot of my time talking with Sirius about my parents and their crazy adventures he'd had with my father and another friend; Remus Lupin, who also happened to be a werewolf. This led to me finding out about their little club, The Marauders, though I'd ended up chiding him at some of the pranks they'd, rightly calling them bullying, Sirius did agree with me that maybe they'd gone over the top with some of the pranks. But to be fair, they were young and children don't really think long term nor their resulting repercussions to others around them.
It wasn't until the day after I'd recused my Dogfather that I'd finally got around to checking my notification backlog from saving Sirius and the resulting rewards. One of which was… Interesting? Namely, getting a skill book for a skill I already had. Which had never happened before now.
The skill in question was called: Holy Fire Manipulation.
Confused as to why this had happened, I'd pulled the skill book from my inventory and rechecked the description. With a quick glance at it, I quickly cottoned on to what was happening.
[Skill: Holy Fire:]
[This skill allows the reader to learn the ability to produce and manipulate Holy Fire, which are white flames composed of light and fire. These flames can both be used to heal allies and burn away corruption and dark-aligned enemies. Such as undead and demons.]
[Note: This spell is unable to harm light-aligned creatures, such as Angels or uncorrupted spirits.]
[Addendum: This skill book can be given to/or used by Users fellow team members, or anyone categorized as his or her student.]
Rereading the description once more to make sure I hadn't misread the addendum, it did seem like the G.M.S. was trying to help me with training Kunou, by allowing her, and others I might take on in the future, the ability to benefit from my blessing as well.
Shaking my head ruefully {Even after all these years since Eris had blessed me with her gift, it can still do things that surprise me.} With that mystery solved, I went back to check the other notifications. One of which stood out was informing me that I was now the proud owner of the title: Heir Black.
[DING DING!]
[New Title Gained: Heir Black]
[The holder of this title is the heir of the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Black.]
[The Blacks were once an influential and extremely wealthy house of magic users who were well known for their dark spells and cunning political maneuvering. Unfortunately, due to war, infighting, and an unhealthy level of inbreeding, the once politically powerful house's influence has been greatly diminished, it still however holds a significant amount of wealth in the form of land, loans owed, and galleons.]
[Note: Spells that are dark in nature gain a 5% extra damage and duration. This buff will evolve when/if the User becomes Lord Black.]
[Addendum: The Blacks were well-known flirts and horndogs.10% To all rep gains opposite sex upon initial meeting.]
Wondering how it was possible for me to even claim this title I went and asked Sirius about it. From his explanation, it basically came down to the fact that we're related through my Grandmother, Dorea Potter née Black, and as such I'm close enough to the main Black family line that I'm legally able to be offered this title. My position as heir could only be threatened if Sirius has a child, who would supersede me due to him being a direct descendant of the Lord Black.
"You being my legal heir Harry, is probably the only reason that I'm still alive." Sirius admitted.
"If Lucius off'd me, he would've lost whatever current level of access he has to the Black political power and vaults through his wife Narcissa nor would their brat, Draco I think his name is, be able to claim heirship. That would've only been possible if you weren't alive to challenge the heirship, and since they couldn't find you, which is the only thing I'm grateful to Dumbledore for, they had to settle for second best." He explained before sighing.
"I honestly don't know what happened to Narcissa. We, the younger generation of Blacks, were close once when we were children…" Sirius mumbles sadly while staring off into the distance. "We had to be, the older generation of Blacks were truly awful parents to us Harry, so us kids all did our best to stick together to survive their madness." He shakes his head from side to side as if trying to shake off a bad dream.
"Anyways, enough about my family Harry, how about you talk about what happened to you after I let Hagrid take you to Dumbledore…" He asked.
I grimace, but he did need to know. "My earliest memory was…" I started.
Telling Sirius what my life had been like after he'd allowed Hagrid to take me to Dumbledore and the resulting hell I'd had to experience after the old bastard had abandoned me with my relatives, Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Cousin Dudley Dursley, on their doorstep some winter night, only to be starved and beaten to near inches of my life, repeatedly, almost caused Sirius to have an aneurysm on the spot. His eyes bulged and his face had gone this amazing shade of purple. It was just as I was getting seriously concerned for his health that he exploded in a string of cursing that would make sailors blush.
The cursing was so intense and toxic that it caused both Eris and Yasaka to hurriedly rush to Kunou and I and plug our ears with their hands. I couldn't help but give Eris a deadpan look of 'Are you serious?' which caused her to laugh nervously at her silliness… "Sorry Harry, I forget you're a lot older than your current body would suggest. Teehee" I just rolled my eyes at her as she played the dumb clutz card.
After Sirius was done expanding my own vast repertoire of curse words, which again, was a rather impressive feat, all things considered, I went on to explain what had happened after I received my blessing from my Goddess, which caused his eye to open wide and stare at her in shock and probably quite a bit of fear and awe.
