Part 1: Doomsday Clock
AN: This is a Ninjago/Harry Potter Crossover, inspired by PrincessFoxSpaceNinja's story Ninjago Wizards. I wanted to do my own take on this crossever, as I love the idea! This is my first fanfiction ever. I don't own Ninjago or Harry Potter-this is purely fan based. Enjoy and please review and tell me what you think! Thanks!
Chapter 1: The Letter
Tap tap tap.
I woke up and looked out the window. An owl was pecking at the glass! "Gahhh!" I cried, falling out of bed with a start. Owls were not a common sight in Ninjago. This was the first time I had ever seen one in real life.
"Kai? Are you okay?" Karin, my foster mom, asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied. Now that I thought about it, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I approached the window cautiously. It was a beautiful bird, with snowy white feathers and golden eyes. The owl tapped its beak on the glass. I laughed nervously. "Nice, owl thingy." Then I noticed something. An envelope was tied to the bird's leg. A messenger owl? I had never heard of such a thing.
I opened my window and it flew right in. It perched on my nightstand and extended its leg for me. I untied the envelope and turned on my lamp so I could see. I gasped. In beautiful green ink was written the following words:
Mr.
The attic room
1328 Lancy Street
Ninjago City
I couldn't believe it! It was my exact address, down to the room I slept in. This letter was meant for me! My fingers trembled as I ripped open the seal and yanked out the letter inside.
"Dear Mr. Umas, we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Master Wu's school of witchcraft and wizardry," I read out loud. I could hardly believe it. Me? A wizard? There was only one person I could talk to about this. I quickly got dressed and ran over to my sister's room.
"Nya! Nya! You'll never believe it!"
My sister stared back groggily at me. "Kai, isn't it a bit early? Let a girl get her beauty rest."
I shook my head. "Trust me. It's worth it." I showed her the letter I received. She looked it over once, twice, three times.
"Wow, this is…"
"I know."
She looked up at me. "So, what are you going to do?"
I shrugged. "I think I'll go to this Mountain of a Million Steps and find out what this whole thing is all about."
"Do you think it's safe?" Nya asked. Even though she was my younger sister, she always had my back. Ever since our parents died, we looked out for each other, no matter what.
"I don't know," I replied truthfully. "But I have to find out. I can't just ignore this."
Nya sighed. "Alright, if you're sure." She looked back down at the letter. "I wonder who this Master Wu person is, and how did he know where we live?"
I followed her gaze to the graceful signature at the bottom of the page. There was so much we didn't know. So much that he wasn't telling us. But my mind was made up. I was going. "There's only one way to find out," I told my sister. She nodded.
"Kids! Breakfast!" Karin called.
"Coming!" Nya replied. She gave me a look. "Just so you know, I'm coming with you."
A protest rose up in my throat, "Nya…"
She folded her arms. "If you're going, I'm going. Now get out of my room. I'm getting dressed." I sighed and walked out of the room. My sister was just as stubborn as I was.
—
Nya and I finished breakfast as quickly as possible. The letter said to come to the school April 1st, but I thought it would be a good idea to scout the area before hand. I wasn't totally reckless. "We're heading out," I told Karin.
Nya was already sliding out the door when our foster mom replied, "Alright, be back by dark."
I caught the front door before it closed. "Okay, bye." I followed my sister and let the door swing shut on it's own. Karin believed in letting kids experience the world for themselves. She pretty much let us do whatever we want. Her husband was stricter, but he was at work most of the time.
I looked at Nya. "You ready?"
"You bet. I got water bottles, protein bars, lunch, and money for bus fare out of the city."
I nodded. "Then let's go."
We hitched a ride to the eastern edge the city. I consulted the map that came in envelope to make sure we were heading the right way. It turns out that there were three documents in there: a letter, a map, and a list of supplies for school. Master Wu thought of everything. Once we got off the bus, we ate some of the protein bars and started heading toward the lone mountain in the distance.
It was a long trek across the flat plains where rice farmers were tilling the soil. The once we got away from the city, the road became a little more than dirt path through rural Ninjago. After an hour of travelling, we could see our destination looming in distance. The two of us had a long way to go, but I hoped to make it there by lunch.
