Title: The Digital Meets the Magical
Chapter Nine: The Merry Interlude
Author: Dragon Starbo
Beta Reader: No beta reader, doing this one solo. Please keep that in mind.
Rating: PG, for now
Genre: Parody/Adventure
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Digimon. Never have, never will.
Author's Notes: This being an interlude and all, I figured I'd try something different. Each new scene won't automatically be connected to the other. It's more like snippets of their vacation, the best or most telling moments.
And it's been a while sense I've brushed up on some of these characters, so if they seem a little OOC, I'm sorry. I would take the time to hunt episodes with them in there, but my muse is actually here today! And it looks like she and me are going to be getting another chapter out after this one!
Chapter Nine: The Merry Interlude
"Yolei, come on, we don't want to be late!" Poromon bounced on his digi-partner's bed.
Yolei was currently half buried under her bed, hearing more of the squeaking and thumping caused by the in-training version of Hawkmon. She was shuffling her items among the dust, rearranging things to her liking.
"I'm almost done, Poromon."
"Why do you want to hide that stuff anyway?"
"Because it's a secret," Yolei said as she finally shoved the last thing in place to cover up her small stash. She reemerged from her bed and grinned at her digi-partner. "It's going to be a surprise."
"Do you think it's going to work?" Poromon asked. Yolei was sure that if his head hadn't been his entire body, he would have cocked it to the side.
"Of course it's going to work! We're near a break-through, I can feel it!" Yolei stood up with a big grin on her face, a gleam in her eyes. "Once I unlock my magical powers, I'll be able to join my friends at Hogwarts!"
"And leave me behind…" Poromon looked down, rather pitifully.
Yolei nearly choked on her words. The last thing she wanted to do was leave behind Poromon, who had always been by her side, even more so as she went a little magic-crazy over the last few months. At first, she had tried to go about her daily life as usual, but with every hour that past, she thought about how cool it'd be to be at a magical school. She thought about all of the things her friends would be able to do, how she'd feel like the odd one out even if they would never suggest a thing, and how much she's missing out. It didn't take too long for her start making good the promise she made to her sister on the day her friends left for Hogwarts. She was going to find her magic powers, she knew she had magic powers, she just had to! Fate didn't bring all of them together just to leave her out of some of the adventures.
But figuring out how to unlock her powers was another thing. First, she searched the internet, trying to sniff out information about real magic among the thousands of pages of false leads. From what her friends told her about magic, it's kept with a pretty tight lid on it. But even tight lids can leak every now and then. She couldn't imagine in the Age of Information and Technology that all muggles would be completely in the dark. Muggle-born witches and wizards had families who knew about the magical side of the world. Maybe some of those witches and wizards also confided in some muggle friends about their abilities. Maybe some of those witches or wizards or family and friends of the magical people made a book or two of magic available to the non-magical.
It was a long shot, Yolei knew, but it was her only shot. She looked at many E-books, personal websites, and forums, all claiming to be real magic. Based off what her friends told her, none of these sites came within spitting distance of what she needed.
Her search soon led her to believe that technology couldn't be relied on. After all, the magical world did without electricity and such, so it would stand to reason that they did things old school. This meant for Yolei that she was off to the bookstores. Naturally, the big chain book stores wouldn't carry what she was looking for, so she got to hunt down all of the second-hand book stores she could find. Many of them were tiny and carried battered versions of the same books that big bookstores carried in much better condition, but the promise was there. Every now and then, Yolei would find truly old, non-mainstream books that seemed to say to Yolei, "Hey, if we're here, surely you can find what you're looking for."
So far, she has only found a handful of books, but as her life is a busy one of school, work, and hanging out with her siblings and friends, she has had little time to study these books. It might go faster if she simply asked her friends for advice. On the other hand, it'd so great to see their excited, surprised faces when she shows them that Hogwarts letter!
"All right, let's go, Poromon!" Yolei held out her arms.
Poromon jumped into her arms and the two ran out of the house with big smiles on their faces.
