Blue flame of the east, Red flame of the west

This is my first English fanfic. Please review. I need to know how bad I did this.
Warning: People say I have the most curious sense of ironic humor. It might show up in this chapter.
I like to thank all the people who faithfully reviewed this fic. I also give a thousand thanks to Roxy, who volunteered to Beta for me. Gam-ssa!! -.- _ _ -.-

Chapter 6: Answers and more questions

Shortly after breakfast, the mail came. Nakajawa found a letter from Hogwarts. He looked at the envelope made of heavy parchment, closed with a wax seal and bearing no stamp with interest and suspicion.

"D'ya go to an old school, Harry? Like really Goth?"

"Yeah, almost a thousand years old, I think."

"Holy shit! Then it's going to be the oldest school that exists in this planet!"

"Yeah, I think it is. Anyway, I think letter is addressed to the head of this household" said Harry quickly, cutting Nakajawa.

"Duh, then I think Jiho should see this," said Nakajawa, shooting a suspicious glance at Harry.

Harry sighed. Unlike most of the Kuze's, Nakajawa was inquisitive almost to the point of nosiness. He was told off by Ryo quite a few times for invading Harry's privacy, but that wasn't enough to stop Nakajawa ask the question's Harry dreaded the most. At least he had the decency to not ask about the scar after the first try.

Still, Nakajawa was very friendly to Harry in his own curious way. Unlike everyone else in the Kuze family, Nakajawa was only two years older then Harry. Nakajawa seemed to like having someone of his age around the house to talk with for a change. Nakajawa had declared that Harry was too Victorian and innocent for a teenager. He thereafter seemed to be determined to corrupt Harry as much as he could: he introduced Harry to the yakuza code of conduct, told him about mafia scamming, gave him cigarettes (Harry refused to smoke one), taught him how to create poisonous gases and bombs, showed him extremely racy websites and magazines (Harry ran away from him when he did this), and showed him how the hack computer networks. Nakajawa even introduced Harry to his three hacker friends: Punisher, Pilgrim, and BlueFlame (Nakajawa's ID was, quite appropriately, 'black_truth_seeker'). Nakajawa also gave Harry a head band (it was, of course, black) and a box of band-aids, telling him it'll come useful if he wanted to hide his scar.

Jiho and Ryo read the Hogwarts letter with brows raised. Both of them seemed to be thinking hard. Finally Jiho spoke to Harry.

"It's from your Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. He says he recently heard the about the incident in your guardian's house. (Everyone let out a wordless snarl at this) He sends his sincere regrets on the situation and thanks the Kuzeyamashiro family for taking care of you for the past 4 weeks. He also informs us that he found a family that is willing to take you in for your future summer holidays and someone will be coming to our house to take you to this family."

"I like to have a word with this person," said Ryo low voice. He sounded like a prelude to a storm.

"You're not talking with anyone, Ryo. I'll talk with this headmaster person," said Jiho.

Ryo looked like they were about to protest the arrangement, but Jiho fixed a death glare at him.

"YOU attack first before you talk," said Jiho, pointing a finger at Ryo. "Not to mention using inappropriate comments. I don't. Besides, you have to stop Nakajawa."

All eyes turned to Nakajawa. He looked like he was seconds away from exploding. Ryo managed to subdue the explosion by wresting Nakajawa down to the ground, but his shouts of oaths and curses escaped from his mouth.

* * * * *

Harry tried to prepare himself for leaving in his room the rest of the morning. Packing wasn't hard; he always kept all his magic-related objects safe in his trunk and never left the trunk unlocked or open when he wasn't alone in his room. All Harry had to do was put the books the trio gave him to keep inside his trunk. The hard part will be leaving the Kuzes ... saying good bye to Jiho.

Then Nakajawa came in his room. He looked reasonably calm.

"Getting ready to leave?"

Harry just nodded his head.

"Look, I know you don't want to leave. I'm not dumb."

Harry said nothing. Nakajawa looked at Harry with piercing eyes.

"You don't have to tell me why you're leaving. You must have your reasons. But I'll tell you this: if anyone in your school hurts you in anyway after all you've been through, I'm going to go to that school of yours and kill every single one of them … even if I have to raid an army base and rob a helicopter to do it."

Harry sniffled; he didn't know Nakajawa cared about him that much. Nakajawa nudged Harry's arm playfully.

"I'm gonna miss you … Looks like I'm gonna be stuck with a pack of adults and babies again."

