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Chapter Text

Kakashi had been the one put in charge of sealing scrolls.

Since Naruto had made Hokage, Kakashi’d been assigned numerous “busy body” missions in order to “keep his masked nose” out of the business of his cute little student. The latest such mission was an archeological dig on Uzuhio. Kakashi (to keep him out of Konoha for as long as possible) was the only ninja on the mission.

He was in charge of gathering food and water for all 27 civilians, and checking all the sealing rooms for traps and explosions, and fetching supplies from out-of-reach places.

On the bright side, it was working.

He hadn’t once worried if Sasuke and Sakura were doing okay with baby Sarada, or if Hinata was back on missions, or if Naruto wasn’t too overwhelmed with paperwork, or if Gai and Lee had actually set up that chili shop, or if Neji had gotten that job at the Academy, or if Obito was getting along with Yamato and Sai.

He hadn’t.

Not once.

He hadn’t even checked through the bond he and Obito had (courtesy of sharing a dimension-traveling set of eyes) to make sure that his dogs were being fed properly and Mr. Ukki was being watered.

It’d been three weeks of the mission (four more months to go), and Kakashi was pleasantly busy.

He kept up a steady patrol, made sure that seals and artifacts were lined up for the scientists, archeologists, and various other -ists to look at until noon, go hunting and prepare lunch, explore the mountains for any living native creatures and bring back live samples, clear the rubble around a building (carefully, he’d been warned), go swimming, try to walk on the whirlpools, patrol, head to bed.

Pleasantly. Busy.

Busy.

Bored.

The patrol was only ten minutes long. The seals and artifacts didn’t need much preparation, and usually they didn’t finish going through everything he set aside anyways. Hunting barely took any time, and cooking maybe two hours for lunch.

He’d walked the entire mountain range twice over, and swum through every coral reef, and had started naming the whirlpools.

The rubble was mostly cleared, because everytime he had a break, he found another house, grabbed a supervisor and a tarp, and carefully reconstructed it and pulled the pottery shards from the earth. 

He’d learned how to categorize the pottery types, and now knew even more about sealing, and could read practically every code Uzushio had come up with, and was learning bricklaying so that the houses could be brought back to their former glory.

And he was so bored.

Of course, that’s when someone managed to attack.

It was Kiri, naturally. It was always Kiri.

Kakashi had been waiting for an attack from Kiri since he’d gotten there, and they’d finally come through. A small army came in boats – rafts and canoes and kayaks, more like – and swarmed the sand before Kakashi could blink.

He was on them like a hyperactive puppy.

Lightning twisted to his whims, and sparked among the seafoam, overturning some of the small fleet.

His Sharingan burned and the activation tugged on his chakra. Adrenaline rushed through him and he had to hide a feral grin (forgetting, of course, his mask was on). He hadn’t felt this young in years.

The nature chakra surrounding Uzushio was filled with direction. Thousands upon thousands of seal lines pulsed underneath the island’s mountains and pushed the nature chakra to run through its citizens. Kakashi may not have been a citizen, but he had been living there for a few weeks.

Earth chakra stabilized his bones, healing old breaks better than even Tsunade had done.

Wind chakra felt heavy in his lungs, but the oxygen high was fantastic. He could feel chakra-charged oxygen (which had healing properties when used properly) revitalizing him.

Water chakra rushed through his blood. His heart beat faster and faster, the thuds filled his ears, and the force of the sea itself was behind him.

Fire chakra dogged (hah!) his every step. The sand turned to glass under his feet. The summer sun above him burned his visible skin, and scorched the flesh of his enemies. It was times like this that he could almost believe in Amaterasu and her fierce love for those who bore her gift – the Sharingan.

But the Lightning.

The Lightning.

Though it was day, Kakashi ( man, chakra highs are wild, some distant part of him noted) could feel the tales of his ancestors. The ones Sakumo had told him as a child, and again at a campfire surrounded by howling wind.

Horkew Kamuy. The Great White Wolf Spirit. A protector, a guide. Lightning given physical form. The first Hatake. Ancestor of his people.

Lightning burned through his mind. Lichtenburg figures blinded his right eye, and the electric signals in his brain quicked their pace.

Suddenly, it hit him.

(or maybe that was the water dragon to the head and the resulting concussion)

Uzushio had always been regarded as a holy place. Its seals made its inhabitants' connection with nature even stronger.

It was midday when Amaterasu was strongest.

He was protecting his civilians, as Horkew had always done.

Kakashi had maybe, just maybe, messed with one too many seals over the last few days.

Because the chakra flowing through his veins and into his jutsu, wasn’t his.

In fact, not a single drop of chakra in his body (including the stuff needed to keep him alive) was his.

That was probably bad.

—

Despite the absence of his chakra, he held the Kiri-nin off quite well. He’d marked a few trees with Hiraishin and was jumping rather easily around the battleground, successfully confusing his enemies about where he’d appear next. Sometimes, he’d Kamui his Hiraishin Markers to other spots to really throw the ninjas off.

Holding the Hiraishin constantly tugged at his mind in a way jutsus didn’t, so he eased off the seal jumping and resorted to Shunshinning and Kamui.

The sun was sinking low.

Somehow, somewhen, he’d lost eight hours to the heat of battle.

His civilian charges were well on their way to Konoha, unimpeded, and everything precious that was left in Uzushio was sealed away. The mountains would guard it well.

Why did he know that? Why was he worrying about it?

Oh.

The earth chakra in his veins had fled him.

The wind in his lungs was weak. The fire in his step felt cold. His heart struggled to keep beating.

The sun was setting, his charges gone, and the only thing he had was the power of the living storm.

The sky overhead was cloudy, thick and heavy with rain. Lightning sparked and twisted.

Kakashi didn’t have any chakra of his own.

His enemies were still standing. They’d gotten backup long ago, from Iwa and Kumo and a few more Kiri. 

Waves of opponents changed and pushed forward and pulled back.

So, he thought, I’ve made it through two wars, ANBU, Root, and four Hokages. I’ve fought a goddess and bijuu, and battled immortals to the death. I’ve been killed, and spoken to the dead, and fought alongside them.

This is what takes me out? A bunch of hopped-up kids from Kiri, Iwa, and Kumo that want to steal some scrolls from an abandoned island?

With a bit of glee, his Sharingan spun. 

I’m taking them with me.

—

Kakashi howled to the setting sun and rising tides.

The distant howls of his summons answered back. His pack, his pups, his beautiful, wonderful ninken. He felt them reach to him across space, from the summon lands.

A Fuma shuriken swished through the place where his head was, and Kamui tugged him into the in-between.

The Hiraishin seal made a discordant twang.

It was meant to be indestructible. A marking written on the fabric of the world that could never be removed. Even now, two decades after the Yellow Flash’s death, his markers remain.

Kakashi’s White Chakra – unchanneled, uncontrolled – shattered all seven markers in an instant.

—

He tried to maybe Kawarimi, maybe Shunshin, maybe reverse summon himself away from the blast.

That was his final mistake.

The light from the explosion was blinding.

