Flag 2: Diagon Alley
Albus Dumbledore was, in a word, perplexed. And that was saying something. After all, when you're hailed as the greatest wizard since Merlin and have faced down Dark Lords on multiple occasions, you tend to find very few things perplexing. And yet, here he was, sitting in a small home in Japan, across a set of rather unusual teens, and the only word he could find to describe the situation was perplexed. It wasn't the occupants of the room that Dumbledore found perplexing, rather the atmosphere. For some odd reason, a strange, familiar presence weighed down heavily, though the people across from him seemed not to notice anything unusual. Truly, what was this feeling? He had felt it when he was fighting Grindelwald in that battle so many years ago. Ah yes, now he remembered what it was: killing intent. And a lot of it.

Worriedly glancing towards the other occupants of the room, he took in their appearances again. In the middle of the sofa sat a stern-looking, brown-haired young man who seemed completely absorbed in some strange device in his hands. 'Keima Katsuragi' Dumbledore assumed to himself, the student he had originally been asked to procure, as well as the sole male in the group. "Ahem" Even the sound of him clearing his voice seemed unable to rouse the teen from his activities. The others, however turned to him expectantly.

The young lady sitting to the boy's right was...well...pink. She was adorned in a simple dress of various shades of pink and white, large round glasses perched atop her nose. Even her hair was pink, though from what Dumbledore could tell, it looked very natural. The only article of clothing that wasn't a shade of pink was the large bow tied up in her hair: a shocking yellow. She looked like spring.

"Um, Dumbledore-san?" the girl he had been studying spoke up rather uncertainly.

"Ah, my apologies for staring my dear, your hair color took me by surprise miss..?"

"Kanon, Nakagawa Kanon, sir." she claimed, bowing respectfully. "This hair color is not common where you come from?" a slight frown on her face.

"I'm afraid not my dear, needless to say I was quite surprised when I saw it. It is the same with the young man with green hair and the two young ladies with purple hair." Turning to those in question he smiled kindly, twinkling eyes silently inquiring their names.

The one with green hair answered first, and rather exuberantly at that, "Goido Yui, and I'm actually a girl, Professor-san."

Startled, Dumbledore found that he...no, she...was right. Despite her masculine mannerisms and appearance, her voice was most definitely feminine, though even that was slightly difficult to catch with the way she spoke.

"Takahara Ayumi" The first violet haired girl seemed to have a rather hyper personality.

"Haqua du Lot Herminium." The second violet haired girl spoke curtly, and in contrast to the other girl, seemed rather glum and put off. Her eyes never met Dumbledore's, as she was too busy glaring resentfully at the other girls in the room.

Finally turning his attention to the three as of yet unidentified people in the room, Dumbledore listened patiently as they introduced themselves. The dark-haired girl with braided loops identified herself as 'Ayukawa Tenri'. This particular girl seemed especially strange, as every so often, the expression on her face would shift from a sweet, innocent naivete, to a calm calculating demeanor and back again. The shift was barely noticeable, but it was there. The small, blond child carried an air of elegance and a doll in her lap and introduced herself as 'Kujyo Tsukiyo'.

Finally, a dark haired girl holding a broom introduced herself, "Elucia de Lute Irma, but everyone calls me Elsea." Like the other girl, Haqua, Elsea sported a skull-like hairpiece and flowing garment.

Dumbledore found this garment rather intriguing, as it seemed to float around the girls' shoulders instead of simply resting upon them. Literally, it appeared to be suspended in midair, though it would appear that no one saw any sort of significance in that.

"Well then, I believe that all of you know the reason I am here?" He paused to observe the others nod, "and I take it that your parents or guardians have already assented to this idea?" More nods. "Very well, no point in simply idling by. Regretfully, it would appear that one student was unable to attend this meeting." Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at the confused glances he was getting. "I assume you are aware of a Shiori Shiomiya, correct?"

"Ah, Shiori!" Keima had finally looked away from his device to call out to a corner of the room.

