One of Kaito's main focuses when he got to Hogwarts was finding a place to practice his brand of magic. It had to be some place out of the way, where he wouldn't be disturbed. Kaito wandered the halls becoming familiar with the changing structure. He found a few secluded spots, but nothing that was large or secure enough to practice large-scale illusions that he would need to work on as the lessons became more complicated.
Really, it was the portraits that were the problem. They were quite literally everywhere in the school. Kaito knew better than most just how sentient those painted images could be. Aoko's mother was an artist and had shown him and Aoko how the paintings came to life and created their own thoughts and feelings based on vague memories of the people they represented (or sometimes not so vague depending on what the artist knew of the subject or their personal opinion of them). Aoko's mother had actually donated a fair number of paintings to Hogwarts over the years, Aoko would sometimes drag him on quests to search one of them out. The result was that Kaito was a bit more aware of portraits than most people. He didn't want one learning his secret.
Currently, Kaito had two main places to practice. An isolated tower with only a painting of sleeping men labeled "The Inventing the Sleeping Spell", Kaito had yelled and even created small explosions to see if he could wake them, and a forgotten interior room with only a large painting of the woods, the only sign of life in the painting were deer and birds moving along it's surface. Finding a room without any paintings was proving nearly impossible (they even had them in the bathrooms, which had to count as some kind of invasion of privacy).
He still wasn't comfortable working in a room with these moving images, but at least the occupants wouldn't be telling any tales. It was that or practice in a broom closet, which seemed like the only way he'd get any real privacy. The thought made Kaito scowl as he worked on perfecting his trick for levitating in Charms. He lost his concentration and the cup he was practicing with dangled obviously from one of the invisible wires. Fantastic, Kaito was reaching to adjust the cup when he thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye. His head whipped towards the painting, but the only thing he saw was a deer grazing in the woods. Kaito could have sworn he saw a flash of white among the trees. Kaito frowned and walked over to the painting. It wasn't the first time he'd thought that there had been something white moving just beyond his field of vision. But what-?
An unseen clock chimed faintly in another room. Right. Transfiguration…
Slytherins had Transfiguration with the Ravenclaws. Kaito preferred classes with Hufflepuff (where he could bully Hakuba into being his partner) or Gryffindor (where Aoko claimed him as a partner and shouted down anyone who might argue). It wasn't that he didn't like his fellow Slytherins. It was more that Kaito didn't, couldn't, make friends easily. He couldn't ignore his feeling that someone would learn his secret if they got too close. Aoko was his friend simply because she'd always been there (back when Kaito thought he was just waiting for his magic to show). Hakuba was his friend out of some strange combination of competitiveness and persistence.
Kaito was friendly enough with everyone (and Slytherin prefect, Ruby, had taken a liking to him), but he had one real problem. That problem was Akako Koizumi, the girl that everyone seemed to adore. Everyone except Kaito, that is. Kaito remained firm in his classification of Akako as creepy. And she didn't like that. She didn't like that at all. She seemed to have made it her mission to force Kaito to love her as much as everyone else did. So far this consisted of spending (way too much) time with him. That was why today was important. Today they were picking their partners for the rest of the semester, and Kaito was as determined to avoid being Akako's partner as she was to have him.
Kaito had already begun his planning. His target would have to be in Ravenclaw, all of the Slytherins knew what Akako wanted and wouldn't dream of denying her. Kaito's eyes swept the gathered students. What he needed was someone who wouldn't realize what he was. A tricky proposition since Ravenclaw housed some of the smartest students in Hogwarts (it couldn't have the smartest since he and Hakuba were in different Houses). A girl would probably be the best option. He'd just "conjure" a rose and ask to be partners.
"Hello class," Kaito glanced up at Professor Kobayashi. "Before we pick partners, we are going to have a pop quiz." The class groaned as one.
"Now, now," She chided them. "It's something you've all studied. I just want you to change matches to needles." Kaito wasn't too surprised, he had plenty of needles hidden in his clothing whenever he went to Transfiguration.
One by one, the students preformed the spell for Kobayashi. When it was Kaito's turn he adopted the same expression of intense concentration that the others had. Kaito flicked his wand and uttered the spell perfectly. If Kaito had even an ounce of magic in him the match would have transformed into a sharp silver needle. Instead Kaito switched the match and needle with a twitch of his thumb.
Kaito looked up as the class took up a polite applause as it had after every passed student. Kaito noticed something out of place. A Ravenclaw was staring at him in a way that Kaito could only describe as perplexed. Kaito tried to ignore him as he returned to his seat. The Ravenclaw looked away when he realized he was staring, but as the quizzes continued Kaito stole glances at the boy, trying to work out what he'd seen. He only realized that the other eleven year old was doing the same thing when he looked over to find the Ravenclaw was already gazing at him. They broke the unexpected eye contact awkwardly.
Then Kaito realized that he'd been so preoccupied he'd missed the teacher telling them to partner up. His eyes scanned the room people were gravitating towards their friends and Akako was headed straight for him! Kaito jumped on his chair to see who was left. Everyone seemed to be moving towards someone else except the boy who'd been looking at him oddly, and a cute blushing Ravenclaw girl was making her way towards him! Kaito glanced around. It was him or Akako. Kaito jumped from the chair and beat the Ravenclaw girl to the other boy.