I mean, it's not every day you get to meet a Goddess of Death and live to tell the tale of it.* I thought amusedly. Even though I gave Sirius the vastly condensed and watered-down version of my life after leaving Earth it still took most of that day.
"Merlin's balls Harry! I expected your life to have been interesting, but this… This is beyond the pale." Sirius commented then downed the rest of his whiskey. "But I'm proud of you Harry and I know for a fact that if your Mom and Dad were still with us, they'd be damned proud of you too!"
Our talk continued well into the night, with each of us swapping tales of our exploits and cockups.
The morning after my talk with Sirius, who was hungover, I found myself being dragged out into the massive palace gardens by my Godfather in his dog form. It seems that my Dogfather, for some odd reason, believed that being in his dog form could help him cope with his alcohol-induced migraine. What he seemed to have forgotten was that in his dog form, he was far more susceptible to its instincts, which I enjoyed toying with by placing a mild confusion charm on a few tennis balls I'd created and having him chase them.
It was as I was playing ball with my Dogfather that I spotted a rather excited Kunou running to and fro throughout palace halls as if she was looking for something or someone. It was during her fifth pass that I finally decided to call out to her and ask what she was doing, only for her to stop suddenly and trip over herself when she heard my yell.
"AH! SENSEI! I've been looking all over for you!" She yelled as she charged over, only to jump behind me when she spotted Sirius in his dog form bounding up to me with a ball in his mouth. "Ahhhh! Sensei! There's a huge dog charging right at us!" She yelped from behind me.
Chuckling at her misunderstanding I explained what, or more who, it was. "Hahaha, Kanou, that's my Dogfather, Sirius!"
To Kunou this was an amazing discovery! She hadn't known that witches and wizards could transform into animals, which in her opinion was a rather awesome ability to have! "So what you're saying sensei is that all witches and wizards can become this 'animagus' thing and they can become any animal they want?!" She questioned excitedly hopping from one foot to another.
Laughing at his protégé's silliness, he explained further. "No no, Kunou. Not any animal they want. A witch or wizard can only turn into one kind of animal, but that animal is random. Some may turn into a cat, others a dog, but once they transform into that animal, that's the only one they can use. Actually, I should say creature rather than animal, as I've read that some witches/wizards have been recorded transforming into bugs." My mention of the dreaded b-word had Kunou making the icky face all young girls could pull off flawlessly.
"Sirius explained it to me the other day, that becoming an animagus is rather difficult and time-consuming and that it technically falls under the transfiguration branch of magic. Luckily for you, as you can already turn into a cute little fox so you won't need to learn this time-consuming magic." I noticed that Kunous' cheeks blushed a little at my calling her cute, but she shook her head and then looked at Sirius as he sat at our feet chewing on a tennis ball before asking.
"Ah Sensei... Why is Mister Sirius actually acting like a dog?" Kunou asked.
I laughed for a few moments, "Ah, well this is my revenge for his prank yesterday. You see, I placed a few spells on those tennis balls that makes him want to chase and chew on them like an actual dog." I explained. Causing Kunou to giggle at our mischief, which has caused her poor mother no end of headaches over the last few days.
"That's so mean, Sensei!" She said between giggles.
I shrugged while unsummoning the tennis balls Sirius was playing with, "Anyways Kunou, what has you so excitable this early in the morning?" I asked her.
But before she could answer, Sirius transformed back into his human form and gave Kunou a wave before rounding on me with a growl.
"YOU!" He barked. "You sneaky little blighter! I couldn't stop chasing those Merlin bedamned balls and what did you apply to them that made me want to eat the damn things?!" He asked while shaking me back and forth.
"Now, now Sirius." I managed to gasp out, "You know the rules about pranking!" I replied cheekily, only to be growled at again. Thankfully, my protégé jumped to my rescue.
"Good morning Mister Sirius!"She chirped happily as she waved at Sirius, then turned to smile at me. "Oh, that's right Sensei! Look!" She said while reaching out in front of her with an open palm. After a moment there was a small flash of light and gripped with her hand a Keyblade. "I finally got my Keyblade sensei!" She gushes excitedly causing Him and Sirius to smile and clap.
Smiling, I reach out a hand and Kunou hands me her Keyblade so that I could inspect it. As I'm checking it Sirius leans over my shoulder to take a better look at it before commenting. "So this is a Keyblade huh? I thought it would be more impressive, but It kinda looks like a toy..." Kunou pouts at his comment which only causes him to chuckle.
Meanwhile, I decided to use the skill: Observe on the keyblade.
"Observe!"
[Keyblade: Starlight]
[Another iconic weapon from the Kingdom Hearts series and was wielded by one of Disney's most famous mascots. Keyblade Starlight is a blade that has survived since antiquity.]
[This Keyblade is a perfect blend of both offense and defensive magic. its current form is a little basic, but like almost all Keyblade, it has massive potential to continue to grow and evolve.]
[This keyblade is also slightly different from its original Disney version, in the fact that it evolves and changes form as The Gamer, you, grows and evolves, growing ever stronger, thus completely getting rid of ever needing to get new weapons!]
