Learning to Live Again

By Ammie Hawk

Disclaimer: I neither own nor profit from Naruto or Harry Potter. Just having fun.

Summary: After the dementor attack in Little Whinging, Petunia Dursley decides to send Harry to his father's long lost family. Naruto/HP crossover

Chapter 1: The Plan

Aunt Petunia's hand was trembling. She looked wildly around the kitchen as though looking for an escape route, but too late—the envelope burst into flames. Aunt Petunia screamed and dropped it.

An awful voice filled the kitchen, echoing in the confined space, issuing from the burning letter on the table.

"REMEMBER MY LAST, PETUNIA."

Aunt Petunia looked as though she might faint. She sank into the chair beside Dudley, her face in her hands. The remains of the envelope smoldered into ash in the silence.

"What is this?" Uncle Vernon said hoarsely. "What—I don't—Petunia?"

Aunt Petunia said nothing. Dudley was staring stupidly at his mother, his mouth hanging open. The silence spiraled horribly. Harry was watching his aunt, utterly bewildered, his head throbbing fit to burst.

"Petunia, dear?" said Uncle Vernon timidly. "P-Petunia?"

She raised her head. She was still trembling. She swallowed.

"The boy—the boy will have to stay, Vernon," she said weakly.

"W-what?"

"He stays," she said. She was not looking at Harry. She got to her feet again.

"He… but Petunia…"

"If we throw him out, the neighbors will talk," she said. She was regaining her usual brisk, snappish manner rapidly, though she was still very pale. "They'll ask awkward questions, they'll want to know where he's gone. We'll have to keep him."

Uncle Vernon was deflating like an old tire.

"But Petunia, dear—"

Aunt Petunia ignored him. She turned to Harry.

"You're to stay in your room," she said. "You're not to leave the house. Now go to bed."

Harry didn't move.

"Who was that Howler from?"

"Don't ask questions," Aunt Petunia snapped.

"Are you in touch with wizards?"

"I told you to get to bed!"

"What did it mean? Remember the last what?"

"Go to bed!"

"How come—?"

"YOU HEARD YOUR AUNT, NOW GET TO BED!"

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As soon as her nephew disappeared up the stairs, Petunia Dursley helped her son to his feet and guided him up to his bedroom. Once he was settled in with a movie, she made her way further down the hall to the door to the attic. She slipped silently inside and made her way carefully to the back.

With a sigh, she knelt down beside an old trunk, Lily's school trunk, and opened the lid. This trunk contained everything that had been salvaged from her sister's home after the attack. She shook her head, now was not the time for a trip down memory lane. She reached into the depths of the trunk and pulled out a small scroll.

Her prize in hand, she made her way back downstairs to speak with her husband.

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I've just been attacked by dementors and I might be expelled from Hogwarts. I want to know what's going on and when I'm going to get out of here.

Harry copied these words onto three separate pieces of parchment the moment he reached the desk in his dark bedroom. He addressed the first to Sirius, the second to Ron, and the third to Hermione. His owl, Hedwig, was off hunting, her cage stood empty on the desk. Harry paced the bedroom waiting for her to come back, his head pounding, his brain too busy for sleep even though his eyes stung and itched with tiredness. His back ached from carrying Dudley home, and the two lumps on his head where the window and Dudley had hit him were throbbing painfully.

Up and down he paced, consumed with anger and frustration, grinding his teeth and clenching his fists, casting angry looks out at the empty, star-strewn sky every time he passed the window. Dementors sent to get him, Mrs. Figg and tailing him in secret, then suspension from Hogwarts and a hearing at the Ministry of Magic-and still no one was telling him what was going on.

And what, what had that Howler been about? Whose voice had echoed so horribly, so menacingly, through the kitchen?

Why was he still trapped here without information? Why was everyone treating him like some naughty kid? Don't do any more magic, stay in the house….

He kicked his school trunk as he passed it, but far from relieving his anger he felt worse, as he now had a sharp pain in his toe to deal with in addition to the pain in the rest of his body.

Just as he limped past the window, two things happened: Hedwig soared through it with a soft rustle of wings like a small ghost, and someone knocked quietly on his door. Choosing to deal with the more immediate problem first, he whirled to face the door just as his aunt pushed it open. They studied each other for a moment, before Petunia closed the portal behind her.

"Have a seat," she motioned to the bed. "And don't bother sending any letters. Things are going to change, right now."

"Why?" he asked angrily.

"Not right now," she pursed her lips at the question. "I'll explain everything in a bit. Vernon and I have talked, and we have decided it is time for you to leave our house."

"But… but downstairs, the-the Howler?"

"We're not kicking you out," she held up her hand to forestall him. "We've discussed it and if what you say is true, and Voldemort is back, we cannot protect you. So we're sending you to someone who can."

"Who?" Harry asked, confused. "Everyone from my world said I need to stay here."

"It's not a wizard," she looked like she swallowed a lemon just saying the word. "He's actually your uncle, on your father's side."

"I don't have an uncle," he jumped to his feet, almost instantly regretting the action but discarding it in his anger. "If there had been someone else, you would've sent me there to begin with. You've said almost every day for the past fourteen years that you didn't want me here."

"That's not true," she sighed. "But we're getting off track. We'll talk more about that in the car. Right now, we need to contact your uncle and figure out the best way to get you to him. To do that, I need some of your blood."

"What?!" he backed away incredulously.

"Just a drop," she soothed, holding out a sewing needle. "I just need you to place a drop on this scroll."

