A/N: Yes, do expect the story to take POV from other characters other than Sakura, and don't think Li, Meilin, and Tomoyo won't make extended appearances. This is my first fan fiction, so please don't be too harsh. I'm much better at action than tense romance, but chances are I'll be giving it a try. How could I call myself a writer if I didn't? The pairings are: Sakura/Syaoran, Harry/Ginny, Ron/Hermione, Eli/Tomoyo. Neville/Hannah
Chapter 2: I'll eat my arithmancy homework!
"Sakura!"
"Mnnn"
"Sakura! Ice water!"
If lightning had two legs, it would describe Sakura as she sat upright. She held up her hands to defend herself from any incoming offending ice water that might try and give her a rude awakening, not that Ceroberos hadn't already. Sakura growled unpleasantly when she realized that the threat of cold water splashed in her face had been a hollow one, and responded by thrusting her face in her pillow.
"Sakura!" Cero whined, "I'm sorry I had to wake you up like that, but everyone else went downstairs half an hour ago! Your going to be late! AGAIN!"
Sakura shifted and looked around. Sure enough, the sun streaming in the windows fell on empty beds. Throwing herself up with a frustrated squeal she changed into her school robes as fast as she could, barely finishing as she raced downstairs, and in her anxiousness she ran right into Ron, who in turn ran right into Harry, who tripped and knocked square into Ginny. Sakura's face was almost as red as Ginny's, as Harry's arms were wrapped tight around her waist.
"Oh! Sorry!" Harry said quietly, letting go and getting up. Ginny flashed him a small smile, but didn't say anything more as she continued out of the portrait hole for breakfast. Harry, the second she was gone, turned abruptly.
"What was that for?" Harry said plainly.
"Hey, don't look at me, ask the crazy sorcerer over here!"
"I'm really sorry! I wasn't paying attention to where I was going!" Harry's angry face softened.
"Ahh. It's okay," He said walking out of the portrait hole.
Ron fallowed closely behind, muttering something about how "the cute ones always got off easy".
"Hey! There you are! I was about to go and get you. Not a morning person are you?" Hermione said brightly.
"Not exactly." Sakura smiled.
"Well, I'm supposed to give you this from Professor McGonagall, it's your lesson schedule."
Sakura took it and read it over:
-- Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays --
Breakfast
History of Magic – Professor Binns
Care of Magical Creatures – Professor Grubley Plank
Lunch
Double Defense Against the Dark Arts – Professor Umbridge
Break
Divination – Professor Trellawny
-- Tuesdays, Thursdays --
Breakfast
Transfiguration – Professor McGonagall
(FREE)
Lunch
Double Potions – Professor Snape
Break
Double Charms – Professor Flitwick
She smiled gleefully at her schedule, and left the empty common room, Ceroberos fallowing.
"And where do you think your going, mister?" Sakura said.
"I'm coming with you! I'm your guardian beast!"
"Oh no, you don't! You think someone might notice if your the only 'pet' that fallows me to every class?"
"Awwww! Sakura!"
"Don't 'Awwww' me!" It didn't matter what she said, the puppy dog eyes got her eventually. She sighed, "If you promise not to destroy the castle you can go exploring!"
"YEAH!!" and with that gleeful remark, Ceroberos flew down the corridor!
"Just be back by dinner!"
"Okay!"
Down at breakfast, Sakura met the the several more of her fellow Gryffindors: Fred and George Weasley, Alicia Spinnet, Dean Thomas, Colin Creevy. Fred and George were having a hushed conversation with Lee Jordan, keeping an active look out for anyone who would want to overhear. The food, although vastly different from anything she had had in Japan, was delightful none the less. Several sausages and eggs later, with a glass of pumpkin juice, Sakura was off to class, trailed closely by Hermione. The classrooms themselves, as she found out, were packed with magic. Her senses, fine tuned to feel even the slightest of magical energies, were bombarded with magic that poured off the walls. So, as she sat down in History of Magic, she failed to notice anything out of the ordinary.
