Favorites. Prequel

"Well, yes, yes, the Dark Lord and all that. Everything is clear with you. Then perhaps you can demonstrate your combat spells to me later. You wanted to go to the bank," I reminded him.

* * *

We went into the bank together, and I saw that besides people like Kreacher, there are also scary dwarves in the magical world. Harry said they were goblins, and when we walked in, they got nervous because they couldn't break my illusion. But I took off my henge in a separate room where Harry and I were taken so that visitors wouldn"t figure out who the "most popular young wizard" was.

I don't know what's worse: being hated by everyone or being loved by everyone. In both cases, people only see what they want to see, ignoring us. They saw me as a demon, not Naruto Uzumaki, and he as "the boy who lived," not Harry Potter. It's complicated.

I didn't go to the vault, but stayed in the office, where they offered me some tea. But my ninja instincts tell me things aren't that simple. But Naruto Uzumaki doesn't bully little children, as long as they don't bully him.

Chapter Note:

* The International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy was a law passed in 1689. At that time, the entire wizarding world went underground.

Part 1. Chapter 5. Mission Completed

"Gringotts Bank is very well protected from thieves, sir..."

"Uzumaki," I prompted the goblin with the difficult-to-pronounce name, who had braided his long fingers almost into pigtails as he sat opposite me on a high chair. Our eyes were on the same level.

"Don't think, Mr. Uzumaki, that your sorcery could deceive our defense system, besides, on the lower levels we have dragons and a waterfall that washes away any spells."

"And why do I need to know this?" I was surprised, looking at the ring, covered in something pink, lying on a plate that was brought along with a mug of green tea, and wondering whether it was hard or soft.

It smelled delicious, and while we were wandering around London, I managed to get hungry. Unable to resist, I poked my finger at the ring. Soft. And something slimy-looking crawled out from the side. I'm not that hungry, I guess. I wonder if they slipped some of that potion Harry was talking about into my tea? I'll drink and fall in love with this... What's his name... Basically, a goblin. Well... You shouldn't drink or eat anything here.

"I just thought you should know that no one has ever been able to steal from goblins."

"Yeah, an S-rank mission," I muttered. "Difficult to accomplish, often deadly, but very profitable."

The goblin remained silent and continued to drill me with his small eyes, and I sat down more comfortably and, closing my eyelids, prepared to wait for Harry. We sat there in silence for about an hour. It's boring... someone would have attacked, otherwise it's not interesting.

"Naruto," Harry called to me from afar. I think I dozed off a little. Apparently, the morning lesson was good, he didn't touch me to wake me up. "Come on, I'm done."

I returned the henge to Harry and me, which is why the goblins just looked at each other and muttered something incomprehensible, maybe they have their own language?

We left the bank.

"Shall we eat somewhere?" I suggested. "Only where they don't pour a love potion or indigestion."

Harry glanced at me.

"And what? You said yourself that you have all kinds of potions. And we have a lot of all kinds of enemies, and the interrogators have the type of "truth serum" to talk to the enemies. As for love, it is unlikely, but which causes carnal desires — there are plenty of these. Every self-respecting kunoichi carries more than one capsule with her.... And a lot of guys don't shy away from poisons," I muttered, remembering Sai and some of his espionage methods.

"That's how..." said Harry quietly, looking thoughtful. "You know, I've seen some people at Hogwarts wearing amulets and rings that recognize poisons and potions in food.... Maybe I should buy the same for myself."

"Are you kidding?" I asked, surprised. "You could have bought protection and still haven't? Well you're a hero..."

We walked through the shops where Harry had purchased local artifacts. I advised him to buy recognizing poisons in the form of buttons. It would be strange if he returned to school, all hung up with rings or pendants, and the buttons would not alert anyone.

We had lunch in a small magical cafe, where we tried out the artifacts, and then we went into an alley and Harry called Kreacher.

"Take Naruto and me to the entrance of the Ministry of Magic," he ordered the elf.

M-Yeas... I was really expecting something....

Something more colorful, or something, and not a dead end littered with garbage with a full-length red iron cage and broken windows in it. Harry informed me that it was a "phone booth" and dragged me into it. There was a black phone hanging on the wall with numbers in a circle, and the guy dialed the code. M! He managed to impress me, it's a disguised entrance!

