I'm back from my new year hiatus with a new name (this is Random-Pixie123 in case you hadn't guessed) . Anyway, people reacted pretty positively to my last hogwarts!verse fanfic so I thought I'd write another because I love AUs and, well...why not?
Warning: One example of a homophobic slur
Time is a really funny thing because there is never enough of it when you want it, but then of course when you don't want it, it rears its ugly head and swallows you with abundance. It runs away when you're desperately scribbling your homework on the crumpled piece of paper resting on your friends back as you jog to a class in the most awkward manner, but seems to stick by you when you're say, suffering through herbology class on a Tuesday morning as Professor Chūma drones on about something that you probably should be listening to. The only difference between you and the Slytherin practically falling asleep in the seat to your right is that he's going to pass the class and you probably aren't.
Their professor pulled off his soil covered gloves with a loud smack and threw them in the general direction of the bin. "You should be careful when handling these plants though," he said, turning back to the chalk board, "one small slip and they'll bite the large chunk of flesh right out of your arm." His volunteer demonstrating student, a slight red-headed girl with a smattering of freckles, widened her eyes in alarm and held the plant further away from her body, suddenly going stiff as she realised the implications and turned to glare at Chū-san. She placed the plant back in the pot and Yūsuke could swear she was sweating.
"Anyway," he continued, ignoring her completely, "your partner projects are due in on Monday." Stirring a spoon around his glass mug, he added half-heartedly, "All those who fail to do so will get a zero and an afternoon of manually scraping the soil from the cracks in the floor under my desk." And he walked out of the room without another word. Another Slytherin seated even further back in the classroom than Yūsuke took the teacher's actions as a 'class dismissed', picked up her bag, and with a large scrape of her chair against the floor, stood up and followed him out of the door.
A brief shuffle of hesitation lay across the room until the other students started to pack their bags, the ones that sat at the front carefully arranging their books and ink bottles and folding their quills away neatly as so not to crumple the feather. Yūsuke's ink bottle hadn't even been opened so he took no time holding his bag over the corner of his desk and sweeping all his equipment in with one wide arm swing.
Kazuyoshi blinked the sleep out of his eyes and held back a yawn as he packed his bag with slightly more care and slung one handle over his shoulder.
They had stopped getting strange looks and whispers a little over a month after they became friends and honestly, Yūsuke didn't blame the other students for being incredulous in the slightest. A Hufflepuff and a Slytherin was by far the weirdest and rarest (even rarer that a Gryffindor and a Slytherin) friendship combination there was. Hufflepuffs tended to be warm and honest and Slytherins tended to be not so much so, so it wasn't really that much of a surprise that they didn't usually form the strongest bonds.
But Yūsuke still slunk his arm over Kazuyoshi's shoulder and steered him down the hallway and towards the Great Hall, laughing at some shitty joke he had made to himself so he figured they were an exception.
Hime was already waiting for them at Hufflepuff's table when they arrived, chatting animatedly to an upbeat brunette with a pink beret that Yūsuke was pretty sure must have been violating the school's dress code in some way or other.
It wasn't uncommon for Hime to be found at the Hufflepuff table, neither was it uncommon for Kazuyoshi. The three liked to sit together as often as possible and it wasn't as if she could bring a Slytherin to the Gryffindor table. The other Slytherins would scoff at the idea of a Gryffindor sitting at their table, a half blood at that, and so it seemed as though Yūsuke's was the best option. Hufflepuffs were tolerant and patient, Kazuyoshi wasn't mean to them and Hime didn't think she was superior to them so it was quite a pleasant arrangement.
However, it may have just been that Hime was easily likeable and Kazuyoshi hardly ever talked, not that Yūsuke's house wanted to be particularly accepting of members of the houses that usually made fun of them because they were his friends, but hey, he liked to think of the glass as half full.
"Hey!" she called out to them, waving her arms as if they wouldn't notice her as being the only one in a red scarf in a sea of bright yellow, and cocked her head away from them in a 'come henceforth'-like gesture.
The table was old and creaky and Yūsuke winced at the shriek it released when he sat down, just like it did every mealtime. Finding the spell to fix it would have been reasonably easy, but Yūsuke had already identified himself as the laziest Hufflepuff (probably the only lazy Hufflepuff) to ever walk the halls of Hogwarts.
"So did ya hear whats goin' on with Professor Chūma?" she said, leaning forward in her seat and grinning like a Cheshire cat.
The two boys exchanged glances and Kazuyoshi raised his eye brow, so Yūsuke turned back to Hime. "No, we just came from his class. What's going on?"
She toyed her lip between her teeth and fought back a grin. Hime was never really one to gossip, no wait—scratch that—she only gossiped if something interesting was happening and she leant forward in her chair. "I hear he's goin' out with Nurse Remi."