Gradually, the grey smudge on the horizon became more defined. The Mountain of a Million Steps was accurately named. It was huge. After a few more hours, we could start to make out a set of ancient stone stairs that wound their way the mountainside. Nya was starting to get tired, so we stopped in the shadow of the mountain and ate lunch, which was leftovers from last night's dinner.
It was delicious. I had to say, Karin was a great cook. When we were finished, we looked toward the massive mountain. "Well, I can't see anything up there," Nya commented.
"Yeah…" I said absently. I watched a falcon swoop around near the peak. Then, it shimmered and disappeared. "Whoa! Did you see that?"
"See what?" Nya asked.
"That falcon."
"I didn't see anything." She paused for a moment. "We should probably head back."
I scanned the sky, looking for the falcon again. "You can start heading back. I'll catch up in a moment." Nya stared at me for a moment, before finally relenting.
"Alright, but you better hurry up. We should get back before Carl gets home." Carl was Karin's husband.
"Okay," I replied. After hesitating for a few more seconds, Nya finally turned and left. I looked up at the empty sky. There truly was nothing on the mountain. I was starting to wonder if I imagined the whole thing. A shriek pierced the air. I gasped. It was the falcon! It appeared out of thin air and circled down toward me, until it finally landed in a near by tree. So it was real. Maybe the school was being hidden for some reason? Either way, I was coming back in April.
I hurried back to catch up with Nya. She wouldn't believe this, not unless she saw it with her own eyes. Oh, well. I guess I was on my own. I spent the next month gathering the required materials for school. Nya watched me skeptically, but never said anything. Finally, it was April 1st. I grabbed my letter and made my way downstairs.
"I'm heading out," I told Nya and Karin.
"Alright, sweetie, come back safe."
"I will," I replied. I turned to Nya. "Do you want to come with me?"
She shrugged. "Nah. There's nothing out there, but if you want to go, be my guest."
I nodded. "Goodbye." The trip felt a lot longer without my younger sister beside me. The Mountain of a Million Steps felt colder and more ominous than last time. As I got closer, I noticed an entire crowd of kids, some my age, but a lot of them older. It gave me hope. This school had to be real, otherwise, what were they all doing here?
I didn't recognize anyone, so I just stood on the edge of the crowd. "Hey," someone called. I figured they were talking to one of their friends, so I just ignored them. "Hey, you in red."
I looked up. A young boy with black hair was looking straight at me. "What?"
"Did you get a letter too?"
"Yeah, why?"
The boy smiled. "I thought I was going crazy. My dad thought this whole thing was a waste of time. He wanted me to go to a musical school instead. That would have been a nightmare."
I nodded slowly. "I see."
"My name is Cole by the way. Cole Hence. What's yours?"
"Kai." Now that I heard Cole's name, he sounded familiar, like I had met him somewhere. "Did you go to the boarding school in East Ninjago City?"
Cole shrugged. "For a little bit."
The pieces were starting to fall together in my mind. "My foster mom sent my sister and me there for a while. Did you have Miss Gingrich?"
Cole laughed. "Yeah, that woman was crazy."
I laughed too. It was good to have someone I recognized here. We talked about school for a little while, and then we moved on to the subject of wizardry. We speculated on what was waiting for us at the top of the mountain. We didn't have to wait long to find out. An ancient woman with a conical straw hat descended down the stairs.
"Follow me students," she said, and then she turned and began to climb the mountain. One, by one, we began to make the assent after her.
"Aw, man." A kid next to me complained. "Do we have to climb all those stairs? I'm not gonna make it!"
"It is part of a wizard's early training. Climbing the Mountain of a Million Steps develops tenacity and endurance," another boy with a monotone voice replied.
"Well, I wish we could just magic our way up to the top! My legs are killing me!" The first kid replied.
Right now, I agreed with him. The stairs seemed to go on forever. "It'll be worth it when we get to the top," I said.
Cole nodded. The whining kid didn't seem convinced. "I sure hope so."
After what seemed like hours, the kids in front of us started disappearing. "What was that?" Cole asked.
