Minor author note! I don't know where Usagi lives in Tokyo; I'm assuming her family isn't wealthy enough to live in the very center of the city, so I put her in Umegaoka, a super residential stop off the Odakyu line. Also, I can totally see Shimokita being a Japanese wizarding hub (笑） And, I'm not following canon on the Potter books too strictly, as you can probably tell. I put the girls in fifth year only because I'm writing them as fifteen year olds. That's it!
SOSHITE
The Boy, Harry Potter, Who Lived at the moment in a large house at No. 31 Grimmauld Place, was feeling miserable and out of sorts, as was and had been customary for every summer of his life to date. The change of scenery and company changed his mood not a bit. He was unhappy with his relatives, and now, away from his relatives, quite near his friends in fact, he was still unhappy. Let us determine that he is simply an unhappy boy by nature, and waste no further time on it.
Our unhappy boy was at the moment pouting because he was not allowed access into a quite secret and important meeting, and unfortunately was not good enough at eavesdropping that he could do it and not be caught.
He and his cohorts had succeeded only in obtaining a frustratingly vague snippet of conversation before having to abandon the endeavor.
"It can't be another tournament or similar, can it?" asked the girl Hermione, one of the Boy's best friends. "Not after what... what happened last time." She cast a nervous look at her miserable best friend.
"No, it can't be," said the flame-haired girl decisively. "It must be something else. Maybe it's not even students, they could be coming to Hogwarts to help the teachers out with something, or to be guards."
"Still, it's very strange," mused Hermione. "Hogwarts very rarely takes in newcomers beyond the incoming first years and the Defense course revolving door. Dumbledore did say he wished to foster a spirit of community between different Houses, but he never mentioned opening the doors of Hogwarts to transfer students, nor did he mention anything about any new courses being offered in the curriculum."
"You'd love that though, wouldn't you," said the flame-haired boy. "We'll just have to keep trying with the Extendables. We're bound to hear something sooner or later."
DAKARAKOSO
Usagi was crying, quite loudly, causing a scene which her companions would have found extremely embarrassing had they been in public. Fortunately, they were safe in Usagi's bedroom and thus saved from the impossible task of both comforting the crying girl and pretending like they didn't know her at the same time.
"Usagi, you were the one who agreed so readily to this in the first place," said Ami, managing to modulate her voice enough that her exasperation barely showed.
"Seriously, get yourself together, girl," said Makoto, not even bothering. "It's not like you'll never see Tokyo again, you know."
"But it's going to be a whole year!" Usagi gasped out between sobs. "I'm going to miss the end of the year ceremony! And we're leaving RIGHT before my school festival, and my class had such a great event planned! All my friends will forget about me and I'll have to make all new ones when I come back! And there are no games arcades in a boarding school!"
"Your friends are not going to forget you, Usagi," snapped Rei. "I think that protecting the world is a little bit more important than your school festival! Besides, we're ALL going, you know. We're all missing these things too, and we're not crying about it."
"Besides, think of all the new friends you'll make, and all the new things you'll be able to do over there," pointed out Minako, secure in the knowledge that anyway she was young, pretty, and good at getting people to like her.
Usagi sniffled, but appeared to be calming down somewhat, to the relief of her friends, who knew just how upset Usagi could get over even the smallest things.
As Usagi's friends were talking her down from what might be called a tantrum in someone younger, Luna was making her way through the familiar streets of Tokyo. There were very few fireplaces to be found in the city, even with the existence of a small wizarding population, but Luna had managed to find a small pub in Shimokitazawa that had a well-connected Floo network, enabling her to speak with the Headmaster of the school for magic in England in person. Now she was on her way back to Usagi's house to inform her of all she had learned from Dumbldore.
Luna finally reached the Tsukino residence, and nimbly leaped in through Usagi's window. She was only somewhat surprised to see the rest of the Soldiers there, loading their fingernails down with decorations.
"Put the butterflies on mine!" said Usagi excitedly, looking on as Minako concentrated on placing rhinestones just right on Makoto's nails.
"What are you doing?" asked Luna in mild disapproval. "Shouldn't you all be studying, or researching magic?"
"Luna, you're no fun," complained Usagi, turning from Makoto's nails to flip through the nail art magazine Minako had brought and which had successfully turned Usagi's thoughts completely away from crying.
"Anyway we can't study magic when we don't have books and don't know the coursework," Ami pointed out, looking up from admiring the small bows she had allowed to be put on her own nails.
"About that," said Luna, smirking in a way that no cat should be able to and yet which looked quite at home on her feline features. "I have textbooks for you."
She ignored the dismayed cries from most of the assembled girls and continued. "I've been to see the Headmaster of the school you will be attending. He gave me some basic magic primers for you all to review before you reach England. You don't have wands yet, so you won't be able to practice, but you can at least have some idea of what you're going into."
