Kakuzen
Chapter 1 – Letter
Kakuzen sighed, rubbing his temples, wishing more than anything he wasn't here. He wasn't magical! That was pure nonsense – sorcery, spells, witches, wizards – that was all tales! Why on earth he got a letter from something called Hogwarts, he didn't know. Staring at the yellow tinged parchment in his hand, he wondered who would go to this much trouble to scorn him.
"Kakuzen! Breakfast!"
No, this was completely nonsense. His father was a postman, For Pete's Sake! His mother designed clothes! Shaking his head, he stuffed the letter beneath his plain red pillow. Without even noticing, he flicked his long, wavy black hair out of his face, to reveal high cheekbones, with bright, twinkling green eyes. For all he was 11 years, he was handsome. A prominent nose drew the attention down from his eyes, to his full, soft lips. Girls always kept interest with him, regardless of the fact he simply wasn't interested in dating.
Walking down the stairs, noticing a new scratch on the pale flowery paper, he wondered where his cat was, to be greeted boisterously in answer.
As his black-streaked ginger kitten leaped into his arms, he rolled his eyes. Justin, the ginger kitten, was covered in soot. Presuming he'd been trying to climb the chimney again, Kakuzen carried him downstairs.
"Oh, Kakuzen!" his mother sighed when she saw him, "What do you have to bring that dirty thing in here for?"
Regardless of her words, she took the kitten from his arms, absent-mindedly stroking him as she put a large plate filled with bacon, eggs, hash browns, fried bread and tomato ketchup in front of her son.
Deep in thought, he barely noticed the fact that he was eating his breakfast without touching the ketchup on the side of his plate. Gazing forward, he was just able to register the fact that his mother was washing the cat in a bowl in the sink, regardless of the fact she complained about hating him all the time. Their hair was perfectly matched in shades, both gingers to the bone. He inherited his black hair from his father, but the green eyes and prominent nose came from her. It was his father with the full lips and high cheekbones.
If he really considered it, his family was very odd. As his father came in from his post round, Kakuzen realised it must be pretty late, for him to be there. Glancing at the time, he noted it was 10.30am. Giving his father a questioning look, he received a smile in response, as Bill picked up a piece of toast, downed his wife's glass of orange juice and snuck out, without catching her attention.
Turning around to glance at her son, startled by his odd silence, Justin managed to leap from his soapy bath to land on the table, right in Kakuzen's meal. Whilst his mother shrieked, Kakuzen gave a small sigh and shook his head.
Having managed to grab the small kitten once more, Belle, Kakuzen's mother, continued washing him, giving her son an opportunity to escape, and bask in the sunlight of 12 Saris Drive. Thoughts chased one another through his head, barely giving him time to acknowledge the growing sense of hope overwhelming his scorn and confusion. Stretching his long legs out, he yawned, the warmth of the sun making him drowsy. His tall, skinny frame jumped when he heard a soft voice behind him murmur, "You've been acting strangely since you got that letter on the strange paper."
Spinning to face the intruder, he recognised his older sister, Kammy. Frowning up at her, he once again wondered how his twin sisters could be so different – Kammy was scornful, sarcastic and nasty, whereas Alison was kind, gentle and caring. Why the wrong twin had to notice his strange behaviour, he didn't care, he just wished that Alison had noticed, not Kammy.
"Well?" she demanded, as he glared at her in silence, a thoughtful spark in his eyes.
"Nothing," he retorted, turning his back on her to look out of the black curls of the Iron Gate once more, "What I do or get is none of your business. Go away."
"Is that any way to treat your big sister?" she enquired, a cruel gleam in her eye as her muscular arm pulled him up once more.
"Leave him alone," a pretty voice behind him said. He recognised it – only Alison's voice was that light and musical, matching her personality.
Kammy scowled at her sister, offering Kakuzen one more glare before stalking off into the house. A few minutes later, the silence was broken by the blaring sound of Pink Floyd. Kakuzen scowled, and muttered, "Why is it whenever she's in a sulk she plays my music?"
