Title: The Digital Meets the Magical
Chapter Ten: The Beginning of New Ties
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: WOO! Three chapters in two weeks! Yeah, baby! This is a good sign and a new record! This just might meant I'm actually breaking out of my months on end habit of not updating. Seriously, I did the math. Chapter 4 and 5, according to the first review on them, were put up more than a year after the pervious chapter. Eesh!
With any luck, this "updating more" trend will continue. I can't promise that it'll be three chapters every two weeks – or even two chapters every two weeks – but I definitely won't wait months upon months to get something up. You know, assuming that life doesn't throw me a curve ball or anything…
Chapter Ten: The Beginning of New Ties
"Man, I don't see why we have to do this," Davis sighed heavily, as if he held the weight of the world on his shoulders.
"It's something we need to do," TK answered.
"No, it's just something she wants us to do. We don't really have to be here. I know I'll forgive myself for just walking away this time."
"Davis Motomiya," a chilling cold voice said from behind him, making both Davis and TK stand rigid. "I hope you're not planning to skive on your first tutoring session of the new semester."
Davis turned his head very slowly, as if caught in a horror movie and afraid that he'd end up seeing the killer standing behind him. He was half-relieved to see that Hermione wasn't holding an axe. But only half-relieved. She still had her big bag of way too many books. More had been added to her collection, apparently, for she cradled some in her arms like infants.
The winter break hadn't been good to her, it seemed. Though she still held an air of superior knowledge about her, she seemed more frazzled and even more distracted. Davis had expected the usual lecture on why these tutoring sessions (which worked more like focus study groups) were so important to someone who essentially skipped a year – two years in Matt's case – when they weren't ready to do so. The only person who had the right to skip the tutoring sessions was Cody, but he chooses to stay and further his education, as Hermione saw it. In truth, Cody liked the idea of hanging out with only his friends three times a week, even if they were just working on homework.
However, Hermione merely walked past Davis and TK and set down her books on the table. She pulled out her own homework, a pile much thicker than theirs, and asked if they needed help with getting started on theirs. It was the well established routine of the tutoring sessions. Hermione got them started by pointing them in the right direction if they couldn't figure it out on their own. Then they would do most of the work on their own and she'd go over it and point out if they made a mistake anywhere. The tutees would have to figure out what they did wrong, sometimes getting the answers from their friends.
Every now and then, the group (or some of them) would finish all of their homework before the time was up. Instead of letting them go early, Hermione had them quiz each other on facts that would likely appear on tests. Not a favored strategy by most of the tutees, it nonetheless yielded results as they saw their test scores climb steadily and slowly higher along with their comprehension. Though Hermione spent most of the time with her nose buried in her own homework, she determined to see that the Japanese students were up to speed by the end of the year.
Sense this was the first session of the new semester and the only homework the Japanese students had were what they got today, they did a group effort and got it done faster than ever before. Hermione gave them the task of reviewing the newest material and going back over their first semester's notes.
As for Hermione, she poured herself over books and more books, taking notes on anything of interest to her. Many times she forgot about the rest of the library. The Japanese kid's voices faded into the background and soon she couldn't hear them at all. Their movements were less and less distracting as it seemed darkness fell over the room. It circled around Hermione, stifling her perception to the task at hand, to the book and paper in front of her. Without realizing it, Hermione had become so intent on her work that she had pushed out the rest of the world.
"What're you working on?" Matt asked over her shoulder.
Hermione flinched hard, the world snapping back to life. She felt deaf for a moment, until the small noises of the library touched her ears again.
"What class is that for?" Matt prompted again.
"It's not for a class. It's to help Hagrid."
"What does Hagrid need help with?" Cody, sitting the closest to Hermione's right, asked. Close was a relative term, since Hermione was surrounded by thick books, stacked up almost like a fortress with windows.
"With Buckbeak's trial."
"Whoa, wait," Matt thumped hard onto the bench seat to Hermione's left. He pushed some of the stacked books out of the way. "What is Buckbeak doing on trial?"
"Because he hurt Malfoy, remember?"
"Yeah, but I thought that was resolved when he punched Ken," Davis half-smiled at the memory.
"Well, it certainly helped Hagrid, but they still want to put Buckbeak on trial. Hagrid's really scared because Hippogriffs are thought of as dangerous."
