Mikado Ryugamine and the Night Stalker

Chapter 1: Shattered Reality

July 31

The letter sat in front of him, on his desk.

It was unopened, but judging by the flamboyantly colored envelope, it contained some sort of advertisement or fraud- but it was addressed to him, and only to him. Mikado Ryugamine was rarely the receiver of mail; most of the time, it would be addressed to his parents. He would only get the occasional birthday card from his aunt. Slowly, tentatively, he reached out for the letter, but then drew his hand back to his lap again, wondering why he was so nervous about opening it.

It had sat there like an eye sore on the top of the mail pile when his mother opened the apartment door that morning. He remembered the way his eyes had widened in surprise at the sight of it, and he had immediately taken it back to his room, eager to see what could be inside. Something, however, stayed his hand; he didn't know what. Swallowing, he once again made to grab it, and this time his trembling fingers closed around the paper.

The letter itself was just as colorful as the envelope, but the characters were meticulously neat and orderly, despite the informal language.

Hello, Ryugamine-kun!

Congratulations! You have been accepted at the Ikebukuro Academy of Magic. Below is a list of the school supplies you will be needing. Term begins on the 1st of September. No need for anything special; just come to Ikebukuro, and you'll find us.

So very ecstatic to meet you,

Orihara Izaya

Deputy Headmaster

Magic?

What?

Mikado breathed out a sigh of relief. Of course, it was a joke. He didn't have to worry about it; there was no such thing as-

Crack.

Mikado almost let out a very girlish scream, but managed to reduce it to a mere squeak when a man appeared out of thin air in his room. There would have been nothing distinctive about him with his short brown hair and glasses apart from the fact that he was wearing a traditional black hakama, something that one didn't typically see in today's world. Adjusting the lenses, the man peered at him as though he were some sort of specimen.

Unexpectedly, his face broke out into a smile that was not unkind. "Good afternoon! You must be one of the new Muggleborn students. I am Professor Kishitani, and I teach Potions at the Ikebukuro Academy of Magic. Oh dear, I forgot- the first time seeing Apparition can be a shock…"

Indeed, Mikado had been forced to sit down on his bed, eyes almost bulging out of their sockets.

"… But I'm sure you'll become used to it- most do. There was one student who wouldn't fail to pass out at the sight, but I highly doubt that will happen. Anyway, why don't you introduce yourself, and then I can go and explain everything to you and your parents."

Mikado barely registered anything that Professor Kishitani said. His head seemed to become fuzzy as he tried to process the fact that a complete stranger just showed up in his room and was claiming to come from a school of magic. Magic couldn't be real; it just wasn't that easy. He took in a gulp of air, trying his best to dispel the dizziness and answer the professor's question.

"…M-M-Mikado Ryug-gamine…"

Professor Kishitani clapped his hands together, looking pleased. "Well then, Ryugamine-kun! Very nice to meet you! The school's policy means that your parents have to know about the wizarding world, so I'll just go speak to your parents. The letter is triggered so that the moment you think about doubting us, a staff member appears and refutes this. It's quite an ingenious system- made by my father, you know…"

Mikado just nodded, head still spinning with shock. He followed Kishitani out of his room in a daze, moving down the hall in a dream-like state, thinking about what could have led to this. He was already starting to believe it; it would have to be a very elaborate prank, and the appearing out of nowhere part would have been difficult to pull off. It was his eleventh birthday, wasn't it? But he was still in school; what about all his classes there?

"We wanted to have our school year follow that of Muggle Japanese schools, but the Committee for International Wizarding Education voted that the required date for all wizarding schools be September 1st. Don't worry about your current schooling; you won't have the same classes anyway. Of course, my class is the best; I don't envy you when you get to Transfiguration class with Professor Yagiri."

The confrontation with his parents went about the way he expected. His mother screamed and looked like she was about to have a heart attack, and his father almost hit Kishitani over the head with a frying pan. Surprisingly, though, they calmed down rather quickly, and his mother actually hugged Mikado.