—

Kamui: One who hunts the gods’ will. One who represents their will.

Amaterasu: goddess of the sun and sky. She was with him as long as it was day and she was present.

Horkew: the White Wolf god. The Howler. He has never left him. 

It was a funny time to remember an old story, one his dad had told to him many nights.

One he’d been told beside a campfire surrounded by howling wind.

Horkew, once a mortal wolf, had hunted with his human master. He made his master’s life easy, bringing deer and bears to the village people to eat. One day, the wild wolves asked Horkew to run with them, go hunting with them for a single day.

He agreed, naturally. Wolves were pack animals through and through.

When the day was done, Horkew returned home, where his master was angry that he had not brought any food for the village people.

He was beaten to death, and his body was tossed in a river to float into the ocean.

But Horkew was a god.

Another master found him, and this one cared for and honored him properly. 

But the first master came back, pleading for forgiveness and to have his faithful hunting dog. Of course, Horkew returned. He was loyal. But once again he played with the wild wolves, and once again he was beaten to death.

Once again, he was sent on a course towards the ocean.

He did not stop at the house of any master, but continued across, to the Ancestors. The great wolf boss welcomed him home.

The great wolf boss destroyed the village Horkew had once called home.

Therefore,

Simply put,

a dog,

even if you kill one,

should not be sent in the direction of the ocean.

Its ancestors are wolves.

It should be sent in the direction of the mountains.

That’s the lesson of this story.

—

When the light faded from the sky, when the dust and rubble settled, when the full moon was bright upon the island of Uzushio.

Half the island was gone.

The bodies of the foreign shinobi were turned to ashes.

Kakashi drifted out to the sea.

—

Kamui let Kakashi access another dimension. It was technically Obito’s (and whoever else had had Kamui before), but Kakashi could access it just as naturally. After the battle with Kaguya, he was also familiar with being thrown into other dimensions suddenly. The change in air, the change in chakra.

He’d grown to hate it.

Hirashin was a space-time-altering jutsu that let one instantly teleport to wherever they desired.

No one quite knew how it worked, just that it did, but there were some good theories regarding folding the plane of existence and punching a needle through to connect those two points. 

The summoning jutsu was even more elusive.

Every contract was different and only readable to the author, but even then Kakashi was the weird one. His dogs could summon him (as long as his chakra was low enough).

All of this ran through Kakashi’s mind at a lightning pace as he stared in shock at the world in front of him.

He’d managed to toss himself in another dimension.

He vaguely remembered floating (down a river of dreams) and seeing all the seals he’d destroyed. Some of them had to have been curses that could result in this.

Because he’s not his normal height (which was fairly tall) and he’s in possession of a tail, and his ears are twitching, and his eyes are uncovered.

And he’s a wolf.

Silver-gray fur with darker marks around his muzzle (which he can see quite well because it’s very long ) and limbs, and there’s a shock of fur around his scruff reminiscent of Tobirama’s jacket. His legs are knobbly and horse-ish, and his tail is black-tipped, and the growing panic of “I’m a wolf!” is only outstripped by the growing panic of “I’m a puppy!”

He’s probably adorable!

Hatake Kakashi is a killing machine, and is currently in the body of a puppy that’s probably not even six months. Sakura would squeal at his presence. Sasuke might smile. Naruto would pick him up.

He’s a puppy.

Kakashi is a puppy and the trees are unfamiliar.

Because he’s in another dimension.

And maybe another time.

That just makes things more complicated.

If Kakashi can get back to the Elemental Nations, well he has to figure out how to turn back into a human and get into the past (or future, which might be harder). If he can get himself back to human form, he’s still in the wrong dimension and time period.

Anyone who comes searching for him in this dimension could miss him by a decade, or by an Ice Age.

Or by species.

Because he’s a dog.

Stupid Team 7 curse, he grumbled, and it came out as a heavy chuffing. I can’t even blame this on Naruto.

Most of them did, when something like this happened. 

Now to figure out where the nearest civilization was (if there was one).

Chapter Text

Once he’s processed everything, it’s fairly easy for Kakashi to get his feet under him. Literally.

He’s watched his dogs run around often enough that it’s ingrained in his memory even without the Sharingan. His puppy legs are a lot longer than his ninken’s were, and his puppy paws are absolutely ginormous. He wanders through the forest peacefully. It’s completely unmarked by battles – no divots or gouges from kunai, no odd terrain or scorch marks from jutsu. Not one Hashirama tree, either. Those grew anywhere that a Mokuton user had fought. 

It wasn’t like Hashirama was the only Mokuton user in the world – there were plenty before him who had made the bloodline famous and given it its name. The trees were scattered throughout the entirety of the Elemental Nations.

His peace isn’t only from the lack of battle signs. There are no predators in the woods, at least, none big enough to threaten him. He’d seen signs of badgers, and maybe a few foxes, but no other wolves or animals like bears. There is simply no flora large enough to support herbivores bigger than a pig. Though he had seen some pigs big enough to eat a man.

He trotted over to a still pond in a cut-grass field. Farmland of some sort, maintained.

This is his first venture into human territory and away from the safety of the trees.

Kakashi’s reflection isn’t even too far off from what he expected: a pile of thick white fur on his scruff; a dark gray, almost black muzzle, jaw, and neck; black-tipped ears and tail; silver-white fur everywhere else. The only surprise is the scar still over his eye.

A quick examination of his paws and legs confirmed – scars from his human life had carried over.

Thin, furless lines on his paws and webbing from handling blades for so many years, more ropey scars on his torso from enemies. A fuuma shuriken to the ribs, a fist that had shattered his collarbone and broken his skin, a tanto to the thigh, etc, etc. 

Kakashi is a map of violence and war, even in this new body.

A strange lowing made Kakashi’s ears twitch. Slowly, he raised his head away from his reflection and across the pond. He was faced with a herd of… something. Bovine, like goats. Shaggy brown fur. Deer-like eyes. They looked like fat horses, or tall pigs, or particularly deer-like (and tiny) water buffalo. But without any horns or antlers or sharp teeth.

Herbivores, definitely. So not a threat unless he spooks them. 

His ears flick again when a suspiciously human whisper comes from the top of the hill, just out of his range of sight unless he feels like turning his back to the creature that could trample him in a heartbeat. 

He takes a step along the shore, keeping the bovine not-goat not-horse not-Kiri Water Buffalo in sight. The human noises (words, they are words, Kakashi) are nothing but snippets “-wolf-” “-how?” “-Britain-” and remain immaterial. Nothing concrete. Then, when Kakashi is only ten paces from the not-water buffalo that looks more pillowy than anything, he gets a full sentence. 

“It’s getting closer to the cows! What if it attacks?” “No, no, look at it’s tail. It’s wagging.”

Huh. His tail was wagging.

He was faced with a new creature, in a new world, with a new form. He was excited. How could he not be? He was home.

The creature (cow?) had clearly never been attacked by a wolf (or dog, considering the humans’ surprise at the presence of a wolf). But Kakashi had always been a cautious soul and so gave off as many “not-a-threat” vibes as possible. The deer-eyed beast blinked dumbly at him. Its ears flicked at a fly.