Matt snorted. "Not when you know how to treat them right."
"Most people think they're dangerous creatures," Hermione pointed out. Matt and Hagrid were probably the only two wizards in whole world who thought the opposite. "And the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures is in Lucius Malfoy's pocket."
"Buckbeak hurt Malfoy, so his dad is getting revenge?" Kari pieced together the disgusting idea, showing her revolution plainly on her face.
"Yes," Hermione sighed. "So I'm trying to help Hagrid out by hopefully finding other cases on Hippogriffs. Maybe I can find something useful and stop them from killing Buckbeak."
"With all the work you're already doing?" Matt asked. Hermione shot him a 'don't you start' glare. "What section did you get that book from?"
"Why?"
"Because I want to help Buckbeak. I don't think it is right that an innocent creature should suffer to fulfill someone's selfish desires."
Hermione pointed over to a book case that held several other books with mind-numbing titles such as Court Cases Concerning Creatures: 1800-1850. Davis gagged a little just at the thought of the dull text lying between its bindings. All the same, he helped clear off the table with Kari as Matt, Cody, TK, and Ken took the books off of the shelves.
"What're doing? You're supposed to be studying," Hermione chided.
"We haven't been studying for the past ten minutes," Ken said. "We got tired of quizzing each other, so we decided to wait out the rest of the time."
"Davis wanted to throw things at you," Cody said.
"Bits of paper!" Davis corrected, so no one would consider things also included ink wells or items just as heavy.
"Thanks for stopping him," Hermione muttered as she rubbed her tired eyes.
"Parchment doesn't make good wads," Davis mumbled.
Soon the table was littered with a new batch of books. Davis grabbed the first book he saw with an interesting title – Dangerous Magical Creatures Harming Wizards and Witches – and scanned the pages as everyone else followed suit.
"You guys don't have to do this," Hermione tried again. "You really should be studying. Finals will be here before you know it."
"Please," Ken looked up from his book and smiled. "What are friends for?"
Hermione nearly snorted and told them about her fight with Ron and Harry and how they seemed to forget all about Buckbeak. But that was another matter, something that needed to be resolved between just them three. She would never once think of not calling Harry or Ron her friends, no matter how many times they were thickheaded, but at that moment, her mind's eye was flooded with images of the Japanese students being her best friends. She talked girl things and laughed with Kari, debated magical theory with Ken, and helped out everyone as they appreciated her and helped her out whenever they could. Ron and Harry simply didn't exist in this version of reality, so there was no need for her to feel guilty about spending all her time with these six.
Shaking her head clear of the indulgent dream, Hermione buried herself back into the book of magical creature cases.
The hour was short already and the children got little done in the way of research. Before Madam Pince shooed them away, they made sure each of them checked out a case book to skim through during their last few free moments.
In the hallway, Hermione stopped Matt and let the others go ahead. Though there was enough light to make your way just fine, Ken went to his dorm with his wand acting as a flash light. He didn't think the wannabe pranksters would try to get him again, but he wished that they would. He needed to return a punch.
"I have something to tell you and . . . it's a little embarrassing. See, the last time we were in Hogsmeade, before Harry came along and we learned about Sirius–"
"I haven't told anyone," Matt reassured her, then backtracked. "Well, I've told TK and the others, but they know how to keep a secret."
"No, no, no, that's not it. But thank you," Hermione gave a smile but it quickly faded. "Look, you are one-sixth of the Japanese population at school. Part of the reason why Headmaster Dumbledore implemented the TOFS program at Hogwarts was because the other schools that have it are having difficulty with the separation between foreign students and local students."
"Yeah, I think Mr. Weasley mentioned something like that. What's that got to do with me?"
Hermione sucked in a breath and spat out the heart of the matter, "Before we Hogsmeade, Professor McGonagall asked Ron and me to try and introduce you to other students better so maybe you could make more friends and be an example to the rest of the Japanese students because you guys haven't been connecting with other students and it's starting to turn into the same problem the other schools have, only a smaller scale."
Hermione had looked down when she started rambling, afraid Matt's look might make her stop. She couldn't imagine how embarrassing it would be to hear someone was supposed to set you up with more friends. Finally looking up, she could see that Matt was confused and shocked.
