Hello, here is the latest chapter of The Bloody Ashikabi.
AN: I will be posting another one-shot tomorrow ( a little late Halloween present), crossover Harry PotterxA nightmare on Elm Street. For those who are interested...
I don't own Harry Potter or Sekirei
11
NEWTs
Harry finished dressing, making sure he was presentable for the jury that would overlook his NEWTs. While he knew that his attitude and aptitude in the exams would help him get a few friendships, he also knew that clothing was important, as it was one of the first thing people noticed about someone. You could tell a lot simply by looking at someone's clothes, after all. Those with money tended to flaunt it by buying expensive clothing, and the style could also tell much about someone's personality.
A simple example was a pureblood: while all purebloods tended to have expensive clothes thanks to their wealth, it was easy to tell which purebloods were flaunting their wealth, and which were genuinely using expensive clothing because it was better than something else. Someone flaunting their wealth would probably order impressive-looking clothing, made more for appearance than for practicality, while more modest people would rather order less impressive-looking clothes, so long as they were more practical.
He was dressed in his usual black clothes, though these ones were of higher quality than usual. His ashen-grey hair was carefully combed to fall on his back, though it was mostly natural for it to behave that way. His wand was in a holster tied to his wrist, and was freshly polished, as he took great care of it since for now he couldn't cast most powerful spells without it, something he intended to work on later.
He was feeling amazingly well, thanks to a good night's rest, and his magical reserves were full to the brim, as he had made sure to not overexert himself during the days that preceded his exams. It would be rather foolish to arrive at the Ministry and start his NEWTs to faint from magical exhaustion, not to say embarrassing and in bad taste.
"Harry-sama, Hasegawa-san is here." said Akitsu, as she walked in.
Akitsu and Haruka had met several times during the last months, since the Ice Sekirei refused to be apart from him any longer than necessary, and the Ministry employee had come to arrange the time for him to take his exams at the Ministry. It was easy to see that the young woman was greatly unnerved by Akitsu's appearance and behavior, since to anyone with a brain, a stunningly beautiful woman following a male around submissively would have raised a few alarms. Of course, the very moment Haruka had tried to ask Akitsu if Harry had somehow forced her to do something she didn't want, she had found herself almost skewered by icy claws. It had taken Harry's intervention for the altercation to be resolved, but by then Haruka had been rightfully terrified of the Sekirei.
"Coming."
-Break-
Haruka fidgeted as she waited for Harry, her eyes looking around nervously while Karasuba was sitting in front of her, her hand on her nodachi and her usual manic grin on her face. She was deeply afraid of the women in Harry's life, and feared the effect their upbringing had on Harry.
Karasuba was violent, sadistic and seemed to have no qualms about killing people, since the few times she had seen the woman, she had seemed to prefer solving her problems through violence instead of talking. The fact that Harry had confirmed that her job was quite similar to the one of a Hit-Wizard/Witch, and that she had probably killed enough people to populate a small town had done very little to quell her fear of the ashen-haired woman. The fact that she had been the major influence on his young mind, along with the fact that he had the memories a Dark Lord, made her fear the worst, and so far his behavior had done very little to reassure her. After all, asking to pass his NEWTs at ten (almost eleven) was unheard of, and spoke of a need to leave his mark that did not bode well.
Then there was the other woman living with them, Akitsu. While perfectly calm and collected most of the time, she had learnt the hard way that questioning her loyalty to Harry was a bad idea, as she had almost had her throat ripped open the one time she had asked if Harry had somehow done something to force her to stay by his side. Add to that the fact that she was incredibly beautiful and had forms that would have made any man walk straight into a wall, and she was confused about how Harry had gained such loyalty from her, as well as the nature of her relationship with Harry.