Almost immediately, a quiet 'eep' was heard and a pile of books toppled over, revealing a timid, black-haired girl with two small ribbons affixed to the sides of her head. She was holding an open book half her face, which was a bright cherry red. "K-K-Keima-kun?"

"Hello there young lady, I apologize for not having realized you were there. I take it you also know why I am here then?" questioned Dumbledore kindly.

Shiori barely nodded an affirmative, meticulously studying the ground by her feet. The book was now covering all but her eyes.

"Well, then I don't see much of a point in delaying, everyone please place a hand on this." Dumbledore produced a coffee mug with the words 'World's Best Headmaster' stamped out on the side.
Glancing uncertainly at each other, the teens hesitantly placed a hand upon the mug.

A sickening twist later and Diagon alley found eight students valiantly trying to hold in their breakfast and their headmaster patiently waiting. Once everyone was composed, Dumbledore proceeded to explain the plan, handing them a long scroll of rolled up parchment as he did so: The newest Hogwarts students were to buy what they could with the small amount of gold he had given them, while he stopped quickly by Gringotts in order to procure more gold to cover the rest of their supplies. After briefly explaining wizarding currency and wishing them luck, Dumbledore departed.

It was only several minutes later, standing outside of Gringotts the Dumbledore realized that his young charges had very little means of communication with a good majority of Wizarding London. Being multilingual, Dumbledore had easily forgotten how difficult language barriers were to surpass. He had even forgotten to set the children up with a temporary translation charm. Oh dear, he was getting quite forgetful these days. Stroking his beard worriedly, Dumbledore resolved to quickly finish his business at gringotts and then find his newest students. He hoped dearly that the children would be able to manage themselves well enough without him.

Obscurus Books, one of the many shops that littered Diagon Alley found Tenri and Keima standing before the store clerk who had just rung up their books.

"Right, so that's gonna be 27 galleons, 53 sickles and 29 knuts" The bored-looking clerk droned as he flipped languidly through a Playwitch magazine. He read those things for the articles. Honest. Not hearing the usual clatter of coins which signaled it was time for him to actually do his job, he reluctantly tore his gaze away from the magazine. The braid-loop girl on the other side of the counter was staring blankly at him. "Umm, you know, money?" she continued to stare. "Y'know, to pay" a halfhearted wave to the pile of books "for these?" Now Mr. Clerk (who shall henceforth be named 'Bob') grew rather irritated. Was this girl some kind of simpleton?

Another couple of seconds of staring stretched on before the girl turned to her companion, a bespectacled boy, completely engrossed in...something. Really now, what was that? She spoke rapidly though seemingly timidly to the boy in some foreign language and was rewarded with a muttered, short response. Apparently, the boy had just said the wrong thing, as the girl's eyes narrowed dangerously, startling Bob with the sudden change. She then proceeded to chew the boy out, as far as Bob could tell, at least. Bob silently bemoaned his poor fortune as the one-sided Argument unfolded in front of him, why did he have to get stuck with all the weirdos?

"Is something the matter?"

A wispy, singsong voice drew his attention, and he nearly jumped when he noticed the odd, blonde girl standing beside him. With a dreamy, faraway look in her eyes, the girl was watching the argument with interest

"Well...just...that." Bob helplessly gestured to the braid-loop girl whom, it seemed, had made very little progress, if her companions noncommittal grunts were anything to go by.

The girl burst into a smile, as if she had come across a great revelation. In the same airy voice she exclaimed, "Oh! I know how to fix that!"

She did? Lucky him! If she knew a translation charm, or something of the sort, this noisy couple could finish their business and he could return to his...

"Silencio" A flourish of the girl's wand, and Ms. Braid-loops was no longer making any sound.

What? Confusedly staring at the beaming girl, Bob sighed. Why had he gotten his hopes up? "You know" he began exasperatedly "I need to be able to understand them If they're ever going to finish buying their books. Silencing them doesn't really help me at all."

