A:N- Considering Harry Potter became Maomao, Canon!Maomao's personality is supplanted with his. Canon!Maomao is too hardened with realities of society thus clearly has no fucks left to give unless her personal landmines are crossed as she still has morals and capable of empathy, sympathy that she's willing to cover up for people if needed and can still genuinely smile, just that very few people ever get it and even very fewer people were given her utmost loyalty. She also has childish moments still, never fully maturing as a lady since she solely focused on medicine and studies, grossly lacking human contact thus is ignorant of things such as what hairpins given to you symbolizes.

Harry!Maomao retains his past life's wasted potential he could fully freely use as his new self, has a strong sense of morals and his own idea of justice, temper where life is concerned but he too, is jaded with the cruelties life showed him in his new reincarnated life as a lady doctor. He is also now free to have friends, and can openly perform where he is capable in. Add the fact that unique traits carried over to his new magic-less life with a little help from magically-granted wishes made his new life easier. Just that, he would still have his own troubles...

Ghosts of Love

Maomao gained infamy since that day.

Infamy for restoring a woman's youthful beauty lost to Lead Poisoning and the idiocy of vanity from her own maids.

Her foul temper when medicine is wasted, especially for a stupid reason got infamous too since some passing by maids heard her outrage which was why they could call for Jinshi.

To be fair, its all worth five years' worth of a General's salary the ignorant maids threw away in favor of gourmet cuisine thus medicine never reached Lady Rifa. The generals, upon hearing the news went apoplectic at the idea of throwing away money like that when even they would have trouble amassing such money for their own ill family members.

While Lady Rifa is safe from negative views, her family was NOT safe from Palace Intrigue, considering she was a victim twice over and she was genuinely doing all she could for the Emperor and his favor out of loyalty she was known for thus the court had nothing against her. She is not the only one representing her clan, her retinue does as well.

And considering her own family sent her, her retinue instead of choosing from the Court Ladies in the Imperial Harem, perhaps they should have chosen wisely in regards to the retinue of their daughter representative because they themselves, will shoot themselves in the foot as they harm their own daughter by stupidity alone!

Since that day, no Consort is allowed maids from their own families. They must choose their retinues themselves among the Court Ladies of the Imperial Harem.

That in itself is part of a test.

Choose wisely because choosing wrong, will damage your career.

Being a Consort is more than just the Emperor's baby-popper after all. Its an occupation wherein they compete to become Empress, the Emperor's Legal Wife.

The ones with the strongest chance to become Empress, are the Four Madames.

Consorts with maids from home had to dismiss them. No exceptions as Jinshi will make sure by talking to each Consort except from Consort Gyokuyou who chose from the palace from the start. Honnyan, Infa, Airan, Guien and Maomao all came from the Harem, as well as others who retired after being damaged from being Food Testers.

xxx

'...its widespread all over the harem!' said Infa as she and Maomao washed the dishes together.

Infa talked about the day Maomao blew up in rage.

'Meh, rumors get exaggerated over time.' Maomao drawled uncaringly while dunking plates in for washing.

'Haha, your temper's scary too. Then again, expensive medicine thrown away like garbage...I can just imagine many poor people who died from no medicine rolling in their graves as we speak right now.' Infa shivered. 'Its an immense waste.'

'Don't remind me. Just thinking about it pisses me off.' Maomao grumbled. 'Oh yeah, anything else to worry about after this?'

'Yeah, laundry.' said Infa. 'We need to wash Shaorin's nappies. She eats a lot so poos a lot too...and its scary to go out at night lately.'

'Why?'

'You know our usual routes? A ghost appears to dance over the walls of the palace near the moats.' Infa shivered. 'I'm lucky so far, but I don't want to see it! Brrr!'

'Ghost, huh...isn't summer riddled with Ghost Stories? I heard this island country to the east has a storytelling practice called Hundred Tales.'

'Hundred Tales?'