Recovering quickly, though, Matt ran his fingers through his hair. "Yeah, make more friends. Like it's that easy. When we're not struggling to keep up with classes, we're either in extra practice or tutoring sessions. And when we're not overloading our brains, we're being constantly reminded about how much we don't know."
"Maybe, if you tried…" Hermione feebly trailed off when Matt shot her a dark look.
"Hermione, maybe you should be having this conversation with the other Hogwarts students. Once they got over the hype of us being from Japan, they haven't given us a second thought. In fact, the only other person other than you to reach out to us was Draco and all he wanted to do was open doors for his family.
"Who am I supposed to make friends with, huh? The kids two years younger than me that are in the same year as me? Or the kids my age who are two years ahead me? What about Ken? He's a genius but because of his lack of knowledge, practically no one in Ravenclaw speaks to him. Cody's convinced he doesn't belong in Hufflepuff. TK is friendly enough but no one has extended themselves in return. Same goes for Davis and Kari. It seems like everyone in Hogwarts has already chosen their friends and have no more room for anyone else."
"That's not true!"
"Like I said, tell that to them," Matt stormed off, leaving a sputtering Hermione behind.
As soon as he was around a corner, he ducked into another hallway, opting for a different route back to the Gryffindor dorms. He knew he had come down on Hermione too hard, but it was a real blow to him to be told that. In truth, he hadn't been trying to make friends at Hogwarts. He was simply trying to survive it, waiting to go back to Japan and be among familiar faces, sights and sounds. Even in the Digital World he didn't feel this disconnected from his home.
This view of Hogwarts possibly stemmed from his time spent here during the summer. It was an extremely hard time for all of them, suddenly thrust into magic and put through years of learning within a few months. Even after their classes ended and they were able to explore the castle and grounds a bit more, they pretty much stayed to the hallways they had walked countless times. They had all felt isolated – more so to the fact that they were too exhausted each night to write home – but Matt got the worst of it. Most of the time he was in classes all by himself, being taught even more than the others, but in the same amount of time.
Matt took a deep, cleansing breath. The summer might've put an over tone on Hogwarts for him, but he should have dispelled it by now. He's seen more of the castle, even visited Hogsmeade a few times, and has interacted with other people (if only as acquaintances).
But despite his hang ups on Hogwarts, it didn't mean what he said to Hermione wasn't true. He might not be found of Hogwarts, but he has truly tried to get along with the other students. Most that are in his year think he shouldn't be making friends with people their age. Those that are his age treat him like he's slow, despite the fact that they know why he hasn't done magic before. Well, they know a reason.
I don't know. Maybe I'm not looking in the right places, Matt mused to himself as he strolled down one of the numerous hallways in Hogwarts. He wasn't afraid of getting caught by Filch. The few times they had run into him after their tutoring sessions, Filch only growled at them and told them to get to their dorms right away. It was weird to hear a grown man actually growl like a dog protecting his bone, but the kids figured so long as they were heading towards their dorms, they wouldn't get into trouble.
You'd think being the one with the Crest of Friendship would make it easier to make friends.
"Hurry up, come on!" a voice whispered, stopping Matt in his tracks.
A tapestry bowed for a second, then rippled. "Wait! Better check."
From the side facing away from Matt, one of the Weasley twins poked his head out ever-so sneaky-like and surveyed the hallway. Before he could look the other way, Matt spoke up.
"Hey, Guys."
The twins both jumped so badly that it looked like they were shoved into the open. They did their best to look graceful as they fluttered with the tapestry. While it was pulled away from the wall, Matt could clearly see another passageway and Lee Jordan trying to hide.
The flaying about stopped once they realized who it was.
"You had going there for a second," Fred said.
"Matt, what are you doing out after curfew?" George asked.
"Just left a tutoring session. What are you three doing out after curfew?"
Lee finally left the safety of the hidden passage and the three grinned at each other.
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The next day brought more classes and more homework. The Japanese students worked diligently, either pouring themselves over their notes or over case books in search for help with Buckbeak. Davis noted that he had to be hanging out with Hermione too much if he was willing to read more books. Ken noted that this was a positive thing, to the annoyance of Davis.
However, Ken couldn't focus much on the cases of magical creatures, as he was itching to get to his extra DADA lesson. Ken left the Gryffindor Tower earlier than needed and was grateful to see Professor Lupin was already there.