Her musings were interrupted when the object of her worries stepped into the room. He had grown, she realized. Gone was the terrified seven-years old, afraid of his own shadow. Gone was the child, what little of his innocence that had remained after his treatment at the Dursleys had disappeared. Looking at her was a teen-sized adult, with cold green eyes, and radiating power the likes of which she had never seen before. She had once met a very old wizard, considered by most Japanese people to me the most powerful still living wizard in the Asian continent, and his power had been a mere drop of water compared to the ocean of power the soon-to-be teenager in front of her possessed. He was also finally of normal height for someone his age, and even a bit tall. He was lean, and while his clothes effectively covered his body, it was not difficult to see that he had the physique of an athlete, something she had never seen on someone so young. Of course, it was still stunted since his body had not yet hit puberty, but she could guess that after growing up a bit, he would be a dream for women, appearance-wise at least.
"Harusegawa-san." he greeted her with a small nod.
"Harry-kun. Are you ready? The session will start in a half-hour, so it would be better to be on our way."
Giving her an acknowledging nod, he turned to look at Karasuba. The woman was already getting up, and she couldn't help but dread the idea of having her in the middle of the Ministry. She was volatile at best, and she was afraid that letting her follow them to the Ministry was only asking for trouble.
"Karasuba, stay here. There's nothing for you at the Ministry, and you'd be better off training." he said, and instantly Haruka looked at him as if he was mad. The woman clearly didn't like being ordered around, so what was he doing?
She felt her jaw drop when the ashen-haired woman just shrugged and let herself fall back on the sofa, as if nothing was wrong. The Ministry official was starting to wonder if she wasn't dreaming, since it was obvious that if she had said the same thing, she would be dead where she stood.
"Okay. Have fun, Harry-chan. You owe me a spar later, by the way."
Turning to face her, the black-haired wizard quirked an eyebrow in a way that clearly meant So, are we going or not?
"Harry-kun, what about Akitsu-san?" she asked, a bit nervous as the voluptuous woman turned to face her.
"Akitsu's coming with me. So long as she isn't disturbed, she won't do anything."
It was not a request, it was a statement. Even if she had told him not to bring the woman with him, he would have anyway, and she did not want to anger either, as both the almost-teen and the woman scared her.
"Very well. Please, take my hands, I will side-along Apparate you."
-Break-
The Japanese Ministry of Magic, much like its' British counterpart, was underground, however unlike their European cousins, the Japanese wizards had opted to hide the entrances in a park. Harry had to applaud their thinking, at least it justified seeing plenty of people coming and going, so nobody would get too suspicious.
Haruka, once they appeared in the park, led them towards a plain-looking snack, which was, he noticed, covered with notice-me-not and muggle-repelling wards. It was a clever idea, he mused, since the risk of someone noticing large amounts of people entering the snack was small, and it wouldn't be strange to see groups enter.
Inside the snack a man, dressed in what seemed to be standard barman attire took a glance at them, and upon seeing Haruka he shrugged and went back to the book he was reading. The formerly British wizard had to admit he was impressed, while the man was certainly not a threat to him, he could tell that he was probably a retired Auror. He probably wouldn't be able to stop a determined force of wizards from barging in, but to take care of any other kind threat it was just perfect.
They were led towards a private dining room, as Japanese people liked their secrecy, and as soon as they entered Haruka waved her wand, causing the floor to start sinking in the ground silently, bringing them down. As they went down, Harry looked up to see another floor take the place of the one they were on. This Ministry was clearly more aware of the threat non-magical represented for them, and had taken clear measures to ensure its' governing body was safe.
"Harry-kun, before we arrive, please make sure Akitsu-san will not cause problems. While I am certain she can take care of herself, we are at the Ministry, and any kind of argument might attract undue attention."
Looking at the Ice Sekirei, she gave her an exasperated look, as she was once again wearing clothing that let people see a great deal of her cleavage, worse, her strange kimono was held by chains! That kind of attire, coupled with the woman's cold beauty was almost a guarantee of getting in trouble with the more conservative members of the government, and even quite a few moderates.
"Don't worry, Akitsu can take care of herself just fine." Harry said, giving his Sekirei a smirk as some pink made its' way on her cheeks, despite her unchanging expression.
