Note: I've been reading some amazing Harry Potter head canons lately and though it would be interesting to look at the live of some wizarding folk in different time periods and locations :) I only have a pretty basic knowledge of Japanese culture and the events that transpired in 1945, so I apologise for any mistakes and inconsistencies that may come up! I hope you enjoy the story! It was an extremely tragic event and I hope I have treated it with respect.
Also I don't own Harry Potter of anything affiliated to the series! :(
Akiko was lost.
She had walked from the clinic back to her mother's apartment a thousand times, but somehow today, in her sleep addled state after a particularly gruelling night shift she found herself in unfamiliar streets. Turning corner after corner she became more and more frustrated, her mind buzzing in a state of semi delirium.
She had past the point of exhaustion days ago, with the stresses of the war weighing down heavily. It was at times like these she regretted not finding another profession after she completed school.
They told her she could be anything with her grades, that day as she knelt in front of her teacher, her wand lying gently on her lap. But she chose to be a nurse. She wanted to help people, wanted to alleviate even just a small bit of the pain and suffering that had darkened the world in the recent years.
Her profession meant she couldn't practice her magic as much as she wanted to. But she didn't mind. She always kept her wand in her pocket, and who's to say those patients didn't miraculously recover on their own? Certainly not her with her occasional whispered spells and hidden gestures.
She was starting to get desperate now. Her tired limbs grew heavier and heavier as she dragged her way around another strange corner. She wanted to fall into her little bed she shared with her younger sister and dream away the hours before she had to go back to the hospital. She couldn't transport herself now, she thought to herself, not in her state, she was sure to get separated.
"Excuse me?"
A small voice wormed its way into her fugue state. She looked around vaguely for the source of the voice, her eyes slowly centring on a small boy in front of her. His bright dark eyes stared up at her. He had a smudge of dirt on his cheek, she noticed, her mind drifting.
"Excuse me," the boy said again. Akiko nodded, briefly surprised to see the boy still standing there. "Are you lost?" he asked.
"Yes," she sighed, her shoulders sagging even further to the ground. The little boy perked up.
"I can help you!" he exclaimed, "I'm strong and fast and I know these streets like the back of my hand!" Akiko smiled wanly and nodded.
"That would be lovely," she said. The boy swelled with pride, striding out in front of her. Akiko took a step forward, then stopped abruptly.
"But where are your parents?" she asked, "Will they not notice you're gone?" The boy shook his head.
"Father's still away," he said, "And Mother's still sleeping." He paused, "She sleeps a lot since Father left." Akiko frowned.
"You need to tell your mother you are leaving," she asserted. The boy shook his head again, strands of long black hair dancing around his face.
"Oh no," he said, "Grandmother told me I could go where I wanted as long I was back in time for breakfast." He grinned broadly, "She knows Father taught me the streets. I'm like a map, she says."
"Well," Akiko smiled, "Shall we go?" The boy smiled as she told him her address, asserting that she was indeed close but because he was a gentleman, he would accompany her to her home.
Akiko looked at the bouncing figure of the boy as they made their way back to her mother's apartment. She had been about his age when she first got that letter that had changed her life forever. She remembered the shock at seeing a large crane perched precariously on her windowsill tapping on the glass. She wondered if her sister too would receive a letter, so far she had not displayed the same strange abilities as she herself had. Akiko hoped her sister would join her when she was old enough though, hoped that the magic would not seem so dangerous and strange to her parents with two daughters safely practicing it.
Suddenly, an intense white light engulfed her vision. She was still blinking away the spots seared onto her retina when she was thrown to the ground by a large boom. Without thinking, she threw up a shield charm around her and the boy. The devastation of the firebombing of other cities seemed to have spared Hiroshima, but the citizens were still of high alert.
Akiko flinched slightly at the sudden pressure around her waist, before realising it was the boy that clung to her in fear. She wrapped one arm around his, whilst still maintaining the charm as best she could. For but a second there was nothing, then a wave of fire and force ripped towards them, tearing at everything in its path. Thrown to the ground with the force of the blast, Akiko managed to maintain both her charm and her hold on the boy.
Around her chaos reigned.
Sweat and tears mingled on her face as she watched the people around her seemingly disappear, enveloped in a cloak of flames. Buildings disintegrated with the blast, bits of rubble and stone flew away like petals in a breeze.
She did not have time to muse on much as the wave swept over her. She did not know if it was wizards or others that caused this destruction. As her bright charm wavered she circled her body around the boy's, hoping beyond all hope that her sister would we safe without her there.
She looked into his bright, terrified eyes, the light of the collapsing world reflected in them.
The boy did not hear that last word she uttered before the roaring of the outside dragged him into the dark. Though the weight of her body disappeared, the soft, tender warmth did not.
It was only when the soldiers found him later that he knew he had survived.