"Ah, come in, come in," Professor Lupin called from his desk. He was shuffling some papers around and not really making the desk any tidier – just moving the mess from one side to the next.
Ken came into the room and put his things down on the bench he usually sat at, which was in the center and front. Not that sitting arrangements matter much in Professor Lupin's class, they usually pushed everything to walls so they could practice what they learn. The only time it mattered was when Professor Snape took over the class. At times like that, the classroom filled up in the back first and the ill-timed got stuck near the front.
"So, I was thinking about what to teach you," Professor Lupin said as he rummaged through his brief case. "You seem keen on dark creatures but you really will learn about those in your third year. Including the bogart."
Ken deflated a little. Learning how to repel one of his greatest fears was one of his greatest hopes.
"I think that instead of teaching you advance topics, I'm going to expand on what you already know."
"Ah, the Hermione approach," Ken half-smirked. "Anything worth learning is worth over learning."
Professor Lupin chuckled. "Well, maybe you can get caught up in the details too much. But, in your case, I think a little more information couldn't hurt. Right then, shall we begin?"
Ken nodded and sat down. He started taking out his quill, ink well, and some parchment but Professor Lupin stopped him.
"Come on, now, you know me better than that," Professor Lupin motioned Ken out of the seat. As soon as the way was clear, Professor Lupin waved his wand and sent the benches and connected desks clattering back. They left a ten foot wide clearing at the front of the classroom.
"Now, I have taught you the Impediment Curse…" his cocked to the side, remembering. "Yes, yes I have. Some where near the beginning of summer."
"You mentioned it once and moved onto something else," Ken added. "I've got one note on it."
"And you made it sound like you learned nothing during the summer," Professor Lupin gave him a grin. Ken raised an eyebrow. "Anyway, the incantation is impedimenta."
Ken repeated three times, making sure he got the pronunciation down right.
"Good, very good," Lupin strode over to the other side of his desk. Bending over for a moment, he retrieved three colorful balls that jugglers would use. "Here are your practice targets – just a few harmless, non-enchanted balls. I toss them, you block them."
Ken nodded, noting his professor's casual tone. Professor Lupin has never seemed like someone who would go for formalities, but even he had professionalism when it came to conducting classes. Now, just one-on-one, Lupin seemed even more relaxed and more practical.
Professor Lupin tossed the first ball purposely too high. Ken tried the spell and the ball flew over his head at a slower pace.
"Give it more strength, Ken."
He threw another ball and Ken tried again. The ball flew so slow that Ken reached up and plucked it out of the air. He returned to his place and nodded to Professor Lupin.
The third ball was tossed and Ken didn't slow it down as much as the second time, but definitely more than the first time.
"That's okay, Ken," Lupin said as Ken tossed back the balls. "It'll take practice before you get consistent results. Ready?"
The night wore on as Lupin and Ken worked on refining Ken's grasp on the spell. By the end of the night, Ken could stop the balls in mid-air but only when he was completely focused on the spell. Otherwise, the spell only slowed down the balls. Even still, this was saying something, as Lupin had increased how fast he threw the balls over Ken.
"I think we've practiced enough for tonight," Lupin said. "Tea?"
Lupin conjured up a chair by the side of his desk that wasn't covered with papers and then two cups of hot tea on his desk. Ken sat and took a sip.
"Green tea," Ken smiled.
"One of my favorites," Lupin said. He took a sip and said, "So, Ken, how has Hogwarts been treating you? Any more sudden visits to the dungeons?"
"No, things have been quiet. Busy, but quiet."
They drank tea for a little more in silence before Lupin spoke up again.
"Do you think Europe?"
"I don't know. I've seen Diagon Alley and Hogwarts. I haven't seen Europe."
"Fair enough," Lupin smiled.
"I'd like to see more of Europe. Maybe we'll delay going back home for a week or so and do some sight-seeing."
"That is a brilliant idea. More kids should do that. Any places in mind?"
"London, for starters. Maybe other famous cities, like Paris and Berlin. There's also this one town I'd like to see, even if it's not much of a tourist spot."
"Oh? Is this place special to you?"
"Sort of. My parents went there before I was born. They had decided to go to England and just drive from one town to the next, staying in one spot until they got bored."
"I think I know where you get your adventurous side from."
"No, not really. I think it was to save their marriage, actually."