"The adults aren't bad," said Harry smiling at him faintly.

"They're too decent for a criminal like me," said Nakajawa. Both of them laughed.

"So, does your school have girls?" asked Nakajawa with a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Yeah …" answered Harry a bit uncertainly.

"OOooo… then they're gonna have a surprise of their life! You better get ready for a pack of girls chasing your arse!"

"Yeah right," snorted Harry.

"Yo, haven't you seen yourself in the mirror lately? You've got a mask that will melt a girl's heart!"

With that Nakajawa brandished a mirror in front of Harry's nose. Harry looked into it bemusedly. A stranger looked back at him. His hair was so short he looked like a priest. He looked a great deal older then he last looked at himself in the mirror. That wasn't all. His eyes … he never realized they were that large. The green stood out too: real emerald green, with a jewel-like sparkle in it. Over all he now had a scholarly air with a thoughtful stare. It was so different from his former self it frightened him.

"You look like you're scared half out of your wits with your own face," remarked Nakajawa.

"That is so not me," muttered Harry. "And my scar is out in the open."

Nakajawa turned rather thoughtful at that.

"Wait for minute," he said and left the room.

He returned with a wig and jar in his hand.

"I made this out of your own hair," said Nakajawa, showing him the wig. "I was planning to wear it myself, but it looks like you need it more then me."

Nakajawa showed Harry how to fix the wig on his head so it won't fall off. Harry got the hang of it quickly. With the wig, he looked more like his old-self: a scrawny looking bespectacled kid with black hair sticking all over the place. The bangs were a bit long, though. When he looked in the mirror, his eyes were half hidden by the black strands. That relieved him somehow.

"If you don't want to wear the wig or the headband, but you want to hide the scar, use this grease paint," said Nakajawa handing him the little jar. "It comes off with water, but it doesn't leave any smell and works with all skin types. Practice putting an even layer on it before you try, or you'll look like you've got an ugly lump on the middle of your forehead. Of course you can use the band-aids I gave you."

"Thanks Nakajawa," said Harry with feeling. Nakajawa grinned.

"Once you get back to school, mail me, OK?"

Harry assured him he will.

* * * * *

Harry didn't forget about asking Ryo about the hwe-seng-ma, but Harry had a devil of a time trying to find him that afternoon. Finally Harry found Ryo was playing go with Jiho in the backyard. Harry never got to understand the game. He knew it was a strategy game, but that was about it. All he could see was flat white or black stone pieces covering the board in a (seemingly) haphazard fashion. Thinking he should ask Ryo when he was done with the game, Harry started to watch.

Harry had no idea what was actually going on, but he could see more white pieces then black. Since Ryo always played with white, Ryo looked like he was winning. Lo and behold …

"The battle field is dead Jiho. There is nowhere the black pieces can go. Give up."

Jiho muttered something unpleasant under his breath in Japanese and threw the black piece he was holding back to a wooden container.

"If it's Master of go Ryo's word, it must be the word of the prophet," Jiho said moodily. "Hi Harry my man, why are you wearing Nakajawa's wig?"

"He gave it too me," said Harry quickly. "I like to talk to Ryo …"

* * * * *

Ryo looked at Harry in a rather (for him) amused expression.

"Well, talk."

Muteness over came Harry again. Ryo seemed to have a natural talent in shutting people up.

"Er …"

Ryo raised a brow, making it even harder for Harry to unglue his tongue.

"Er … I was wondering … Err…"

"If you do not speak up, I will be obliged to tell Jiho he needs to make another vile concoction."

The threat was scary enough for Harry.

"I was wondering what a hwe-seng-ma is," said Harry in a rush.

Ryo looked (for him) blank. He seemed to ponder whether or not he should answer the question. Oh please tell me … thought Harry desperately, his fingers crossed behind his back …

"Two squares: one inside, one outside; life; ma."

Harry felt his jaw drop. What kind of answer is this?

Ryo left the room, leaving Harry with his jaw on the floor.

Definition of Hwe-seng-ma -- two squares: one inside, one outside; life; ma.

Bloody Asians!!

* * * * *

After several hours of futile brain raking, Harry declared temporary surrender and tried to read a Confucius text while keeping an eye on Jiho's and Ryo's numerous nieces and nephews. It was a futile attempt. The little-ones where everywhere: playing around, accidentally overturning a large vase (Harry had to dash for the vases rescue), throwing things at him, jumping on him, drooling on his book, whining in his ear, and pulling his wig hair. They wanted him to play with them. Normally, Harry was only glad to give in. Today, he was too distracted.

