Gimme a Hand, Hogwarts!

Chapter One: A Prologue of Sorts.

I twitched.

I'd been doing that a lot lately.

It was happening again. Why couldn't they leave me alone?

Someone was watching me.

Three some ones.

Count them. One. The Evil one. The one that screams "Impending Doom! Danger! Danger". The One that made me shudder. The One that made me twitch.

The second is the oddest. I'm not scared of it; I have a feeling that it means no harm but it's the actual aura that has me sort of spooked. It was silver, which was something I'd never encountered before. Kero had once told me that no Sorcerer ever had a Silver aura. Something about the subconscious urge to flaunt their power. So then why did I suddenly encounter one that didn't have that urge?

The third is familiar, but, as is often the case, I haven't the faintest idea how I know it. The aura of it was a multitude of colours, indicating that many people performing the same spell were watching me. The only time I had encountered anything like it was when Eriol had decided that a great way to spend the afternoon would be to suffocate me in auras. I was still pretty amateur at that point, so I almost passed out before Eriol had been nagged sufficiently by Tomoyo and released the spell. Eriol had taken it upon himself to train me after that, seeing as he was, in a way, my half father.

Training sessions had been rough, and Eriol had the tendency to pop a test in the middle of class, or while I was having dinner. This meant that even attempting to keep my magic from my father and brother was out of the question. Touya had taken it in stride (I think he'd already guessed, and I assume that this was severely helped by Kero screaming at his video games.) My Father had been shocked, but can you blame him? He accepted it more as I explained to him about my card capturing days ("Oh, I thought you were running off in the middle of the night to meet a boy and have a secret childish love affair with him," to which I blushed and Touya went into hysterics and screamed, "Damn Gaki!" for a while.)

That should be a fair indication that my life is far from normal.

I was currently lying in my room, on the floor, trying to hear my father and brother through the floor. They had tired of my constant convulsing and had sent me to my bedroom. Kero, of course, remained downstairs, deciding that food won over any loyalty he had to me.

Kero's the same as always. Food is all that matters, and if 'that stinking gaki' ever returns, he'll be in for a wallop. Kero had been less involved now that Card capturing was over. He prefers to sit back and watch me grow up, playing one or two video games in the process, of course.

I rolled over onto my back and stared at the ceiling. Tomoyo was the same, only older. She'd managed to tone down her obsession with recording me by turning her affections (and Camera lens) in Eriol's direction. Eriol is her willing Guinea Pig and boyfriend. He even puts up with modeling her clothes every so often, and if that isn't a sign of loyalty, I don't know what it is. A sign of fear, perhaps.

Eriol's residence varies from time to time. For the majority, he stays here in Tomodea, with his guardians, Nakuru and Spinel Sun. He bought a new house, since his old one got demolished. He sued the council for that. Apparently, they weren't aware that anyone had lived in the house for years, they'd checked for the necessary documents and found none at the time, but the papers had all appeared in court. Eriol had made them build him a new house. Predictably, it was closer to Tomoyo's house.

Eriol had settled into life here quite nicely.

Chiharu, Yamazaki, Naoko and Rika are fine, but they're all showing signs of going their own ways. Next year, when she turns sixteen, Rika's getting married to Terada-sensei. They're both ecstatic that it's finally happening. Rika hasn't been able to shut up about it since God-knows-when. We've all been invited, of course. They even sent out an invitation to Syaoran, though we're doubtful he ever received it.

Chiharu and Yamazaki are going out. It was bound to happen sooner or later, says Tomoyo, the relationship expert. They made an agreement before they went out: That if Yamazaki cut down on the lies, Chiharu would buy a softer Mallet. It's worked out great. Yamazaki even likes being hit now.

And Naoko, our adorable Naoko, is putting the finishing touches on her first Novel. She only has to make a few editing changes and then it'll be published. She's one of the youngest in the industry, so she had a little trouble with getting a company to publish it. It's an amazing book though. She even dedicated it to us all. Yamazaki, Chiharu, Tomoyo, Eriol, me and…

Syaoran.

I'd be lying if I said that I didn't think about him. I do it constantly, occasionally just because it annoys Kero and Touya and occasionally because Eriol puts the thoughts into my head. I still miss him, even though it's been several years now since I've seen him. Five, if memory serves. I get letters from him, though these are rare and very far between. They usually arrive around Syaoran's birthday. I assume that's the only time he gets free. In his very first letter, he forbade me to reply. The Elders prohibited any connection of his to the outside world, so he gave the letters to Meiling to take to a post box. 

I snap back to attention when I hear my brother mention me.

"I found her crying again last night."

Stupid Touya, always sticking his nose in where it doesn't belong.

"I think it was the Miss China Pageant that set her off."

It had been indeed. The latest winner of said pageant had, in an interview, stated that in a week or so, when she was settled into her role, she would be lunching with the Royal Li family. She had a secret agenda, she revealed. She was going to try to seduce the Prince. She had sounded prim and proper, but it was thinly veiled desperation.

I hoped that she would comment on the luncheon, but I doubted it. Something instinctual told me that Syaoran wouldn't cheat on me with someone that vain, so her oh-so-secret agenda would fail, therefore plunging her into a deep well of depression. She would eventually kill herself and the manager of the competition would invite me to be the next Miss China, therefore enabling me to visit the Chinese royals as often as I liked. It would also be agreed upon by the general public that Syaoran and I would make a wonderful Emperor and Empress.

That was as far as I had gotten before I fell asleep. I still had yet to figure out exactly how I would get revenge upon the could-be-boyfriend stealing tramp when I was rudely awakened by something cutting off my precious air supply. I spluttered for a minute before I opened my eyes.

When I did, I had to give myself a quick pinch.

There was a very intelligent looking brown barn owl sitting on my bare stomach.

It had very sharp claws.

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Dear Readers,

            I'm terribly sorry for the uncustomary (ha!) delay. I've had schoolwork once more, then family gatherings for the holidays. I hope you forgive me, and I hope you enjoyed the slight improvement on my old first chapter. I thought I explained a tad more of what I was supposed to.

            Merry Christmas to all! And a Happy New year! This is an early present for you all. I thought I'd be nice to you. I do, however, have Christmas and New Year's presents stashed away for you all, so look out for them.

Please? Could you act enthused when you get them?

            Happy holidays!

Sincerely,

Argentum Sol.