Lupin stopped sipping his tea and looked at Ken with an inquisitive look.
"They don't talk about it much, but I've pieced it together from when they've talked about the trip. I think work and life in general was becoming too much of a strain on them, so they decided to get away from it all for awhile. They've showed me the pictures from the trip and I could see the difference. Before the town, they stood so far apart, you could have put someone in between them when they posed for pictures. Afterwards, they were like newlyweds again."
"You think the town has some kind of magic?"
Ken shrugged and sipped his tea. "I'm just curious. I'd like to see what brought them together again."
Lupin was smiling again, happy that Ken was at ease enough to share this with him. "What's the town called?"
"Heamoor," Ken said and took a sip of his tea.
Lupin's eyebrows shot up. "Really? I had friends who lived there once. Beautiful place but there wasn't much there."
Ken shrugged. "I don't expect much. It'd just be interesting to see the place."
Lupin nodded and sipped his tea some more. "When did you say this trip took place?"
"Nearly a year before I was born. Sometime in July, I think." Ken saw that Lupin opened his mouth but then closed it. "What?"
"Oh, nothing. You should probably head back to your common room now and get some homework done."
"Thank you for the tea, Professor Lupin," Ken got up and bowed slightly. He didn't care if he was in Scotland and Lupin most likely didn't really get it.
Professor Lupin, however, didn't make much of it. After Ken grabbed his pack and left with a "thank you for the lesson," Lupin sat at his desk for a while, pondering over the new information he had just learned. First, he found out that Ken wasn't as closed off as he appeared. He just didn't babble about his life like so many do. Given the opportunity, the boy can open up pretty quickly. Hopefully Ken will trust him with more than idle chat in the future.
But something else nagged at Lupin. Ken's parents had visited Heamoor the same time his friends were having troubles in their lives. Though Lupin really had no foundation for his worry, he worried still.
Finally getting up, Lupin went over to the desks, ready to magically move them back into place. It was then that he noticed that Ken had left his quill behind.
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Two days later, on the first Thursday back, Cody finally found some time to be alone. He had spent the week so far getting through his homework and searching what books he could for Buckbeak. He still wanted to help as much as he could, but Cody also had another issue he needed to work on.
Kendo was one of Cody's passions but it had been neglected in the pervious months. Cody had barely thought about it as he strove to get so far ahead in his knowledge that they'd let him skip a year. Whenever it did creep into his mind, he'd tell himself that he would practice next Sunday. But next Sunday would roll around and Cody would be reading ahead in his text books or fact checking his essays or memorizing information for a future test.
Cody was never one for self-deceit or procrastination, so to mend his poor behavior of the first half of the school year, he promised himself to study Kendo at least once a week, whenever he got the chance.
And there rose the problem.
He was sure the school wouldn't let him carry his shinai and bōgu (bamboo sword and armor) around, let alone give him permission to use them. They had very strict rules about what students could or couldn't do. Most of them made sense, as they were there to protect them.
But he was determined to practice kendo. Now, there is a general rule that says students are expected to be in their common rooms after dinner but (Cody knew he was treading a thin line) "expected to be" didn't equal "must be." There were kids other than his friend and himself who went to the library after dinner sometimes.
This line of reasoning led Cody to an unused classroom that was close to the Hufflepuff dorms. This room clearly hadn't been used in a long time, as it was mostly empty, with a few things scattered here and there and one of the sets drapes on the floor. There were three narrow-but-tall windows evenly spread across the far wall with old-style currents and golden tassels faded by years and thick layers of dust – aside from the last window. Three desks were pushed against the back wall, broken and forgotten about. Book shelves lined the lower part of the walls, emptied out aside from cobwebs catching more dust bunnies than bugs.
It didn't have much personality or charm, but Cody picked the spot in hopes of getting back to his common room quickly and unnoticed. Most didn't pay attention to him, anyway, so it's not like he would be missed.
Cody closed the door behind him and stood in the center of the room. He took a good fifteen minutes to stretches, exercises and even jogged a little around the room to get his heart rate up. Finally got into position like he was holding his shinai. He did his best to imagine an opponent and that he was really holding his bamboo sword.