Ryo gave him a riddle. The solution of the riddle was the answer. That much was clear.

The only problem was he had no clue how the solve it.

Good thing I didn't ask him about 'shim-yun-ui-noon' He befuddled my brain enough to last a day.

Finally, Harry had enough hair-pulling and whining. He sighed, set his book aside, and started tickling Neoko, his favorite little-one. She shrieked with laughter while the others started piling on top of him.

* * * * *

Harry had just finished memorizing the 2950th word in the 3000 word text. 50 more words and he was done. His right arm was sore from all the practice writing (Jiho insisted he should write every word at least 30 times), and his right hand blackened by sumi. Harry stifled a yawn. It was 2:30 AM; thinking he had enough studying for one day, put down his Chinese calligraphy brush (Ryo said Chinese should be written with these brushes, not pens). It's time to go to bed.

But he couldn't sleep. Ryo's riddle was plaguing his mind. Damn you Ryo, couldn't you be more specific?! thought Harry, scowling.

Two squares: one inside, one outside; life; ma.

Shaking his head, Harry directed his thoughts to all the words he memorized that day (or yesterday).

Two squares: one inside, one outside.

The image of a large square en-squaring a smaller square came to his mind.

Then it hit him: hwe.

Harry sprang up, turned on the lights, took his abandoned brush and wrote the following:

Ryo was referring to the Chinese letter hwe. He was pronouncing the word in Korean. Harry thanked Jiho a thousand thanks for teaching him how to pronounce a Chinese word in Chinese, Japanese and Korean.

"hwe … equivalent of the prefix re- or the word return."

"seng … Ryo said life. Then life-seng, or birth-seng."

"ma … there's a lot of these … horse, definitely not. The king's word … nope. Damn, where's the book of 3000 words?!"

Harry grabbed the text and searched through every word that was pronounced 'ma.'

"To sharpen or touch … to curse or swear … to sleep … damn, these are verbs! Where are the nouns?! The king's word … female monk … demon."

He found it: demon.

"A rebirth demon,"

A rebirth demon: a dead evil spirit trying to 'resurrect' itself. Harry read enough Asian ghost stories to know what this sort of demon was capable of. Suppressing a shudder, he remembered it looked like a sewn rag doll. It had no legs. The thing tried to cut off Harry's legs.

"Bloody hell … sewn body parts … then that thing …"

He couldn't take it. He dashed to the nearest bathroom and started to retch violently. After everything in his stomach came out, he started to calm down.

"Bloody hell!! How many people did it kill before me?!"

* * * * *

Harry slept fretfully that night. The nightmare … or rather just a dream … Harry had that night was an odd one. He saw Ryo fighting two groups of wizards. The first group looked like a pack of Death Eaters; the other looked like ordinary wizards. Neither group was any match with Ryo. Before they had the chance to cast a spell on him, Ryo bashed them with his sword or kicked them senseless. The fight itself was rather dreadful, but Ryo managed to batter every wizard unconscious to the ground. At the point Ryo was kicking the unconscious bodies into a ditch, Harry woke up.

It was rather late. After blinking uncertainly for several miniutes, Harry decided to clean up the mess he left abandoned last night before he ate breakfast. He was just finished poring the remaining sumi into a bottle when he heard the door bell ringing. He heard a little-one bounding down the hallway. Judging from the sound of the laughter, it was Ara (another favorite besides Neoko). He thought nothing about it until he heard Ara screaming.

Harry ran into the hallway in alarm.

"Ara, what is it?!"

Ara came running into Harry arms, sobbing with fright. It took a while for her to say anything amidst the sobbing and screaming.

"Yakuza!!" she screamed, her arms folded tightly around Harry's neck.

"Yakuza?" repeated Harry, bewildered. What was a Japanese gang doing at the Kuze house?

"Where?" asked Harry, giving Ara a reassuring pat on the back.

She pointed at the open entrance door, still screaming and sobbing. He looked at the 'yakuza' and felt like screaming himself: it was Professor Severus Snape. That wasn't all: Alastor "Mad-eye" Moody, Professor Minerva McGonagall and Albus Dumbledore were there as well.