'Yeah. Meimei-neesan had this merchant customer who came there to scope out potential money-making ventures and culture, and gave her a bolt of embroidered silk as a gift. He told her stories and I heard them when I was a kid. A hundred people would gather, one candle for them each, will tell a scary story involving ghosts and monsters. When they're done, they will blow out their candle. They say that once the hundredth tale is finished and the last candle blown out...either one monster, or a Night Parade of a Hundred Monsters will appear and sow disaster.'

'EEEK!' Infa squeaked in fear of the idea.

'Its a myth though.' Maomao chortled. 'Some arrogant samurai tried that out, no monster showed up, much less a hundred! Since nothing came out, even civilians could do Hundred Tales and its now a popular summer pastime there!'

'W-what, so its harmless in the end...' Infa relaxed in relief.

'Well, nothing ventured nothing gained, right?' Maomao shrugged. 'I wonder if we ever have urban myths and folklore...Nihon has plenty of ghosts and monsters to talk about. Does our country have any other than a boring ghost?'

'Beats me, I never touched a book in my entire life.' Infa shrugged. 'My parents are rice farmers, its impossible for us to own books.'

'I guess so...'

'What's it like to own books?'

'A mere Kamuro like me can't touch one either. Its a dream never to come true.' Maomao snorted. 'I can only touch paper for our writing and poetry training. Had I been a Courtesan at least I could claim I held a book. The old hag would tell me time and again if I ever reached Princess Status as a Courtesan, I could touch our precious library of stories and poetry. The granny knows them by heart as does the Brothel Princesses who in turn teach lower-ranked Courtesans and Kamuros by word-of-mouth.' she said. 'Even a page wrinkled would set that old lady in a fit since even storybooks cost 1 gold coin.'

'Awww, that's way beyond our salary!'

Cue a frightened, piercing scream.

'Er...' Infa gulped as Maomao said dismissively, 'Probably just a mouse or worse, dropped valuable dining ware.'

'Oi...' the older maid sweatdropped at the youngest's dismissiveness. 'Breaking those is worth more than a decade of your life...'

'Its not us who broke it.'

xxx

Its not a mouse, when Jinshi paid a visit the next day.

"Just how much free time does this guy have if he's in charge of the Harem?" Maomao thought. "At least I can claim I have whole days free!"

Her job is a Food Tester meaning the rest of her day is free and she's perpetually BORED.

She spends much of her time helping out in chores, or helping the quack make medicine for various illnesses and label them. He's a good person who gives her snacks, but he is terrible in his job. That, and meeting Shaoran, armed with goodies to pay for her gossip work when Shaoran sends signs that she has something.

As Shaoran has limited literacy knowledge as low-ranking maids have TONS OF JOBS thus little time for education, their sign is a root of a weed, symbolizing she has gossip to share.

'What can I do for you today?' she asked,

'Have you heard of the ghost story from rumors?' he asked.

'I have, but yet to encounter any on laundry duty.' Maomao shrugged. 'Personally I don't believe in ghosts.'

'Hooo? What about Sleepwalking?'

This got Maomao's interest.

'Now we're talking.' she said, interested. 'Many things cause Sleepwalking. Its mostly stress and emotional turmoil that can only be overcome with support from those who care. Herbs can never fix wounded hearts and I'm a herbalist, not a Mind Reader.' said Maomao, shaking her head.

'Heee...got experience?'

'Yeah, this one courtesan.' said Maomao. 'She was very cheerful and good with poetry. So much that this man was willing to pay her Bond Fee for her but that was canceled. For Courtesans, Bond Fees are very big deals. Especially if the man willing to get them out was a man they fell in love with. Courtesans may be intelligent women whose jobs are to entertain, but even they fall in love.' she explained. 'And if transaction is cancelled, that is mortifying especially if you put love in the equation. Man can't afford her or somebody got to her first, that does happen.'

'How much can one Courtesan possibly cost?' Guien wondered aloud.