A glimpse under its belly gave Kakashi an idea.

See, Kakashi – despite being a good hunter, tracker, and ninja – couldn’t hunt his own food. His paws crashed loudly on the floor, he couldn’t move fast enough, anything he could smell could also smell him, and, well, he hadn’t trained for this. His hunting in his last life had been in a human body, where he could follow from the trees. His ninken and pack would help him surround the prey and trap it. He had access to projectiles and weapons of all sorts.

He had armor.

Here, he was defenseless.

His only armor was his fur and thicker skin. Kakashi’s only weapons were his teeth and claws. He had no pack to help him surround and take down prey. He was stuck on the ground instead of the trees.

He had every disadvantage.

Maybe, if Kakashi had a full stomach and more guts he could fight a badger, or strike down a fox, or cat. But as it was, he hadn’t eaten in the few days since he’d woken up.

This is where Kakashi’s idea comes in.

The cow-thing is twice his size. He’s likely the size of its young. It’s on human land, which means it’s livestock. Humans keep livestock for companionship, meat, or milk. By the udders on the creature, it’s the third one.

Wolves are usually fully weaned off of milk by two or three months, but lactose intolerance can take a while to set in. Some never develop it. Though Kakashi’s body is six months old, there is a good chance that he will be able to process the milk. Even if he can’t, it might be worth the risk. 

He’d certainly done odder things for the sake of missions.

He let the creature sniff at him, and only relaxed once he was sure it wouldn’t kick him away. He’d been kicked once by a horse.

It hadn’t felt good.

The milk was fine, though the knowledge that people, fellow humans, were watching him made the experience more mortifying than it should’ve been. Kakashi drank his fill and thanked the cow before creeping away from- everything. If he didn’t get an upset stomach, this might be a viable solution to his food issue. Herd animals were common – especially ones cultivated by humans.

The basic tenets of survival were finally completed. Water – creeks and ponds – food – milk, bugs, whatever he fought or scavenged – and shelter – the thick brush that populated this strange countryside.

He could do this.

He would learn to thrive in this new world.

—

All over Britain, news went viral at the sighting of a wolf. 

Facts and misinformation spread like wildfire. “-Well that's just it Tom, dire wolves like the pup discovered by two Scottish farmers are notoriously wild. Unlike wolves and dogs they cannot be domesticated. They're more like cats, or coyotes and dingoes in that respect.”

“Thank you, Janice. Can you tell our lovely viewers what to look for if there is a wandering dire wolf pack in the UK?”

“Of course. Dire wolves are a dog-like subspecies native to the North Americas. It is suspected that they simply developed alongside modern Gray Wolves, and are a completely different species.

“On average, they grow twice the size of a Gray Wolf – around 1.5 meters at the shoulder. Their coloring is often in various shades of red, russet or brown. They have black-tipped ears and tails, and sometimes paws. Silver coloring like the pup in the video is uncommon, but was often noted after a few generations in captivity – it might be a sign of stress or just a recessive gene that doesn't survive in the wild.

“Dire wolves – Aenocyon dirus – were declassified from near- to extinct in 1863, when the last known dire wolf passed in captivity at the age of 24. For the next fifty years the scientific community argued over whether the last specimen had truly passed, as dire wolf pelts continued to show up on the black market, and there were many rumors of live wolves being passed around rich and famous collectors.

“A bounty has been restarted by scientists and researchers, promising £10,000 for anyone who brings the wolf pup—or other escaped dire wolves—in alive and unharmed. This could be a gold mine for farmers and countrymen alike, and it's estimated to be the best way to keep this near-extinct species from returning to the extinction list.

“A reminder: the wolf is silver-gray with black around its scruff, ears, tail, and paws. It's been caught drinking cow milk by multiple farmers and has only been seen alone. It's estimated to be four to seven months old, and not yet capable of hunting. Any farmers concerned about their livestock have nothing to fear—the wolf isn't old enough to hunt anything larger than a rabbit and the reward for bringing it in, unharmed and alive, is 10,000 pounds.

“Currently, experts estimate that the silver dire wolf pup is not only dire wolf that has escaped captivity, and likely it's unintentional introduction to UK soil won’t drastically affect the environment. Back to you, Tom.”

“Well that was an informative section from Janice. Now, onto other concerning measures. Escapee and mass murderer Sirius Black still roams the streets of England. He's been caught and sighted at multiple farms across the country, stealing chickens, clothing, and weapons. Experts are concerned with his rate of movement and traveling pattern, and believe that he is headed straight south towards London, likely to either his childhood home, or the scene of the crime. He should reach it within the week.

“Other news has-”

Vernon flicked off the TV.

Harry sighed, annoyed. Marge was over, so of course the section on some weird American wolf was perfectly fine to listen to, but the mass murderer on the run wasn't.

Honestly. Some people wanted to keep a lookout for danger! Harry had only gotten the barest glimpse of wild, ghost-blue eyes and tangled hair and a skeletal frame with pale skin. That could be anyone on the streets! He had tattoos, sure, and those were visible in the news pictures, but easily covered up. Some people actually had a vested interest in looking out for any potential murderers out there. Harry’d already had enough murder attempts for a decade.

Harry continued cooking dinner.

Chapter Text

At first, Kakashi doesn’t notice anything wrong with it.

It’s just another stray, one he comes across all the time.  He’s seen dogs, cats, and even a gerbil (which was an odd experience).

Yet somewhere, in the back of Kakashi’s shinobi brain, there’s a tingling sensation that tells him to pay attention.  It’s the whisper that’s kept Kakashi alive for decades, the one that’s brought him through wars and ANBU and being Hokage.  He listens.

The dog lopes.

It looks like it’s trying to run, but it can’t.

A quick sniff reveals the scent of blood on its paws, and Kakashi starts to stalk it.

He doesn’t know why the dog is so determined – he can tell that it wants to go somewhere, and that it doesn’t care that it’s paws are injured.  It has to keep moving, as fast as it can.

The dog walks past dozens of scent markers as Kakashi follows it.  Not once does it stop to sniff or explore.  It keeps, in a way, marching.   A dedicated soldier.  A creature with one goal in mind.

For hours Kakashi follows it, sniffing at the blood and torn paw pads that the dog leaves behind.

Its black fur is shaggy and knotted.  Its head hangs lows, its tail doesn’t move.

It looks like its starving:  a pitiful, powerful thing that has been starved and beat for years.  The black dog has finally been freed from whatever place turned it into a wartorn creature. When the moon is high in the sky (Kakashi has been following since early afternoon) the dog settles under a bush on the side of a road.  Kakashi, certain that the dog wouldn’t harm him, crept closer.  The dog’s ears flicked, and its eyes opened.

Its eyes were blue.  Startling, intelligent, ghostlike blue. 

It growled softly.

Kakashi crept out of the shadows, letting the moonlight fall on his silver fur and puppy paws.  He whined softly.

The dog stopped growling.

