A/N: Obviously, I own none of the rights to either of these series. Those belong to J.K. Rowling and Haruichi Furudate, along with whatever publishers, producers, etc., are involved with both series.

This is the preface of the sequel to Trial by Fire. If you have not read that, please go read it first! You will be confused, otherwise.

"Tetsurou!" Hermione raced through her soulmate's house, thankful that his parents weren't home.

She slammed open the door to his bedroom, clutching Minerva's letter in one hand. She'd written to the headmistress the week after Bellatrix's death and was thrilled the reply had come so quickly.

Crookshanks looked up at her in alarm from his position on Tetsurou's bed, but Tetsurou himself merely set down his stirring rod and began to turn toward her. He'd probably felt her coming through the bond.

Hermione couldn't hold in the news. "Minerva says that she'll sign all the paperwork for me to do my last year self-study, but I'll have to go back to take my NEWT's with everyone else."

Relief flooded the bond as Tetsurou looked up from his potion, quickly casting a stasis charm on it. "That's wonderful news!"

Hermione grinned and nodded, "Isn't it, though?" She glanced back down at the letter, then bit her lip nervously, "She has one condition, though."

Tetsurou's mood changed instantly and he eyed her warily. Why is she nervous? "What's the condition?"

"She wants to meet you first." Hermione looked back up at him, trying to watch his face carefully and gauge his reaction. He'd already missed so much practice…

Tetsurou sat down on his stool with a sigh. He was silent for a while, then shrugged, "I guess I'm going to England, then."

"Scotland, actually. Though the Weasleys live in England and we'll probably stay with them, if we go visit Hogwarts." Hermione's eyes widened. She was rambling again. She stopped abruptly, then added, "Arigatou, Tetsurou."

He tilted his head back and groaned, "How many people, exactly, will I be meeting?"

"Well… Harry says everyone wants to meet you, really, but if it's too much…"

"Hermione…"

"Just the Order. And some of the D.A."

"Hermione."

"Oh, fine, it's a lot of people, but most of the time we'll just be with the Weasleys. You've met several of them already either in person or on the mirror. You'll meet everyone else all at once, at the reopening party for Hogwarts." Hermione handed him a parchment invitation. "You're invited as my plus one."

Parchment? Antiquated Brits…

He skimmed the parchment, then both looked and felt overwhelmed. Hermione sighed. "Is it too much? I'm sure Minerva just wants to meet you, she would still let me take the courses—"

"It's fine." Tetsurou rubbed the back of his head. "Just… a lot to take in. I've never been outside Japan before, much less invited to a high society event in a foreign country."

"It's hardly a high society event—"

"Is everyone invited?"

"Well, probably not…"

"Will press be there?"

"Most likely…"

"It's a high society event." He tapped a line on the invitation. "It even says to wear your best robes. Robes! Like I have any of those."

Hermione giggled, trying to picture Tetsurou in the British garments. "Any formal clothing will do. It doesn't have to be robes. I wore a muggle dress to the TriWizard Ball."

Tetsurou paused. "Ok, that…helps." A slow smirk spread across his face, "So kimonos?"

Hermione's brain stuttered to a halt. Tetsurou. In a kimono. "Yes." She swallowed hard, not even trying to hide how much she liked that idea. He had already felt it through the bond, anyway. "That would work."

"If I'm going as your plus one, we should match."

Match? "You…want me to wear a kimono, too?" She blinked at his clear arousal at the idea. "…ok, if it would make you that happy."

"It would." He grinned at her, then looked back down at the invitation. "August 23rd?! That's in like, five days, Mio."

She winced. "I know it's last minute, but they just finished the castle today and they didn't want to hold it the weekend before school started—things would be too busy then. And Kingsley already arranged the portkey for us, but since it was such short notice he didn't really have time to check on our schedules, so he just set it up to leave Friday morning and then bring us back Monday morning."

Tetsurou threw his head back and groaned. "So we have three days before we leave for England."

"Yes."

"And I'm going to miss another two days of practice."

"Gomen." She really did feel guilty about that, but it's not like Kingsley could have known.

"I'm telling coach that your crazy aunt and uncle back home are demanding to meet me and booked us roundtrip flights for this weekend and won't take no for an answer."

Hermione laughed, "They're not blood relatives, but it's close enough to the truth, so why not."

Tetsurou stood up with a sigh, giving his potion one last longing look. "Come on, then, we better go shopping for some kimonos."