Professors Snape, Moody and McGonagall made a disastrous attempt to dress like muggles. Professor McGonagall was wearing a medieval lady gown. Moody wore a leather jacket, black (ripped) jeans and a red T-shirt that had a picture of a skull in the middle. Overall he looked like an elderly biker. Snape wore head to foot black: black boots, black tuxedo, black vest, black tie and a black long coat. To give Snape credit, he was the most successful of the three, despite the fact he made himself look like a sleek criminal. Dumbledore didn't even try: he was wearing long dark-blue robes but wasn't wearing a wizard hat. All except Dumbledore (who looked a bit amused) seemed to be taken aback at Ara's behavior.

Before Harry could say anything, there was a sound of rushing feet. The entire Kuze family was roused by Ara's screams, and soon enough, more sporadic screams came out as they saw Professors Moody and Snape. They need clarification, thought Harry.

"Sir?" said Harry loudly.

The screaming continued.

"QUEIT!!" shouted Harry.

The screaming stopped.

"Who you are you?!" demanded Ryo, who looked slack-jawed (if that was possible).

Dumbledore bowed slightly.

"I'm Albus Dumbledore; headmaster of Harry's school."

The look on Ryo's face was classic.

"You are Albus Dumbledore?" said Jiho weakly, his eyes bulging slightly.

"I am," said Dumbledore calmly. "And everyone must be the Kuzeyamashiros."

"I can't thank you enough for taking care of Harry," continued Dumbledore. "Though I was aware Harry's Aunt and Uncle were not … the most loving people in the world, I never thought they would go that far in child abuse. Harry," he said looking at Harry with a sad smile on his face. "This is the failure of my part as the Headmaster of the school. Please forgive me."

Harry never heard Dumbledore sound so earnest with feeling. The Kuzes were impressed.

"I confess I thought the worst of you Headmaster," said Ryo. "But now I see I am wrong. Forgive me for my presumptuousness."

He bowed. The rest of the family followed suit.

"Now, now, don't make me blush," said Dumbledore. "Anyway, I'm afraid I must take Harry away from you today. School starts on September 1st, and he doesn't even have his school supplies!"

"Really?" said Jiho. "But surely he doesn't have to leave now. Would you like to have breakfast with us, Headmaster Dumbledore?"

"I don't want to intrude," said Dumbledore.

"Oh no, not at all," said Jiho cheerfully. "Besides, Harry hasn't eaten his breakfast yet, and we can hardly send him away without feeding him."

* * * * *

Harry and Nakajawa had to continuously stifle their laughter during breakfast. It was just too funny.

Albus Dumbledore, in his socks (very interesting socks too: one was pink with golden duck patterns, the other was yellow-green with silvery frog patterns) sitting cross-legged in front of a small Japanese table, his long sweeping beard threatening to dunk into his miso soup, clumsily using chopsticks and trying (but failing) to eat his fish. Nakajawa and Harry finally lost it when Jiho offered Dumbledore a beard-holder (parrot-green with pink poke-a-dotes); Dumbledore immediately stuffed his beard into the bag and hug it around his neck. ("This is the most ingenious item, Mr. Jiho. Where can I get one of this?" "You can have that one," "Thank you very much!!")

* * * * *

The adults of the Kuze family requested an urgent interview with Dumbledore. The great man, after hearing the reason (Harry didn't get to hear it), decided to stay. Snape, of all people, was going to take him to the Weasleys.

Aunt Imu gave Harry hastily made lunch (very huge) and Nakajawa a lumpy package before everyone bade him farewell. Neoko and Ara were the hardest to say good-bye to: They kept on sobbing like Harry was about to die or something. He was quite touched, though.

"Ooh-bba ga-ji-ma~~~~!!" wailed Ara. Neoko was bawling her eyes out in Harry's shirt.

"Don't cry Ara, Neoko," said Harry throatily, hugging the two girls tightly.

"Mmm, Harry ooh-bba will come back, right?" said Jiho as he detached the sobbing girls from Harry.

Harry sniffled. He understood the implication of Jiho's words: he was welcome to return to the Kuzes. Harry felt his throat constrict with emotion. When will I meet them again?

Jiho gave Harry a piece of paper with the Kuzes address and phone number written on it.

"Give us a call or send us a letter once you get to your friend's house," said Jiho. "Don't take off the bandages on your left hand before you see a medical professional. No strenuous physical activities or sports before school starts either; your thighs can't handle it yet."

Harry nodded as he tucked in the piece of paper in his pocket. He gave one last hug to Ara, Neoko and little-one co., and shook hands with Nakajawa (who was actually sniffling). Feeling it was most appropriate, he bowed to the Kuzes in Asian style, saying:

"Thank you for all you have done. I have incurred a debt I can't repay in this lifetime," and turned away.