[Note: This blade grants its user the ability to manipulate fire in all its forms.]
[Addendum: 10% To all rep gains with Astronauts.]
[Soulbound: Kunou]
After confirming what I had suspected I handed back the blade to Kunou while turning toward Sirius and slyly kicking his ankle for his rude comment about Kunou's weapon, causing him to yelp and jump in the air in pain.
Smirking at a job well done, I turned back to my protégé before saying, "Congratulations Kunou! Now we can begin your training in swordsmanship."
Kunou's small head nods rapidly before jumping up and down while throwing a few fist pumps happily. "Yay! I've been waiting for this!"
I grin at her enthusiasm, {I wonder how long that will last when she realizes it's going to be seriously hard work?} I thought before turning towards Sirius. "And you? What are your plans for today?" I asked him.
Glaring up at me while rubbing his sore ankle he answered, "Well today Lady Yasaka is taking me to the ICW office, as I've finally gotten that trial I deserved in one of their courts. She has informed me that since I am innocent all I'll have to do is allow them to use Veritaserum on me and then give them my memory of the events of that night, while answering all of their questions. Hopefully, all things go well, and I should be cleared of all false charges by as early as this afternoon. Pausing for a moment to catch his breath before a wicked smile crosses his face, "Hehehe, I really wish I could be a fly on the wall when Dumbledore and that utter waste of perfectly good air, Cornelius Fudge, find out I'm a free man later this evening!"
Smirking along with my Godfather I nod in agreement, "Just be cautious when you're out there Sirius, Dumbledore and his cronies will be on the lookout for you, especially that old fool. I have no doubt that he's always flipping every table looking for me and he'll try to get close to you to get control over me." Sirius nods in agreement. "I'll do my best Harry, I won't let him hurt you like that again". My Godfather promises me.
"In any case, I am glad you're set to be free by tomorrow. We'll need to set a time to go to Gringotts as I need to claim my Lordships and get our respective house affairs in order".
Sirius just nods with a grin, "Well enough about that, I better make my way to Lady Yasaka so we can set off in time." He gives Kurou a pat on the head and then walks off to meet with Lady Yasaka.
Finally alone with his protégé I turn to Kunou and ask, "So, are you ready to start training Kunou? I again warn you, my training will be very hard and demanding." She looks at my face for a few moments before giving me a resolute nod as determination fills her eyes. "Yes, Sensei! I want to learn, I want to be strong!" She answers.
I just smile, "Well then, I guess we better get started. Just remember, I'll be with you every step of the way Kunou." She just smiles widely.
I reach out and place my hand on top of her head and cast one of my more useful spells. As I close my eyes a purple outline begins to shine around Kunou and she lets out a grunt as her body suddenly feels heavier.
"I've casted a special gravity spell on you, it'll continually increase the gravity of your body as you grow stronger and adapt to the increased weight. Once your training is done for the day, I'll remove the spell, but for now, just hang in there."
Kunou nods and begins to slowly move around the garden trying to get used to her new weight while trying to swing starlight around. Once she'd found her new sense of balance she turned toward me and nodded. "I think I'm ready, Sensei."
{I'm honestly a little impressed by how quickly she got used to the extra weight. I wonder if it has something to do with her biology?} I wondered. {Or maybe it's because of one of my titles or is she just naturally talented? Maybe all three? Probably all three} I concluded.
"For now Kunou, I want you to swing your Keyblade diagonally and horizontally a hundred times each way," I ordered.
Kunou nods with a determined look and begins to do so while I keep watching to make sure she doesn't hurt herself by overdoing it.
An hour later Eris walks by and briefly watches Kunou as she continues her exercise. Kunou, who is now sweating profusely, has been swinging her Keyblade: Starlight with its ever-increasing weight for a while now, suddenly overswings, which unbalanced her, causing her to trip and land head first onto the pacing below her with such force that it actual crack it a bit. Wincing a bit at the sound, I move to help her get up only for Kunou to jump up quickly and wipe away the small trickle of blood coming from her nose. "I'm a-okay!" She yells out while doing a few fist pumps while picking up her keyblade to finish off the last few reps she has left to do. Watching this scene, Ereshkigal can't help but release a few sweat drops.
"W-what even am I watching?" Eris turns to ask me, to which I just wryly smile back at her.
-----
(Timeskip: That Evening)
~Scottish Highlands, Hogwarts, Headmaster's Office: Dumbledore's PoV~
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was not having a good day at all. {Not at all.} He thought morosely. Not even his favorite lemon Drops were helping him today.
It had all started to go wrong three days ago. Somehow that despicable Rita Skeeter woman had been able to find out about the wards almost totally failing that had left Hogwarts defenseless the other night, and as she was, wrote a vicious piece about that event in that rag they called; The Daily Prophet {Which has caused every parent and their pet House Elf to be on my arse!} He thought irritably. {If I could get my hands on that woman I'd...} Sighing and shaking his head. Now wasn't the time to deal with what ifs. Now was the time to deal with all of the powerful parents who had their children studying here all threatening to pull their children out of Hogwarts.