Cody shouted, thrust forward, and stomped his foot, as he was supposed to. The imagines wavered and disappeared from his mind's eye, making it impossible to tell if he had actually done any good with that strike. His foot hit the floor hard enough to remind Cody that he wasn't on the padded floors of his grandfather's dojo. Stone floors were much more unforgiving and repeatedly stomping his foot would only harm him in the end.
Cody stood in the room, thinking. This wasn't going to work. He could work on his foot positions and stances, but he already does those during his warm ups. And, rusty or not, he was long past just doing those as his practice. But he needed something to work as a shinai.
Half-hopeful, Cody went over to the fallen drapes and was very happy to see a plain metal rod in the heap. The rod was roughly the size of a shinai. Gripping it just like his sword, Cody noted that the rod was a little bit thicker but not by much. Its weight wasn't balanced at all, obviously, but when Cody swung it through the air, he was able to keep his stance, feet and hand position correct.
"This will do, for now," Cody said to himself and stood in his spot in the middle of the room again.
He tried striking his imaginary opponent again. He "struck" right where he wanted to. He continued to strike and soon that faceless, generic opponent took the form of his favorite sparing partner – his grandfather. This was better because he has spared so many times with his grandfather, he could imagine his movements and adjust his moves to block the imaginary swings.
The walls of Hogwarts disappeared and replaced with shadowy versions of his grandfather's dojo. Cody felt the ghost weight of the bōgu that he had worn so many times before. He was so intent on what he was doing that he didn't notice the passage of time or anything other than his imaginary grandfather.
He eventually did stop, breathing hard and quite satisfied.
Suddenly, he heard clapping coming from the door way and jumped in surprise. There were two Hufflepuff boys that he had seen around the common room but had never talked to. Though both were taller than Cody, one was noticeably taller than the other, nearing six feet. He had black hair loosely curling close to his head and hazel eyes. His body was thick but it looked to be mostly muscles.
The other boy was shorter by about six inches and was practically the opposite in appearance. His hair was long, bright blonde, and tied back in a pony tail. What wasn't trapped by the hair tie was wispy and frizzing out from his head. His eyes were a slate blue.
"What were you just doing?" the first boy, the taller one, asked. "It looks like fun."
"Kendo," Cody answered, slightly embarrassed to be found. "It's a Japanese fighting style."
"You guys fight with current rods?" the other boy grinned.
"What? No, we use bamboo swords. Mine's just back home…" Cody trailed off as he watched the blonde hair boy suddenly sprint across the room. With grace, the boy hopped onto the low book shelves and took down the currents of the last window. Retrieving the rod, the boy took a step backwards and landed on his feet as if he did this sort of thing every day.
"Think you can teach me some kendo?" he asked.
"Me, too!" the other boy grinned. He went to the remaining window and got his rod. "I'm Jason Weldon, by the way. That's Aaron Kerr."
"Um, I can't teach you. I'm just a student."
"Oh, come on, people teach each other stuff all the time without really being professional," Jason said, joining Aaron in the middle of the room, both standing in front of Cody.
"Besides, a professional is just someone who can act like they know what they're talking about," Aaron smirked.
"Still, it'll be improper."
"But it'll be safer."
To prove his friend's point, Jason did his best to duplicate Cody's stance and lunged forward. Out of reflex, Cody leapt back and blocked the rod.
"You don't just attack like that!" Cody shouted. "And we don't even have armor. Someone could get seriously injured!"
"See, we need you to teach us. You know how to look out for our safety," Aaron noted as if the boys had always wanted to learn kendo and were merely looking for a sensei to take them on.
"No," Cody said again. "It's great that you guys want to learn kendo, really. But without the proper equipment, you can't be taught much."
"I can fix that," Jason grinned broadly and dashed out of the room, leaving behind the rod.
"What's he going to do?" Cody asked.
"Oh, probably talk to Professor Sprout and see if she can turn this into a club," Aaron said as calmly as if he were talking about the weather.
However, this made Cody go pale and he raced out of the room (also leaving behind the rod) and dashed into the Hufflepuff common room. He scanned the area and couldn't find Jason anywhere. Maybe they were just joking. He'd gladly be the butt of a feeble prank if it meant he wasn't about to be roped into creating a kendo club.
Cody started looking down the tunnel-like hallway that led to the boys' dorms. Jason looked like he was a few years older than him, but that might have just been his height. Cody searched all of the rooms he could, trying to causally peer into rooms with the door open. He saw no sign of Jason and didn't hear him from behind a closed door.