Before the entrance door closed behind him, Harry heard Jiho's farewell.

"Sayonara, nae-dong-seng…"

* * * * *

The portkey (a large black cane umbrella) sent Harry and Snape to a room in the Leaky Cauldron. Harry blinked, and looked at Snape, who was taking off his long coat.

"Am I to meet the Weasleys at the Leaky Cauldron, Professor Snape?"

"Yes. So you finally learned how to think, Potter?"

Harry ignored Snape's last remark

"When are they coming?"

"At 1," said Snape shortly. He was now wearing his usual black robes. Harry suddenly felt impish. Nakajawa's influence is rubbing off me.

"Professor Snape, did you just have to wear head to foot black and scare a bunch of innocent children?"

"Ten points from Gryffindor for your cheek Potter!"

"You can't do that," said Harry calmly.

"I will if you do it again during term," snarled Snape, obviously angry for not scaring Harry with his last statement.

"Professor Snape,"

"What now, Potter?" snapped Snape.

"I found out what a hwe-seng-ma is."

Snape stared at Harry. Harry calmly pulled out a sheet of paper, wrote hwe-seng-ma in Chinese letters, and gave it to Snape.

"It's a rebirth demon; a dead spirit trying to resurrect itself. I think the one attacked me already killed a number of people before it came to Privet Drive." Harry said quietly.

Snape's face turned paler and grimmer after Harry's explanation. He stared at the three letters, and then Harry.

"How did you find it out, Potter?" Harry was stunned at Snape's tone.

"I-I figured out the Chinese letters of its name, sir. The name implied such, and I did see the demon. It-it looked like a roughly sewn rag doll." said Harry, feeling a trifle sick.

"You know Chinese, Potter?" said Snape, a sounding bit incredulous, if that was possible.

"Just the words, sir. I learned them over the summer."

Snape seemed to consider his words. Then he looked at Harry. Their eyes met.

To Harry's amazement, Snape broke the glance almost immediately, looking shocked and startled. He turned abruptly away, and started muttering to himself as he left the room. But Harry swore he heard Snape say:

"Shim-yun eyes…"

* * * * *

Harry sat in a chair staring at a wall. He was breathing rather fast.

Snape said "Shim-yun eyes." He was sure of it. Harry knew enough Korean to know that the [ui] in "Shim-yun-ui-noon" was a lexical suffix that indicated possession and [noon] was 'eye'. Snape knew what it meant. But how was he going to ask Snape?

Then there were these strange reactions when Harry looked at other people straight in the eye. Some were startled, some looked awed, some surprised, and some looked downright uncomfortable. He stared at people in the eye before this summer and it never happened. Harry was quite sure it started since this summer. Did shim-yun eyes have anything to do with it?

Harry sighed. I get one answer then a million more questions comes tumbling down. And I can't ask questions because they won't be answered. Frankly, he was getting rather tired of all the questions.

Harry looked at his watch: 10:30; two hours and 30 minute to kill. Snape wasn't in the Leaky Cauldron anymore; obviously he left. Thinking he should get his school supplies, Harry finally got out of his chair. Also feeling he couldn't take any staring eyes in this state, Harry took off his wig (which was fixed on his head ever since Nakajawa gave it to him) and covered his scar with his headband before he left.

Harry stared at his list of books and supplies.

Course Books:
The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5 by Miranda Goshawk
Advanced Transfiguration by Tracey Figure
The Iliad by Homer
Beginners guide to Chi-gong-yup-gi by Liung-pei Lee
Choon-choo-gyoung translated by James Courlander.
Joo-yuk translated by James Courlander.
The Bhagavad-Gita translated by Barbara Stoler Miller.
The book of thousand words from Mitsushiba books.
Prepare yourself for the worst: an O.W.L. guide from Obscurus books.
Cracking the O.W.L. exams from Harcount books.

Other Equipment:
1 wooden bokken
1 set of Kendo uniform
1 pair of running shoes
1 martial arts training outfit
1 set of Chinese calligraphy equipment (rice paper only)
Red and black sumi

Foreign magic studies require a lot thought Harry, shaking his head. He first went to Gringotts and refilled his money bag. He withdrew more then usual since he was thinking of buying some books about Ancient Runes and Sanskrit (Jiho recommended this) as well. He first visited Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. He was surprised to find half of the shop filled with a large stack of boxes, which he later found out to be boxes containing running shoes. Harry was trying on a dark-blue dress robe when he saw the last person he wanted to see in this or any other world: Draco Malfoy.