"I'm so proud of you, Mikado," she said, beaming and pulling away. "Your father and I always knew you were different."

Now that he had time to think, he realized that she was right. He had always been able to do other things that others hadn't. He once made his toy race car keep moving even after it should have stopped. He had been sure, after falling down on the sidewalk that he had a nasty scrape on his knee, but when he looked again, it was gone. The pain had been miraculously stopped, and he assumed he had imagined it.

"Anyway," chirped Kishitani; Mikado was quickly learning that he was a bright, if not a little blunt, man. "I'll be taking your son with me to buy his supplies. You need to be a wizard in order to get to the area, you see… not that we have anything against Muggles. It's purely a safety precaution."

And the panic returned full force, along with the doubt. Was this the part when he got kidnapped and sold into slavery? He closed his eyes, trying to convince himself that it wasn't true. He had been reading too much manga.

After consideration, he grabbed a jacket and followed the Professor outside.

Thankfully, the Professor opted out of taking him by Side-Along Apparition. After it was explained how it worked, Mikado had difficulty keeping his lunch down just think about it. They took the train to Ikebukuro instead, with the Professor humming to himself loudly while other passengers stared at his outfit.

"Don't mind me!" he sang, causing even more heads to turn their way. "I'm just a cosplayer, that's all! Acting is good for your health!"

Mikado winced, feeling uncomfortable with the attention he was getting.

He had been to Ikebukuro before, but his jaw never failed to drop at the sight of the skyscrapers sprawled through the city. And all of the people… Mikado almost felt suffocated by the mass of bodies that pressed in on them when the two stepped off the train. Professor Kishitani seemed to dance happily through the crowd, leading the way through the many people. Mikado kept his head down, following as best as he could, until a question prodded his mind.

"Uh… Kishitani-sensei?" he asked hesitantly.

"Yes, Ryugamine-kun?"

"Is acting really good for you?"

"Hmm… nope! I made that up."

That didn't reassure him much.

The man babbled on and on about the Ikebukuro Academy of Magic, explaining about the different subjects, teachers, and the 'legends' of the school.

"But you'll have to find out more about those yourself!" he added with a wink.

From what he said, Mikado gathered that Professor Kishitani not only delighted in potion brewing, but also in Muggle (non-magic) medicine. Dissection in particular was a subject of fascination for the man and his father, who was apparently the Headmaster of the academy. He didn't say much about the teachers, merely handing out a few warnings.

"Be careful around school; it turns into a war zone every year between the Deputy Headmaster- who's also the Martial Arts and Weapons teacher- and the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, though I must say their fights are quite the event! But again, you'll have to find out for yourself."

Mikado also deduced that Kishitani liked to talk.

Moments later, they were standing outside a sushi shop, where a huge, dark skinned man was handing out fliers. A grin appeared on the man's face as the professor and Mikado came into view. The man spoke poor Japanese, but he could still make out what was being said.

"Ah, Kishitani! Want sushi? It's good!"

"No, thank you; I have a new student today," replied the potions professor, gesturing to Mikado, who shrunk slightly under the other man's gaze. "This is Ryugamine Mikado; Ryugamine-kun, this is Simon. He's Russian, hence the reason why he works for Russian Sushi. And this is our destination."

Mikado didn't understand; were they getting an early dinner? Would he be knocked out and taken away here? Simon smiled and nodded, before moving away and calling out, "Russian Sushi! It's good! It's healthy…"

Upon entering the restaurant, they immediately headed toward the back, redoubling Mikado's panic. Should he run? His eyes darted this way and that, taking in every customer and memorizing every escape route. Kishitani appeared to be oblivious to his anxiety, but for all Mikado knew, the man could be able to read his mind. Were wizards capable of that?

"After you!" exclaimed the professor, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet and indicating…

…a wall.