"You should be honoured," Alison said, a smile playing on her lips, "You know how fussy she is about music. What was she pestering you about anyway?"
"Nothing," Kakuzen said quietly, hating himself for lying to her. She was the only person other than himself he trusted fully. Kammy was too cruel to trust, his mother was normally too busy, and his father was always playing pranks. He loved both dearly, and they were always there if he needed them, but he didn't like to entrust too much to either of them, they always had too much on their minds as it was.
Her pale blue eyes sparkled, whilst the same colour as Kammy's, a troubled glint broke up her normally calm, gentle gaze.
"If you need me, you know where I am," Alison replied, seeing instantly through her younger brother's disguise. As she walked off, her mass of black hair shone, reaching down to her waist with no waves to shorten it.
Sighing, Kakuzen returned to his complex thoughts, only to return to his bedroom to re-read the letter, and lie on his bed staring at his white ceiling, plastered with tiny red stars, with Pink Floyd playing in the background. Whiling away the hours with thoughts on everything he'd ever heard said on the subject of witchcraft, and debating within his own head the reality of its existence.
Soon, at round about 7pm – where had the time gone? – He heard his father shout for all of them to come to a family meeting.
Kakuzen sat between his younger sister, Fuchsia, a bubbly young girl at the age of 9, full of personality and activity, and Alison. Next to Alison was Kammy, leading on to his parents, Bill and Belle. Wondering why a family meeting had been called, he sat in silence, waiting for the others to drop the conversations, so his father could start the strange ritual known as a 'Family Meeting'.
As silence fell between all of them, Bill cleared his throat, and began, "I have two pieces of good news. First relates to your mother, Belle."
He paused, picking up Belle's hand and brushing his finger lovingly over her palm, tickling her slightly, as he said, "We'll be having another child."
The responses to this varied – Fuchsia bobbed up and down, ginger curls bouncing with her personality, as Alison smiled, missing her sisters glaring scowl, and her brothers silence. When quiet fell once more, Bill continued, "The other piece of good news is Kakuzen will be going to Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, to study magic until he can be fully certified as a wizard."
His parents bore proud smiles, somewhat a comparison to the twins' disbelief and shock, edged into their very skin. Fuchsia's response showed her age, as she bounced and said happily, "Kakky's gonna be a wizard!"
Belle smiled, and passed a piece of yellow parchment over to the twins' to read. Kakuzen couldn't understand how they knew, how did they find out? The letter had been there, under his pillow, it was in his back pocket right now!
Gently, Belle said, "Another letter was delivered earlier," to her son.
"She says another because a note with it said one had already been received, but it was to ensure that we knew. Delivered by an owl, it was. Odd, don't you think?"
Everyone present at the table had to smile, or at least smirk, in Kammy's case, at Bill's use of the word "odd" – a word so commonly used to describe him, himself.
"I didn't know what to think – it can't be real!" Kakuzen replied, concern showing in his eyes, a slight whining note emerging in his voice, one that he had tried so hard not to allow out.
"Its real," Alison said quietly, "Why do you think Kammy and I went to boarding school? We went to Hogwarts. In fact, we still go there. We're in our fifth year now. But Fuchsia was so young then, as were you… We didn't want you to find out. But I'm glad you're magical, too. I can show you around. I promise, it's the truth."
Once he recovered from this shock, Kakuzen smiled. "Well then – I guess I'm to be a wizard."
Disclaimer: Hogwarts, and all magical things, with the exception of my characters, belong to JKRowling. The characters and plot is mine, however.
A/N: I've just started this. These are names from people I know/knew on online chat, and do not necessarily bear resemblance to them. I'd be grateful for reviews, letting me know whether I should continue this. I will be writing the next chapter. Chapter 2 will be Diagon Alley, as Chapter 3 will be The Hogwarts Express.