'That depends on how much was spent on their training and education.' said Maomao. 'Making her intelligent, a master of words, music and arts, buying her tools of the trade and dressing her in expensive silks and accessories totaling almost a thousand gold only wealthy merchants and aristocracy can have such money. And a Bond Fee is double that because purchasing a courtesan would cause great loss to the brothel they belong to, so the man must compensate for that loss just so he could bring the girl home as his wife or mistress whom he loves more than his actual wife. That actually happens.'

'Back to this lady...she was so heartbroken her lover couldn't amass enough money at the promised time...actually has a second offer. When she started sleepwalking, the owner decided she cannot give away an ill courtesan. But even then the buyer was determined to go through the offer. After more bargaining with the ill courtesan involved, only half the silver was charged compared to the previous offer. But they committed a fraud.'

'Fraud?' Gyokuyou blinked.

'Yes. That woman begged father to keep quiet about the conspiracy when he checked on her as this was their way out. The second man was a friend of the first man who got roped into tricking her owner into letting her go for half the price since he was willing to buy an ill courtesan. By freeing her at the half-price which was what the first man has, the second friend used his money to complete the deal to buy the woman for his friend. It was a well-staged deal and the brothel was none-the-wiser.'

'This may also be the case with our so-called ghost.' Maomao continued. 'While sleepwalking is indeed a natural condition, sleep-dancing is impossible. Our ghost fakes sleep-walking, only to give herself away by dancing on the walls. Her dance was beautiful according to the Harem Doctor who saw and identified her as Lady Fuyou. He said that she was once summoned by the Emperor to dance for him but she tripped on her skirt and broke an ankle, and she wasn't summoned since nor gained a visit from the Emperor who decided to bestow her to a Military Officer who has plenty of gained merits who specifically asked for her as his reward.'

'Normally, a Military Officer who amassed noteworthy merits would ask for more beautiful, higher-ranking consorts as a reward, yet why ask of Lady Fuyou who's a mid-rank concubine? And no protest from the lady herself whatsoever yet she dances on the walls as our ghost? It may be for the sake of avoiding visits by presenting herself as a crazed woman, keeping her chastity intact for this man who she was bestowed to. If she was touched, the wedding would be postponed or worse, cancelled. There are men who would never touch a touched woman after all. The question now is the significance of the deal that Lady Fuyou was willing to go such lengths to stay pure for...until a friend got an answer for me.'

'An answer?' Jinshi asked, interested.

'Yes. This officer who risked his life to obtain Consort Bestowment of his choice, was a childhood friend.' said Maomao. 'Her father had his daughter enter the harem. The childhood friend entered the army for her sake to both bring her home and be his wife through risky legal cause and costs. That way, not even her father can argue their marriage as the Emperor himself allowed it so. They both gambled and waited...and it paid off. Once this officer comes home, Lady Fuyou can happily leave the harem and marry the man who fought for her with purity intact. She dances by the eastern gate as a prayer as he's in an Eastern Campaign.'

'I see...and he's scheduled to return soon.' said Jinshi. 'They can indeed, safely leave since all this was done legally.'

Indeed by the end of the month, there was a Departure Procession of Lady Fuyou leaving the Harem. Waiting outside was a man whom she greeted with a smile and embrace, having a happy reunion outside.

They were a rare couple who got a happy ending.

'Awww that's a happy ending over there Maomao!' Shaoran squealed as they watched the process while eating mooncakes given to her. 'Isn't that romantic?'

'Very few people are that lucky, Shaoran.' said Maomao with a wistful smile. 'I wonder if we too, will have happy endings one day.'

'I wonder...we can hardly meet men here who's not a Eunuch.' Shaoran sighed. 'I'm here for life while you get to leave.'

'Yeah, I get to leave, but would I meet a man who loves me like that? I hardly know boys my age because of my apprenticeship before I got sold here. No boy knows me in town so I don't have anybody.' Maomao shrugged. 'Having a true love romance like that required a great deal of luck to have.'

'Yeah, there's that.' they both sulked.