A female voice from the phone asked who we were and what the purpose of our visit was.

"Har..." I barely managed to shut up this half-baked wizard and dragged him out of the booth.

"Are you crazy?" I asked coldly. ""Harry Potter, really?" And who else? "Naruto Uzumaki, the summoned demon"? In order to "climb into the Arch of Death," right?"

"Um..." he hunched his shoulders and looked at me from under his brows. "What about then?"

"What should happen after we tell you the names and purpose of the visit?"

"There should be badges that should be attached to the robes," he closed his eyes, as if remembering. "When you put on the badge, the booth takes the visitor down to the atrium of the Ministry, where you need to register the wands with the sorcerer on duty, and then you can go to the goal."

"Where is this Arch located?"

"In the Department of Mysteries, in the death chamber."

I created two clones, making them look ten years older than us.

They entered the booth, and we stood next to them and listened to them.

"Gaara Ript and Narun Makki," The clone gave out the names by heart. "They arrived on a secret research mission to the death chamber."

Well, yes, what is Rikudo not joking about, but these wizards are such morons...

"Wow, they gave us badges," Harry chuckled in surprise, looking at my clone's palm. "It says 'Gaara Ript, research mission,' but this one says the same thing, just 'Narun Makki.'"

"Remember your name and mine," I put on a badge and, throwing new heng on Harry and me, scattered the clones.

* * *

The Ministry of Magic... flying airplanes, more crowds of people hurrying somewhere. For me, there's too much smooth, slippery stone... floor, walls, ceilings, statues. As it turns out, house elves and goblins aren't the only intelligent races. In the statue and the stone mosaic on the walls, I saw more half-horse people and half-fish people.

We passed easily enough. They showed me the sticks, I made mine shadow, they touched it, weighed it and returned it to me. Harry asked where I got the wand from and when I managed to buy it for myself. That's a fool. You create clones here, and he doesn't realize that shadow copying can reproduce anything, let alone some piece of wood. I told him that the Shinobi had their own secrets, since I hadn't figured it out myself.

The Arch of Death was really creepy. It turned out to be a huge, seemingly through hole in a relatively thin piece of rock. Only a black spider web seemed to be stretched in the doorway and a very quiet, indistinct whisper could be heard. Like when Kuby showed me illusions with demons in the inner world. Interesting.

I created a clone by injecting some chakra into it, and sent it to investigate. He went in, but he didn't come out from the other side. And, strangely, I couldn't dispel the technique, as if it had been cut off.

"I've lost contact with the clone," I said to Harry, who was staring at the arch in fascination and took a couple of steps towards it.

"Hey!" I shook him by the shoulder. "Do you hear?"

"Yes, I can hear someone whispering and crying softly"...

"Oh, this? Forget it, it's always like that in these genjutsu. You can use your magic inside your body, and then you won't hear voices."

Harry nodded and concentrated, and then looked at me in surprise.

"Indeed, the voices seem to have become quieter, and I don't want to..."

"Go there?" I asked. "Eh, brother, are you really going to let some voices drag you where you don't want to go? Don't get discouraged, the main thing is..."

"And what now?" Harry asked. "You've lost contact with the clone, so he's dead?"

"If the clone had died, the chakra would have returned, but most likely, he went to another world where I can't feel him, and he can't come back. So it's not known what it is at all."

"They say it's a direct route to the World of the Dead", Harry shuddered, however, as he continued to circulate magic within himself.

"Even if it's not a transition to the World of the dead, but, let's say, to another world, then I'll say right away, if twelve days have passed here, or rather, thirteen, then your godfather has definitely died, perhaps having lived quite a long time before that. After all, time with the original world is often greatly changed. When I return to my world, it will be a few hours at most. And that's assuming I'm stuck here with you for a couple of months. So think for yourself."

"So he might not have died, but simply been transported to another world?"

"Harry understood." And no longer be able to return home?

"He could have died," I did not reassure him. "But in any case, he defended what was dear to him. You. Think about what Sirius would say if he saw it like this...."

