Hi. After more than a year of absence, I've returned! Well, returned partially because I was invited to write a 50,000 word novella for NANOWRIMO! It's going to be a Hogwarts AU with the KnB cast since I love both KnB and Harry Potter so much, like hardcore ;v;. I really really hope I could do them justice and I hope you guys would like it. The novella will be centred around Midorima's POV as well! (As I roleplay as Midorima on Tumblr, it makes it easier for me to do it that way).
Anyways, this fic was written for my very special friend's birthday. She absolutely adores KagaKuro and when I told her about my idea for NANOWRIMO she insists that I put the pairing in. Since her birthday is like a few days earlier before NANOWRIMO begins, I decided to do a KagaKuro oneshot based on my future novella. Keep in mind that I haven't wrote a fic in like more than a year so bear with my potential bad grammar or redundancy in writing!
As per usual, I do not own Kuroko no Basuke nor do I own the Harry Potter series!
"Mr. Kagami, Professor Flitwick has informed me about your homework not being submitted on time. I am afraid I will have to take five points from Gryffindor for your tardiness." said Professor McGonagall, as stern as she ever was, despite being the head of his house.
"But-" said Taiga abruptly, but the professor was way ahead of him, as if she knew what he was going to say.
"That is my final word. Make sure you hand it in by Friday morning at his office. 8 o' clock sharp. Have I made myself clear?" The Gryffindor could've sworn he saw a terrifying glare behind those square spectacles of her's, and that quickly shut him up in a flash, a feat that was only accomplishable by few.
"Yes, professor." replied Taiga, albeit losing the usual roughness that came along with his words, instead replaced by a weak, almost-whimper like voice. The Transfiguration professor brows furrowed, but had let him off with a nod as she hurried off to her next class, her green, long robes swaying along with her until she was out of sight, leaving Taiga alone in the classroom. His friends weren't lying when they warned him about not crossing with Professor McGonagall, and that thought alone provoked him to finish his homework, before he land himself into more trouble. Who knows what she might do next?
"It's your own fault for not handing in your essay on time." said Shintaro bitterly, wearing a stuck up expression as he always does whenever he was annoyed or just simply disapproves of his actions. Despite his unapproachable attitude, they had somehow become friends through their initial meeting on the Hogwarts Express. Being a know-it-all and a prospect student, Shintaro excelled in all of his subjects. He would sometimes would help him with his homework if he was fortunate enough to encounter the Ravenclaw student in the best of his moods (very rarely, really.) at the right time.
"Hello." a soft voice emitted from behind them.
As the two were bickering over their lunches, a sudden greeting from their backs startled them greatly as their heads turned quickly behind them, only to find a petite, teal-haired boy with his signature deadpan expression standing right beside them.
"Must you always appear like that out of nowhere, Tetsuya!?" The Gryffindor exclaimed, still not recovered from the sudden shock the boy had given him. Shintaro seemed to have acted like nothing happened, despite being caught off guard as well, although Taiga highly doubt that the bespectacled male would admit to that. Not in a million years in fact.
"I was here ever since." said Tetsuya nonchalantly, seemed to be paying no attention to the reactions they were giving him. Taiga sighed and facepalmed himself for letting the boy startle him for the umpteenth time already.
Tetsuya Kuroko was another student Taiga had befriended on the Hogwarts Express. From their first meeting, the teal-haired Hufflepuff had left a great deal of impression on him, mainly for his weak sense of presence and unusual talent with Disillusionment Charms that rendered him practically invisible. Tetsuya almost scared the living daylights out of Shintaro and Taiga when they entered the supposedly empty train compartment, only to hear a voice out of nowhere.
They spent the entirety of their journey taste-testing the various wizarding sweets with his newfound acquaintances. Taiga finds it particularly amusing that the both of them were so piqued with the assortment of sweets he brought along for the ride. Tetsuya was particularly fond of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, finding the abnormal flavours fascinating. Shintaro, on the other hand, was more into the Chocolate Frog cards than the magically charmed frogs themselves, reading the contents of the cards with great interest.
"What are you doing?" Tetsuya asked, sounding rather curious while his small figure peeked over Taiga's shoulders onto the table. Other than Taiga's huge plate of food, there were also a roll of new parchment paper and a copy of the Standard Book of Spells: Grade 1 turned to Chapter 7 laid open flat on the table.