"And that's going to call my uncle?" he eyed the proffered items skeptically.

"You go to a school where you are taught magic," she gave him a look, "and it is hard for you to believe that your blood will summon your uncle?"

"Well, when you put it that way," he snatched the objects out of her hand and pricked his thumb and let a drop of blood fall on the scroll.

A moment later, a cloud of smoke engulfed his hand where the scroll was. He felt something heavy hit his palm, but it was too much for one hand and whatever it was fell to the floor with a faint fwump.

"Yo," a voice said from the floor.

Two sets of eyes swiveled to the source of the voice. There, sitting innocently in the middle of the scroll, was a small brown dog in a blue vest and headband. Green eyes turned incredulously back to his aunt.

"Are you telling me my uncle is a dog?"

"Look, kid, I ain't got no nephews," the dog answered, "and I'm just the messenger."

"Are you saying you work for Mr. Hatake?" she asked, not seeming the least bit affected by the fact that the dog was actually talking.

"It's a bit more involved than that, but sure," the dog shrugged. "So I take it you got a message for him?"

"Let him know that if he wants him, I'll bring him his nephew," she squared her shoulders, her resolve strengthening.

"Right," the dog nodded and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

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Kakashi Hatake lounged on the couch of the apartment he now shared with his boyfriend of six months. He had actually just convinced the younger Chunin to move in earlier that week. So he sat, pretending to read his book while surreptitiously watching the other man move about the room, making adjustments and adding things here and there.

The younger man was just moving past the couch on his way to the kitchen, when quick as lightning the Copy Ninja reached out and grabbed the other around the waist and pulled him down onto his lap.

"Kakashi!" his boyfriend squeaked at the sudden assault.

"Come on, Iruka," the silver haired Jonin nuzzled the other man's neck. "You have all the time in the world to unpack. Take a break."

"And you have all the time in the world to be a pervert," Iruka struggled half heartedly to get up. "Now, let me get back to what I was doing."

"Mmm, no," Kakashi lowered his mask and claimed the other's lips in a languid kiss.

His hand caressed the brunet's stomach, while still holding him in place. He had just gotten the other to relax, and had managed to slip his hand down the front of his pants, when they were interrupted by a small cloud of smoke that appeared in the middle of the floor.

"What do you want?" he asked as his hand finally wrapped around his prize.

"Kakashi!" Iruka's voice was breathless but firm as he carefully removed his boyfriend's hand from his pants.

With a groan of frustration, the Jonin turned to the summon, "This had better be good, Pakkun."

"I have a message," the little pug seemed unperturbed that he just interrupted his master. "If you want him, she'll bring your nephew."

"She's finally willing to give him up?" he stood up so quickly that Iruka ended up in a heap on the floor. "When? Where? Name it and I'll be there."

"Kakashi?" Iruka Umino picked himself up off the floor as the small dog disappeared the same way it had come. "What's going on? What was that about?"

"I'm sorry, Iruka," the silver haired Jonin sighed. "I know you just moved in, but I'm going to have to move. There's just not enough room here to add a kid."

"Kakashi?" the brunet took a step forward, but his boyfriend didn't seem to notice.

"I've got the house still," Kakashi continued. "I haven't been there since Jirou died. It should take at least a couple days before they get here. That should give me enough time to air it out at least. And if I enlist some help, I can definitely have everything moved."

"Kakashi!" Iruka put his hands on either side of his lover's face, forcing him to make eye contact. "Talk to me. What is this about? Who's coming?"

The taller man took a deep breath to calm down, "My nephew is finally coming home. Years ago, my brother, Jirou, went on a long term intelligence gathering mission, while he was there he fell in love and got married. They had a son together. However, they were both killed. Their son was supposed to come live with me, but when I went to collect him, his mother's sister pleaded with me to let him stay with her. At the time, I felt I was too young to take on a baby, and she already had one, so I decided he could stay with her, but I did leave a summoning scroll and instructions on how to reach me if she ever decided she wanted me to take him. And apparently, she now wants me to take him. I can't say no, he's the only family I've got left."

"Okay," the Chunin shook his head, there was obviously quite a bit about the other man he still didn't know. "Let's go find some people to help us move. If we find enough help, we'll be able to be done by nightfall."

"I can't ask you to do that, Iruka," Kakashi sighed.

"Ask me to do what, exactly?" brown eyes flashed in warning, though the other seemed to miss it.

"I can't ask you to raise a kid with me," the Jonin rubbed the back of his neck. "We haven't been going out that long. I don't know if we're ready for that."

"Kakashi Hatake, how dare you!" Iruka snapped. "You asked me to be your boyfriend. You asked me to move in with you. Was that all just a joke to you? Because it wasn't to me. I did not go into this relationship halfheartedly or without thought. I want to be with you. Do you want to be with me?"

"Yes, I do, but…"

"There are no buts here, Kakashi," the brunet shook his head. "Either you do or you don't. You do, fine, we're in this, you and me against the world. You don't, I walk right now, and I don't want you to talk to me ever again."

"Fine," Kakashi chuckled, he had always found the other's fire addictive. "If you're sure, let's do this."

"Good," Iruka nodded. "Glad to see you're not a flake. Now, we're going to split up and each of us are going to go see who we can find to help us move."

Ammie: I know, I know, I really shouldn't have started a new fic... but I couldn't help it. The Naruto crew came and bit me on the ass. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. Let me know what you think.