{I can't have that! I'd lose all my extra benefits from skimming funds off the top of the school budgets!}
It also didn't help that many of the Schools Board now had him by the short and curlies and were demanding answers. Answers he couldn't actually give them, because he was just as clueless as they were!
And if that hadn't been headache-inducing enough, {I've had that fool of a Minister, Cornelius Fudge, come barging into my office late last night!} I groaned, The Minister had shoved his head into the floo sweating like a pig and looking as pale as a ghost, demanding I help him sort out the political shitstorm he was already facing because of Azkaban's complete and total disappearance.
{Of course, by the end of that discussion, I wasn't feeling much better.} I thought ruefully, as my mind drifted back to yesterday morning's early and VERY rude wake-up call...
(Flashbak Start: The Morning after Azkaban Disappearance)
"DUMBLEDORE! DUMBLEDORE YOU'VE GOT TO HELP ME!" Cornelius' voice bellowed out from my office's fireplace.
Being startled awake from my nap on my desk was a very unpleasant wake-up call. "𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱!?" I thought angrily.
"What is it, Minister!" I said shortly, "What is so important that it couldn't wait till much later today?!" I growled at him.
{Doesn't this man know what kind of stress I'm under currently?! First, it's young Harry going missing with no one having a Merlin damned clue where he could possibly be, then it's last night's intruder almost destroying Hogwarts wards, and now THIS!} Grinding my teeth in frustration, I wait for the oaf to answer. {I'll just let him sit there kneeling on the ground with his head poking through the fireplace at an awkward angle.}
"It's BLACK!" Cornelius yells, spittle flying from his mouth.
I tilt my head. "Black? What Black?" I ask, hoping to prod the fool into talking faster.
"SIRIUS BLACK! HE'S NOT DEAD!" Cornelius bellows. "HE'S ESCAPED!"
I found myself jumping to my feet in alarm before even I knew I'd done it and bellowed back at Cornelius, "WHAT?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN SIRIUS BLACK HAS ESCAPED?!"
(Flashback End)
"Ahhhh..." I sighed as I rubbed my aching temples. {Finding out that Sirius was still alive due to the Goblins and had been effectively named Lord Black, was going to make gaining control over Young Harry all the more difficult if Sirius can clear his name...} I groaned internally.
I knew this to be a fact because he was one of the only witnesses still alive, not in jail or clinically insane still to have seen the creation of the Potter's Will. {The Will where they'd named Sirius as Young Harry Guardian and Godfather.} I ground my teeth in frustration.
So now that the rogue was now free and was, technically, Young Harry's legal guardian meant that he'd... "I need to find Young Harry first and then convince Sirius that I know what's best for Him and that he should take time to recover from his stint in Azkaban…" I said aloud but I had really meant was; {With the help of a few compulsion charms, loyalty potions, and maybe a curse or two…}
"But where is that Morgana blasted, boy!?" I growled. "I've had every member of the Order trying to track him down, called in countless favors and still, no one has a Merlin damned clue where that brat has gone!" I yelled while slamming my fists on my desk in front of me.
Leaning back into my chair I continued to think about what had been happening and how they'd all probably backtracked to Young Harry.
At this point, he was almost positive that Young Harry has something to do with poor Lucius's kidnapping and the destruction of Azkaban {Which is highly alarming news without the fact that the brat might have also been involved with the break-in at Gringotts as well.}
There were simply too many coincidences happening all at once for them not to be linked to Harry in some fashion.
He was starting to feel a strange and unwanted feeling that he wasn't fully in control any longer and it was slowly overwhelming him. He hasn't been this unprepared or lacking in information for decades.
He'd just reached over and popped his favorite sweet, Lemon Drops, into his mouth when out of nowhere his office door slammed open, which not only made him jump in his seat but also caused him to start choking on his sweet!
Coughing and almost hacking up a lung, I turned angrily toward the newcomer ready to verbally eviscerate the invader with my righteous fury and make the interloper regret he'd ever had the gall to barge into his domain without informing me! Only to stop suddenly and take in the man.
Standing before in the flesh this time was one Cornelius Fudge, who was once again sweating like a stuffed pig and as pale as a hospital bed sheet.
"A-a-albus! Y-y-you have t-to r-read this!" The incompetent man stammered while forcing a mostly crumbled and damp piece of paper into his hands.
Taking the now damp, from the Minister's sweat, piece of paper from the almost hyperventilating Minister of Magic he made his way back toward his desk to read its contents.
-----
To the British Minister of Magic, Cornelius Oswald Fudge,
Minister, this letter is in regard to the outcome of a court case for one Lord Sirius Black, third of his name.