Mikado blinked, then glanced at Professor Kishitani to see him still smiling expectantly. Steeling himself, he strode purposely forward, awaiting the impact.

To his surprise, he found himself before another city street, only this one had no cars and so many oddities that Mikado had to crane his head to spot some of them. Hundreds of people, all dress in hakamas or kimonos rushed about. One woman was wearing a kimono that flashed a different color every three seconds, and a man had a hakama with a tiger that roared aloud at passerby. Strange little black creatures wearing white masks leapt from building to building, screeching at anyone who came too close.

"Japanese goblins," explained Kishitani, approaching behind him. Mikado, noticing that his jaw was hanging open, quickly closed it. "They're not the same breed as those from, say, England, or America. Those are sentient; why, they even run a bank in London! It's a shame we can't have any here, but wizards do a decent job of banking. I have your school funds with me…"

While Kishitani dug around in his pockets, Mikado took the opportunity to drink in the sights around him. Shops that had a peculiar array of ingredients- eyeballs, toenails, claws, and assortments of powders-, shops that held sleek and stylish broomsticks, shops that held traditional Japanese fighting gear (one window, however showed a poster of a sword that moved on its own, reading, "Your own personal fighting partner!"), shops that had eyes peering out at patrons (Mikado suspected that animals were inside- maybe monsters? He shuddered at the thought.) The list went on and on.

"Here it is!" exclaimed Kishitani, pulling large sack of something out of his tiny pocket, making Mikado's jaw drop once more. "And now, Ryugamine-kun, you have the floor! Where would you like to start?"

August 12

"MOM! I got it! I got it!" The blond boy raced through the front door, waving the piece of colored paper back and forth and shouting at the top of his lungs. "I got my letter!"

"Masaomi, calm down!" she barked from the kitchen. "We knew it was going to happen!"

Her seemingly harsh words did nothing to suppress the enormous grin stretching across Kida Masaomi's face as he reread the letter again. He had been told by older students on trips to Russian Sushi that Orihara Izaya, the Deputy Headmaster, had a funny way of writing the acceptance letters. There was no denying that it was almost too informal to be written by a teacher, but he wasn't about to complain.

Kida Anzu stood in the kitchen, muttering under her breath when he entered. She was craning her neck over a large pot of ramen, glancing up only when he came in and looking back down just as quickly.

"We'll get your supplies tomorrow, young man," she said sharply. "I'm too busy today."

"But Mom…"

"I said no!" she barked. "Now go do your homework!"

"I'm not even going to be in the same school in September!"

"That's no excuse; now scram!"

August 12

It came as no surprise to her.

Although she lived in a Muggle orphanage, Sonohara Anri had once had parents, and her mother had been a witch. She stared unblinkingly at the letter in her hands, before setting it down. As a little girl, she'd always been eager to go to Ikebukuro Academy, if only to escape her father. Now, though, it seemed that it was pointless, but there was no point in denying her power.

That was why Anri accepted it without a word.

She could walk to Russian Sushi; it wasn't far from where she lived. The matron wouldn't notice her absence, what with the flu that was going around the place. She wasn't worried about catching it; Anri rarely, if ever, fell ill.

Emotionlessly, she watched as her roommate stumbled in, eyes wide and feverish. He climbed into bed without saying anything, curling up beneath the sheets like a cat. Within moments, his breathing had deepened into sleep.

Anri looked out the window, where the sun was just setting. It was a fuzzy image, as she had taken her glasses off awhile ago, but the clouds had been dyed pink by the light.

Slowly, silently, she stood up, and slipped from the room.

July 31

"Wands, wands, wands!" said Kishitani irritably as they passed another eleven year old pestering his mother to go to the wand shop. "Is that all they think of these days? Oh, speaking of, I suppose we ought to buy one for you."