"Good Morning class," Sakura's face drained as Professor Binns floated effortlessly through the walls, "Please open you History of Magic to page 273, and let us begin with the Werewolf Revolt of 1376..." Professor Binns monotone was soon tuned out by all except Hermione and Sakura.
Ron, who was doing anything but pay attention to anything Binns had to say, looked over to the wide eyed, petrified Sakura. Nudging Hermione, he said, "Whats up with her?"
Hermione, who had started taking notes looked over to Sakura, who's knees and hands began to shake, her hand wrapped tightly on her Key of Sealing "Sakura, Whats wrong? Why haven't you opened to Page 273? Were on Page 274 now."
Sakura replied with one shaky word rasped out quietly, "Ghost!" She pointed with a literally vibrating finger.
Hermione wasn't sure what was the problem, "Yes, Professor Binns is a ghost. Wha- Oh!" Hermione finally caught on, "You don't like ghosts, do you?"
Sakura shook her head so vigorously that her long flaming locks whacked a sleeping Hufflepuff who jumped awake a looked around confusedly.
"It's okay Sakura!" Hermione said comfortingly, "Theres got to be at least two dozen ghosts in Hogwarts, and none of them harm students," Thinking of Peeves, "Well, not permanently," she added.
Sakura squeaked and went back to staring at Professor Binns with eyes the size of half-dollars.
"Look, Sakura, you don't have to worry, Professor Binns isn't going to harm you! He's just a teacher!"
Sakura looked at her, relaxing slightly, but still didn't take her eyes off Professor Binns or remove her white knuckled fingers from the key for the entire lesson, much to Hermione's annoyance. Every time Hermione tried to coax her along, Sakura would shake her head violently. Upon the sounding of the loud gong the school used as a bell, Sakura ran as if hell was loose and after her, and didn't stop until she was out of the school and halfway to Care of Magical Creatures. When she stopped she groaned loudly.
"How am I going to survive a semester of lessons in a school packed with ghosts?" She groaned loudly again.
"Hey gorgeous," Sakura was snapped out of her problem dwelling and spun around to see who it was that had spoken. It was a kid her age, short blond hair, with a sneer that she could tell rarely left his face, and was being flanked by two other kids at least four times her size, "Who might you be?"
"Sakura Kinomoto," She smiled nervously, something about this guy, she really didn't like, "And you?"
"Names Malfoy, Draco Malfoy," He smiled arrogantly, "I probably don't need to say much more than that, you've probably heard of my father: Lucious Malfoy. Kinomoto, huh? Is that a Japanesse wizarding family?"
"No, no one in my family can do magic. My fathers a professor and my brother goes to Tokyo University," She said simply, thinking This guy is starting to really creep me out, were is everyone?
If she thought he looked arrogant before, it was nothing compared to how he looked after he found out her parentage, "Your a mudblood swine? To think, I was wondering what you looked like under those robes! Shame, really. I bet your a Gryffindor Sakura's face went beet red. This gaki was insulting her and her family!
"Oh no! Sakura!" Hermione said when she saw Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle approach Sakura who had finally stopped to catch her breath. She went to go run to her aid when she felt a hand on her shoulder, it was Ron.
"Wait, I want to see how this goes," Ron said with a curious look on his face, Hermione shot him a disapproving look before looking back to her new friend.
Harry chuckled slightly, "You mean you want to see how badly Malfoy gets hurt."
"If you don't shut up about my family, I'm really going to have to hurt you," Sakura said, green eyes almost glowing with suppressed rage.
Malfoy laughed, "Let me tell you something. My father is so influential, if anything were to happen to me, you would be sent back to your dump of a country so fast your-" Malfoy never even had a chance.
Before he could think, Sakura had a fully summoned Staff of Sealing in her hand pointing at his nose. From a distance Harry had his eyebrows raised, but his smirk betrayed his approval, Hermione simply watched, while Ron smiled victoriously.
"It's pink!" Crab laughed.
Malfoy, however, was not so immused, "I'll put you in your place, mudblood!" he whipped out his wand.