Malfoy didn't seem to notice Harry was there at first. He simply picked up a pair of running shoes of his size and started looking at the dress robes. Before Harry could get out of the way, Malfoy spotted him.

"Hello, I never saw you at Hogwarts before."

Malfoy apparently didn't recognize him. Harry had no desire to correct Malfoy and start the inevitable squabbling. He decided to act like a foreigner.

"I do not attend Hogwarts. Who are you?" said Harry, imitating Ryo's voice and accent as best as he could.

"Draco Malfoy. And you?"

"Xiu Shirakawa," said Harry automatically. The name came to him naturally as Harry Potter after three weeks with Ryo.

"Shew?" said Malfoy, smirking.

"X-I-U Draco-goon."

"Japanese? But you're not an Asian," drawled Malfoy, looking at Harry's eyes. Harry did some quick thinking.

"No, but my stepfather is,"

"Are both of your parents magical?" asked Malfoy.

"Yes, my stepfather is a chi master though." Harry said as a good measure.

Malfoy smirked. "Ah, so are you transferring to Hogwarts?"

"No, I am just visiting England," Harry paused, then for some reason he blurted out:

"So, you go to Hogwarts. Is it true Harry Potter goes there?"

Malfoy made a derisive snort and replied, "Yeah, he goes there. We are in the same year, in fact. You'll never meet a more arrogant, self-important jerk."

'He's summing up himself' thought Harry.

"You don't look surprised," drawled Malfoy. Harry did some more quick thinking.

"I never thought him as someone larger then life."

"You're right in thinking that. He's real jerk you know. All he got is some talent in Quidditch and fame, and boasts about it to everyone."

Insert 'money' instead of 'fame' then we have a good assessment of you, Malfoy.

"Really? I did not think he would be that bad. Then again, fame, power and money destroys a person," said Harry, making sure Malfoy hear him say 'power and money.'

Malfoy smirked unpleasantly. "Too bad you don't go to Hogwarts. We could have been good friends."

Not in a million years, Malfoy!!!

"Have you found everything, Draco?" said an unpleasantly familiar voice.

It was Lucius Malfoy. Harry did his best to look mildly surprised.

"Yes. Father, this is Shew Shirakawa," added Draco, waving a hand at Harry.

Mr. Malfoy didn't seem to recognize Harry either. (Damn, can a hair-cut and hiding a feature of your face change a person this much?) He cocked a condescending brow at Harry. Harry made an internal snort at this.

Thinks he's really important and high-class, doesn't he? You're more like a sanshita with Voldemort as your Oyabun to me.

Impishness getting the better of him again, Harry spread his legs little beyond shoulder length and squatted slightly. He then clenched his right fist with his thumb sticking out and bent his back ever so slightly in that position and said:

"Shikii-uchi Gomen Komurimasu!"

Both Mr. Malfoy and Draco looked surprised and amused. Mr. Malfoy in particular looked rather pleased at Harry's elaborate 'hello.'

"Very interesting friend you have here, Draco."

"He's from Japan, father."

"I guessed that much. Good day to you. Come, Draco --- "

"Bye. Hope we meet again, Shew."

They left. Harry looked at their retreating backs and chuckled.

They have no idea I just made the most preposterous imitation of a yakuza …

* * * * *

At one, the wig was back on Harry's head and he was waiting expectantly in the parlor. At long last, the Weasleys and the Grangers stepped into the Leaky Cauldron.

Before he could do anything, Hermione had thrown herself at Harry, sobbing loudly in his chest. He hugged back. Hermione certainly looked like she lost a great deal of weight; she looked oddly small and shrunken. Harry finally noticed he grown enough to look above Hermione's head and the end of his nose was touching the top of her head. He found Ron behind her. Ron looked like he lost a great deal of weight too. He opened his mouth to apologize for making him worry for so long, but Ron simply brushed it off with a shake of his head. As soon as Hermione drew away, Harry was engulfed by a sea of red heads.

The public reunion lasted for 30 minutes. After everyone had enough hugging and laughing/crying with relief, everyone wanted to know what happen to Harry.

"Uh … can this wait till we ate lunch?" asked Harry, his stomach making a particularly loud growl.

"Yeah, I'm starving."

"Me too."

"I've waiting to eat all day!"

Harry smiled. I'm back …