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Davis, once home, set down Aki's cage on the counter. The young Great Horned Owl had dark brown, terracotta and white feathers that laid themselves in such away to make a granite pattern, each color flowing into each other, overlapping, and sprinkling their selves all on the back and wings. Aki's chest was covered in pure white feathers that quickly narrowed into a line down his body. His yellow eyes were large and curious.
"Ew, you're not seriously going to release that thing in the house, are you?" Jun wrinkled her nose in disgust.
"Of course I am!" Davis retorted, "And he is called Aki, not 'that thing.' Aki needs plenty of exercise."
"I'll teach him to jump rope!" DemiVeemon said from the couch, as he bounced on it. He was so excited to have Davis home! They were going have fun playing games, hanging out, wrestling, goofing off, and eating!
"Couldn't you just set him free outside?"
"I want him to get use to his new surrounds first, so he'll understand this is where he's going to live for the time being."
"Mom and Dad will be mad if you let that bird poop on the furniture or if he breaks anything."
"He won't. Will you, Aki?" Davis unlatched the door of the bird cage.
Aki cocked his head to the side, hooted uncertainly. Then he made an aggressive "krrooo-oo" and flew at Davis!
Davis ducked and Aki flew right back around and dived for Davis again, who had ran over to the couch for protection. Jun went to the hallway and was ready to lock herself in the bathroom the moment that feathered rodent went after her. Reaching out with his claws, Aki caught nothing but pillow as Davis tried to defend himself.
"Aki! What are you doing? Stop that! Stop!" Davis cried.
"I can't believe you brought a mad owl into the house!" Jun shrieked.
"He wasn't like this the last time I saw him!"
"The last time – Wait. What do you mean, 'the last time'?"
This time, as Aki dived again, Davis decided the coffee table was perfect coverage. He deflected the attack and then crawled under the low table.
"Well, when I put him in the Owlery, he wasn't like this at all."
Jun blinked. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Shouting over Aki's screams, she asked, "Are you telling me that you haven't even visited Aki sense the beginning of the school year?"
"Um . . . I got him at the beginning of summer." The words would've been lost if Aki hadn't stopped shrieking at that very moment.
"Davis Motomiya, you little – augh! Aki!" Jun's voice snapped like a whip. The owl's head snapped to her and he landed on a chair. Jun's features relaxed and she said sweetly, "You're just lonely, aren't you? That wasn't fair of Davis to leave you all alone."
Aki gave a deep hoot of agreement and Jun took that to mean it was okay to approach the bird. Although Jun had never actually petted an owl or any bird before, she figured they wouldn't want to be petted like a dog, and so she stroked the back of his head like a cats, one direction, not messing up his feathers. Aki closed his eyes in enjoyment and tilted his head closer to Jun, who's heart melted.
Davis huffed under the coffee table. "It's not like I did it on purpose. I've been so busy trying to keep up with my school work…"
"You're always struggling in school," Jun pointed out, "but you've always made time for Veemon, your friends, and the Digital World. You're telling me that you couldn't spend some time with Aki each week?"
"Sense when did you become an owl expert?"
"I'm not, but his behavior isn't because he likes you. He is mad at you right now, it's so obvious. I'm surprised you hang out with Matt so much and are still so dense! He would know how to treat Aki with love and care."
Davis grinned wickedly. "It was actually his idea that I leave Aki in the Owlery."
"Do you hear that, Aki? That's the noise the desperately hopeless make."
Jun turned around and went into the kitchen to get some food for Aki. Basing off of what she knew from media, she figured some meat and water would be good. Davis made to get out from under the coffee table, but one sharp look from Aki kept Davis in his little shelter.
DemiVeemon joined Davis under the table. "I can Pop Attack him."
"No, no, that's okay," Davis smiled at his ever loyal digi-partner. "I've got to find a way to make this up to Aki. But, hey, do you think you can Pop Attack Jun?"
"You got it!" DemiVeemon dashed out from under the coffee table, flung himself at Jun, who had come back with the snack for Aki, and shouted, "Pop Attack!"