"Ah...Thank you, Harry-sama."
"Just...don't kill or maim anybody, okay? If they bother you, ask them to leave you politely, and if they insist, slap them. I'll sort any kind of trouble that comes from that."
He could tell Haruka was a bit disturbed by his order, after all ordering someone to not kill or maim people wasn't exactly what normal members of society did. The fact that she already knew how dangerous Akitsu was made it even worse, as she knew the Ice Sekirei could actually kill someone with frightening ease if she had to guess basing on her own experience.
It was at that moment that a speaker announced:
"Ministry of Magic, entrance. Have a good day."
They had arrived at a vast underground cave, where one could see in the distance the building that housed the government of the magical part of Japan. The entrance point where they had arrived was the narrowest part of the cave, and a vast hall led to the Ministry, with on each side of the hall sliding doors. From his studies, he knew that those doors were the Japanese equivalent of the Floo system of Britain, only easier to use, and much more comfortable.
From Tom's memories, he knew that to use the Floo, one needed to step inside a fireplace and use Floo Powder while enunciating their destination loudly and clearly. Such a system was in fact messy, uncomfortable for those not used to it, and carried the risk of arriving at the wrong place if you misspelled the name of your destination. The Japanese system was much simpler: on the doorframe of a sliding door, runes were carved, which would be activated by someone channeling magic into them, creating a connection with another doorframe. All you had to do afterwards was to step through the portal. The door would close instantly after someone stepped through, so there was no risk of anybody accidentally ending elsewhere. And to choose a destination, one simply had to visualize their destination and its' name, the person's magic would do the rest.
Back to the Ministry, the building looked like an old Japanese castle, though he could see several things, such as elevators, that showed that it was clearly at least relatively up to date with modern technology. He also noticed several Aurors standing guard at strategic places, once again a startling difference with Britain, where security was a mere wizard in front of the Ministry that scanned the people's wands.
Following Haruka, he watched as a few people looked at them in curiosity when they spotted him, and with appraising (and in some few cases, lusty) eyes. It was not surprising, after all he doubted their little group was a common sight here. And of course, with a woman of Akitsu's beauty, it was obvious that quite a few people would stare. At least they were discrete about it, which he could appreciate, since it meant that these people knew the difference between being appreciative, and being creepy.
The people they could see wore different types of clothing, most wearing traditional Japanese clothing or modern suits. There were an almost equal repartition of both genders, which was this time something in common between both Ministries.
As they approached the gates leading to the castle, they were stopped by an female Auror.
"Welcome, please wait a moment." was all she said, as she waved her wand over each of them.
"Two wands, thirty-three centimenters, cherry wood and a Yatagarasu's feather, and twenty-nine centimeters, blood of a Yuki-onna and fur from the tails of a nine-tailed fox."
The results appeared on a scroll that disappeared with a pop, while the Auror then looked at them.
"Reason of your presence?"
"I am bringing Minaka Harry for his NEWTs exams." explained Haruka, causing the woman to slightly widen her eyes as she looked at him with an appraising look.
"So young?" she asked, looking a bit bewildered.
"Yes, Harry-kun's circumstances are...special."
"I understand. The exams for today will start in room 01. Good luck, then."
Giving the woman a curt nod of thanks, he followed his guide as they stepped inside the Ministry.
-Break-
Looking around, Harry noticed he was getting quite a few stares, then again, he supposed that an eleven years old was quite the uncommon sight in this section of the Ministry. He was now in the room where he would be passing the written part of his NEWTs, along with a few other students, who were looking at him with either disbelief or in one case, curiosity. Akitsu was not there, since she was obviously not allowed in the room during the exam, as such, she was actually standing outside the door.
"Excuse-me, are you sure you weren't directed to the wrong room? This one is for the NEWT-level exams." asked a boy that looked around seventeen, with short, black hair.