It stretched slightly and waited for Kakashi to look away.  Kakashi did so, and though there were no further noises or movements he could tell – the night was cold, and the old black dog would tolerate a puppy for a while.

For once, Kakashi slept well.

— — —

Morning’s first light hit Kakashi like an unpleasant brick to the face.

There was a shifting body behind him, furred and large, and the scent of another was strong.

The black dog rose first, and Kakashi stood with him.

The black dog looked confused, and a little annoyed, but it ultimately decided to let the, frankly obscenely huge, puppy trail behind.  Kakashi was fine with that.  They walked for hours, only stopping to grab some water from a muddy creek as the morning sun turned to noon.  That was one nice thing about this place, Kakashi thought, its hottest temperatures weren’t much warmer than a cool early morning in Konoha.  Unfortunately, the night was just cold enough for him to feel the chill through his fur.

Kakashi, around the afternoon, caught the scent of cooked food.  It wasn’t too far off the path that the black dog had chosen, and Kakashi knew he could travel much faster than the dog.  If he did lose it, briefly, it would be no hard problem to find the trail of bleeding paws.

Kakashi yipped, the dog turned, and Kakashi darted off towards the food.

It was a camping ground.  A small family cooking on an outdoor grill with tents nearby.  Kakashi waited for them to turn around – not even five minutes – before he snagged freshly cooked hamburgers right off the grill.  He ate one immediately and grabbed a second to bring back to the old black dog.

As he turned to trot away, he heard a brief commotion behind him.

The humans must’ve noticed his theft.

He could hear crashing in the forest behind him, but he caught up to the dog before the humans caught up to him.

Kakashi presented the hamburger to the dog, his tail wagging uncontrollably.  He’d never felt this eager to please before.  Perhaps it was being a puppy, perhaps it was some gratefulness to the dog for keeping him warm during the night, it didn’t really matter.  The dog saw the food, glanced behind Kakashi to the humans behind him, and- its eyes widened.

Like a surprised human.

It nudged Kakashi behind it, standing firm as its hackles rose.

It let out a deep growl, one that shook Kakashi.  The humans stepped back slightly.

It was-  odd.  Being protected.

The two adults and a child, stumbling forward, kept looking between Kakashi and the dog and the hamburger and back to Kakashi again.  One of them was holding something in her hand – maybe a weapon – that she kept unerringly aimed at the two canines.  Once they passed some unperceivable boundary that the dog deemed far enough, the old black dog lowered his head to the hamburger and scarfed it down.

The dog huffed, and Kakashi followed the implicit command:  we go, now, together.

The two dogs, black and silver, turned and sprinted through the woods.

— — —

The video hit the internet like a storm.

It started simply:  a mother filming her daughter talking about their camping trip in the wilds of Britain.  There was a clattering noise and the camera jolted sharply as the camerawoman focused on a new subject.

A wolf – silver with gray paws and muzzle – snatching a hamburger off a burning grill.  It grabbed two, dropping them to the ground easily without burning itself.  One, it ate instantly, the second it grabbed and ran into the forest.

The family followed after, obviously.

They caught up to the puppy placing the hamburger at the feet of a giant black Irish Wolfhound (as some would later identify the breed as, though others argued that it had to have some wolf or husky for those eyes).  The bright blue eyes of the black dog stared them down.

The video has some audio, astonished “woahs” from the family, and baby-talk from the girl, who really wanted to pet the wolf and doggy.  The wolfpup stepped behind the black dog, and the dog let loose one of the most terrifying growls the family had heard.  It didn’t sound like a stray dog – it sounded like an animal made for war.  The dog was shaggy, and its thin, starved features only made its huge frame more obvious.  If the dog wasn’t half starved, it would likely be the size of an actual wolf.

The dog lowered its head, never blinking or shifting its attention.  It ate the hamburger is a single bite.  The two canines crept backwards, then in unison, ran.

It hadn’t stopped playing on the news.

Harry didn’t mind.  There were now two televisions in the Dursley household.  One, in the living room, had whatever dog show or news-thing Uncle Vernon or Aunt Marge wanted to watch.  The other, in the kitchen, was filled with morning cartoons and flower shows.  Dudley had hardly left the kitchen except to sleep or use the bathroom.  He ate near constantly and was glued to the screen like a moth to a lamp.

Harry had tuned everything out, and didn’t really tune back in until Uncle Vernon barked:  “Hang on!  You didn’t tell us where that maniac’s escaped from!  What use is that?  Lunatic could be coming up the street right now!”  It was about Sirius Black, a raggedy looking man with a crazed loko in his eyes.  He looked young, and one of the news reels stated that the picture was taken during his initial arrest, when he was in his early twenties.  The photo was outdated, but wherever he’d been hadn’t provided a new one for him.

Aunt Petunia nervously checked through the slats in the window, peering down the street like Black would show up any second.

The evening didn’t get much better.

Aunt Petunia was jumpy.  It’d take two tries before she answered any questions, and her gaze kept drifint out the window and down the street.  Her jumpiness made Uncle Vernon more annoyed.  He kept barking at Harry, giving him an order and saying it again (twice as loud) before Harry’d even had a chance to respond.  Dudley had two plates set before him.  Aunt Marge was the only one who hadn’t noticed something was amiss.

She drank heavily, and Uncle Vernon (fidgeting in his seat.  He’d picked up on his wife’s unease) drank enough to match her.  Harry did get a decent amount down.

At least, he finished his plate before Marge started in on his supposed breeding.

And their value.

Bad eggs and layabouts and laziness-

Then there was Marge.  Ballooning outwards and floating up.  Her skin turned squeaky-shiny like rubber, and her face red from anger.

Harry ran towards his cupboard, fast as could be, and grabbed his school supplies.  Before he even thought the thought, he was upstairs and grabbing everything else (already packed, of course) and rushing back down to Aunt Petunia’s Perfect Parlour.

Vernon bellowed,  “COME BACK IN HERE!  COME BACK AND PUT HER RIGHT!”

Harry, already half out the door, turned and pointed his wand at Uncle Vernon.  “She deserved it,”  he panted,  “She deserved what she got.  You keep away from me.”

He sounded far calmer than he felt (or looked), and rushed out,  “I’m going.  I’ve had enough,”  before vanishing into the night.

Petunia heard those words and saw that face and felt a few very different things.

The first of these things was horror.  Petunia heard Lily, seventeen and entering a war (seventeen and a handful of years from death), crying in the foyer of their little home in Cokeworth.  “I’m going.  I’ve had enough.”  Petunia wouldn’t see Lily for three years, when she was invited to the wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Potter.  She sat in the back, and never once spoke.

Vernon had been at that wedding, before James Potter threw them both out.  Petunia didn’t get an invite to the funeral.

The second of these things was fear.  Petunia saw Sirius Black, in pictures and letters and newspapers.  Sixteen and smiling, seventeen and helping Lily pack, twenty and visiting her the night before the wedding, making Petunia swear to show up for Lily, twenty-two and in newspaper clippings as a mass murderer.