Jun cried in surprised, jumped to the right, and DemiVeemon went flying past her, hitting the wall instead. Jun glared at Davis and Davis gripped the coffee table legs, knowing that the furniture only protected him from owls. Nothing short of Imperialdramon could protect him from an enraged older sister.
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Just like the human world, the Digital World was blanketed in sparkling snow. Only, there was much more sparkle and undisturbed snow here. The Digital World was just as vast as the human world, but it held a lesser amount of cities and towns and roadways. Many of the cities and towns also didn't seem to pollute as much or take up nature as the human cities did. This lead to there being fields upon fields of snow for certain young digi-destines and their digi-partners to play in.
It was the second day back from Hogwarts and after spending time catching up with their families, the witches and wizards wasted no time in reconnecting with their "muggle" friends. (They had other things planned with their families, but they couldn't wait any longer to be completely surrounded by friendly, known faces around their age.)
"It's weird to use that terminology," Kari noted to Sora, who was pressing her for information on what Hogwarts was like. "I know that I am a witch, but every time I look in the mirror, I see Kari, a digi-destine, not Kari, a magical person."
"Well, you've been a digi-destine sense you were little. I remember when you used to wear a whistle and idolized Tai."
Kari smiled. "Yeah, those were good times. Even when we were being chased by digimon."
"I disagree," Biyomon spoke up as she patted some snow into place with her wing. "I preferred it when the other digimon weren't chasing us."
Kari stepped back from their snow sculpture. "Do you think it looks like Frigimon, Gatomon?"
"Yeah, I think it does. It'll look better when we put in the eyes and buttons."
"HEADS UP!"
Kari suddenly felt something cold and sharp against her head. Wiping the destroyed snowball from her hair, she saw her big brother, Tai, running for cover and laughing.
"I used to idolize that?" It was hard for Kari form a proper scowl. Instead, it turned into a fierce grin like she was gearing herself up for a rough game of soccer. As she spoke, she and Sora were scooping up snow for a return attack.
As Tai was chased by Sora, Biyomon, Kari and Gatomon, Matt sat in the snow a little further away, watching the happy scene. Soon Izzy and Joe sat on either side of him, and started up a strange conversation.
"So, Tai told you?" Izzy asked.
"Told me what?" Matt replied.
Izzy and Joe looked at Matt curiously and then with guilt, like they had just opened a gift that wasn't meant for them by mistake.
"Maybe we should let him tell you," Joe pushed his glasses up a little, seeming a little nervous. "He said the news would be easier to hear from him."
"But now I'm curious. You can't leave me hanging."
Izzy took up the challenge. "Well, um, you see, your band, the Teenage Wolves, they found a new lead singer."
"Oh…"
Izzy and Joe looked nervously at each other. They figured Tai would've told Matt right away, but apparently he was waiting for the right moment. The other band members of Teenage Wolves had been so hurt by Matt suddenly disappearing to Europe to go to a fancy school that they swore off all contact with him and his friends. If it hadn't been for the flyers a few months ago, no one would have known.
"Well, good for them," Matt suddenly brightened up.
"What? Are you sure?" Joe asked.
"Yeah. We know you're the one who left them, but even I wasn't thrilled when my old computer club had found a new president," Izzy pointed out.
"I'm not going to send him flowers or anything, but it's good that the band is able to continue with their dreams."
"We're sorry for blurting this out," Joe said. "We thought Tai told you earlier and you were sitting here, alone . . ."
"Oh, no, I was just taking a quick break," Matt gestured over to Gabumon who was playing with the other digimon and humans. The digimon seemed to be full of boundless energy as they frolicked in the snow and had their own snowball fights. Among them were Cody, Ken, Yolei, Mimi, TK, and Davis, laughing and teasing.
"You're taking this pretty well," Izzy noted.
"Hey, you know me, I'm nothing but cool," Matt smirked.
At that moment, a snowball found its way to Matt's face and gave him a big ol' hug!
Matt wiped the snow from his face and shouted, "You're going down, Tai!"
"Nothing but cool," Joe repeated, rolling his eyes as he watched Matt join the chase for Tai.