"Watery!" Sakura struck the card just as the Daisy Headed Jinx came off of Malfoys wand, which instead of striking Sakura, blasted harmlessly into pale blue iridescence that was the water spirit, "Please escort the very rude Mr. Malfoy somewhere not here. Anywhere but here," Sakura's command was venomous. In that instant, the water spirit dissolved into a powerful stream of water that carried Malfoy screaming up to the astronomy tower and dropped him with a wet 'ker-splash'! The glowing card returned to her index and forefinger, which she placed manually back in her robe pockets with her other cards, all the while pointing her sealing staff at Crabbe and Goyle.
"Please tell Mr. Malfoy that if he ever insults my family again, I'll make his own personal nightmares fallow him until he cries," Sakura fingered 'The Illusion' carefully, "Get lost."
Crabbe and Goyle jumped and ran back to the castle with proverbial tails between their legs.
"That was bloody brilliant!" Ron declared, the three walking up to her.
"Thank you!" She said with an embarrassed smile.
"Don't swear, Ron!"
"That was pretty cool," Harry said.
"Yes, yes," Hermione said tersely, "Just lucky Umbridge or Snape didn't catch you. We've got to hurry before class starts!"
Care of Magical Creatures was far more enjoyable than History of Magic, and with Hermione's help, she was able to catch up with terms and jargon she had missed starting five and a quarter terms late. Moke's were quite interesting, being able to change size at will.
After the bell rang, Sakura, Harry, Hermione, and Ron all got up, Ron groaning the loudest.
"Double Defense against the Dark Arts with Umbridge," Ron moaned.
"Umbridge?" Sakura said, "Isn't she that ridiculously ugly lady that seems to think herself authoritarian?"
"Yes, and she is by far the worse teacher I have ever had," Hermione said grumpily, "She refuses to teach us," She gave Harry a significant look that Harry met.
"Show her Harry,"
Harry raised his hand, not bothering to argue. In newly healed scar's read 'I will not tell lies'.
"Since the ministry doesn't want to believe Voldemort is back," Hermione said quietly, "It's up to Umbrige to enforce the Ministry's will at Hogwarts. Harry, well, being Harry, didn't stand up for this, and well, he got this as a reminder of just how messed up out government is right now,"
"Thats... thats..." Sakura couldn't come up with a word that did it justice.
"It's not as bad as the Cruciatus" Harry said trying to tone it down, "Lets just get this over with."
They trudged to the classroom. Umbridge appeared later, starting her lesson as ussual, not making eye-contact with Sakura, as if just by making eye contact, Umbridge would catch 'whatever she had'. The only good news, if you could call it good, was the fact that the lessons were so dummied down, even Sakura with what little wizardry experience she had was able to understand quite easily. She looked around, and could easily understand why people who had been studying wizardry for at the very least five years looked as though they were bored out of their minds.
The four of them left the Class in a hurry, and Sakura felt an odd tension that had filled the air ebb away as they left. Soon after reaching a cooridor, Hermione said, "This is where I part. Good bye."
"Where's she going?" Sakura said, "Isn't she coming to Divination?"
So Sakura was regaled with the tail of how Hermione stalked off from Divination and thus quit it, now taking Double Arithmency instead (Ron shuddered at the words 'Double Arithmancy').
Climbing up the latter into the stifling perfumed attic classroom.
"This is Divination?"
"Yeah," Ron said, then sarcastically, "Great isn't it?"
"Why is it all the way up here? This has to be the least populated area in the school?" Sure enough, Sakura sensed the least amount of magic in this place.
Ron snigered, "She says it helps keep her 'inner eye' clear."
"Thats the opposite of what she should be doing! A good diviner uses the energies of those around him or her!"
Ron stopped sniggering and both him and Harry stared at her, "You can't be serious? You believe this garbage!"
Sakura scowled so much like Hermione it made him blush. Ironic that Hermione would probably be on his side on this one.
"Just because Trellawny is a quack doesn't make it garbage."
"So, your an expert?" Harry said, cutting over the tension.
"You could say that."
"Good day class!" Trellawny came out of her side room with twenty purple bound books and twenty small white boxes.