Sighing, he explained:
"No, I am not in the wrong room, I am here to pass the NEWTs' written exams. I would also like to point out that even if I am young, I already have my OWLs, with some of the best grades in the world. As such, I am qualified enough to pass my NEWTs today, despite what my apparent age might suggest."
For a moment, there was silence, before a haughty laugh could be heard, coming from a girl with long black hair that reached her mid-back. She was wearing a pale blue kimono with ice flakes designs that clashed with her dark hair, but went rather well with her pale skin. From the way she held herself, he could tell she was used to get what she wanted, so she probably came from an old family, as her bearing betrayed the manners that were drilled into any respectable pureblood heirs and heiresses. Truth to be told, she was quite the beauty for a girl that had to be fifteen at the oldest, but she still paled compared to Akitsu or Karasuba.
"Look at the little boy, thinking he can get his NEWTs so early! It should be obvious that you will not be able to pass the practical part of the exams, your magic isn't yet stable enough to allow you to cast most of the spells required!"
While Harry could understand people being somewhat haughty, this girl was starting to piss him off, and he was sorely tempted to show her just how much he outclassed her in terms of raw power, knowledge, and strength. However, while that would be sorely tempting, he knew that usually those that showed the level of arrogance he was being treated to often didn't take well to be mocked, and as such, he put on his best condescending smile.
"My apologies, I did not know that Kami had decided to grace us with His presence."
He had the pleasure to see the girl blink slightly owlishly, obviously failing to understand his dig.
"It seems you failed to grasp what I was trying to say. Allow me to reformulate: I was not aware that you were the recipient of the Universe's knowledge."
Considering the sudden reddening of the girl's cheeks, he knew she had finally understood that he was mocking her intelligence and snobbish attitude.
"You-" she hissed,"-are you aware of who I am?"
"Someone stupid enough to antagonize someone they know nothing of, Shiba-san."
Oh, he knew who she was alright. He had not been idly training during his stay in Japan, no, Tom's influence had opened his eyes to the importance of knowing who was who, of knowing who were the prominent figures of the society he lived in. So he had subscribed to the national newspaper, The Imperial, and had made frequent visits to Gringotts to ask for public information that the Goblins were happy to provide, so long as he asked nothing they were not allowed to share.
The girl, thanks to the name tag on her desk, he had identified as Shiba Miyuki, the daughter of one of the oldest families of magicals from Japan. One of her ancestors was rumored to have helped in slaying Yamata-no-Orochi, the eight-headed Great Serpent. She was rumored to be a prodigy, which was apparently true since she was there to get her NEWTs at fifteen or so. What he had gleaned from the information he had on her, she was the sole Heiress of her family, and as such had been quite sheltered, as well as lavished with attention. That was probably the reason she was so haughty, considering her double status as a prodigy and as the Heiress of an old family, very few would dare cross her. Too bad he too was the Heir of an old family, as well as the recipient of knowledge far beyond his years.
Back to the present, he was pleased to see the girl redden and try to whip out her wand, only to be interrupted as the door opened, letting in an aged-looking man. Since the exams were obviously about to start, Miyuki could do nothing but sit down, but not before sending a glare his, along with a smug smirk, probably believing he would fail.
Well, let's show her that she isn't the only one gifted at magic.
-Break-
Truth be told, he was a bit disappointed by the written exams, as they had taken him only half as long as the time allocated for them, since he already knew all the answers and could easily understand how to answer the few questions that actually challenged him. He had taken quite a few electives, ranging from Arithmancy to Ancient Runes, as well as a few that were only found in Japan, like Seals. It had been very interesting for him to actually learn something entirely new, since Tom's knowledge covered quite a few areas of magic, and he was afraid of never finding something he would learn without having leeched the knowledge.
The exams were scheduled to take most of the day and the day after. As a way to minimize the students' fatigue, the written part of the exams were in the morning, with the practical part took up the afternoon. The entirety of his NEWTs was as such spanning two entire days, since some Electives, like History of Magic, didn't have a practical part.