This statement brought a new wave of excitement over Mikado. His fear had faded as the afternoon went by, and he soon found himself fascinated by the entire new world that was at his fingertips. Not even getting shrieked at by the goblins had put him off.

They had started at the bookstore, which was piled high with novels, textbooks, and even some wizard manga. The scenes in the manga moved, however, and tiny voices could be heard issuing from the pictures. Mikado had glanced at his booklist, noting the unusual titles:

Spellmania, by Genryusei Tosen

Transfiguration for Dummies, by Kentai Kokoro

Defense of the Light, by Hihio Inaba

Concoctions for the Young, by Kishitani Shingen

Guide to the Stars, by Kusuke Torano

A History of Magic, by Bathilda Bagshot, translated by Shunagai Hideo

"Um… did you father write the potions book?" Mikado had mumbled.

"That's correct!" replied Shinra, nodding excitedly.

Later, when they moved on to the Apothecary, he had managed to get over his disgust at many of the ingredients, and even mustered up his courage to pick up a few dead slugs and put them in his bag. The school fund covered everything nicely enough, and Kishitani explained that anything extra he wanted to buy would be deducted from his parents' bank account. The Magical Menagerie had an assortment of animals that included two headed frogs, but Mikado decided upon a small, gray dragon he found at the back of the shop. It backed away forlornly when he neared it, and he decided then and there that he'd take care of it.

"Ah, a dragon!" said the professor, scrutinizing it. "Excellent choice. Many Japanese wizards have the ability to communicate with dragons, you know, similar to how Parselmouths work in England. You're lucky that the school allows them, since they can be rather"-

He yelped suddenly when the dragon coughed on his hand.

Mikado christened it Mushoku, meaning, 'colorless'. He hoped that his new friend wouldn't take it the wrong way, but judging by how Mushoku insisted on sitting on his shoulders for the rest of the day, he guessed that it went over well.

Scales for weighing, a cauldron, and now a wand. A wand would allow him to really do magic; Mikado felt his anticipation growing with each step they made towards Karisawa Wands.

"Hello!" chirped a young woman behind the counter when they stepped into the shop. Her hair was pinned into a braid behind her head. "Welcome to my father's wand shop! He isn't in right now, but I can help you with all of your wand needs! Just- oh, Kishitani-sensei!"

"Karisawa-chan!" beamed the professor. "Still as sprightly as ever, I see. Ryugamine-kun here needs a wand."

"Right away, sensei!" she stated, saluting and winking. She moved along the wall, which Mikado now realized was lined with hundreds of long, thin boxes. As she moved, grabbing an armful of them and hurrying back, she spoke excitedly.

"New student, huh? That's cool! I'm in fourth year, but my father lets me help in the shop during summer. I'm part of the Dollars. Do you know what house you'll be in? I hope it's the Dollars! Then I could talk to you more, too! I guess it would be okay if you were in the Yellow Scarves, or the Saika dorm, but you don't want to be in Blue Square. Am I rambling too much again? Sorry. Oh yeah- my first name's Erika."

"N-nice to meet you," stammered Mikado, shocked that anyone could talk so much or so fast.

"Likewise! Anyway, here; try this one," she commanded, digging into a box and pulling out the slender item. He carefully took it in his hand, about to raise it up, when she promptly snatched it back.

"Eh. No. Just no. Here."

This one had a bit more of a reddish color, and as soon as he took it, Mushoku let out what could only have been a derisive snort. Erika grinned.

"Now that's a sign, if anything! Definitely not that one, then. Oh, crap! Dad's always telling me to give descriptions of the wands before I hand them over… let's see… uh, this one's nine inches, elm, with phoenix tail feather core…"

No, no, and no again. By the time they tried the tenth wand, Mikado's old fears were beginning to return. What if none of the wands worked for him? Despite Erika's reassurances that this wasn't uncommon, he still felt quite uneasy about it all. She hummed a theme song to an anime he recognized as she pulled still more boxes from the dusty shelves.