"Today, we start the new and mysterious form of divination called 'tarot magic'," Sakura smirked. Perfect, "Please keep these cards, and let no one else touch them, as that they will corrupt the energies of the cards. If someone should ever attempt to devine with your cards, burn them immediately!" Sakura smiled. Not a complete quack. That was actually true, except in the case of the Sakura Cards that are completely tuned to my energy and don't corrupt so easily.
Soon, all the students had books and cards, and were looking through them curiously, except Sakura, who promptly asked Harry to burn her cards, refusing to touch them.
Taking out her Sakura Cards incognito, she began to form the pattern. One face down, then below that two face down, then below that three face down, then below that two, than one face down, so the pattern formed a diamond. Then one face down in the four corners. She flipped the topmost center: 'The Dark'. Flipping the top two she revealed 'The Shield' and 'The Wood'.
Sakura realised that Harry was staring intently at her, while Ron, who had seemed so uninterested before, was watching just as close, "These three cards are commanded by the moon. This is something serious, not pleasant."
She flipped the middle three.
'The Dream', 'The Illusion', 'The Mirror'.
"What does it mean,"
"It means a friend of mine is having strange preminitions, or dreams, or both."
Harry felt the hair on the back of his neck prick.
She gave her cards a look that seemed to say 'all right, what else?'.
And covered the middle three with three more face down, then covered those with three face up.
'The Hope', 'The Fiery', 'The Sword',
Sakura smiled and looked at Harry, "Have any strange dreams, lately Harry?"
Harry's eyes got round.
"Well, this pretty much says that, whoever it is, is skilled in magic," she pointed to 'The Sword', "Is brave," she pointed to 'The Fiery', "and 'The Hope' is the only card I myself created, so that person would have to be very close to me. Physically or emotionally." So I guess it could be Li. In fact, its probably Li.
"I-I have been having strange dreams," Harry said distantly, eyes focusing on something in his head.
Sakura flipped one more card over, placing it in the center. 'The Shadow'. Her eyes got wide, "Be careful Harry, 'The Shadow' is the marker of caution against evil."
Flipping the bottom two she revealed 'The Time' and 'The Lock'. Flipping the bottom most card, she revealed 'The Maze'.
"What do these mean?" Harry said intently.
"These," She said concentrating, "These are hard. They're situational. It means that something to do with your dream will involve time and a lock, or an impassable barrier. The Maze card here means a quagmire. An impossible situation," She switched her point of view, "Or it could mean literally a maze."
She scooped up the cards and shuffled them.
"Can you do me?" Ron asked.
Sakura smiled, "Sure."
She set up like before, with twelve cards down and then flipped them over one by one.
'The Shield' , 'The Fight', and 'The Light' were the top three, "These are the brightest of the sun cards! This is going to be good news!"
Then the middle three, 'The Fiery', 'The Shield', 'The Return'.
"A protector? Do you have brave deeds in your past, Ron?"
Harry smiled, "Do you remember the chess game me and Hermione told you about? The Acromantula den?"
Sakura nodded, and continued, placing three face down over the middle and three more face up, 'The Libra', 'The Hope', 'The Power'.
Sakura blushed, "Ron, this is about love!"
Ron's eyes went wide, "What," he spluttered, now unsure if he wanted Sakura meddling with his future.
"Yes, I should know," She smiled, "I created the hope card out of love, and it is in the center, like love should be, no doubt about it!"
Flipping the next two, 'The Create' and 'The Arrow'.
"She's..." Sakura's eyes got wide.
"What, she's what!?" Ron said, suddenly forgetting his apprehension.
Sakura ignored him, flipping the bottom card to see if her suspicions were confirmed: 'The Storm'.
"Ha! Your in love with Hermione!" Sakura whispered in his ears.
Ron leaped up as if she had insulted him, but she knew she hadn't. His face was pale, he had giant eyes. He sputtered wildly. Harry looked at them confused, wondering what she had whispered to him.
"How!" Ron finally was able to say.