Right now he was eating along with Akitsu in a little restaurant just outside of the park leading to the Ministry. The Ice Sekirei's behavior had caused a bit of a stir when someone had asked her why she was standing in front of the door of the room and that she had replied she was waiting for him. Of course, a few men had tried to sweet talk her into going with them, and, as she had been told, once telling them to leave hadn't worked, she had slapped them. The slight problem was that as a Sekirei, a slap to a normal human would end with their jaw dislocated, which had been exactly what had happened.
He had been lucky that Haruka was around to clean up the mess, and there would be no consequences since the one person she had slapped wasn't from an old family and was known to harass several of the women working in the Ministry. Still, he had taken Akitsu to the side to remind her to be careful with her strength, otherwise he would have to ask her to stay at MBI's tower, which was the last thing she wanted. Still, he had made sure to point out she had handled the situation rather well, all things considered.
-Break-
"Please cast the spell notorious for being the only one able to repel Dementors."
This was it. He was in his last practical exam, the Defense Against the Dark Creatures one. Unlike in Britain, there was a clear separation between Combat Magic on one side, and Defense Against Dark Creatures on the other side. Combat Magic dealt with all the spells used in a fight, like the bone-breaking hex or the stunning spell, while Defense Against Dark Creatures was used mainly to teach people what spell to use against beings that could attack them, like Vampires, Werewolves or Dementors. Of course, a rather large part of the latter was heavily focused on making people understand that some species, like Vampires and Werewolves, were considered Dark mainly because they could, key word could, attack humans, but that they were mostly humans turned into something else. As such, neutralization was preferable to elimination if possible. After all, a newly-turned Vampire could hardly be held responsible for attacking someone if they hadn't fed recently.
He could see the others completing their own practical, and smirked upon spotting the Shiba Heiress, she was still a few questions behind him.
Concentrating on his memory, he focused his magic, allowing it to fuse with the feelings inside him. He remembered everything, down to the last detail, he remembered how Karasuba had clutched him to her chest, as if he was a treasure, someone she could not bear to lose, he remembered the feeling of being truly happy for the first time in his life. In the end, he had pictured every last detail of his first meeting with the Black Sekirei perfectly, as it had been the very moment he had felt that perhaps someone saw some value to him, that someone wanted him, cared for him. Even if it reminded him of the years of abuse at the hands of his so-called relatives, it was the happiest memory he had, and it did the trick.
"Expecto Patronum."
Once again, there was a blinding light, and the people present put their hands in front of them, or closed their eyes. He did not, he didn't need to, as he already knew what to expect. And as he had expected, as he had wanted, there were two perfectly formed people made of silvery light standing in front of him, Karasuba and Akitsu. He idly wondered why there was no Patronus-Homura, but guessed it had something to do with the fact that they were nowhere near as close than he was with both his other Sekirei.
He could see the shock on his examiner's face, the man staring with wide eyes at something that should be impossible, two full corporeal Patroni casted by a boy not even eleven yet. Most people in the room seemed to be just as stumped by what they were seeing, as while they had known he was advanced for his age, they had probably not expected to see him successfully cast a spell that many adults couldn't manage.
Patronus-Karasuba was looking around with the same grin her original displayed when faced with a challenge, her nodachi at her side while her wings were out and fluttered excitedly. Patronus-Akitsu, for her part, had her hands at her side, in the same lazy, slightly slouched posture her own original permanently had, but the embers that were her eyes were fixated solely on him. He could also see the same slightly electrical arcs than before fizzling around their figures, something he could tell from Tom's memories was not something that usually happened.
"I-Impressive, Minaka-san." managed to croak out the examiner, looking at the Patroni with shock.
"Thank you, Kurokami-san. What is the next question?" he asked, pleased to see the Shiba Heiress looking torn between impressed and glaring at him.