"I don't know, but I'm not going in there!" The whining kid said.
"The cloak of invisibility. It is said that Master Wu created this curtain to keep outsiders from finding his school. We must go in if we wish to reach it."
I looked at the monotone kid with pale, almost white hair in surprise. "How do you know all this?"
"I read it in one of my father's books."
"Well, nothing to do but keep going," Cole said. He took a few steps forward, took a deep breath and disappeared. My heart clenched at facing the unknown, but I had made up my mind. I was going to attend this school, and I wasn't about to go back down all those stairs. I squeezed my eyes shut, and walked through the curtain.
I opened my eyes again, and had to blink several times to believe what I was seeing. A massive monastery was sitting on the mountain peak. Students were streaming through massive wooden doors that lead to a wide, open courtyard. A teapot with a golden dragon on it was painted above the wooden doors. The design was simple, but elegant. I wished Nya were here to see it with me.
The other two kids from before joined me. "Whoa! This is so cool!" The whining kid exclaimed.
"Yes, a wonderful example of architecture and engineering," said the monotone kid.
"Hurry up slowpokes, or you'll get left behind!" Cole called.
I ran to catch up with him with other two right behind me. Once I reached Cole, I slowed down to take in all the sights of the school. It was more like a temple than anything else. We followed the other students through massive hallways filled with stone statues, past beautiful gardens and delicate shōji doors, until we reached a long room with high vaulted ceilings, and four long tables where the older students were sitting.
At each table, the students wearing a different color kimono: red, white, electric blue, a more slivery blue, and black. Sown into all the kimonos was a teapot with a dragon on it, just like on the front doors.
Since this was my first year here, I had no idea what to do. I looked around at the other five tables, trying to decide where to sit. The ancient lady from before came over to the cluster of new kids. "Before you sit down, you must be sorted into your houses. The sorting hat will place you based off of your magical elemental power. There are five houses: the House of Water, the House of Ice, the House of Earth, the House of Lightning, and the House of Fire." As she listed the houses, she pointed to which table they would be sitting at. The old woman continued. "Wait until your name is called, and then step forward and place the hat on your head."
I wondered how a hat could decide what power you had. I looked up to the front of the room, where an old, pointy hat was sitting on a stool. That couldn't be the sorting hat, could it? "Now, let us begin, Brad Burns."
A small boy with jet-black hair stepped forward. He placed the hat on his head, but the kid's head was so small that it slipped down to cover his entire face. Some other boy snickered.
"Earth!" I nearly jumped. The hat spoke. The students from the earth table cheered and welcomed their newest member.
"Sally Barnett." A girl with glasses came forward. Again, the hat was placed on her head and everyone waited patiently. A minute or two passed before the hat spoke again. "Water!"
She scuttled over to her waiting classmates, who all welcomed her. More and more students were called and sorted. The group of waiting children grew smaller and smaller. The names were being called in alphabetical order. I sighed. Having a last name starting with U meant that I was going to be pretty much last.
"Chen Harrison." A tall boy with a smug look on his face stepped forward. As soon as the hat touched his head, it shouted. "Fire!" The boy didn't even look surprised. He sauntered over to the fire table and didn't acknowledge the other students congratulating him. Ugg! Kids like him grated on my nerves.
Soon, it was Cole's turn. "Good luck," I whispered to him. He nodded and walked up to the hat. He slipped it on, and within moments the hat had sorted him into earth. I secretly hoped that I would get sorted into earth too. Then at least I would know someone in my house.
"Zane Julian." The monotone kid from before stepped forward. I was curious to see where he would be placed. He sat down and put the hat on his head. A minute passed. Then two. Zane frowned, and then finally the hat called out, "Ice!"
Zane got up calmly as if nothing had happed and sat with his house. I wondered why it had taken so long for him to get sorted. More students came and went. Soon, there were only a handful of us left. The old lady had reached the T's. I shifted my weight. My turn was coming up soon. I took a deep breath and waited. My heart pounded in my chest. The anticipation was killing me.
"Kai Umas." This was it. I was going to be sorted. I walked up to the hat, and prepared to put it on.