"Ugh, we need to clean in here… try this one, it's a bit different… fourteen and three-fourths inches, sakura, and… I can't read it… oh! That's interesting. Dullahan hair."

Crash!

Both of them turned to look where Professor Kishitani had been examining a glass case with a wand on display. It was now on the floor, the glass having fallen everywhere. The man was waving them away and laughing nervously.

"Not to worry, I'll have it fixed in a jiffy!" True to his word, all it took was a flick of his wand and the case repaired itself, leaping back onto the pedestal where it had sat. He quickly stowed it back in his pocket before turning to them, an expression of interest on his face. "Did you say Dullahan, by any chance?"

"Sure did," replied Erika, blinking slightly. "Why?"

"Oh, no reason…"

Shrugging, the girl handed Mikado the wand, gesturing for him to try it out. He felt Mushoku jump on his shoulders slightly when blue sparks erupted from the end, causing Erika to burst out in applause.

"Hooray! It's a perfect match! It's odd… my father apparently knew a Dullahan who was willing to donate a few hairs for wand experiments. Everyone who ended up with the wands turned out to be some kind of famous person- and we always assumed that they were bad luck…"

Seeing the look on Mikado's face, she quickly added, "But like I said, that was soon proven wrong! Oh, and that'll be seven galleons. Honestly, why we have to use the British system of money…"

Mikado frowned slightly as Erika waved when they left. Dullahan hair? Famous? He wasn't so sure that he wanted to be famous, really. Yet at the same time, there was something inexplicably alluring about the thought of becoming a somebody, rather than remaining a nobody. He had never really given much thought to his future before; he'd always assumed he wouldn't consider it until he was much older, but now…

"Oi! Watch where you're going!"

The voice that interrupted his thoughts was sharp, and also female. It belonged to a girl with short brown hair that framed her face perfectly; her dark gray, almost black eyes stared at him condescendingly as she looked between Kishitani and himself.

"Oh," she sniffed, blinking slowly. "A Mudblood. How nice."

"Mikajima-chan!" reprimanded the professor, looking shocked. "I would hope that Izaya-san taught you better than that. Please don't insult other people."

She gave a stiff nod to him, her expression remaining fixed and her eyes not straying from Mikado once. "My apologies, Kishitani-sensei. I'll remember that." Unseen by the professor, the tiniest of smirks appeared on her face. "First year at Ikebukuro Academy?"

Mikado frowned slightly, not sure that he liked this girl all that much. He nodded.

She laughed openly. "Your face is an open book, you know. Well, I suppose we're in the same year then. I doubt I'll be seeing you in Blue Square, at any rate. Goodbye boy, Kishitani-sensei."

With those words, she pushed past him, striding imperiously down the street. As she walked, Mikado couldn't help but notice that several other patrons moved out of her way, as though they were frightened of her. He looked back at Kishitani, who was also watching her leave with a frown on his face.

"Izaya really needs to control her…" he muttered. Noticing Mikado staring at him, he jumped. "Ah! Look at the time! We should be getting you home, Ryugamine-kun. I'll be seeing you again on September 1st. Just come to Ikebukuro- you'll figure out the rest from there."

Author's note: Inspiration came to me one day, and now I'm just plain excited. Wizarding school for the Durarara characters! Hmm… is there anything I've forgotten?

Well, an explanation makes sense, I guess. Yes, Mikado has the same birthday as Harry Potter. Yes, the year is 1991. No, August 12 is the birthday of Anri or Masaomi; it's just the default day for letters if they don't have a summer birthday. I'm planning on doing a fifth year thing where the Durarara characters become exchange students at Hogwarts eventually. But that's awhile away.

Saki's evil? Heh. You'll have to find out, won't you?

Will the war with Voldemort be a major plot point? Not at first, no; again, that's for the fic I mentioned above.

Review please, and let me know if you're intrigued or not.