Ami looked interested and grabbed a book from the pile Luna had produced, but the rest of the Soldiers merely glared in the direction of the books. They had quite enough schoolwork already, they didn't want any more until absolutely necessary.
"Luna, you don't want me to fail out of high school here in Japan do you?" implored Usagi. "I still need to come back here after we defeat this bad guy over in England! I can't study magic AND keep on top of my REAL schoolwork!"
"Usagi, you don't do your schoolwork anyway," said Luna, the long-suffering.
"When will we get wands to practice with?" asked Ami.
"Not until the day before the English term starts. We're going to arrive in London on August 31, and pick up all your school supplies there, including wands. Then on September 1 you will ride the train to the school with all the other students."
"We're gonna use the Sailor Teleport, right? I don't want to sit on a plane for hours and hours," said Minako with a grimace. "Think how grungy and gross we'd be by the time we got there!"
"Yes, we'll use the Sailor Teleport," replied Luna, ignoring Minako's opinions about personal grooming on a plane. "Headmaster Dumbledore offered the use of some sort of teleportation device, but it's just as easy to use our teleport instead."
SORESURA
Summer vacation was over, but the Boy called Harry was not as pleased as he normally would be. His friends were getting a bit sick of the leaden gloom that laid heavily on him and refused to be lifted, but they were still (so far) sticking by him. Harry lugged his trunk through the barrier at King's Cross station, making a valiant attempt at a smile when Ron and Hermione followed after.
"Shall we grab a compartment before they all fill?" asked Harry, pleasantly enough, he thought.
Hermione and Ron exchanged a somewhat guilty glance, although they had no real reason to feel guilty at that statement.
"We, uh... we've got to go to the Prefects' compartment," said Hermione, almost wincing as she said it. "We'll come sit with you after, though, mate," said Ron heartily. After an awkward pause in which no one said anything, the pair hastily departed. Harry, gloom sinking even further on him, went onto the train alone.
ONAJITOKORO
"We're going to be late! Hurry up!" shouted Rei, running through the train station in a very undignified manner. Four girls, one boy, and one cat followed, creating quite the scene for the crowds of people utilising the station for its quite ordinary trains.
"If you could ever wake up on time, we wouldn't have to be making fools of ourselves like this!" wailed Minako, shooting a glare at Usagi and speeding up.
"Wait, wait, I think this is it!" cried Ami in triumph, pointing at a sudden wall. "We're supposed to go through the wall, right Luna?"
"Yes, yes, just walk at it and you should be able to pass right through," gasped Luna, somewhat out of breath from her dash through the station.
"Why didn't you guys wake me up in time?" whined Usagi.
"WHO didn't wake you up?" asked Rei, outraged.
"Come on, don't fight, kill Usagi AFTER we get on the train, ok?" said Makoto, eyeing the wall suspiciously. "So we just go straight through the wall? Are you sure, Luna?"
"Yes, I'm sure," said Luna.
"You go first," said Minako. Luna, put on the spot, first glared at Minako, then sighed and acquiesced, figuring that she might as well if it would mean the group would be able to get on the train in time. Holding her head as high as one can reasonably expect to when walking at a solid brick wall, Luna strode forward, and vanished. Thus reassured, the Soldiers, plus one Prince of Earth, followed Luna into their second taste of the British magical world ever. To Luna's eternal relief, the train was still sitting at the platform.
"Okay, let's get on!" said Ami.
"Thanks to Usagi we'll probably have to stand the entire way," grumbled Minako.
Wheeling their suitcases, which in turn were filled with magically shrunken textbooks, clothing, shoes, accessories, and other necessities for a Japanese schoolgirl, the Soldiers boarded the magical train.
"What's this? There are individual rooms on the train? Cool!" said Usagi, looking around excitedly. "See, Minako, we won't have to stand! English trains have whole rooms inside them! Come on Mamo-chan, let's find a room!"
Usagi grabbed Mamoru and sped off down the train corridor, peering into rooms and trying to find one with six empty seats. The inner court followed as their princess dragged her price along, slamming open compartment doors, apologizing, and slamming them shut again.
"Oh! There's lots of room in this one, it looks like!" Usagi cried happily as she slammed open yet another door. There were three students inside: a pale blonde girl, dark-haired boy, and mousy brunet boy.
"Are the rest of these seats free?" asked Rei, peering in behind Usagi and Mamoru.
"Go ahead, you can take them," said the girl, looking up from her magazine to stare curiously at the group.
"It'll be tight but I think we can all squeeze in," said Minako. "Come on guys, you're blocking the door!"
It was indeed tight, but they all managed to get seat space, and after some maneuvering their brightly colored plastic rolling suitcases were squeezed in among the antique-looking trunks that already occupied the luggage rack.
"So, what are your names? I'm Usagi!" the blonde chatterbox looked expectantly at the three students of magic.