"This idiot-" Shintaro began, and Taiga didn't hesitate to shoot the other an antagonising glare, but that didn't seem to stop the Ravenclaw from speaking at all. "-was trying to finish his Charms homework that should've been handed in last Friday." said Shintaro sharply, pushing his rectangular-shaped spectacles up the bridge of his nose, giving Taiga the impression of a snobbish, bookish know-it-all. He watched the other shuffling and stacking his textbooks and putting them into his cauldron as he stood up. "Now if you'll excuse me, I will be heading over to the library to finish my Potions essay." As quickly as Shintaro finished, he left their table, leaving the two alone in the midst of the crowded high tables.
"He has no chill." mumbled Taiga, rolling his eyes at the great doors where Shintaro had left before he returns his focus back onto his homework. Tetsuya seemed rather amused by his statement as shown with a slight curve on his lips. The Hufflepuff student proceeded to occupy the vacant spot once held by the grumpy Ravenclaw.
"I agree with Shintaro, you should finish your homework on time, Taiga." said Tetsuya, eyeing the spellbook and his parchment paper.
"I tried!" exclaimed Taiga, shoving a mouthful of his sandwich before swallowing them quickly. "I don't get Charms at all. How the hell am I supposed to compare the Unlocking Charm with the previous ones? It's not even written on this goddamn book itself!" Taiga complained, his eyes squinting at the small text on the textbook, where only the description for the modern Unlocking Charm was described in full detail. Like Taiga had said, there were no mentions of the other iterations.
Taiga scratched his head in confusion. He was good with magic, he can perform the charms that were taught to him with no issues, but his feeble brainpower simply could not process the theoretical part of magic. His head collided with the hard surface of the table next to the plate of his leftovers, having no appetite left to finish the remaining bits of food. He felt beyond helpless at that point.
At this rate, he was never going to finish his homework in time, and he would have to face the wrath of Professor McGonagall, which surely would be a fate worse than death indeed.
Taiga felt a jabbing sensation on his cheek, as if someone was poking him with a stick. He quickly raised his head and found the source of the pain.
"Tetsuya, you bastard, what the hell are you doing!?"
Taiga's voice was so loud that it echoed across the Great Hall. Several students casted their glances over to him, and Taiga quickly muttered an apology before he sunk his head low. He flashed a disapproving glare at the Hufflepuff student for poking his face with his wand, however.
"You were not responding." said Tetsuya, his expression unchanged, showing no signs of remorse. Surely he could've come up with a better excuse than that?
Taiga could only look at Tetsuya his teeth gritted, angry red hues connected with the unreadable teal-coloured ones for a short moment before he let out a frustrated sigh and slumped back onto the table, devising the various excuses that could get him out of this mess.
"I'll help you." The Hufflepuff student finally said.
Two days in the library with Tetsuya could only get Taiga so far. In addition to his Standard Book of Spells, a copy of Anthology of Seventeenth Century Charms also accompanied him along with a half-written parchment containing his essay, largely thanks to the help from Tetsuya and occasionally Shintaro himself, who, in spite of making snide remarks about the sloppiness done in his essay, helped simplifying some of the book's contents marginally. The sheer thickness and the difficult vocabularies combined with medieval-like English from the anthology book was enough to put Taiga off. How Shintaro managed to find the exact information he needed for his essay within a minute's time was well beyond Taiga's imagination.
Charms was not an easy subject for Taiga at all. For a wizard like him, he simply did not find the need to study the fundamental differences between the various branches of magic. As long as something happens when he waves his wand and recites the incantation, that's magic alright.
Of course, Shintaro always seemed to be in the mood for a lecture whenever Taiga said something that was unpleasing to his ears, to which he would be subjected into lengthy periods of lecture by the studious student. He reckons Tetsuya enjoys their bickering in whispers as he watches them from the sidelines with his signature impassive expression, quietly nibbling on his Bertie Bott's beans that the boy sneakily brought into the library.
Taiga himself half-heartedly flipped through the designated pages of his Anthology of Seventeenth Century Charms, letting his eyes stroll along the text that was inscribed on its crummy old pages. Great, it's History of Magic.
History of Magic was one of Taiga's worse subjects. He dreaded the lesson more than anyone else, but nobody else liked their lessons anyway. Professor Binns, the teacher of this notoriously boring subject, was a bore of its own kind. The supposedly dead atmosphere, huge blocks of texts and that hypnotising voice made him beyond sleepy. Even Shintaro, who was in his class, didn't engage in the class as much as he did with his other classes. Taiga was quick to point out that Shintaro fell asleep a couple of times one lesson, but the bespectacled male denied all claims made against him.
A specific sentence had caught Taiga's attention as his red hues widened, gaping at the ridiculousness that was written on that one particular sentence that marked the beginning of Unlocking Charms.