"There aren't any other questions. Congratulations, Minaka-san, even if I am not supposed to tell you your exact results, I can still tell you that you pass with flying colors!" said the man, before looking back at the Patroni, who had yet to disperse. "Excuse me, Minaka-san, but shouldn't you cancel the spell? Otherwise you might end up suffering from magical exhaustion."
That caused him to smirk, as it gave him yet another thing to lord over the pretentious little girl who was now trying to focus on her own exam, yet he could still tell that she was trying to eavesdrop.
"Don't worry, even if I don't cancel the spell, I could keep these two up for about a full day with the reserves I have."
He was pleased to note that Miyuki had stumbled at that, and was currently being admonished by her examiner. It may have been a bit much to get her back like that, but he felt she deserved it, besides it wasn't as if he was purposely making her screw up, she was the one trying to listen in on things that she had no right to know of. Besides, it was a bit of his childish side acting up, so he guessed he could indulge himself, to a degree.
-Break-
Exiting the room, he found himself standing next to Akitsu, who upon seeing him getting out, had immediately taken her customary position, a little behind him, like a dutiful mix between a bodyguard and a shy wife. He had to shake his head at that, considering her behavior, he was fairly certain that she wanted to be his wife when he would be older, not that he would ever refuse. He had come to care deeply for her, as her circumstances reminded him a bit of his own, only with the difference that he was the one to accept her. He could also tell that she would do anything for him, and unlike some people, he knew to treasure such a bond between them.
They were about to leave when the door opened again, letting out a rather angry-looking Miyuki Shiba, who upon seeing him, made a beeline for him.
"You knew it, didn't you?" she growled.
As she was visibly angered, she had not yet noticed Akitsu tense behind him, ready to spring into action if need be. She did not take well to people venting their nerves on him, not that he did either, and he had the means to make that clear.
"What would you be talking about, Shiba-san?"
"You knew I was listening!" she hissed, her voice low. "You boasted about your magic reserves to make me fail my last question!"
"Shiba-san." All traces of civility in his tone were gone, and his voice had grown cold and hard, startling the girl who had probably not expected to be talked to with that voice. "I care little about your petty accusations, as while I was aware that you were listening, it was your choice to do so, as such, failing to concentrate on your exam is certainly not my fault. Now, do kindly shut up before I lose whatever patience I have left and make you regret acting like a spoiled child."
"Ojou-sama, do you wish for me to teach this disrespectful child his place?" asked a young woman who had walked up to them, standing behind the heiress. She was wearing black clothes that were tailored to allow for maximum freedom of movement, and the way she carried herself spoke of a trained professional, probably a bodyguard, as it was obvious the heiress of one of Japan's oldest families would be protected at all times.
The woman herself had to be at most in her mid-twenties, with mid-long, black hair tied in a short ponytail. She held herself with the grace of those that were used to always end up on top during a fight, not that she seemed to have noticed that he, along with Akitsu, were clearly aware of her level of skill. Obviously, she was either very inexperienced or she was unused to face people able to gauge her enough to conceal her true abilities from them.
Seeing Miyuki give him a smug smile, he knew she expected him to cower and flee now that her bodyguard was there. How wrong she was.
"Shiba-san." he started, his face showing a very unsettling and peaceful smile, while making a simple sign towards Akitsu to show he would deal with them himself, "If you think that your bodyguard is enough to intimidate me, you are a bigger fool than I previously thought."
He had the pleasure to see the young woman acting as Miyuki's bodyguard step forward to grab him, with a speed that would no doubt leave most humans unable to react. However, he was not human anymore, well, not entirely, and he was used to fight someone who was far faster than she would ever be. As such, the moment she started her attack, he had already grabbed her arm and yanked her forward. By the time she realized what was happening, his hand was about to grab her face, and despite her efforts in trying to dodge it, he was faster and grabbed her head, before slamming her into the wall like a rag doll. He had of course made sure to not use enough force to really harm her, after all if he had gone all out the wall would be splattered with her brains.