We, the Judges from the Court of High Justice of the International Confederation of Wizards, write this letter to inform you, the British Minister of Magic, that one Lord Sirius Black, third of his name, has been found not guilty of all charges that had been laid against him on,1st of November 1981, during a trial that had been held late this afternoon.
Early this afternoon, Lord Sirius Black, third of his name, appeared at ICW High Justice Courts and demanded, loudly, that he actually be tried for the supposed massacre he'd been blamed for, but had never had an actual trial for. After Lord Sirius Black had been taken into our custody, which he did not resist, he was then thoroughly questioned under Veritaserum, which he had willingly offered to be placed under. Once our investigators had gathered all the answers they thought were relevant to Lord Black's case, they asked him to provide unaltered, under oath of magic no less, which was again given willingly, memories of the night of the Potter's murder and of the subsequent massacre he was accused of. All evidence was then thoroughly cross-examined by our experts and was found to be free of any form of outside tampering or corruption.
Once all evidence was deemed to be irrefutable the Court, in its infinite wisdom, then declared that Lord Sirius Black, third of his name, innocent of all charges laid against him. As such, we at the ICW now demand that the British Ministry of Magic announce Lord Black's innocence and provide recompense for unwarranted and highly unlawful imprisonment, it should go without say, but again to be thorough, that the Kiss on Sight designation that was placed on Lord Black be immediately canceled. In addition, Lord Black has asked to be reinstated as guardian and given custody of his Godson, Harry James Potter. This request was accepted as Lord Black gave his memories of taking the Godfather Oath.
The British Ministry of Magic has five days to comply with the above-mentioned requirements. Failure to do so may result in sanctions and heavy fines.
We here at the ICW Courts of High Justice thank you for your time.
-----
He had needed to reread the letter three times before its contents fully sunk in, but with each reread he could feel his blood pressure rising and a vein on his temple throb painfully each time his heartbeat.
{When was the last time I'd been so blind sided like this?} He thought with growing shock.
Meanwhile, as he stood there trying to regain control of his emotions, Cornelius was fidgeting nervously and when the oppressing silence became too much for the Minister, he asked; "Well Dumbledore? What are we going to do about this?"
-----
~Yasaka's Palace, Kyoto, Japan: Harry's PoV~
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, we can see a hugely grinning Sirius Black poking a very tired and sore Kunou, who was currently laying spread eagle on the living room floor of the palace.
"You ok down there Princess?" Sirius asked amusedly.
Kunou weakly groans. "Ugh~ Everything hurts... Including my poor tails." She whined pitifully.
Sirius chuckles a bit at her misfortune, only to receive a wallop on the back of his head that had ended up making him eat the floorboard from Kunou's mother, Yasaka, this caused both Ereshkigal and himself to laugh out loud at his misfortune.
Taking pity on his poor protégé, he walks over to Kunou and pats her on the head. "You've done great today Kunou," I say encouragingly, "You were able to adapt quickly and learn how to use Starlight quite effectively, I'm very proud of you!"
This earned me a huge smile from Kunou, only for the moment to be broken due to the glutton's stomach growling loudly in protest, making her sweatdrop and causing everyone to grin in amusement at her.
Lady Yasaka giggles at her daughter's situation. "Alright, let's go eat everyone! Today we're going to celebrate Sirius's freedom and Kunou obtaining her Keyblade!" She announces.
Laughing, everyone gets up and walks out leaving only him to pick up Kunou. Shrugging, he does so and drops her onto his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "AHHhhh! Sensei! That's not how you carry a Princess!" Kunou whines. Grinning at her roguishly, "I know." I replied and ran to catch up with the others as she screamed in protest all the way.
An hour after they were done eating a recharged Kunou quickly runs upstairs to take a bath, Yasaka then turns towards him and asks; "So Harry, I hear that tomorrow you're planning on going to Diagon Alley to claim your Lordships right?"
I nod before replying; "That's the plan m'lady, Sirius and I have to meet with our respective vault managers, him for fully reactivating the Black Family Vaults and actually claim his Lord ring and I need to go claim both the Potters and Peverells Lord rings and ask the Goblins if they have a copy my parents a Will.
Eris frowned for a moment before saying; "I'm pretty sure they will have a copy of the Will Little Master, but the real million galleon question is why it was never activated after their deaths?"
I felt my eyes narrow in thought; "Honestly Eris," I answered slowly, "I'm pretty sure it has something to do with Dumbledore and his machinations for me. Or at the very least he was the driving force involved with the Will being blocked, as he's the only one with enough political clout to pull something like that off without too many people kicking up a fuss."
While almost everyone was frowning in thought, Sirius decided to speak up, "Harry, I also want to contact Mooney."
I turn to look fully at my Godfather before answering him, "You mean Remus Lupin right? Yours and my father's werewolf friend?"
Sirius nods before replying, "That's right, I want to find out why he never looked into your living conditions?" Sirius narrows his eyes in annoyance.