That crazed, scared face didn’t belong on a thirteen year old child.

The third of these things was guilt.

Perhaps.

Perhaps Petunia had let things go too far.

Chapter Text

Kakashi had grown close with the dog over the few days they’d traveled together.

Kakashi only wanted one thing:  to know where they were going.  Clearly, the dog had something in mind.  It’d rarely altered it’s course, heading in a remarkably straight line towards its goal.

They’d mostly traveled by roads or through towns, though it mostly seemed coincidental.  Like the roads and towns just happened to be along the path the dog was set for.  Like it wasn’t using landmarks to navigate.

It wasn’t until the middle of the night that Kakashi figured out what was up.

The dog clearly hadn’t noticed that Kakashi was awake.  It had crept away from him and.  Grabbed a stick??  Which it set on the ground??  And then the stick spun.  Like a compass.  And was parallel to the path they had been taking.

Okay.

Creepy sentient dog (not that Kakashi could talk) could turn sticks into compasses.

That was.  At least it knew where it was going?

…

Nope.  Didn’t help Kakashi’s shinobi paranoia.

It wasn’t until they entered a town – Surrey, by the street signs Kakashi saw – that Kakashi realized the hyper-intelligent dog was more than just a dog.  

They reached a small town, curled under a bridge and-  the dog.  It.  Turned into a man.

Kakashi could see why.  The steep bridge wall was slippery for dog paws.  Kakashi was only climbing easily because of the wall climbing technique.  He was a ninja.  Some normal (if smart) dog wouldn’t be able to make it up the wet, moss-covered stone.

A scrawny, starved-looking man?  The man stood up and easily pulled himself into the tight space between the top of the wall and the underside of the bridge.  Kakashi scrambled up after him, easily pinning the man under his oversized puppy paws.

Teach me, he thought intensely at the man, I want to be six feet tall again.

The scraggly man barked short, harsh laughter.  Laughter that near-perfectly lined up with his odd doggy huffs.  “Confused, huh?  At least I know that you’re definitely not a muggle dog.  You probably have some crup in you with such intelligence.”

What the heck is a crup?!?  I want to be human-shaped again, you civilian magic weirdo.

“Although I remember this once, Father bought a dire wolf pelt for Mother.  Maybe you’re one of those.”  The man slipped into silence, his blue eyes going cloudy and heavy with memory.

“I’m Sirius Black,”  he said, long after the silence had gone from uncomfortable to tiring.  “I haven’t named you yet.  Just been callin’ you pup in my head.”

Good, thought Kakashi, I’d hate to get another name.  I’ve just been calling you “Old Dog.”

Sirius’ shoulders shook in laughter,  “It’s unlucky that dogs aren’t like reptiles.  We don’t have a language besides our bodies, and neither of us seem to know that innate language very well.  I won’t care if you run off.”

Sirius paused, and Kakashi stared him down, thinking very loudly You’re an idiot as he hoped it showed in his lazily flicking ears.  “I’m heading towards my godson, Harry.  He lives with his Aunt, I know.  Dumbledore bragged about some blood protection keeping Harry safe, and they’re the only blood relatives close enough to his parents that could do that.  I was supposed to get him, pup.”  Sirius trailed off before whispering,  “He was supposed to be my pup.”

Sirius Black shook, suddenly enraged.  The mood swing had been faster than Hiraishin.

“If it wasn’t for that,”  his voice darkened,  “ rat, I woulda never’ve had to give ‘im up.”  He brightened like a grim star nearing death.  Bright and shining, but also deadly, burning, and threatening to explode and take everything with it in the blast.  “I’ll kill that rat and get Harry back, and I don’t care if they throw me in Azkaban as long as that rat is dead when they do it.”

Sirius shifted again.  His body folded in on itself – inside, outside, twisting, turning, collapsing – and before Kakashi was the grumpy black dog he’d followed for so long.

They curled together for warmth and slept.

—

In the late afternoon, almost evening, they were in a painfully boring subdivision with perfectly cut grass, identical houses, and one vehicle (not a carriage, Kakashi determined, but definitely similar) in each paved path up to the house.  The sun was slowly setting, and he and Sirius had settled in some bushes just outside one home that looked much the same as every other house, except for the fact that there were currently two vehicles in the paved path that led to the house. The bushes were well taken care of.  The flowers in bloom, the leaves full and green, and the plants thick enough to keep the two dog-shaped men perfectly hidden from the road.

Inside was a family, eating a meal.

Two women, a grown man, and two boys.  No pets that Kakashi could smell, but the heavy scent of owl pellets and feathers was evident throughout the property.  It was too strong to be an average animal, so it must’ve been some form of ninken.  The scent of chakra was layered around as well.  It wasn’t natured, oddly.  Just… chakra.   Seal chakra.

Life energy, scattered around like it was bleeding off of– two young boys and a woman.

Kakashi focused his senses.  Specifically, his chakra sense.

One woman – small and tittering – had small sparks of chakra flickering off of her.  Not enough to truly develop her reserves, but enough that, if trained from a young age, she could’ve performed a few C-ranks.  Good for an infiltration specialist or a monk.  Not much else.

The larger boy was similar.  Flickering chakra only bigger than the Tittering Woman’s because he had more mass to make chakra with.  Both of their chakras were twisted, every so slightly, around what felt like a seal.

A seal that felt remarkably like Uzushio.

It was odd, too.

The woman’s chakra was fairly Yin, and the boy’s Yang, but the seal was very Yin.

The larger man and woman only had the barest amount of chakra to keep them alive. Unnatured, as all small amounts of chakra was.

Then there was the second boy.  He must’ve been Harry, the godson.  His chakra was also Yin, though it was fairly well-balanced for a civilian. The Yin was untrained and powerful, and the Yang felt like it had been weak, but it was cultivated to strength.  

Beyond Yin and Yang – the only chakra types that Kakashi could actively sense outside his body – there was a… breeze, almost.  The seal twisted between the Tittering Woman and Large Boy was also twined around Harry.

It was through this twining – which twisted around the property like golden threads and pressed against Kakashi’s soul and mind – that Kakashi could feel the softest of breezes.  Wind nature, then.  Good for fanning flames, good for kicking up storms.

Wind was what Naruto had.

With his senses opened, Kakashi took the chance to peek at Sirius.  The man was painfully Yin.  Shadow and intelligence and natural, heavy, darkness that he’d been born with.  There was a little Yang, but mostly in fire, and passion, and motivation (also in shapechanging, as something so physical could never be accomplished by a Yin-type).  Kakashi had a feeling that Sirius had once cultivated Yang like Harry was (where he’d learned shapechanging), but had long since been left with the Yin.

Surprisingly, the man was very heavily fire-natured.  It wasn’t rare for there to be a Yin-fire, but it was much more common in Konoha (where the fire-natured Yamanaka called home) than anywhere else in the Elemental Nations.

Traditionally, Fire and Lightning were Yang, and Earth and Water were Yin, while Wind went either way.