He had the pleasure to see Miyuki's smug smile change to a look of shock and abject terror as she witnessed her bodyguard's face slammed into a wall with enough force to render her unconscious. He felt that the bodyguard was lucky, after all he had used only a small percentage of his strength, otherwise her face may have ended up crushed.
Brushing his hands as if what happened was just an everyday occurrence to him, he looked back at the now shaking young woman, giving her a grin akin to that of his mother-figure, causing the poor girl to squeak in fear as she took a step back.
"Now, Shiba-san, I hope this is proof enough that I am more than a child trying to play in the big leagues. I bid you a good day, and please, when your bodyguard wakes up, do tell her that it was nothing personal.
Akitsu, let's go."
"Hai, Harry-sama."
-Break-
As they had agreed to earlier, the two of them went to wait for Haruka at the entrance of the Ministry. The odd pair drew quite a few stares as they walked, but they were used to it, and Harry had to admit, the stares were much worse in the Muggle world. There, nobody could fathom that an eleven years old boy could be extremely dangerous, while the wizards and witches, well those that paid attention to the ambient magic at least, since any magic user worth their salt (meaning very few people, sadly), could tell roughly how powerful one was by the small amount of power permanently being released by the body. Of course, one of the first things he had done once he had learnt about that had been to try and find a way to mask most of his power, and while so far he wasn't exactly successful, he still leaked around twenty-five percent less power than before. His aim was to get down to about fifteen percent of his original output, but that was something he would need to work on a bit later.
As they waited, they became aware of a slight commotion coming frown the DMLE department, the one dedicated to fighting magical crimes. However, seeing that the matter most likely didn't concern them, Harry just ignored it, choosing to instead focus on sorting his memories, something he did whenever he had a few minutes to spare.
He was starting to grow impatient, as Haruka should be very well aware of the time his exam finished at, yet she was still not there. While she was a government official, he knew enough to know that she wasn't that far up the hierarchy that they couldn't let her go early. He was surprised to notice, however, that now that the commotion had died down, a group of around fifteen people were making their way towards him, one of which he recognized as Miyuki Shiba, who was livid. Next to her was apparently the Auror commanding the ones coming towards them, and on his other side was Haruka, who was looking at him like she couldn't tell if he was stupid or if she had expected what was happening.
"Minaka Harry?" asked the Auror captain.
"Yes, what can I do for you?" he asked, looking pointedly at the girl at his side. He had a rather good idea of what to expect, as it appeared that the Shiba heiress just couldn't let a grudge go. Granted, he had put her bodyguard's face into a wall, but still, she had attacked first, what was he supposed to do?
"Shiba-san here told me that you apparently knocked out her bodyguard by slamming her into a wall, and that for no apparent reason."
Considering how she was giving him the evil eye, he guessed she had counted on using her name as a way to get him directly in trouble, without going through the "comparing the different versions of what happened" part.
"Well then, perhaps I should tell you my version of what happened."
"Please do, sir." said the man as he looked somewhat surprised by his reaction.
He guessed that most people didn't even try to speak against someone from such an old family, but then again he was hardly just anybody either.
"Very well. I came here yesterday and today to pass my NEWTs, something Chisegawa-san here can confirm."
The young woman gave a prompt nod when the Auror looked at her, before turning back to him and gesturing for him to continue his story.
"The moment I stepped inside the room yesterday to take the written part of the exams, Shiba-san mocked me, calling me a child and saying that I would not be able to pass my exams, since I should not have enough magic yet to cast some of the spells required for the practical parts. Afterwards I took a dig at her intelligence and general haughty attitude, something she apparently did not take well, as she was about to try and get out her wand before the examiner came in.
Today, I was able to successfully cast two fully corporeal Patroni, and when my examiner told me to cancel the spell, I told him that considering my current reserves, I should be able to maintain both of them for about a day. Shiba-san, who was apparently listening in instead of paying attention to her own exams, had some trouble casting the spell requested of her at that moment, be it because she had trouble believing what I had said or because she didn't know the answer I do not know.