"I might be your legal Godfather Harry, but we both promised your parents to care and look out for you if the worst should happen to them, so far, we've both been piss poor at keeping that promise, but I was locked away and I'm not sure what kept Remus away..."
Closing my eyes I sigh softly, "If I had to guess, I suspect it has again, something to do with our White whiskered Wanker; Dumbledore. That old fool seems intent on ensuring my life is as miserable as is humanly possible." I muttered darkly before continuing, "Just make sure you don't tell him anything about me yet Sirius, not until we know for sure he isn't in Dumbledore's pocket." I turned back to Lady Yasaka, "Anyways, sorry Lady Yasaka, you were in the process of asking me something, yes?"
Lady Yasaka smiles and nods her head in agreement, "That's alright Harry and yes I have a request for you if possible. You see, some of the Vampire Clans want to create an alliance with us, but as I'm tied to Kyoto's lay lines, I'm unable to go personally. So I would be extremely grateful if you could go to Romania as my representative and meet with my opposite representative of the House of Carmilla. From what I've been able to gather, one of the main reasons they're asking for this alliance is because they've apparently been having escalating conflicts with another Vampire House; Tepes."
I felt my eyebrows raise in surprise, "Vampires?" I ask, "I would've thought they'd be too prideful to actually ask for help, especially from another faction?"
Eris decided to speak up, "That's usually how it would go, but because they're undead they might have instinctively sensed you, Harry, Your title as the Master of Death makes them keenly aware of you, not that they know who you are exactly, but they do know you are in Kyoto and most likely apart of the Yokai Faction, otherwise they wouldn't have reached out." She explains.
Lady Yasaka smiled at me, "Besides, this is a great opportunity to spread your name to the other major factions, and that you are a member of my Yokai Faction!" She chitters excitedly, "It's really a win-win. It's also a good idea to make alliances with some of the other minor factions, as there are many that have become more and more unhappy with the Biblical God Factions... The Devils keep reincarnating humans from other factions, the Fallen keep arrogantly doing whatever it is they're doing and heaven's exorcists keep 'defecting' and attacking all other supernatural beings in the name of the Church." Yasaka shakes her head sadly before continuing.
"Although the leaders of those factions try their best to contain their issues, each of them struggles with the Devil's Faction, the Maou's keep having their progressive policies stonewalled by their elders who are mostly hardcore traditionalists called the 'Old Satan Faction'. In the case of the Fallen Angel Faction, their leadership is too lazy to truly get their followers to listen and many of their stronger members are battle addicts and last, but not least, the Seraph Faction are probably in the most precarious position out of all the other Biblical Factions; as they are not only unable really control or keep an eye on the Church, but they have no safe way to replenish their numbers, as for reasons beyond me, God decided that his children can't indulge in a little fun," Yasaka comments cause Sirius's eyes to bug out of his head at the very idea of not ever getting laid, "so each time an Angel falls, either in battle or become a Fallen, they become that much weaker." She finished explaining.
I nod in understanding, "Sigh... What a fine mess everyone is in. Anyway, I would be very happy to go and meet the Carmilla House representative in your place, Lady Yasaka." I then turned to Sirius and asked him, "So Sirius, what do you say, you old dog? Want to come with?"
Sirius grins widely, happy to be included in whatever shenanigans his Godson will inevitably get into, and since he decided to join the Yokai Faction himself, adding the House Black into their ranks, "Sure! Besides, I've heard that this kind of Vampires are supposed to be very different from our wizarding kind and more importantly, the women are supposed to be extremely beautiful!"
I only rolled my eyes at Sirius being a horndog, "And don't forget they're also 'extremely strong and deadly', you perverted mutt!" I grumble as Sirius only chuckles, causing me to shake my head in exasperation.
-----
(Timeskip: The next morning)
~Yokai Headquarters, Yasaka's Palace, Kyoto, Japan: Kunou's PoV~
The next morning, found both me and sensei back in the Palace gardens, as Sensei patiently tried to teach me how to call my Keyblade: Starlight.
Sensei was currently wielding his own evolved Keyblade: Oathkeeper in his main hand, while trying to demonstrate to me how to hold my blade properly, "Okay Kunou," Sensei said after he was sure I wasn't going to stab myself with my sword, "a Keyblade's true strength comes from your heart and your willpower." He explained, "But before that, you need to be able to summon Starlight whenever you need it. To that end I want you to close your eyes and focus on the constant warmth you can feel coming from your chest area, Which I'm sure you've already experienced yesterday when you first called Starlight to yourself."
I nodded, he was right, after all, I do remember. So I immediately closed my eyes while trying to concentrate on that feeling again. It felt like I'd been searching for hours now, searching for that elusive warmth I felt yesterday. But every time I think I can feel it, it seems to slip away. {Stupid warmth!} I growled. {Why doesn't it just sit there and wait for me to grab it!} It was like a slippery eel. Always slipping and sliding from my grasp.