Of course, it was just a likelihood of what one would be.  Kakashi hadn’t seen the statistics since his one six month stint teaching at the Academy, but it was far more nuanced than most thought.

The five humans had dinner, and Kakashi let the human voices wash over him.

It was 30-70 for a Fire to be Yin over Yang in Konoha, and 15-85 across the nations.

It was 8-92 for a Lightning to be Yin over Yang in Konoha, and that was only because there were only twelve primary lightning natures in Konoha, and Kakashi was the Yin Lightning.  Everywhere else, it was 20-80.

Wind was fifty-fifty everywhere except for Uzushio

There were similar (if inversed) percentages for Earth and Water, and Konoha didn’t have nearly as large a difference with typing compared to the rest of the nations.

Kakashi was brought out of his musings by loud banging.

The Yang chakra in the room had suddenly spiked, heavily tinted with air and wind and movement .  Kakashi risked a peek through the window (as did Sirius, he noted) and witnessed something fascinating.   A basic and weakened version of the Akimichi’s Body Expansion Technique, used on another individual on an instinctual level and instead of relying on Fire and Earth in conjunction to expand the user’s body, Wind was used to force another’s body to expand.

It was harmless, that much Kakashi could tell.  More of a temporary ballooning than anything truly harmful, although the rubbery pallor and stretch to the woman’s skin was slightly concerning.

But interesting.

The small boy rushed out the door, and only paused when the large man yelled at him. “COME BACK IN HERE!  COME BACK AND PUT HER RIGHT!”

“She deserved it.  She deserved what she got.  You keep away from me.”  The boy was shaking, but his voice was steady, and his face was another matter entirely.  Fear and anger poured off his scent, the adrenaline was tangible on his breath. 

“I’m going.  I’ve had enough.”

The boy, carrying a trunk that seemed to fly behind him, raced into the night.

Sirius and Kakashi followed after.

Chapter Text

The small boy (though Kakashi couldn’t talk) made fairly good time.  Kakashi and Sirius had difficulty staying quiet as they followed him to a nearby park, where he set his trunk down and sat on the curb.  Sirius eagerly crept forward.  In the yellowed streetlights, with Sirius’ glowing blue eyes and Kakashi’s bright fur they looked frightening.

The boy flinched back as he noticed them, his chakra rearing in shock.

It reached towards a stick in his hand like Kakashi’s chakra leapt to his fingertips.

As the boy stumbled back, splaying his arms for balance, Kakashi lunged.  He settled behind the boy, making sure he didn’t fall.  The overextended arm was warily pulled back to the small boy’s chest.  Bright green eyes stared down at Kakashi’s gray ones.  Blue eyes looked on indulgently.

The boy huffed,  “You’re just dogs.  I can’t believe I got so scared!”  The boy scratched at Kakashi’s ears, Sirius pressed closer for his own ear scritches.  “Friendly ones, too.  Nothing like Ripper.”

Ripper sounded awful.  Harry pushed his wand into his pocket and rested his head in his hands.  “I don’t suppose you know where I could stay?  I’m not going back to the Dursleys.  Ever.”   The golden magic swirled around Harry’s hair, nervous and agitated.  A protective den-mother.  A worried guard.

Sirius shifted on his paws.  Kakashi gave him a look and a raised eyebrow.

Sighing (as much as a dog-wolf could, at least), Kakashi nudged the boy away from the road.  It wouldn’t do for careless humans to get concerned when there were two perfectly capable dogs right there.  Harry stood silently, grabbing his trunk as Sirius picked up a book bag in his mouth.  Kakashi led them to a cleared spot of soft dirt.

Kakashi grabbed a stick in his jaws.

b O n T  Fr EEc  oUT  IM  kAkA sHI   

wE  P O r T E  kT  U

What?  Kakashi’d only spent a few months in school, and since the age of twelve had strived to turn in the worst-written reports known to man.  At some point during his ruse, it had become more of a “ruse” as he forgot the actual spellings of words.  Also!  He was writing with his mouth.  Ever tried to write using a stick in your mouth?  No?  Thought so.

Hopefully, Harry understood the message.

Harry did.  However, he merely stood there blankly, looking at Kakashi like his world had been turned upside down.

“You know English.”  It wasn’t a question.  Kakashi nodded anyway.  “ Why do I keep running into English-speaking animals?  First snakes, now dogs!  I don’t even like dogs that much!”

Hey!   Nothing wrong with dogs.  

Sirius snorted in laughter.  He looked warily side to side, checking the empty park once more, before running his paw under Kakashi’s scratchy letters.  b O n T  Fr EEc  oUT, it now read.  Sirius shook his fur out.

And shook.

And twisted.   Sirius, the decently-sized-if-starving man, now stood before Harry and Kakashi.  Sirius promptly sat back down, making sure he wasn’t towering over the frazzled Harry.  “I’m Sirius Black,”  he said with a weight to the words that Kakashi didn’t think they deserved,  “and I’m your godfather.”  Kakashi took it back.  Godfathers were Important.  They had a duty to the children under their care.  That explained why Sirius was supposed to be in charge of Harry.

“You’re a murderer.” … Sirius is a what now?!?

“I was framed – I didn’t kill anyone, I didn’t even have a trial – they found me after I’d tracked down the rat who’d betrayed James and Lily and tossed me in prison the next morning.  I had no idea what was going on.  They never came back, never told me anything, Harry I swear if I’d known you weren’t safe I would’ve been out as soon as I could’ve.  I stayed there because I thought the war was over – it’s not, Harry, Peter Pettigrew’s alive and he’s going to try to kill you again.”

Harry thumped to the ground.

So did Kakashi.

“You’re-”  Harry’s voice broke.  “You’re innocent?”

“Yeah,”  Sirius sighed.

“You didn’t betray my parents or anything?”

“God, Harry, no.  Never.”

“And the one who did-  he’s still out there.  That’s why you broke out?  To keep me safe.”

“Always, Harry.”

They hugged, and Kakashi rolled his eyes before nuzzling his way into their arms.  No way was he going to be stuck there sitting awkwardly on the sideline while they had an emotionally touching moment.  He was a cute puppy!  Everyone loves hugging cute puppies while they cry. 

Ugh.  Gross.  Feelings.  Kakashi was too old for this. 

You know what is interesting?  The golden wardspell that latched onto Sirius nearly as soon as Harry touched him.  Weird.  Kakashi extended a thin branch of white-spark chakra to poke at it and watched as it reared and hissed at his contact.  It felt odd – a fizzling on his soul that he could see and feel, but not actually hear.  The wardspell “looked” at Kakashi, twisting around him in curiosity before settling uneasily around his scruff.  It wasn’t the protective blanket over Harry, nor the heat-thief kitten curling around Sirius, but it was tolerance. 

Harry (after pulling away from Sirius very reluctantly) asked Kakashi if “Kakashi” was really his name.  Kakashi harumphed, upset that Harry couldn’t pronounce his name right.

Sirius laughed when Kakashi headbutted Harry in the solar plexus.

Sirius did not laugh when Kakashi rammed into him.

— — —

Eventually, Harry and Sirius figured out how to say Kakashi’s name.

