Matou Shinji and the Master of Death
A Harry Potter / Fate Stay Night Story
Disclaimer: Though I wish it were otherwise, I do not own or in any way, shape or form hold a legal or moral claim to elements of either the Nasuverse, the Potterverse, or other works I may reference in the course of this story.
Summary: In the wake of Dumbledore's death, Lucius Malfoy has become the most powerful man in Magical Britain. Hogwarts undergoes reforms under the rule of Headmaster Flitwick. Severus Snape learns that some wrongs cannot be set right. And driven onwards by eerie dreams of shadow and flame, Matou Shinji walks the path of destruction.
Chapter 14. Games and Gambles
In the morning before class the next day, Matou Shinji found himself back in the Room of Requirement, working out some of his uneasiness in a spar against Luna Lovegood. It wasn't his classes that unsettled him though – Charms, Arithmancy and Ancient Runes seemed manageable enough, given that he'd focused heavily on the first during the past few years, and the last was something he'd received some training from his Master in.
It was the fact that he intended to ask Professor Lockhart for training, a prospect that was more than a little daunting, especially given the ease with which the History Professor had destroyed a high-ranking official, and how easily the man saw through him, something that he found most disconcerting.
But then, in his quest for truth, Lockhart felt more like a powerful magus, or at least someone steeped in the darkness of the Moonlit World, than any other practitioner of witchcraft Matou Shinji knew in Britain. Everything the History Professor did seemed to serve a purpose, which he'd thought might simply be personal power at one point, though he wasn't sure if that was an end in itself, or a means to something else.
Given the man's obvious competence, Shinji was sure that he could benefit from what the history teacher had to teach, but the possible price of the bargain worried him.
Perhaps he'd become a little paranoid about the hidden costs of dealing with powerful individuals after his experiences over the last two summers, in which he'd traded what he'd first thought were just books – but ended up being so much more – for a mechanical owl and a new wand.
But this wasn't a stranger he was dealing with, not exactly. For he and the History Professor already had a pre-existing relationship. Lockhart, after all, was the biographer and publicist for the Stone Cutters, as well as the advisor to the Ourea, and Shinji doubted the man would wish to lose the benefits of that arrangement.
Even so, he worried…
"Expelliarmus!"
He leapt aside as a jet of red tore through the space he had occupied a moment before, only to find a blue orb of foxfire rushing towards him—
Fzzt!
—but the fireball dissipated harmlessly on a bounded field that flashed into existence before him, leaving Shinji unscathed.
'Thanks, Zelkova.'
'It is curious how humans choose to bond over conflict…' the kodama observed, as its projected form of a black fox sat perched on Shinji's shoulder. 'Among other creatures, males may stage conflict with other males to display their prowess. But this sort of display…'
'Zelkova. Not now.'
"Flipendo Tria!"
Silently, Shinji cast his own version of the advanced Knockback Jinx to counter the whirlwind of force coming at him, though with Luna having infused her spells with yang prana, hers overpowered the first of his – though not the second, which successfully negated her whirlwind of Jinxes.
Fighting with a wand in each hand required a slightly different mindset, similar to that of using one incantation while casting a second spell – something which he'd become adept in due to his mental partitions. At present, he still had but a public and private partition, but that was enough to split his trains of thought, if he really focused.
'Bind!'
As a distraction, strips of paper flew from his sleeves, with the air lighting up in a tempest of sound and fury when Luna countered with her wand, as flash-bang ofuda hidden in the mix exploded on contact with a wave of fire.
The din was deafening. The light blinding.
And so, taking advantage of his opponent's presumed disorientation, he sent more ofuda forth, these striking the ground around her in an array not unlike a pentagram – only for these to be burned to a crisp by arcs of chained lighting.
Fighting Luna Lovegood – or any other practitioner – one on one was something he'd grown rather good at, and indeed, most of his tricks relied on distracting or deceiving a single opponent. Facing her and a second opponent, who might not share her weaknesses, and whose skill set he was unsure of – was another thing entirely.
With a muttered "Fumos", Shinji conjured up a cloud of acrid black smoke to block her line of sight, only to whirl as he found lightning racing towards him – arcs of power that were blocked as the ground rose up to shield him, seemingly of its own volition.
'How did she get…?'
And then a shout of "Wingardium Leviosa!" interrupted his ponderings, as Matou Shinji found his pants being levitated with great force, with Luna's levitation charm lifting them – but not the rest of him, the irresistible force hoisting his legs into the air, so he quite literally fell head over heels – and was now facing the wrong way to aim his wand at her, no less.
Whirr-Boom! Whirr-Boom!
A flurry of fireballs came towards him, only to be intercepted by a bounded fieldas Shinji hurriedly cast Finite Incantatem on his pants, with the end result being a Matou Shinji that ended up sprawled on the ground.
'If she'd used the charm on me, not my clothing, my nullifying ofuda would have worked fine…' he told himself. Only she hadn't, and so his defense had failed.
He flipped himself over just in time to witness the white and black foxes fighting with fire and barriers – and to see the face of Luna Lovegood hovering over his own, the point of her wand pressed against his throat.