She pointed to the two bottom cards, "Those means that she is intelligent and creative (The Create), and that she is diligent and studious (The Arrow). 'The Storm' means that your relationship can often be rocky, but in the end all storms come to a close. It didn't take much to put two and two together."
Ron spluttered again, "Well, isn't there one more!"
Sakura nodded smiling, flipping the final card over 'The Hope': the last card was 'The Flower'.
"What does it mean!" Ron snapped, Harry looking amused at the person who seemed least likely to be interested in anything divination.
Sakura smiled, "It means everything is going to be okay."
"Whats that supposed to mean! Does she like me back!"
"It's hard to say," Sakura lied carefully. These were sensitive matters. If she went out and said 'Yes, she's madly in love with you', and that 'love, like a flower, would eventually bloom', things might not work out the way they were supposed to. Predicting the future could be tricky, predicting the future of love, that could be darned near hazardous to your health.
The bell rang, and for the first time in memory, Harry had gotten something interesting out of Divination. Ron looked like a freight train had run over him, he had a nervous look on his face and wobbled slightly.
An hour or so latter, Hermione had finished with Double Arithmancy and returned to the common room. Ron conjured and extra cushion for her place before sitting down himself. Sakura smiled knowingly.
"Thank you, Ronald," She said suspiciously, but smiled all the same.
"Guess who's great at divination?" Harry smiled.
"What?" Hermione said, caught daydreaming, "Oh, who?"
"Sakura,"
"What did she tell you?" Hermione said sighing, obviously a disbeliever already.
Suddenly, both boys thought the better of it and stopped, "Nothing," They said in unison, Ronald more critically. Hermione squinted suspiciously, looking from the boys to Sakura and back.
Hermione was just about to open her mouth to harp on them for more details when Sakura said, "Come here, Hermione, I'll make a believer out of you." She smiled, Hermione laughed and shook her head, walking over to the table.
"If you make me believe, I'll eat my Arithmancy homework."
"Thats incredible!" Hermione had finally broken. It took three divinations, but she had finally conceded.
First, Sakura managed to guess that Hermione's parents were either dentists or doctors, then told her that her first instance in the magic world had to do with faeries that only she could see, and the third instance she had predicted that she was in contact with a famous foreigner who didn't speak much and looked like he was constantly brooding. It had been enough to put it over the top.
"Well, you don't really have to eat your Arithmancy homework!" Sakura teased.
Hermione smiled, and whispering, "Can you tell me what the boys got in their divinations? Just girl to girl?" She looked back at Ron, and Sakura rolled her eyes. Now that she knew, it was rather obvious. In fact, she probably could have yelled it out loud in Divination and no one would have been surprised.
Sakura smiled mischievously, "I think I'm rather hungry, I'm going down for dinner, see you guys down there!"
Hermione looked put off, but didn't mention it again.
Ceroberos, who had found the kitchen, had the house elves busy making various cakes and puddings, not just for himself, but for the whole castle. That didn't stop him from eating dozens of times his own weight in junk food, and for the first time since she met him, Ceroberos wasn't hungry. Sakura tensed when she heard the news, half expecting the apocalypse to occur at that very moment.
The next day brought another spew of classes, and, for the first time, Sakura got to use her new wand. She stroked her key softly in Professor McGonagall's class as if to say 'you'll always be my favorite'.
Professor McGonagall walked up to Hermione and Sakura at the start of the lesson.
"Professor Dumbledore has made me aware of your... unusual circumstances. He asked you, Hermione, to tutor Sakura on the use of a wand until she is caught up to speed," McGonagall turned tersely and returned to class.
Hermione smiled at Sakura, "Okay, get your wand out!" Sakura whipped it out of her robe pocket and felt the glow in her hand of a new friend.
"First, where going to try the Lumos spell," Hermione drew her wand and flicked it, saying the incantation. Instantly, the tip of her wand lit with a white light, "Now you try it!"
Sakura smiled, she had long been taught by Ceroberos the power of intent. What she said, the incantation, really didn't matter. It was the intent behind the words, what she wanted her cards to do, that is what mattered. Right now, what she really wanted, was for her wand tip to light like it had for Hermione, "Lumos!" and, just like that, she had a little light on the end of her wand.