"Oh. Oh!"

Bob rolled his eyes at seeing her face light up in understanding.

"Well, I may..." The girl waved her wand twice, once to cancel the silencing spell and a second time, muttering "Vox Intellego," her brow scrunched in concentration.

The spell seemed to have worked, as the girl's scolding transitioned smoothly into english.

"...wouldn't be a problem at all if you hadn't wandered off and lost everyone else!"

"It couldn't be helped. The bonus activity was about to start, and I'm not able to get a good connection." The duo was quickly garnering more than their fair share of stares as the boy was stretching as high as he possibly could, device held to the heavens.

"Stop that!" she attempted to yank his arms down, to no avail. He stood fast. "People are staring! Do you ever think of anything but your stupid games?!"

That seemed to get his attention. With terrifying swiftness he twitched his head in her direction, an intense stare focused upon her. Unknowingly, she blushed. In a robotic monotone he spoke a single word: "NO."

Diana's fuming was cut short at an irate, "HEY!"

Diana turned, wide-eyed, "You can speak Japanese?"

Remembering that they were still customers, if irksome ones, Bob forced himself to regain his composure. Wouldn't do to lose another job, right? "No. This is a translation charm. Now please pay, there are customers who may want to pay."

"Ah, well thank you sir..."

"You want to thank me? Then just please, for thelove of Merlin's dirty undershorts, just pay and leave, I've had quite enough for one day. Besides, I didn't do anything; it was that girl over there," he jabbed a thumb at the blonde girl beaming at them.

Ignoring the angered tone, Diana bowed deeply to the girl, "Thank you very much. I'm Ayukawa Tenri, and this" she jerked a thumb at the idiot and his game "is Katsuragi Keima, who are you?"

"It was no problem at all, My name's Luna Lovegood. Though...what is he doing?" at the last part, her voice turned quizzical. At least that's what Diana assumed; it was quite difficult to tell.

"Don't mind him, he is quite obsessed with his video games."

"Video...games?" Now The confusion was clear, though not without a hint of interest.

"They're...nevermind. You just need to know that that thing," she gestured to the object the boy was still holding in the air, now grunting from exertion, "is the reason we got separated from our group."

"So it's like the fox-fires that lead people astray? Daddy and I were planning on catching some this summer, but we couldn't find any." Her voice turned thoughtful, "It's quite strange really, we would set off and it would be getting dark before we knew it, and we had no idea how we got to where we were. Really quite strange."

"Umm, not quite. Anyway, thank you for this charm of yours, Luna, we shouldn't have any problems thanks to you."

The blonde mourned, "I don't think the charm would last too long, we never really got into translation spells at school. I only saw that particular one in a book I was reading, so I decided to try it out."

"Well that is a bit troublesome" Diana smiled kindly at Luna "It's OK, you've already been a great help, we'll just have to find our way back before it wears off."

"Perhaps I should come with you?"

"You really don't have to! We've already troubled you too much. Besides, two of our friends are from Europe, so they probably know english, we'll be fine."

"It's quite alright, I don't really have many friends anyway, so I'd be alone otherwise"

The sheer bluntness and honesty with which Luna had stated this-as calmly as if she had been commenting on the weather, no less-was really quite sad in Diana's eyes.

"Normally daddy accompanies me, but right now he's busy telling the owner of the apothecary how to get rid of this particularly large nargle infestation. For some reason the shop owner always gets angry and starts yelling, so I left to do my shopping on my own. It would be nice to go with someone." Luna beamed once more at the nod of assent from the darker haired girl.

After finally paying, Diana, Keima and Luna left the shop. Bob sighed in relief as the bell at the door tinkled, signalling the departure of the rather problematic customers. A few minutes later, the bell tinkled again, and glancing up Bob didn't even bother stifling an anguished groan. A gaggle of girls, with every shade of hair color, from purple, to green to pink of all colors made their way into the store, speaking rapidly in the same language the other two had been speaking. Bob allowed his head to slam into the counter, sobbing slightly. He just couldn't get a break.