"Open Sesame? Are you serious? That's an actual spell for unlocking doors!?" Letting his emotions getting the better of him, Taiga's loud voice resonated along the castle walls inside the library. Several students quickly turned their heads towards their table. Some were telling him to shush while others gave him a dirty look before their dunk their heads back into their pile of homework. Shintaro and Tetsuya ducked their heads down even lower than they already have been. Madam Pince, the school librarian, as though she was waiting for this moment to happen, came to their table immediately with an extremely unpleasant look on her crooked face.
"Keep your voice down, boy." The librarian warned him before she moved away, mumbling something under her breath. Shintaro and Tetsuya simply shaked their heads while they gave him that same look that Professor McGonagall did the other day. They did not dare to even whisper, for fear that Madam Pince had locked onto their table like an eagle focusing its attention solely on its prey, ready to attack at a moment's notice.
"I'll keeping my eyes on you, boy." said Madam Pince, eyeing Taiga like she did before finally letting him leave the premises of the library. Never had Taiga been so quick at leaving the place, not that he enjoyed being in that wretched place, for the librarian herself was a menace and a force not to be reckoned with. He was certainly not having a good week so far.
Dinner wasn't as enjoyable as he would've liked either, as his charms homework was still the main subject of debate by his friends.
"He merely copied the descriptions for each of the spells onto his essay! The topic was How well the modern day Unlocking Charm fares against the previous iterations!" Shintaro began one of his annoying lectures again, with seemingly no desire of stopping any moment soon. "You didn't even begin explaining the fundamental differences." The Ravenclaw rolled his eyes, sighing in a disappointed manner while reading his half-completed essay. Taiga focused on his dinner, paying only half of his attention at what the green-haired student had to say while he chewed on his piece of turkey.
Taiga wasn't too pleased to hear all the criticisms but he knew that Shintaro is much better at writing essays than he does, especially when it comes to History of Magic. Taiga still remembered how ridiculously long Shintaro's parchment was when they had their first homework from Professor Binns about Witch Burnings in the 1300s. Shintaro wrote so much on his essay that Taiga swore it could've been as long as a roll of toilet paper.
"Who the hell cares which one unlocks the door better? As long as you can get inside, it doesn't really matter, does it?"
"I would disagree with you, Taiga." said Tetsuya. He watched as the green-haired Ravenclaw huffed and passed his parchment over to the teal-haired Hufflepuff.
"Perhaps a practical example would be more helpful in helping you learn the differences between the three spells."
Sneaking around the castle at night was strictly forbidden at all times. In no circumstances were the students be allowed to roam about the school in late hours. Yet here he was, sneaking around with Tetsuya as they head to the second floor corridor. He didn't know where he was going, and was only told to follow Tetsuya as closely as he could. Shintaro, however, did not join their late night excursions. Seeing how much Shintaro valued his grades, he probably refused Tetsuya for fear of breaking school rules.
What baffles Taiga was the smaller boy's dedication in helping with his essay when it had nothing to do with him. They weren't in the same Houses nor do they share the same Charms class. There seemed to be no logical explanation in why the teal-haired was so determined on helping him, to the point of sneaking about the dark corridors late at night when they were supposed to be in bed by now. The risk wasn't low, and they could get into serious trouble if caught. The urge to ask was strong, but his words failed to leave the confines of his lips as they lingered on the tip of his tongue.
"We're here." whispered Tetsuya, gesturing the other to come quickly.
Taiga had never been to this part of the castle before, but then again they did pass by a sign that was labelled as "Forbidden to All Students.", so this place was probably a restricted part of the school. Seeing as how Tetsuya could magically render himself invisible, coupled with the fact that his presence was already weak enough in the first place, Taiga wasn't surprised that the boy probably have sneaked inside here before.
"What are we supposed to be doing here?" Taiga whispered back, keeping his voice down low as he had learnt his lesson. He took great care not to raise his voice higher than a few decibels.
"Unlock this door with the Unlocking Charm Professor Flitwick had taught you in class."
Whatever Taiga was expecting, it wasn't this. He took him all the way here, just to perform a silly Unlocking Charm that he could've done in broad daylight? Instead of pursuing an argument with him, Taiga simply whipped out his wand, pointing the tip at the keyhole as he muttered quietly.
"Alohomora."
The lock on the door made a clicking noise before the door swung open, allowing the two to enter the vacant classroom that lies beyond the previously locked door.
The moonlight glistened through the windows, barely illuminating the classroom they were in. Although the room was dim, Taiga can roughly make out the objects inside the classroom, with two cupboard doors located on the opposite side of where they entered. Other than that, the room was rather empty with no defining features that really caught his attention.
