It was a little over a week later when Jin-Woo's shadows raised the alarm.

He'd been getting daily reports from the strongest shadow he'd attached to Harry to make sure he was alright. And, so far, his family had been ignoring him. Jin-Woo didn't like it, but Harry seemed relieved.

Until two minutes ago.

Harry's 'uncle' had grabbed Harry by the arm and dragged him upstairs. Jin-Woo was beginning to doubt these people were related to the child. He'd thrown him into his room while screaming about "freakish nonsense," and "beating it from him". As far as Jin-Woo knew, all Harry had done was use his magic to float an apple out of a bowl. The apple had landed in his hands in an uncanny resemblance to Ruler's Authority.

Jin-Woo was as furious with Harry's 'relatives' as he was proud of the black-haired boy. He'd seen Jin-Woo use the skill once and within a week had figured out how to emulate it on his own.

And that led to where he was now, crouching on the windowsill of Number 4 Privet Drive. He slipped in through the open window, making his way to the bed. He'd barely touched Harry's shoulder when the boy leaped away, almost tumbling out of bed in his fright.

"Harry? Hey. Hey. It's alright. It's me." Jin-Woo soothed, stepping back a little. "Breathe with me. In and out, Harry. In and out."

Harry began to calm down and seemed to take in the situation.

"Jin- Jin-Woo?" His voice was as quiet and raspy as it had been in Diagon, but now he sounded afraid . It made Jin-Woo's blood boil when he thought about the reason.

"It's me, Harry." He murmured, holding out a hand to the small, scared boy. Harry flinched away from him, hesitating a moment, before taking his hand. Jin-Woo hated that hesitation. If Harry wanted it, then the boy would never see those vile monsters again.

Actually . . . Why should he? He didn't need to come back at all. He could stay with Jin-Woo. If that was what he wanted, at least.

"Where are your things?" Jin-Woo inquired.

Harry paused, then scrambled to collect his trunk and his owl's cage. Said owl took that moment to swoop in through the window. It perched on the end of the bed, eyeing Jin-Woo critically. Harry ran a hand down the bird's back, and she nibbled at his fingers affectionately.

"Where are we going?" Harry's voice was still soft, but it was stronger now. Hopeful.

"If you want to come with me, then we would be going back to my room in the Leaky Cauldron. Do you have everything?" Harry nodded, hesitant but eager, a small smile spreading across his face.

"Harry, listen to me. If you want this, you will never have to come back here again. Not if I can help it."

The boy's eyes grew wide, and he nodded. Jin-Woo held out an arm, wordless, and Harry sidled up to him. The smaller boy nestled against his side.

"We'll be at the Leaky Cauldron," he said to the owl before activating Shadow Exchange .

Harry squeaked, soft yet shrill. He clutched Jin-Woo and his trunk closer as the shadows enveloped them. The darkness was clearing in seconds. Then they were standing in the bare room Jin-Woo rented in the Leaky Cauldron. Harry stumbled away from him, shaking, and leaned heavily against the wall.

"What the bloody hell was that?" The boy panted. His shaking slowly calmed down as he regained his footing. Jin-Woo couldn't help the fond amusement welling up in his chest and leaking into his voice.

"That was shadow travel. I'm sorry I didn't warn you beforehand; I didn't want you to freak out." Jin-Woo knew he was speaking less and less formally, but he decided to blame that on his current physical age.

Harry blinked at him, looking like his brain was rebooting, and stood up straight.

"So . . . you're saying we just-? We just teleported? Using the shadows?"

Jin-Woo nodded, turning to open his trunk, which was placed in the middle of the room. He recalled the shadow he'd swapped with. He saw Harry's shadow elongate and take on a serpentine shape, for a moment, before Rasaka slid out onto the floor. She slithered and coiled around the bed in the corner of the room.

Harry shrieked as the shadow appeared, and Jin-Woo sent the snake a reproving glance. Rasaka merely laughed in reply, the soft hiss reverberating through the room.

"Sorry about her," Jin-Woo said. He nodded his head in Rasaka's direction. "She likes to be dramatic."

Harry squeaked a little, then nodded, staring at the shadow snake with wide eyes. She'd shrunk since becoming a shadow. Now she only filled half of the bed rather than taking up the whole room.

"She's beautiful," he said, and Jin-Woo's head snapped up to stare at the boy. That was not English.

Rasaka was staring intently at the boy as well, intrigued and flattered.