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Ken laid on his bed, holding the picture of Sam and studying it. Ken hated how they fought when they were younger, when they were both alive. Actually, there wasn't so much fighting as there was Ken being ignored and resenting Sam for getting all of the attention. Sam was a great brother, when he wasn't full of himself, but Ken barely remembered that Sam. All the same, Ken loved and looked up to Sam.
"Ken?" Wormmon asked. "Ken, you know your parents are waiting to start dinner with you."
"I know, Wormmon," Ken put a reassuring hand on his friend.
"I want to go with you to Hogwarts," he blurted out. Ken finally tore his eyes away from Sam and looked at Wormmon. "I miss you, Ken, and I don't like how that place effects you."
Ken blinked, touched by those words. A warm smile spread across his face and he hugged Wormmon. "I miss you, too, Wormmon. I wish you could come with me."
"Maybe I could pretend to be a toy?"
"I share a room with four other boys. The only times you'd be able to be yourself would be when we're all at class or asleep."
"That wouldn't be fun…"
"Hey, don't worry. Time will fly by and before you know it, I'll be home for the summer."
"And that'll fly by all too fast."
The words nearly whispered nearly broke Ken's heart. Thankfully, his mother's voice floated through the door and reminded them that dinner was waiting.
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Tai and Sora sat across from each other at a fancy restaurant that was crowded with other couples. Christmas Eve in Japan was a bit of a couple's holiday, and so it was very romantic to go out and eat a nice dinner with your loved one. In many ways, it was like the American version of Valentine's Day, only without trading sappy love cards.
The two, like all of the other couples, stared lovingly into each other's eyes. Tai had remembered a time when this sort of thing would have made him nervous. In fact, it'd probably still make him nervous and uncomfortable if it weren't Sora that he was staring at and being stared back at.
"What are you thinking?" Sora asked, leaning forward a little bit.
"Just admiring your beauty."
Sora smiled warmly. "Nice one, Casanova."
"I thought girls like that sort of thing."
"What sort of thing?"
"The truth."
Sora blushed and picked a little at her food, as if she were thinking about eating one more bite. Instead, she reached in her purse and pulled out a small box that had been wrapped up in pretty Christmas wrapping paper. She handed it to Tai with a wink.
Tai opened the gift and found two tickets to a soccer game with his favorite team. Instead of saying thank you or I love you or wow, I can't believe you got these, Tai laughed.
"What's so funny?" Sora asked, unsure if she should be offended or simply confused. "I got those so we could make a date out of it."
Tai didn't reply, merely gave her his gift. Sora opened the Christmas envelope and found two tickets to the same game.
A smirk came over Sora. "Which ones should we scalp?"
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Cody practiced kendo with his grandfather . . . and found himself getting clobbered over and over. Finally, his grandfather stopped the torture and looked sternly down at his grandson.
"You haven't been practicing."
"No, Grandfather."
"I had expected more from you."
"Yes, Grandfather."
"Don't you like kendo anymore?"
"I do like kendo!"
"Then why haven't you been practicing?"
Cody stuttered, trying to find an answer.
His grandfather chortled heartedly. "I'm just teasing you, Cody. I know you've been busy."
"I still should have practiced," Cody mumbled.
"And I should have a prune juice," the grandfather took off his gear and sat down on the mat. Cody joined him and the two sipped on packages of prune juices.
"Your father would be proud of you," the grandfather said after a time. When Cody looked up at him, questioningly, he continued, "Going off to a new place, learning and experiencing new things. Your father would call you brave."
"I'm not all that brave…" Cody muttered modestly.
"Nonsense! Any boy who's willing to be beaten thirteen times by his grandfather is brave!"
"It was twelve," Cody corrected and sipped on his prune juice, pretending not to see the amused smile of his grandfather.
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It was January first, the last full day of the holiday. Tomorrow, the kids would get on an International Train and arrive back at Hogwarts along with the rest of the students. This was a little snag for the Japanese students, sense their New Years started on January first and ended on January third. Classes started on the third and they couldn't expect the school to hold off teaching for one day just for them and they couldn't afford miss a single class. As it was, the parents of all of the Japanese Hogwarts students decided to cram in all of the activities that they could in the first day of the New Year. They stayed up the whole night, visiting a temple just after December 31 became a new day. Then they stayed up until the sunrise, eating traditional foods and playing traditional games. After they saw the first sunrise, everyone went to bed, exhausted from the condensed version of the New Years.