"You're kidding." His eyes widened. "The one that accidentally gave Kazuyoshi ringworms for 3 weeks when he was sent to the infirmary with a sprained wrist?" Kazuyoshi's small shudder was barely noticeable as he recalled the memory, but a blatant expression of revulsion and mild horror crossed his face and caused him to put down his mug.
"And who would'a guessed, Chūma's hardly the type of person that someone would wanna date." She downed the contents of her mug in one gulp and stood up with her bag and the dark-wood broom she always kept by her feet, smiling apologetically.
"Quidditch starts early today, I gotta go." She slid her legs around the bench and waved goodbye but stopped when Yūsuke called out to her.
"Hey, you're still coming tonight, right?"
"To SKET? Yeah, I will. I might be a little late though, we got a fresh batch of newbies and it's my job to show 'em the ropes." She rolled her eyes though it was obvious she wasn't really annoyed, showing more of a fond affection, and walked out of the doors.
Yūsuke first met Hime on the Hogwarts express when he was 11 years old and rushing to find a seat before the train started. Because, as usual, he was late. But this time it wasn't his fault; his mother had spent 10 minutes fussing over the state of his robes and picking off lint. But in the end it didn't even matter because they ended up covered in a young brunette's lunch.
In hindsight, it was probably all his fault. Hime was just standing there and he was the one who had run into her. Though, it was kind of hard to think rationally after being slapped in the face with a thermos of lukewarm noodles. Initially he wanted to apologise, but she had then squeezed up her face, looking as if she was struggling to contain a laugh, and instead he had wanted to snap at her or possibly slap her. She did look quite remorseful however, as she apologised profusely and rubbed her forearm down the front of his robe, but only succeeded in making it worse. A blush erupted across her cheeks as she realised (Yūsuke really hoped he wasn't mirroring her expression) and recoiled.
Though Yūsuke had been born and raised in England (Hime in Ireland, though her accent was still easily understandable), nobody could blame him for gravitating to the only other Asian kid on the Hogwarts Express; the majority of the other children were white (not that he expected anything otherwise). But then Hime had invited him to share her booth with her as an apologetic gesture. He remembered smiling at the way her eyes lit up as she described all the adventures she was anticipating and how she was going to play chaser for the Gryffindor quidditch team, stated with such conviction because "My ma played exactly that position 20 years ago, y'know?" She asked him whether he would try out and he had shaken his head firmly and explained that it would not be a good idea unless people wanted to witness him puking from 20 metres up. Hime's laughter peeled off through the carriage. And that would have been the beginning of a prosperous and successful friendship.
Or so Yūsuke thought.
Sure enough, Hime was sorted into Gryffindor by the sorting hat almost instantaneously; there was absolutely no hesitation and Yūsuke later understood why. She held all the traits for Gryffindor, right down to the last stereotype. She was brave and daring, not to mention charming, with the added bonus of not only being brash, but blatantly cocky also. Really, she would have made a perfect poster girl.
Yūsuke was sorted into Hufflepuff, and to be honest, it was what he wanted anyway, though most looked down on the house like it was a joke or something to be laughed at. He was all for good humour, but his 11 year old self really didn't understand what was so funny about kindness and hard work. He still didn't understand. But there was still a small part of him that had wished he had been sorted into the same house as Hime, even though he knew he would have stuck out in the Gryffindor common room like a sore thumb.
And really, though they tried their hardest to prevent it, no one could blame them for drifting apart. They only had one class together in 1st year, charms, and although they had initially tried to sit together, they both made friends in their respectful houses and slowly started to realise it would be a lot less hassle to just sit on their house's unofficial side of the classroom like everybody else.
Hime joined the quidditch team just like she promised him she would. And she was really, really brilliant at what she did. Some even went as far as to label her a prodigy, and though Yūsuke thought they were exaggerating, he believed it slightly more as she performed a backflip on her broom and launched the quaffle through the Ravenclaw hoop 3 times in a row over the course of one game.
Yūsuke wasn't lonely by any sense of the word; he got along perfectly well with all the members of his house, and shared jokes with 2 friends by the names of Captain and Roman, the former of which was labelled fondly after scoring the position of vice-captain of the Hufflepuff quidditch team when she was 12.
But whilst Hime was off excelling at sport and gradually climbing the social hierarchy, Yūsuke made a new best friend. Kazuyoshi Usui, a pureblood Slytherin with a passion for muggle technology, was a year younger than the Hufflepuff but twice as intelligent and, by the time Yūsuke was 15, had skipped a year and caught up. They started 4th year together. The Usui family was regarded as one of geniuses; they had a long history of excelling at, well...everything and Kazuyoshi was no exception. His younger brother Masafumi (better known as Switch) was taking the 2nd year by storm and Yūsuke had no doubt he would graduate Hogwarts by the time he was their age.
Around this time, Hime was 16 and was the girl everybody either wanted to be or be with. She came back after the summer break with her hair trimmed to shoulder length and dyed blonde and even romantically-compromised Yūsuke had to admit that she was stunning. The ex-captain had graduated and she had taken his place, on her way to leading her team to victory and the quidditch cup for the 3rd time in 4 years. She had reached the pinnacle of the social pyramid, which was one of the many reasons Yūsuke had almost fallen off his seat when she asked him whether they could be partners for their class' defence against the dark arts project.