"Thank you." The shadow replied in those same hissing tones that had laced Harry's voice.

Harry grinned, apparently over his fear of the giant serpent. "And I must say; you look delightful yourself, young one."

"You talk!" He sounded delighted. "Jin-Woo, it talks! I thought it was on ly the snake in the reptile exhibit at the zoo that did that, but maybe every snake does it. I haven't met a lot of snakes, but the two I've met so far have been rea lly nice and polite, and your scales are gorgeous!"

Harry didn't seem to notice that he was swapping between languages as he talked. He was looking between Jin-Woo and Rasaka.

Jin-Woo was glad that Harry seemed more comfortable now. That was the most he'd heard from the boy in one sentence since they'd met.

Rasaka was almost purring in delight at the compliments. She slid closer to the boy to rub her head against him like an affectionate cat.

"She certainly seems to like you," he remarked with a chuckle. "Her name is Rasaka."

"Rasaka," Harry breathed, gently running his fingers along the scales on the shadow's head.

"She's been watching you, to keep you safe," Jin-Woo said, rummaging around in his trunk for a bottle of water and some food. "She likes you, and I can certainly see why. Did you know you were speaking a different language when you were looking at her?"

Harry's petting paused, and he turned to look at Jin-Woo.

"I was?" He asked, smiling as Jin-Woo handed him the water and an apple.

Jin-Woo nodded.

"You were hissing," he said, grinning back.

"Really? I didn't even notice."

"I figured you didn't," Jin-Woo said as he changed the setting on his trunk. "You swapped back to English when you looked at me."

Harry frowned, then looked back at Rasaka.

"Am I doing it now?" He asked, running his fingers over the shadow's scales again.

"Yes," Jin-Woo replied in the same language. It felt weird in his mouth, but not unpleasant.

Harry turned to him.

"How about now?" He asked, tilting his head to the side.

"No." Jin-Woo shook his head.

"Now?"

"Yeah, that was it."

Harry grinned and turned back to Rasaka, but the snake had disappeared back into the boy's shadow again. He looked around for a moment in confusion, and then he looked down.

Rasaka stuck her head out of his shadow and winked at him.

"I thought snakes didn't have eyelids," Harry muttered as he grinned down at his shadow. Rasaka's tongue flickered out and she disappeared back into Harry's shadow again. Jin-Woo chuckled.

"Most don't," he replied, thinking about how to explain. "Rasaka's a species of magical snake. I think that would be the closest, most accurate term. She has eyelids because she needed them. And so, she had them."

Harry nodded as though that made sense, and then looked around the room.

"Do you have your trunk set up yet? The bed in here is really uncomfortable, so I've been sleeping in mine," Jin-Woo said, nodding to his open trunk.

Harry shook his head.

"My relatives have kept me busy the whole week. I haven't even had a chance to read my coursebooks yet."

Jin-Woo frowned. That wouldn't do. He knew how important it was that you read at least part of the pre-assigned coursebooks. Just because he'd had to drop out of school to look after his mother and Jin-Ah didn't mean he flunked classes. The stab of pain that thinking of them brought only steeled his resolve to complete the Quest.

But at the same time . . . he looked over at Harry, who was now wrestling with a quilt he had pulled from his trunk. He didn't want to leave him, either.

Jin-Woo stood, walking over to the struggling boy. He tapped him on the shoulder, gesturing to the quilt.

Harry stepped back, and Jin-Woo ran through showing him how to put a cover on it without struggling for half an hour.

The rest of the night was peaceful. After they'd gotten the quilt sorted, they descended into Harry's trunk. Together, they had set it up so that Harry was comfortable living in it. Jin-Woo fell asleep in his own trunk feeling like they had accomplished something.

The last of the time before September 1st passed by in a blur of studying and exploring. Diagon Alley proved to have not one Bookstore, but several, and a large library to boot.

Harry loved the library, and Jin-Woo found himself quite enjoying it, too. It was full of information that would have been difficult to find through other means. It also offered a glimpse of Wizarding culture through many lenses.

Diagon's market district was Jin-Woo's favourite place. He spent almost as much time wandering among the stalls as he did in the library with Harry. And Harry spent a lot of time in the library.

Suffice to say, by the time September rolled around, both boys were prepared for Hogwarts.

A/N:

An absolutely gargantuan thank you to kixxy23 for editing and betaing this chapter, they helped me write this so much faster than I would have alone.