"Kaito Kuroba!" He introduced himself with a hopefully winning grin. "Wanna be partners?" His potential partner blinked at him.
"Wouldn't you rather work with someone from your own house?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I can hang out with them any time." Kaito rolled his eyes. "Why would they have different houses take classes together if they just wanted us to work with the same people as always?" The other boy smirked. Kaito saw Akako quicken her pace out of the corner of his eye.
"Shinichi Kudo," Shinichi offered his hand and Kaito seized it like a lifeline. Akako stopped and glared at the pair. Kaito resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at her.
"Good to meet you!" Kaito beamed Shinichi appeared to be fighting an amused expression.
"Well, Kuroba," He pulled his hand away. "One of us has to turn a spider into a necklace and the other has to turn it back. And we have to write a paper on turning an inanimate object animate by the end of the week. Where do you want to start?"
Kaito was working on his spider to necklace trick in the tower with the portrait of the sleeping men. "I can see you make the switch from this angle." Kaito jumped violently, dropping the necklace and letting the spider escape. He whirled around to find a man in a white suit, top hat, and cape grinning at him from the frame while the occupants snoozed in the background. Kaito's heart just about stopped. He took a step back.
The man saw the expression on his face. "Hey, don't worry." He raised his hands. "I'm not going to say anything. I have an offer for you."
"I'm not sure what you are thinking." Kaito began, his cheerful mask sliding into place as his mind raced for an explanation. "But I have this bet with my friend, and I just thought of a clever way to cheat, and you're not buying any of this are you?"
"Nope," the man continued to survey Kaito with an amused almost fond expression. "You might have been able to fool me if I had just stumbled on you, but-"
"You've been stalking me for days." Kaito scowled.
"Stalking is such a harsh word." The painting put a hand over his heart as though wounded. "I prefer the term observing."
"It amounts to the same thing." Kaito retorted.
"Perhaps." The man waved his hand dismissively. "As I said, I have an offer for you."
"What kind of offer?" Kaito asked, suspiciously. It sounded more like an introduction to blackmail.
"Follow me." The man gestured out of the room, and Kaito followed him, frame by frame along the hall. Somewhere on the fourth floor, the man turned and waited for Kaito. "Press here." He indicated a spot on the painting. Kaito hesitated then reached out.
…And immediately fell through the hidden door as the painting spun in place.
Kaito jumped up. His mouth dropped open. It was a hidden room or rooms if the doorless arch on the other side of the room was any indication. The entire place was dusty and gently illuminated by a small window. There were bottles on shelves lining the walls. A large worktable sat in the center of the room with a toolbox sitting under it.
"Well?" Kaito turned to gape at the man in the painting where he'd come in. "What do you think?" The man stepped out of the frame on to the wall, and then Kaito realized that the entire workshop was a massive mural, allowing the painting free movement.
"It's… perfect." He said. "But why?" The man grinned.
"You're smart. You've got a big secret. And I like you." He answered. "I'm stuck in paintings on walls. I need a partner, and I think that you'll do nicely."
"A partner?" Kaito's eyes narrowed. "A partner for what?" The man grinned.
"I'm stuck in the paintings, you're not." He said simply. "I'd just like a hand with some things I can't touch."
"Is that all?" Kaito blinked. It made sense. The painting couldn't clean the room, or get anything thing he needed.
"That's all." The man's grin widened. "You can use the room anytime you want. As long as you don't mind the occasional audience. You're interesting. I'd like to watch you work sometimes."
"That's fine." Kaito nodded, his mind already whirring with ideas for the space. "I'm Kaito Kuroba, by the way."
The man's smile grew even more if possible, he threw back his cape and bowed formally. "KID, Phant- acquisitions specialist." He glanced up. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Well, those of you who read AcierGlace 's chapter 36 of One Percent Inspiration, Ninety-Nine Percent Perspiration that sparked this will see the blatant inspiration.
And muggle95 asked me a question that I've been waiting for someone to call me on. "How did Kaito get into Hogwarts without magic? Isn't there a magic sensing registration?"
My answer!
My sources say that "A magical quill at Hogwarts detects the birth of magical children and writes their names into a large parchment book. Every year, a teacher checks this book and sends a letter to the children who are turning eleven."
My reasoning is that Kaito was born in Japan, so everyone assumes that his name was recorded there for the Japanese school, Mahoutokoro, but he was traveling with his parents who (with Kaito's prodding) decided that he should go to Hogwarts with Aoko (Aoko's mother went to Hogwarts and is insistent that her daughter attends Hogwarts because of reasons that will be explained in chapter 3, though they aren't strictly canon, I thought it would be interesting.) Aoko's name is not recorded in the Hogwarts registery either, but she is clearly magical. I think that if the parents could provide proof of magic (and Kaito was running around conjuring roses at the time), they would be accepted to Hogwarts. I suggest that you read this little blurb about Mahoutokoro, I have (too many) ideas related to it. (Some of which may never happen, but we shall see.) writing-by-jk-rowling/mahoutokoro