"At the back of the classroom are two doors. I would like you to -"
"Unlock them with the spells that we found from that hellishly thick book, right?" Taiga added, smiling cheekily as he caught on quick this time around, finishing the other's sentence.
"Yes." was all Tetsuya had to say. his lips slightly curled upwards into a soft smile as he nodded. Taiga swore his heart almost skipped a beat when his eyes landed on that barely noticeable smile. He sort of wished that the boy could smile more, he looked more attractive that way.
Wait a second. What was he thinking? Why the hell was he thinking about that at a time like this?
Looking away and coughing in an awkward manner, he tread to the other side of the classroom quickly without ever looking back, knowing that Tetsuya would be following him anyway.
Since he was at it, he might as well give the most ridiculous-sounding spell a shot.
"Open Sesame!" said Taiga, almost letting laughter escape from his throat at how ridiculous he sounded while his wand pointed at one of the doors.
Contrary to what he thought might happen, the door did not simply unlock itself and open. Instead, the door was ripped from its hinges rather violently, splinters falling onto the floor as the rest of the door completely torn itself apart in a gruesome manner, with only huge chunks of firewood remaining before the spell finished. The Gryffindor student stared in both awe and disbelief.
"Whoa. That is a real spell." Taiga's eyes widened, gulping at the sight of what remains of the door. He made a mental note to avoid using that spell ever again. It was far too gruesome and violent even for his liking.
"Now try the other charm." said Tetsuya, bringing Taiga back from his momentary diversion.
"Sure." Taiga nodded, now shifting his focus on the remaining door.
"Portaberto!"
The spell didn't cause as much of a grandiose effect as the other did. It behaved similarly to the Alohomora spell he did earlier, with the door swaying open seconds after he casted the spell. The lock on the door, however, had melted completely with a horrible odour and smoke emitting from the molten metal. It was a marginal improvement over the the previous charm, but not as refined as the modern day Unlocking Charm.
"So one unlocks a door normally, one melts the lock and one completely destroys a door." mumbled Taiga, managing to piece all the information together and finally understanding the essential differences between the three different charms he had performed. "This is so much easier to understand than what the books wrote!" He said, feeling somewhat accomplished.
"Thanks!" Taiga beamed. It was all thanks to Tetsuya that he was finally able to understand the fundamental differences between the Unlocking Charms after all. He held out his fist towards his partner.
The other stared at him for a bit, before he held out his own, his pale fist reflecting the soft moonlight as their fists collided together with a bump. It was a proof of their strong friendship.
Feeling a little bit tired from that spellbinding excitement, Taiga sat himself on the floor comfortably while he let his eyes gaze out of the windows into the moonlight. It was quite calming, something he hadn't felt for quite a while now that school had become busier than it has. From the corner of his eye he could see the teal-haired student sitting next to him in rather close proximity.
Now that he think about it, it was his first time being with Tetsuya alone.
"Say, Tetsuya? Can I ask you something?" said Taiga, keeping his eyes on the silvery moon outside.
"Yes?" said Tetsuya, his head turned towards him, his teal-blue orbs reflecting the glistening moonlight, giving him the impression that his eyes were glowing softly. It was entrancing to look at and Taiga almost found himself spellbound by those hypnotising hues.
"Why are you going so far as to helping me? When it has nothing to do with you?" Taiga asked rather abruptly, after becoming aware that he had been doing nothing but looking into those mesmerising eyes. Realising how embarrassingly stupid he probably looked, Taiga turned his head away, smacking his face in the process.
"You're a good wizard, Taiga. From the moment you stepped into the compartment with Shintaro on the Hogwarts Express." said Tetsuya. "Despite myself being a muggle-born who knew almost nothing about the Wizarding World prior to my enrolment."
"It doesn't really matter if you're a muggle-born or not, does it?" said Taiga frankly, scratching the back of his head as he slowly turned his head back at the Hufflepuff. "At least, I don't think it matters." He added. Even though Taiga was a pureblood himself, he didn't really understand all this blood status elitism. To him, blood status wasn't important at all.
Little did Taiga know how much that simple statement meant to the Tetsuya however, as Tetsuya practically beamed, his eyes seemed to sparkle in addition to the faint glow and his smile wider than what Taiga have seen from Tetsuya.
"Thank you, Taiga." was all Tetsuya said, his soft expression lingered on his features.
Now Taiga was at a loss for words this time. He was glad that the dimly-lit classroom wasn't enough to make his blushing face so blatantly obvious, as he could feel his face slowly flaring up and his heart beating a little faster than it should have. He felt remarkably elated, and perhaps a bit giddy as well.