Defeated, Cody went back to the common room. Maybe if he just disappeared back into the background, they'd forget he was there…
"Ah, there you are, Mr. Iori!"
Hopes dashed, the youngest Hufflepuff turned around to see Professor Sprout, Jason and Aaron behind him. They all had big grins on their face.
"Mr. Weldon and Mr. Kerr were just telling me about an idea for a candle club."
"Kendo, Professor Sprout," Jason corrected.
"Oh, right, kendo. I think it's a wonderful idea."
"But-but Professor Sprout! I couldn't teach kendo! If they want to learn, they should find a real sensei –"
"Come here, Mr. Iori," Professor Sprout put a hand on his back and led him to spot devoid of students. In a lowered voice, she said, "Now listen closely. Jason and Aaron are two of my most excitable students. They see adventure around every corner and they usually get bored very quickly. Most of their grand ideas fizzle out within a week. But I believe they might be onto something this time. I've noticed that you've been having troubles making friends."
Cody looked down, not wanting to argue the point with a professor.
"Of course you have your Japanese friends, people that you have more in common with than the other Hogwarts students. That could be the problem. You and they don't have enough in common. With a kendo club, we could teach the other students about Japanese culture and maybe find some middle ground. I'm looking to turn any of my students into great swordsmen. You can teach the basics and if a student shows more interest, they can find a professional to teach them more."
The idea seemed tempting. Cody was sure if he could do basics with them – teach them more about the spirit of kendo – then he wouldn't really be a false sensei. Just some one who was opening the door for the other students . . . with a little bit of practice.
"But we don't have any equipment. We need shinai and bōgu and –"
Professor Sprout put up a hand. "Just give me a list of what is needed and I'll see about the expenses."
Cody fidgeted but finally said, "I'll have to ask my grandfather. He's my teacher."
Professor Sprout nodded. "You do what you need to. But do it soon. The end of the year will be here before you know it."
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The end of the week was there before Lupin knew it. It had been a rough one for him, especially the last two days, after his suspicions were confirmed. A part of him wished very sincerely that he hadn't noticed; that he had brushed off the comment like the many times he's had to when someone called him a foul name. But he had to know, one way or the other. And now that it has been confirmed…
Lupin knocked on Dumbledore's office door and waited for permission to enter. On this peaceful Sunday night, the circular room was lit softly and several paintings of the headmasters of very advanced age were already snoring softly while many of the paintings were empty. A few of them held two or three headmasters and headmistresses, but most of them seemed to visiting other canvases. A cozy fire gave the room a subtle glow, basting the silver objects all around the office a golden look to them. Dumbledore stood at the window facing the east, watching the dark of night turn to its true, deep black. The mountains were no more than shadowy stamps against a star filled sky. Despite the sober scenery, the old man did not seem lost in sour or gloomy thoughts. In fact, he was humming what sounded like a child's song.
The humming stopped when Lupin was half way to Dumbledore and the headmaster turned away from the window.
"You told me you found something."
Lupin sighed in relief. He really didn't know how to get the conversation started but Dumbledore set the tone. The "just spit it out" tone suited Lupin just fine.
"Sir, Ken Ichijouji has started taking extra DA lessons with me, to fill in some gasps in his knowledge." Dumbledore waited for Lupin to continue. "His first lesson was this last Tuesday. After the lesson, we had chat."
"You found something about Ken?"
"I found out something about Ken's parents. They visited Heamoor, England about thirteen years ago."
Instead of explaining the rest, Lupin took out vile large from his pocket. In it were a piece of a quill and three black strands of hair floating in a purplish-blue liquid. Dumbledore's eyebrows shot up so fast that Lupin almost expected to see his beard follow suit.
Facial hair remaining in place, Dumbledore asked, "You are sure of the results?"
"I did it three times. There's no mistake."
"This is definitely an unpredicted development," Dumbledore finally looked away from the vile and back to Lupin. "I do believe that they should be made aware of this."
"Yes, Dumbledore . . . But how do you tell a boy who has never known his parents that he has a brother?"
End Chapter Ten: The Beginning of New Ties
If you're interested in learning about kendo, there are many great sites with lots of information. A good place to start would be the kendo page on Wikipedia. I don't practice kendo, so I hope I did an okay job of representing it.