Before all the celebrations, though, for the past two weeks, Davis had been trying everything to get back on Aki's good side. He bought Aki a bigger cage, cleaned it twice everyday, used bottled water, bought him little mouse toys (okay, so they were for cats, but Aki didn't need to know that), and tried just about everything he could think of.
However, Aki was bent on holding a grudge and showing that grudge off. He let everyone else – Jun, his parents, even Veemon! – pet and play with him. But when Davis was in the room, Aki turned his beak up and pretended the boy wasn't there.
With time running out, Davis tried one last thing.
Aki was perched on the counter that separated the kitchen from the living room, his head buried as he cleaned his feathers. Aki had just woken up from his day sleep and was reading for his nocturnal flight. Thinking that he was alone, it surprised Aki to hear a small clink.
Looking to the right of him, towards the living room, there was a small plate of cut-up meat. A finger pushed it closer and closer to Aki, as if uncertain that the finger would remain attached to the hand. At the edge of the counter, a spiky bush of brown hair with a pair of goggles stared at Aki.
Slowly, the brown bush rose and Davis's eyes came into view. When Aki didn't ruffle his feathers, Davis took this as a good sign and exposed the rest of his, rest his chin on the counter top.
Aki stared at Davis and pretended to not notice the food, just like he did every time Davis tried to feed him.
Davis begged, "Pleeeeeeeease? I'm sorry!"
Aki finally looked down at his food and ate.
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It was the last day of their holiday break and to all of the departing children joined their friends and family in a park close by to the train station. They had decided this would be better than having everyone say goodbye in a smelly alleyway, with people walking by, wondering why there was a large group of people saying goodbye in a smelly alleyway.
Each parent hugged their child, gave words of encouragement and warned them to stay healthy. More than one digimon tried to sneak away in their partner's backpacks – the worst attempt was DemiVeemon when he tried to pretend to be Aki. It might've worked, sense the cage was covered, but Aki had woken up and ratted him out. TK, Matt, Cody, Ken, Davis and Kari made sure to give their digimon extra hugs and promised to write as often as they could.
Mimi showed up and surprised everyone by not wearing a jacket. She was shivering and trying to smile through chattering teeth. Her shirt wasn't of her usual bright and cheery colors, but was the black Wicked Sisters shirt Matt had bought in Hogsmeade.
"Mimi, what are you doing?" Matt asked as he held her to help her keep warm.
"I-I-I wanted you to see me wearing it!" Mimi clattered through her teeth.
"You could've just taken your jacket off for a few seconds," Ken pointed out.
"Or showed us when we were inside," Cody added.
"Or sent us a picture," Kari finished.
TK and Matt's father came over and gave Mimi his overcoat, who took it gracelessly.
"But you guys bought me this awesome shirt! I wanted to show it off."
"It looks good on you," TK noted. He had been standing a little bit away, talking with his dad, but had seen the scene unfold. "I just hope you don't get sick because of this."
"Are you kidding? I'm tough!"
That comment made everyone laugh, even Mimi.
The witches and wizards of the group finally said their last round of goodbyes and headed off to the train station. They wished their time with their families and friends hadn't ended so soon, and they weren't looking forward to going back to studying like crazy, but the children surprised themselves by really looking forward to going back to Hogwarts.
End Chapter Nine: The Merry Interlude
I know Great Horned Owls are native to America, not Britain or Japan, but hey, horses weren't native to America and yet here they are. The one I based Aki off of is a picture on the next, called Great Horned Owl, Missouri. I tried putting the link in here, but it wouldn't do the whole link, just the later half, so sorry but if you want a picture of Aki, you'll have to search for him yourself. Keep in mind that Aki isn't fully grown, so the horn feathers aren't as big and he's not as tall. Also, according to Baby Names (.com), Aki means Sky. ^_^