"Sleepy?" He finished softly, sitting down next to me on a stone bench.

"Being chosen is not easy, Harry," I replied softly. "I know by myself..."

"Let's get out of here," he stood up, looking at me in a completely different way. "I get it, Naruto.

* * *

"It's beautiful here," I said, gazing out at the green fields and meadows, through the window of a large iron and long car, which Harry called the "train."

"Yeah," he smiled.

"You guys will love it, the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh is something!" A very cheerful Emma, a pretty red-haired girl with a good figure, hugged me, pressing this very figure against me. Her friend Jess was sitting next to Harry, smiling at us. However, she was smiling at Harry too.

It all happened somehow easily and spontaneously.

The next morning after going to the ministry, Harry, having learned that I could disappear at any moment, as I had fulfilled my "mission", decided to show me King's Cross Station and some kind of platform from which the train departs to his school. Kreacher took us there.

There were a lot of people, as always in this England, but there were more young people among the crowd now.

"Hi, are you going to the festival too, boys? May I meet you? Have you already bought tickets?" two girls came up to Harry and me: red-haired and with dark hair. "I'm Emma, and this is Jessica, but you can just call Jess. Maybe we can buy tickets nearby? It takes more than four hours to drive... It won't be boring...."

Charming, contagious... And Harry didn't seem to have anything to do with girls.... from the word "never". Just the sight of them made him blush, turn pale, and start stuttering. Well, that's what you can do, I'm kind and I'm a positive hero. I had to tell them that we were going to some kind of festival, too, and go with them to buy tickets and ice cream.

At first, though, Harry said he only had galleons, magic money, but after looking at what Jess was paying with, I made a shadow one. At the same time, he told Harry that he could spend some time with ordinary girls, and then Kreacher could transfer us at any moment to the four walls of his gloomy house, where he could not use his wand. After my words, Harry immediately became more sociable.

Besides, I told him that the lives of heroes can be short, so it's worth taking a little break and enjoying this life.

Anyway, we're going to Edinburgh.

Part 1. Chapter 6. The simple life of difficult guys

"It's a beautiful city," I drawled, when we arrived around noon where our temporary companions were heading.

"It's great, isn't it?" Emma smiled. "Actually, the festival itself, when the guests and all kinds of tourists come together, will be in a month, in August. And now there are preparations and rehearsals. We are volunteers, and we will also help our friends with a theatrical production and a march. But now you can watch everything calmly, without crowds of people. And Edinburgh itself is a very interesting city. That's why we've been coming here for the second summer. And the hotel will be quite inexpensive. Many of our people spend the night in a tent camp, it's more fun that way. At this time, the main rehearsals are held, which can be viewed for free, and the volunteers are also entitled to various discounts in museums. Harry, when Emma mentioned the tent camp, chuckled strangely, but did not add anything.

"You didn't know about all this, did you, Nart?" Jess's eyes narrowed slyly. "Yes, RJ?"

We changed our names a bit because Harry said that the name "Naruto" is difficult to pronounce in English. I don't know how his "Harry" turned out to be "R.J." but that's how he introduced us, the guy learns fast, and he didn't bother with "muggles."

"We made a mistake," I sighed, smiling broadly. "Yes, you're right, girls, we just went with you", It occurred to me that here, too, women can be treacherous and very clever. "When else can you get acquainted with such beauties? And if you've succeeded, then catch your luck by the tail. R.J. and I had nothing better to do, and we were sick of stuffy London. So it seemed like a great idea to go out in good company to change locations."

"Okay," Emma fixed her hair. "Then take us out, we will register as volunteers, and then we will walk around Edinburgh with you."

Despite the fact that the festival had not yet begun, preparations for it were in full swing. They put up all kinds of posters on which I only understood the numbers "1996".

When I asked Harry about the numbers, he said it was the year, and I thought it was a little strange. There's a completely different time frame here. And Harry also added that it was "the time of the Nativity of Christ," which completely confused me. In our country, everything is considered differently and much simpler: a year means a twelve-year cycle and an animal in this cycle, everything is clear, for example, I was born in the year of the Tiger of the sixth cycle of the era of Hidden Villages. And here it's kind of too confusing.