It was just as I was about to give up in frustration when I felt it! I instantly reacted by reaching out and grabbing that elusive warmth toward me. Without even opening my eyes I knew I had succeeded. But when I did open them, I noticed instantly that the Keyblade had begun to glow softly with a soft white light. From the corner of my eye, I could see Sensei smiling gently as watched me. As I continued to hold the warmth, I could feel the light spread toward my body as it too began to softly glow in the same soft light as my blade.
I don't know where Sensei got it, but he pulled out a large mirror and placed it in front of me. Looking at myself, I couldn't help but widen my eyes in shock. as I stared in awe of my body. I couldn't help but feel ecstatic and unbelievably powerful! And that was when reality hit me. Slowly at first, the glow faded from my body and within a few seconds, it dissipated fully and I found myself falling to my knees, my lungs greedily sucking in lungfuls of air as quickly as they could manage. I didn't even notice that Sensei had taken to kneeling next to me as he gently rubbed my head. {Ahhhhh, Sensei's head pats are the BEST!} I thought dreamily.
"Are you ok?" He asked me softly, "I know from personal experience that first intentional summoning can really take a lot out of you, just be grateful it didn't happen to you in mid-battle like it did for me, hahaha!" Sensei laughed ruefully at himself.
I could few a couple of sweatdrops but I politely decide to ignore his awkward and silly comment and nod with a tired smile.
"Y-yes Sensei," I said between breaths, "It felt amazing! It felt so warm and caring!"I gushed.
Sensei just snorted, "Of course it did Kunou! That light comes from you! That's because that's your heart Kunou!" I smiled up at him while only slightly blushing at his praise.
Out of nowhere Sensei and I heard clapping coming from behind us so we both turned to look towards whoever it was, only to find out that it was my mother and Lady Ereshkigal who were both smirking at us!
My slight blush explodes into a full one while Sensei simply chuckles amusingly at their situation.
After a moment more of laughing at me, my mother walked toward me and picked me up for one of her bone-crushing hugs.
"Well done Kunou! Now let's go get some food and then you can take a bath." She tells me.
I pouted a bit at her instructions, "Aww~ Mom! I'm not tired! I can keep going!" I wheedled.
Mom just smiles at me. "Not for today, Harry has to leave with Sirius, and besides, you still have lessons later on." She chitters
"Noooo~! Save me Sensei!" I beg him.
But all Sensei does is smirk at me while waving my mother on! I quickly turn to give my best puppy eyes to Lady Ereshkigal, but alas, she only giggles at my pending misfortune and turns toward Sensei.
"You ready Harry?" Lady Ereshkigal asks Sensei.
Sensei grins and winks at her. "Of course Eris. Hopefully, a lot of things will come to light after this visit. I just hope that we aren't seen by any of the old man's followers, I honestly don't feel like being harassed today." Sensei frowned.
Lady Ereshkigal simply gently pats his head and smiles at him.
{I almost feel bad for anyone who was stupid enough to annoy Sensei. Almost.} I thought, but then shrugged it off, anyone stupid enough to pick on Sensei really wasn't worth keeping around anyway.
Mister Sirius steps out onto the garden and saddles up to Sensei's side, "Well, I guess it's time to go, Harry, as we're already burning daylight!"
Sensei simply nods at Sirius and with a hand wave, he opens a dark corridor for both himself and Mister Sirius, who runs and jumps in with a manic grin on his face. Sensei simply shakes his head in amusement before giving me and Mother a farewell wave and walks in. A second later the corridor vanishes.
Lady Ereshkigal smiles at me then cheekily whispers to me "Let go bug your mother! She needs to stop working so much and relax right Kunou?" She giggles as she pulls me toward the Moms throne room.
-----
~Diagon Alley, Gringotts Bank, London, England: Harry's PoV~
A dark corridor suddenly appeared right in front of the the only Wizard bank in England, making a few wizards and witches jump in fright at the spectacle, only to gape stupidly as they watched Lord Sirius Black fall out of what they can only describe as a solid wall of shadow
"Wooo~ that's always fun!" Sirius says to himself aloud.
The next moment the nearby witches and wizards see a young boy calmly walk out of the same wall of shadow and grin in amusement at his Godfather's antics.
"Hahaha, it is fun right!?" I laugh, "Anyways let's go!" I say to Sirius and with a bright smile on our faces we make our way towards Gringotts, not noticing a short man with long, straggly, ginger hair known to many of the locals, as Mundungus Fletcher, who just happened to have witnessed their entrance. "THAT'S DEM ALRIGHT! I gotta go and contact Dumbledore!"
As soon as both Sirius and I walked into the main lobby proper, all of the Goblins froze as they felt an abnormal amount of both fear and dread crawl up their spines. Not noticing the Goblins collectively shitting bricks in their pants, I made my way towards the nearest free Goblin teller, completely oblivious to the fact that with each step I take toward the poor old Goblin teller who has started to tremble in abstract terror of the little demons making his way toward him. "So Sirius, what's this about you going on a date with one of Lady Yasaka inugami?" I smirked cheekily at my Godfather.