Neither of them thought to ask Kakashi where he’d learned to write (not that Kakashi would answer), but Harry had made the astute observation that since Sirius could shapeshift from a man into a dog, Kakashi might be able to learn how to shapeshift from a dog into a man.

The gleeful yips Kakashi let out when Sirius asked  “A dog learning how to animagus into a man?” were something he would kill to stop anyone from Konoha learning about.  Kakashi – gray-haired and ancient (30-something, but whatever:  being a jounin-sensei had aged him) – was absolutely not acting like a giddy little puppy at the thought of being human-shaped and adult again.

The day-long jaunts through the woods weren’t nearly as bad with a young boy around.

Kakashi would occasionally indulge Harry by chasing the occasional thrown stick, and would nip at Sirius’ tail.  When Sirius was human (“How’s school been, Harry?  Got a girlfriend yet?  Pulling pranks?  What’s your best mate’s name?  Favorite color?”), Kakashi made a game of running at him full speed and jumping.  Harry caught on first, picking him up and spinning him in a circle before setting him down.  Sirius was knocked over a few times.

Wandering through the wood was nice, Kakashi thought to himself.

— — —

Naturally, that’s when they reach the horrible place known as “Lun-done”

Kakashi misses being an assassin.

Chapter Text

Lundone is awful.  Kakashi’s going to kill someone.

There are awful smells, and metal is everywhere.  The road asphalt and cobblestone is omnipresent.  There’s practically no grass or dirt to rest his poor paw pads.  Pakkun would be disappointed.  

He walks on surfaces as hard as stone (and once over a metal grate, which he will not be repeating), darting through shadows as he and Harry follow after Sirius.  Sirius had long ago shrunk Harry’s luggage, and it was currently tucked in Harry’s trouser pockets.  Harry himself was tucked under an odd shimmery cloak that made him unndetectable.

Underneath it, Harry could not be smelled, or seen, or heard.  The only hints of his presence were in that uncanny sixth sense most humans possessed (and Kakashi honed) that allowed people to know when someone was watching them.  Kakashi could feel it on his fur, that something was there.

His Sharingan disagreed, as did his normal chakra sense, his eyes, and every other sense he had except touch.

After a painful, agonizing day or traveling through dirty, awful streets with Invisible Harry and Dog Sirius, the two dip into a pub and slip past every person in the pub into the back alley.  After that, Harry reaches a hand to tap at some stones and the wall just.

Moves.

Politely.

Over.

This is fine.

They enter into a bright, busy, colorful street.  The clothes there are different, and everyone feels… bolder to Kakashi.  their chakra/magic stuff levels are high, he realizes.  They feel like monks who have extremely refined chakra, but no ninja-sense to keep it close to their bodies. 

Harry takes over leading.

Sirius is stunned into nerves. 

It’s difficult following an invisible, unsensable person, but Kakashi figures it out.  The crowd parts oddly at this space, a gust of wind reveals part of an ankle and shoe, golden family magic trails like leashes around Kakashi and Sirius when they drift too far away.

Eventually, they duck into a darker street, one that makes Kakashi feel at home.  The shinobi-paranoia is evident here.  The people on guard, chakra-magic-whatever pulled tight and winding, every eye glancing towards exits and entrances and every sudden shift and movement.

Kakashi learns that this place is called Knockturn Alley. 

No one will question or look for Harry here.

They find an inn – one run by an ugly old women who smelled of cooked human flesh – and come to an agreement for their stay.

It is then that the hard part begins.

Sirius transforms once their room is locked three times over, and starts talking about what needs to be done.  First, Harry needs his school supplies and Kakashi needs Animagus transformation materials.  To avoid attracting attention, they should check the Gringotts Vaults – anything they don’t need to buy, they shouldn’t.  After they take everything out of the vaults, they should go to the Darkest and least frequented shops for other things (Kakashi can hear the capital letter.  He doesn’t know why.) while making sure to spread out their purchases and mix in other objects.

As a last resort, they will go to the Diagon shops as infrequently as possible, and only under disguise.

Harry needed five books that he does not already have.  Goshawk’s Standard Book of Spells, Grade Three; Unfogging the Future; Switch’s Intermediate Transfiguration; The Monster Book of Monsters; and Arsenius Jigger’s Essential Defense Against The Dark Arts.

Sirius’ copies (or James’, it was a little unclear) of Standard Book of Spells, Grade Three and Intermediate Transfiguration were likely in either the Potter Vault, or Sirius’ old vault.  They might’ve even been moved to Harry’s trust fund.  It wouldn’t be surprising if there were already copies of Unfogging the Future or Essential Defense Against the Dark Arts somewhere in there, either.  Unfortunately, the Monster Book of Monsters was difficult to keep in stock, so most bookstores didn’t hold them unless they knew for a fact that they would sell.

Apparently, it had a tendency to eat other books if not kept entertained.

Besides books, Harry needed new robes, and a few more bottles of ink as well as extra quills.  It would also be helpful if he could snag an extra roll of Condensed Parchment (“117 meters of parchment, perfect for all your essay and letter writing needs!  Easy to carry, easy to hold!”).  Even though the school provided parchment for those who didn’t get some, and it was never much hassle to borrow from a friend, it didn’t exactly hurt ot have.

Ink and parchment could be grabbed from anywhere.

Hopefully, some enterprising ancestor of Harry’s had bought a lot and then never written in it.

Meanwhile, Kakashi needed a mandrake leaf, a crystal phial that “received pure rays of the moon”, a silver teaspoon, untouched dew, a quiet and dark place, and a very well-timed electrical storm.

If at any point he messed up, he would have to start again from the beginning.

Issue one, that Sirius helpfully brought up:  there is a point where Kakashi will have to say “Amato Animo Animato Animagus” with his very much not-human lips and mouth and throat.

Issue two:  Kakashi must place a wand tip at his heart.  He has neither a wand nor hands.

So Kakashi needs to find out how to speak, hold a wand, and also get a wand in the first place.

Ugh, troublesome.

It all begins approximately August 5th.

Harry got the Mandrake leaf (It was on the roof of Kakashi’s mouth.  It was very itchy.  He wanted to lick it out of his mouth.)  as well as four of his five books – the Monster Book of Monsters remained in Diagon Alley.  They planned to search Knockturn and the other side alleys before trying Diagon.

Kakashi would not be able to continue to the next step for 28 days, as the Mandrake leaf was not to stay in his mouth for a full month, but from one point of the moon to the same point the next month.  At least, according to Sirius.  It would be September 2nd when he could move on, and Harry would be at school.

Harry spent his days wandering Knockturn with one of them watching.

He made friends with their landlady cannibal, which Kakashi was very thankful for, when an attempted intruder ended up in her stew the next night.  He then befriended a creature that Kakashi was certain was a vampire from legend, and constantly wandered into the oddest shops looking at items that were most definitely cursed.

If Kakashi wasn’t already gray…

Harry found half a bottle of ink in his Trust Fund, so they bought four more and set them in the trunk.