Omake:
Shortly prior to Dumbledore's arrival
Haqua skipped happily up to the Katsuragi residence, she was about to go away with him (and Elsea) for a year. A whole entire. year.

"Kei...I mean Kaaatsuragi are you ready to go?" Haqua sang excitedly as she entered his home and made her way to the guest room.

"Are you ok Haqua? you're acting like Elsea. Completely abnormal if you ask me." After a few seconds of silence, Keima looked up, confused by the lack of response. "Haqua? Now you've gone quiet, what's wrong?"

"K-K-Katsuragi! what are they doing here?" brandishing an arm at the source of her agitation. There, sprawled out onto the floor, the six goddesses were congregated about a platter of snacks.

"We're here for the same reason you are, girl. We were invited as well." The crimson-haired, blind goddess, Vulcan, claimed, adding in an undertone "And to ensure that you do not steal Tsukiyo's husband away, demon temptress."

Face reddening, Haqua was far too flustered to respond. Thankfully, she didn't have to. The last proclamation had an effect akin to setting fire to explosives. Immediately, the room erupted in indignant cries from the other goddesses.

"Tsukiyo's husband? Might I remind you that Kanon's the only one amongst us who has actually confessed?" Apollo looked just like her host, save for the two triangular markings under her eyes.

"Yes! Then right after you spent weeks in your 'hydration'! Keima doesn't need such a weak girl as his wife, dearest sister." Yui's normally tea-green hair was now a vibrant gold, a small circlet adorning her forehead. Mars was currently in control.

"Sh-Shiori too!" cried the diminutive goddess, Minerva, one eye peering from behind her host.

"Is this really the time or place to be discussing this?" Pragmatic as ever, it was clear that Tenri had let Diana out.

A large yawn was heard, the bickering had woken the youngest sister. Ayumi Ayukawa's skin had turned a few shades darker, while conversely, her hair turned quite a few shades lighter. Her goddess, Mercury, yawned once more before stating sleepily, "You all seem to keep forgetting that Keima has already proposed to me. He is already my husband."

Of course, this only served to stir up a whole new storm of complaints and yells.

"H-HUSBAND?!" Haqua had finally found her voice, but was quickly cut off again, when suddenly a 'CRACK' was heard, shortly followed by a knock on the door.

"Everyone please be quiet and sit down!" Elsea hopped up and rushed to answer the door. Reluctantly the girls plopped onto various spots on the sofa and floor while Haqua stood, glaring angrily at the assembled goddesses. Shiori rushed into a corner and began fervently stacking books. Haqua remained standing aside the couch, the animosity pouring from the demon prodigy was matched only by that of the Goddesses. The various hair colors faded back to their original shades, signalling the Goddess's returning control to their host, though this did little to alleviate the viciously oppressive atmosphere. Moments later Elsea walked back into the room, leading a wizened old man with a long flowing beard into the room. blue eyes twinkled behind glasses perched on his crooked nose.
As soon as Dumbledore walked into the room, his eyes widened ever so slightly at the heavy tension in the air. Well, this was rather perplexing.

Le sigh. I had originally wanted the omake to be integrated into the actual chapter, though I found it difficult to fit it in without having to resort to flashback. Personally I don't like to insert flashbacks and will generally avoid them as I feel like they disrupt the flow of the story. The only time I actually use them is when I feel that it would be pertinent to explaining the reasons for something important, e.g. the flashback with the chief in the last chapter. It's only after I finished writing it that I realized how long it was. In fact I don't really consider it an omake as much as it is an actual part of the chapter. Oh well, I suppose this way works as well.
Anyways, heres chapter 2 of this story, I really, truly hope my grammar/formatting is at least a tad better than it was in my last chapter. Also, I am up for suggestions for capture targets for hogwarts, seeing as I can only come up with three or so that I am able to think off of the top of my head that would be worth doing.