Sirius coughs and splutters for a moment before answering, "H-how did you know?! That was supposed to be a secret!" He sputters. I just laugh. "Sirius, everyone knows!" I replied. He sighs dramatically, before going on to brag about his date night with the inugami named Yui.
"And then we went to the nearby forest to run, it was rather fun!"
I chuckle, "That sounds more like you took each other for a walk hehe!" I cackled loudly.
Sirius' eyes twitch a bit, probably remembering my prank from yesterday. "Quiet you!" He ordered me just as we reached the teller. "Hello Master Te-" I pause and look confusedly toward the old Goblin Teller, who was clutching at his chest, while his eyes were bugging out of his head while staring fearfully at me before finally gasping and falling flat onto the teller's desk in front of him. The silence was deafening.
Both Sirius and I stare in disbelief.
"Sooo, Sirius, I think you might just be the first wizard to have killed a Goblin with your face alone…".
Sirius, still in shock, sends me a sidelong look, before replying, "I call bullshit, you know all the ladies love me, Harry"
While they were trash-talking to each other as their own form of dealing with shock, everyone else within the bank could only look on in shock at the seemingly nonchalant conversation that they were having. This calm was suddenly shattered when the huge solid main doors near the far wall of the bank were suddenly slammed open and an even louder cacophony of noise echoed throughout the main lobby. Within the blink of an eye, both Sirius and I found ourselves surrounded by almost an entire legion's worth of very sharp weapons pointed at us. I take a moment to look toward my Godfather and say, "See, I told you it was your face that scared them." I snarked at Godfather, who just sent me a withering stare in reply.
Once the legion of annoyed Goblins settles into defensive positions, a much better armor Goblin walks in. There was even a convenient tag on his chest clearly telling all that he was 'The Manager'.
The larger Goblin stops in front of me stares for a moment then looks toward the now clearly very dead Goblin laying face down at the Teller. The awkward silence drags on and just when I thought he was about to say something the silhouette of a giant black dragon appeared behind me and seemed to snarl and open its huge glowing green eyes at the now clearly terrified Goblin Manager.
I couldn't hear the poor Goblin's mind, but I could guess, that his current thought process probably amounted to something like; "I am going to die! I am going to die! I AM GOING TO DIE!"
I continued to lightly smile as I patiently waited for the Goblin Manager to stop having his mental breakdown so we could actually talk.
Sirius, bless him, was totally clueless about the current hardships the Goblin Manager, and every other Goblin in the building for that matter was currently under and had decided to speak up, which to my amazement, actually caused the Goblin Manager out of his nightmare induced hallucination.
"Ummm, Goblin Manager, sir, in our defense we hadn't even had the chance to say anything before this Goblin seemed to simply kick the bucket. Poor work ethics I say, seeing as he couldn't wait until we were finished with our business." He callously says while shrugging.
I couldn't help giving my Godfather my most impressive deadpan to date. But he only shrugged again in response.
While Sirius and I had our little banter, the Goblin Manager finally managed to regain some type of composure. "Cough-Cough…" He started by clearing his throat before asking, "R-r-right, u-u-umm h-how can G-Gringotts help you g-gentleman today?" Before noticing my stare at the still probably semi-warm dead Goblin next to us. "Errr, don't worry about him g-gentleman." He points rudely at the very dead Goblin. "He was old. It was bound to happen at some point, we're just very sorry you were the ones to experience his clearly total lack of good service!"
I just nod patiently toward the Goblin, while Sirius was still a bit confused at why the Goblins seem so nervous at the moment. {I wonder if they're simply all down with something? Can Goblins even get sick?} Sirius' thoughts were clearly visible on his face.
In an attempt to move this mess along, and to hopefully move away from the dead Goblin laying next to him I ask, "Well, My Godfather and I are here to talk to our respective vault managers, if you could send us to them or call them here, we would both be very grateful."
The Goblin Manager nods, "Yes! Yes! We can certainly do that for you g-gentlemen, if you would simply tell me your names I can take you to your vault managers".
Sirius still looks toward the Goblin in confusion and suspicion,{Goblins are never nice to Wizards! I know I've been locked away for a long time, but this is just disturbing! They're acting so politely... it's like he's terrified of something, Oh well not my problem}
While Sirius was having 'deep' thoughts, I decided to speak for the both of us, "I'm Harry James Potter and my companion is Lord Sirius Black."
The Goblin Manager rapidly nods and waves at the both of them to follow him. As soon as they've both left the room, the entire legion of security Goblins drop to their knees, some even begin to vomit right then and there. Common thoughts between the remaining Goblins ranged from; {That child was NOT normal!} to {I will die a Happy Goblin if I never see that little monster again!}
Harry's sheer presence was enough to make hardened Goblins warriors want to run for their lives, some actually looked at the still very dead Goblin and cursed the lucky bastard for actually dying so quickly while they had been stuck within spitting distance of that little monster!