After I left the room, I was about to leave and come here to wait for Chisegawa-san, when she came out and accused me to have made her fail on purpose. I admitted that I knew she was listening, but that in the end, it was her own fault for eavesdropping. It was at that moment that her bodyguard walked up to us and asked her if she wanted her to teach me "my place". I pointed out that I thought she was a fool for believing that a mere bodyguard was enough to intimidate me. At that point, said person attacked me, and I retaliated by grasping her face and pushing it into a wall, knocking her out. I then left and have been waiting for Harusegawa-san since the moment I arrived here."
There were a few disbelieving stares, but the one to make her skepticism known the most was a young woman, probably in her early twenties, and as such someone still relatively new to the Auror force. Her snort and roll of her eyes made it clear that she did not believe one moment that he had been able to knock out someone more than a decade older than himself, who in a normal world would have more strength, more speed, and would be more experienced.
"It seems my claims do not convince you, Auror-san. Perhaps you would like to see how I proceeded?" he asked, his voice cheerful and a fake (yet very convincing) smile on his face.
"Ha! There is no way a mere child would be able to knock-" was all she was able to say, as Harry had already moved and, grabbing her robes, had yanked her down to his level, before putting his hand at the back of her head, and then he pushed.
The young woman's face ended up embedded into the ground, though he had applied a small cushioning charm to avoid caving her face in. He did not appreciate people calling him a child!
Giving the downed Auror a bored look, he turned back to face the captain, tuning out the various expressions of shock coming from the other representative of the wizards' justice.
"May I go now?"
It was a testament to the man's skill that he did not harbor the same expression of abject shock on his face when he answered, merely a very curious one.
"Before leaving, I would like to ask for your memories of the incident."
"Oh, of course."
Conjuring a small vial, he used his wand to duplicate the memory and place it into it, before giving it to the officer. He had made sure the vial had been labeled to his name and the date, who knows, it may come in handy for the man later.
-Break-
The next week was incredibly boring for him, as he knew he had his NEWTs, but still wanted the results to know where he should put some extra study if need be. After all, while he was certain to have at least an Exceed Expectations for all electives, he wanted to actually have Outstandings for all of them, even if he knew that most people would already be happy to have E's everywhere.
He killed his boredom by studying even more advanced magic and sparring with Karasuba and Akitsu, as well as focusing on bringing the both of them to the level he wanted them. It was hard, but the Ice Sekirei was making excellent progress and would soon catch up to what he had wanted her to know by that time, while Karasuba seemed to struggle with a lack of motivation. Still, she did make some progress on her own.
-Break-
Finally, two weeks after sitting his NEWTs, he got the results from the Ministry, though he was surprised to see them delivered by Haruka instead of by an owl. Nonetheless, with an enthusiasm he did not usually show, he opened the envelop and skimmed over his results, before grinning. As he had expected, he had aced his exams and had set a new record for the number of Os he had gotten, though he figured it was cheating considering he had the memories of someone so advanced that he was rumored to have explored completely unknown territories of magic before. In the end, he had gotten in total twelve Os, as well as two O++ (best mark in the world) for his Defense Against Dark Creatures and Combat Magic.
Putting the paper back on the table, he then turned to look at the Ministry employee.
"Well then, to what do I owe the honor of your presence, Harusegawa-san?"
He could tell by the way her gaze was constantly shifting that she was nervous, and his enhanced senses allowed him to tell that she was sweating more than usual. Whatever had caused her to be this nervous, it was serious.
"Harry-kun, do you remember Shiba Miyuki-san?"
"The arrogant girl? Yes, I do, why? Did she make trouble again?"
"No, the matter is a bit more complicated than that. You see, the Auror captain you talked to came from a branch of the Shiba family. After what happened with the bodyguard and the Auror who didn't believe you, he saw fit to tell the Family Head, Shiba Ryuuga."
"And?"
"He wishes to hire you as tutor for his daughter."
So? Didn't see this one coming did you? Anyway, reviews are welcome!