Distant footsteps disrupted their moment of peace as the both of them realises that someone was approaching, and they needed to hide. Fast.
"Shit." Taiga swore under his breath habitually. This is not good indeed. Who knows how many house points are going to be deducted if they were caught in the middle of night, destroying school property?
Tetsuya took out his own wand, pointing it at Taiga's head before he muttered an incantation that Taiga couldn't make out of. He then felt an odd sensation as a wave of coldness enveloped him from the top of his head to the tip of his toes. He let his rubellite eyes roam around his slowly disappearing body, which was very barely visible by the time the spell had cloaked him completely, rendering him almost invisible from plain sight. If he remembered correctly, this was the Disillusionment Charm that Tetsuya was especially talented at casting.
Taiga felt a cold, smaller hand gripping firmly against his own, slowly dragging him away from where he was at. "This way." He heard Tetsuya's voice, but was unable to see him due to the effects of the charm that were put in place. Maybe it was better if he could not see him right now, for he was still pretty nervous and embarrassed from their brief moments of emotional exchange inside that vacant classroom. And that smile too.
If there was anything that Tetsuya was extraordinarily good at, it would be Charms alright, especially the Disillusionment Charm. Somehow they have managed to slip past the caretaker as they exited through the doorway. The caretaker did not seem to have noticed that there were two students sneaking away right under his nose. Tetsuya's charm was simply superb in rendering them invisible.
"STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" They heard the caretaker roar behind them. He most likely discovered the destroyed locks and doors from the empty classroom they were in mere moments ago. Taiga didn't dare to let his eyes wander back where he came from as they darted down the corridors as quickly as they could, until they were sure that the coast were clear. By the time they found themselves back into the Grand Staircase, everything was eerily quiet and that perhaps was a good thing for the both of them.
Tetsuya insists that he escorts the Gryffindor back to the Gryffindor Tower before he returns to the Hufflepuff Basement himself. It would be unwise for them to separate at this point as the staff had probably gone looking for them, so Taiga complied with the other's suggestion.
It took quite a few fair minutes to get back up to the Seventh Floor landing, where the portrait of the Fat Lady was located on. Taiga felt another odd sensation enveloping his body. Instead of the coldness that enveloped him earlier before, it was warm this time around. The warmth slowly revealed his physical appearance once more. Tetsuya himself, however, remained barely visible.
"Will you be okay, Tetsuya?" asked Taiga worriedly but at the same time awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. He was grateful that the Hufflepuff took him that far, but was still worried that he might get caught.
"I'll be fine." said Tetsuya. "Please remember to hand in your essay on time. I would be mad if you don't."
"Of course I will." Taiga retorted, but nevertheless smiled gleefully as he thanked his partner once more. He turned to the Fat Lady, muttered the password to the portrait and the portrait hole soon appeared.
"And Taiga?" came Tetsuya's voice.
"Yes?" The Gryffindor stopped on his tracks, just after he entered the common room.
"Sleep well."
Unbeknownst to them, they've had unlocked more than just doors in that classroom that night.
Omake:
"I don't believe this, give me that."
Shintaro snatched his parchment, holding the papers high in the air against the shining sun from the enchanted ceiling in the Great Hall, as if he was trying to detect forgery. Taiga watched in amusement before Tetsuya arrived moments later with a terrible bedhead as per usual. A typical Sunday morning indeed.
"Good morning, Shintaro, Taiga." said Tetsuya sleepily, sitting on an empty spot next to Taiga before he grabbed a toast from the plate and a glass of pumpkin juice along with it.
"You, Taiga Kagami, got an Outstanding in your essay? I refuse to believe this." said Shintaro scathingly, eyeing at that humongous "O" that was marked on the top right corner of his essay.
Taiga and Tetsuya blinked at each other, but didn't say anything. Taiga did, however, almost sneered at Shintaro's hilarious reactions.
"At least I handed it in and didn't get in trouble. It doesn't matter now, does it?" Taiga managed to snatch his parchment back, folding it a couple of times before shoving it back into his pocket for safekeeping.
"... I suppose." Shintaro took another bite of his baked beans covered toast. Meanwhile Taiga and Tetsuya quietly enjoyed the sight of Shintaro's contorting emotions that were shown to them.
A lovely Sunday morning indeed, Taiga thought.
There you have it! I really really hope you guys enjoy my sloppy writing. Perhaps with a bit of practice I could get back into shape! But yeah thank you very much for reading! Constructive reviews are much appreciated! ovo