"Good! Now Nox." and like that it was out.
"Nox!"
Then came levitation, some basic spells and hexes, by the time they got to charming, Hermione was becoming very impressed at how quickly she was picking things up. They got all the way to summoning before the bell rang.
"Your quite skilled with magic, Sakura!" Hermione said.
"Thank you!" She beamed.
"Now," Hermione's smile faultered, "To the dungeons..."
"Professor Snape, correct?"
"...Yeah."
"Why do you give me the impression I'm not going to like this guy."
It took everything she had not to take her cauldron of stewing Jobberknoll feathers and dump it over the black haired baku, and he hadn't even said a word to her yet.
"Git," Ron said under his breath.
"Why. Did. He. Do. That." Sakura breathed heavily.
"Cause. He. Wants. Me. To. Kill. Him." Harry breathed back. Snape had once again emptied his cauldron with minimal provocation.
"Ahh, Miss Kinomoto," He said taking notice at last, "Mr Malfoy tells me that you attacked him. I'd say that merrits at the very least detention. What do you say?"
"Prove it. I don't know any attack spells."
"Then perhaps you'll hand over your wand for inspection," He smiled slightly, thinking she'd cave once she realized her wand could be inspected.
"Sure," Snape was taken aback when she thrust the short wand into his hand.
Several minutes of rewinding her spells with Priori Incantatum, and Severus actually reached the beginning of every spell the wand had ever cast. Handing back her wand, "Regardless, Mr. Malfoy managed to get to the top of the astronomy tower at your hands. How?"
"I don't know, perhaps you should ask him why he is skipping lessons on top of the astronomy tower." Sakura said levelly, knowing that he had no evidence, and bastards like him operated quite simply: once beaten, they would keep digging until they had reason to get you in trouble.
"Five points from Gryffindor for cheek," She didn't flinch.
"Three points for incompetence, and I believe that your Jobberknoll feathers are over-stewed," He flicked his wand, but Sakura was ready for him. She didn't need to know the spell, the intent would work just fine. You will not banish my potion, Gaki. My Jobberknoll feathers are fine. The effect was instantaneous. There was a bright white light over the potion and Snape was knocked back, almost loosing balance.
He frowned, "What have you done to this potion, Sakura?"
"A protection charm," Sakura said unflinchingly, "To keep people from tampering with my potion."
"Clever," Snape spat, starking off, "Let it be known, that your potion will be tested on your friend, Mr. Potter. If you do it incorrectly, his mind will probably be as well off as Mr. Lockheart's in St. Mungo's."
Sakura smiled, looking down at her cauldron, and added the Lovewing and billywig stingers. Her potion turned from a mud brown to a dark green. She stirred it clockwise rapidly to change lighten it significantly, simultaneously adding half an ounce of frankincense. She smiled. No problem at all.
Harry Potter came out of potions with delightfully little worries, as is the exact symptoms for a Relaxation Drought. They left off for Charms, which, was pretty much a repeat of Transfiguration, with Hermione teaching her more and more spells, charms, transfiguration skills, and now some hexes and curses (Nothing too nasty, though).
The day concluded with an excellent dinner, and some talking with Gryffindors in the Common Room.
"M'lady, would you care to try a delicious sweet?" His smile was wide, a little too wide.
"I think I'll have to pass, Fred." Sakura said sweetly, matching his smile, "I had a large dinner,"
"I know," George said to his right he said downright dreamily.
"I'm guessing thats a Puking Pastille your trying to pass off on poor Sakura!" Hermione was advancing on them from across the room, glistening prefect badge swinging as she walked. The twins shot a glance at eachother before retreating, throwing a, "Pleasure doing business with you, Sakura!" and walked out of the portrait hole.
"The nerve!" Hermione declared.
Sakura shrugged, "No harm done!"
Little did they know, that, harm had been done, for fallowing Fred and George out of the portrait hole was a small brown and gray rat, with one too little fingers.