"B—but," Yūsuke had spluttered, "wouldn't you rather pair up with one of your friends?" Hime rolled her eyes and heaved her large bag (which he had sometimes seen being carried by numerous 1st years) onto the desk adjacent to his. "Right, but we were friends first weren't we?" Her accent was just as noticeable as the first time he heard it and he withheld the urge to smile to himself. She grinned and Yūsuke could swear the room lit up a little bit. No wonder she was so popular. "So," Hime said conversationally, "do ya still vomit when at mediocre heights?"
Kazuyoshi and Hime had been slightly dubious towards each other at first, but loud personalities tended to clash, maybe Yūsuke's absence of interesting qualities was what made him companionable. They had both heard of each other, how could they not: the genius and the queen bee. Needless to say, their houses caused some friction, but they eventually bonded over their preference of muggle culture and love of making Yūsuke feel like shit.
But what are friends for, right?
But they were friends, and merlin's beard was Yūsuke pleased about it. Both Yūsuke and Kazuyoshi would attend all Hime's matches, showing their support more subtly when Gryffindor was playing against Hufflepuff or Slytherin respectively (Yūsuke could only imagine what would happen if the Slytherins discovered one of their own was cheering on the enemies), and full on screaming, or at least Yūsuke was screaming, when she played against Ravenclaw. Kazuyoshi compensated for his lack of noise by bringing banners.
The banners usually read something along the lines of "GRYFFINDOR!" or "GO HIME!" but occasionally they presented long words or jokes that no one understood or found amusing except for Kazuyoshi and a handful of the most intelligent Ravenclaws. Yūsuke hoped he did it for the sole purpose of confusing Hime's opposition, but he didn't ask because he didn't want Kazuyoshi to say he actually enjoyed thinking of complicated things to write on the banners because having a complete and utter nerd as a best friend would be the punch line to Yūsuke's already inept life.
But at least Kazuyoshi could help their struggling peers with homework when they needed support so there were some upsides.
Yūsuke still remembers the first time he saw Hime use her broom as a weapon. During the time period where they were pretty much ignoring each other, he had heard all the rumours. They were nothing negative in particular. Something about her having the fighting skills and strength of a pro-wrestler and sure, everyone knew she was athletic but...
Hogwarts was far from perfect. It was always improving but it still had its problems, namely with discrimination. Muggle-borns, squibs, house elves, you name it, anyone that didn't fit the picture-perfect definition of wizardry could encounter problems. However, the long halls and winding towers rarely contained shallow, muggle forms of discrimination. But yes, there was occasionally racism, or sexism, or...other things.
The tail end of her broomstick was pressed against the throat of the assailant seconds after the word "fag" left his mouth. " 'm sorry," she spat, "which word did ya just use?" She glanced over at the teenager close to tears in the corner and told him to scram while she dealt with the twat. Needless to say, Hime dealt with him using very conventional methods.
Kazuyoshi was the brains and Hime was the brawn, but SKET was Yūsuke's idea so that counted for something. Little organisations or clubs were easy to form as long as there were students willing to join. And if there was a club dedicated to magical rat races, he could form a club with the intention of helping students and faculty members. SKET, or the Society of Kindly Enchantment and Theurgy, was formed when all three of them started 5th year as unlikely friends: the genius, the queen bee, and that one weird kid who was kinda proud to be a Hufflepuff.
Hime was late for the SKET meeting, but there were only 3 of them (4 if you counted Kazuyoshi's owl) so it didn't matter all that much. They didn't get that many requests anyways. Yūsuke was lying on his back casting lumos and waving his wand around, muttering to himself. He had loosened his tie so the yellow fold of fabric hung lightly around his neck and was considering taking it off altogether when Hime pushed open the door and practically fell into the room. She looked fit to collapse but instead merely hung her broom up on its peg and yawned. "2nd years aren't cute," she warned, rubbing her eyes, "they're untameable and will try an' kill ya."
Kazuyoshi rolled his eyes and turned back to his muggle device, a small laptop that whirred excessively and was grating on everyone's nerves. "You are over exaggerating again." He said, flipping through a small spell book as he tapped against the machine with the tip of his wand.
A calm silence relaxed over the room for a few moments before Kazuyoshi's tapping was interrupted by a knock on the door and a head that belonged to the same red-headed, freckled girl he had seen in his class earlier that day.
"Sorry if I'm interrupting anything, but is this SKET?" She stepped fully into the room and toyed with the hem of her tie, "I have a problem and I was wondering if you could help me."
I may write more for this verse depending on how people react. Also, if anyone has any ideas or fics they want written, just PM me because I'm going through a bit of a block and I would be really grateful for some inspiration. Thanks.