Then the trunk broke, and they bought a new one.

About a week later, Harry slipped into Diagon (unaccompanied and disguised) and grabbed a copy of the Monster Book of Monsters.  Sirius paid a little kid to go and buy some condensed parchment for them.  The kid also bought a candy bar with the money.

Kakashi’s crystal phial was found in a shop called Borgin & Burkes.  His silver spoon was nabbed by Harry, who had started spending hours at Florean Fortesque’s Ice Cream Parlour (Kakashi didn’t understand why there was a ‘u’ there) and had been doing the dishes once the shop closed in the evenings.

Harry didn’t say he had stolen it, but Kakashi was pretty sure he’d stolen it.

With only a week before Harry went to school, Kakashi’s wand situation was delicate.

He needed one.  With it, he could learn a spell that would let him speak and finish the Animagus spell.

It was the night before Harry went to King’s Crossing that Kakashi crept into Ollivander’s (closed hours ago), and-

there was a wand sitting on a stool.  

It had a note on it.  Kakashi struggled to read through it.  “I’ve been waiting for you,” he was certain it said.  “I believe this will serve you well.  Black Walnut - be true to yourself and it will be strong.  Unicorn hair - continue to turn towards the light and your loyalties.  13”, moderately flexible - sometimes you must bend, sometimes you must be firm.  Do not break.”

Kakashi took it in his jaws – careful of his teeth – and slipped through the shadows back to their room.

The Mandrake leaf slipped out.

Kakashi got a new Mandrake leaf.

Chapter Text

Kakashi woke up with a grumble as a careless foot stepped on his tail.

The curtains had already been pulled open, and there was far too much light being let into their room.  Sirius was already bustling about, fussing over Harry’s hair with a comb and awful-smelling hair gel while he layered protective charm over protective charm on Harry.

After the fourth necklace, sixth bracelet, second anklet, and Sirius trying to wrap a paper charm around the frames of Harry’s glasses, Harry’d had enough.

“Gerroff me!”  he squealed with a cracking voice,  “Stop fussing, I’ve gone to Hogwarts just fine for the last two years!  I don’t need a million trinkets that do nothing, Sirius.”

Harry’s face had flushed red.  He wasn’t used to the attention.

“C’mon, Prongslet,”  Sirius whined, looking more like a kicked puppy than Kakashi did.  “Don’t take them all off.  You’d be surprised how much good they can do.  That one turns black when there’re airborne poisons in the air, or if someone coughs on you.  This one prevents drinks from staining your robes if they spill on you.  The anklets can ward off weaker curses like the tripping jinx, and some of those necklaces prevent you from eating poisoned or enchanted food, or keep spells from hitting your head.  They’re really helpful, promise.”

Harry fidgetted.  Kakashi rolled his eyes.  In his opinion, Sirius should give the boy a knife and be done with it.  Nothing wrong with a good knife.

…

Well.  They had some time before they had to catch the train.

Kakashi pulled the door open (it was a bar handle, not a knob) and raced to the streets.  As he did, he overheard Harry agreeing to one necklace (as long as it didn’t look too girly) and the anklets (he’d been tripped by Malfoy on the stairs one too many times, apparently).

Before he fully left the building, he stopped at the landlady’s desk, and made eye contact.  Do you have a knife I can give Harry? he thought in the way that he knew she could tell what he was thinking.

She cackled,  “I have plenty, but none he should carry.  Go out the door, head right, take the first right, second building on the left.  Give this to the cashier.”

The Landlady handed Kakashi a parchment scroll, with a leather casing that would prevent his slobber from getting it wet.  He easily followed her directions, nudging open a red brick building built at a dangerous slant over the road.

And diagonal.

The building had solid wood floors that were somehow charmed for silence.  His claws thudded instead of clicking on the boards.  A young-looking man leaned against the cash register, looking fairly bored.  Kakashi trotted up and put his front paws on the counter, dropping the scroll with a slobbering clunk.

The man waved his wand, vanished the slobber, and unrolled the scroll with a disgusted look towards Kakashi.  Gleefully, Kakashi put on the dumbest look he could, and let his tongue hang out happily.  His tail wagged for effect.

The man glared more.

He took a ridiculous time to read the full scroll, before rolling his eyes, grabbing a box behind the counter, and attaching a rope handle to it.

“Now, shoo,”  said the grumpy man.  “That woman knows I don’t like dogs.”

Kakashi headed back to the inn, the Landlady smiled (well.  it was more an evil cackle than a smile) at his prize, and headed back to the room.

He knocked, because the door was far harder to open from the outside than the inside, and the door swung open absentmindedly.

Sirius was still fussing over Harry’s hair.

Kakashi managed to sneak the bag into Harry’s trunk before Sirius shrunk it.

Sirius finally decided that Harry was presentable (after moving the same six hairs for five minutes straight), and was giving Kakashi’s unruly fur a considering look before Harry started whining about potentially missing the train.  They still had twenty minutes, but Sirius agreed that it was better for Harry to get a good seat, and he and Kakashi started making the trip up to Hogwarts.

Before changing to his dog form, Sirius reapplied Kakashi’s sticking charm on the mandrake leaf and made sure the room was completely packed up.

It was.

Two dogs and a boy paid the Landlady and headed towards the Alley’s floo system.

— — —

Sirius and Kakashi flooed first, making use of Harry’s speaking ability to go to “Hogsmeade Midway Floo Station.”  It would land them about 50 miles from Hogsmeade itself – a protective precaution that Hogwarts made sure was enforced to protect their students – and they would apparate the rest of the way to a place Sirius called the “Shrieking Shack” which did not sound very fun to Kakashi, but it was where they were going to stay until “Christmas.”

Follow?  Because Kakashi didn’t.

The Midway Floo Station was fine, the side-along Apparition was not.

They had to do six of them because Sirius was out of practice.

By the time they reached Hogsmeade Main St., Kakashi insisted they walk the rest of the way to the Shrieking Shack.  Judging by Sirius’ tucked tail, he got the message.

They walked.

The Shrieking Shack was an old, worn-down, condemned structure covered in poisonous vines, shattered glass, and spiders.  The two of them worked until it got too dark to work:  sweeping, repairing boards, and creating an acceptable base of operations.

The moon was still pretty bright, so they were able to work well until midnight, considering the half-present roof allowed light to shine down freely.

A white owl swooped down with a letter in its claw.

Dear Padfoot and Pup, Sirius read aloud, Our Def. Ag. the Dark Arts Prof. is Remus Lupin.  He’s very nice and gave me chocolate. There were dementors on the train.  They were looking for Sirius Black.  When they got close, it was like all the light was sucked out of the world.  I could hear a woman screaming.  It was awful.  I’m glad you didn’t sneak on the train.  I’m settled in my room fine, but Seamus has already thrown all his clothes on the floor, and Ron’s pouting because I didn’t answer any of his owls all summer.  Hermione’s mad too.  I think she wants to look into Sirius Black.  She knows we’ll be in trouble if anyone comes after me.

Lo  Best wishes,

Harry