"Do you yield?" the girl asked in her musical tones, to which Shinji could only sigh.
"…yes," he groaned, dropping his wands in a symbol of surrender. The very fact she was next to him, touching him, meant he'd lost, given that she could have cast any number of spells while he was otherwise distracted. All of his firepower was meaningless if he couldn't bring it to bear, after all… "You win, Luna."
Luna smiled at that, helping the boy from the east to his feet as the room transformed from an empty chamber of stone into a perfect copy of the Ourea clubroom, table, bathroom and all.
"You forgot about my fox," the mysterious girl commented wryly, with Shinji nodding somewhat sheepishly, as he had, at that.
"I'm used to fighting one opponent, not several," Shinji explained. And it was true, since in his encounters with Tomas, Kaiduka, Sajyou, the Onikuma, and even the Troll, he'd only had to face one enemy at a time. Even so, being bested by someone who wasn't his Master, or one of his teachers still…hurt.
They were expected to be better than he. But Luna…was his peer, and he'd always stood head and shoulders over them.
"We'll just have to practice then," Luna replied, her calm voice taking some of the sting out of the defeat. "Together."
"Right," Shinji said. And in truth, it was better for him to realize these weaknesses now, in a spar against a close friend, rather than later, in a fight against an enemy who might actually be trying to kill him. "So, reading then, since you won today?"
That had been the terms they'd agreed on, after all. If she won, they would read together over a quiet breakfast in the Room of Requirement. If he won, she'd refill his prana for the day and help him sort through the Room of Hidden Things.
"Yes," Luna agreed, though she wrinkled her nose cutely as she pointed towards the bathroom door. "But we should clean up first."
"My dear Lovegood, are you trying to say I stink?" Shinji teased.
"No, but you will if we don't have a bath after our spar," Luna pointed out in a quite matter of fact fashion, noting the sweat on his face and form. "Even if I don't mind the way you smell."
Shinji found himself flushing at that, and wisely chose not to continue arguing.
"…you make a good point," he conceded, though he tilted his head as a thought came to him. "What about you?"
"Oh, I can wait till you finish," Luna answered playfully, stepping close as hands wreathed in amber light brushed away the aches he felt, and the scrapes on his skin. "Or make another room."
"…I guess you could, at that."
The Room of Requirement really was quite remarkable in how easily it reconfigured itself according to a person's needs, even if it couldn't conjure up opponents for him to face like the Book of Spells. But then, he didn't need one, not when Luna and her familiar were quite capable of fulfilling that role quite well.
And so the two headed off to cleanse themselves after their morning spar, before facing the rest of the day ahead.
After his morning duel, Shinji was thankful for the fact that Professor Weasley's first Charms class was mostly review, with the man assessing their abilities with the charms they'd learned in the past years, before demonstrating a few of the ones they'd be learning this year.
The Cheering Charm, for instance, which could induce a state of contentment – or if overdone – hysterical euphoria.
The Seize and Pull Charm (Carpe Retractum), the conjured rope of light that Moody had used the previous year to draw students away from the Boggart, since the Summoning Charm did not work on most living beings. Unlike the Summoning Charm, however, this was a strictly line-of-sight based spell, and its effectiveness was dependent on the relative mass of the caster and the target.
The Freezing Spell (Glacius), which caused air in front of the wand to reach extremely cold temperatures, allowing one to freeze water, cool off objects, or cause ice to form on most surfaces.
The Engorgement and Shrinking Charms, which caused a target to either swell (up to a certain point, whereupon it would explode) or shrink.
And of course, how and when to effectively use the General Counter-Spell Finite Incantatem, which the Professor had found invaluable in his previous occupation as Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office. He'd proceeded to show them some of the objects he'd collected during his tenure in that office, including Biting Kettles, Shrinking Keys, and Anti-Gravity Hats, as well as some of the other ways in which enchantments could be useful, as with the enchantments that made brooms fly.
At the end of the class, he made his Ford Anglia materialize from seemingly out of thin air, something which had stunned many people in the class, who hadn't realized it was even there to begin with.
"When most people think about charms, most people think about dueling, and certainly, a mastery of Charms is essential if you wish to be a duelist," Arthur Weasley explained to his startled students. "But more than any other field of magic, Charms is what underpins the foundations of our world. Without charms, our stoves and lights would not work. Without charms, our brooms would not fly and we would have no Floo. Without charms, none of us would have wands today."
With that, Professor Weasley dismissed them, leaving Shinji thoughtful about the role these spells had in the greater picture of Magical Britain.
Arithmancy, Matou Shinji's next class of the day, was one he found considerably more…peculiar.
On a conceptual level, he found it quite interesting. Delving into the magical properties of numbers and words so one could understand how some spells worked as they did and possibly create new spells was something he could certainly use if he wanted to further investigate the foundation of witchcraft.
He didn't even mind having to consult various number charts and performing calculations by hand if he had to, as he knew quite well that using devices like calculators effectively required a working knowledge of what the device was doing.
…no, it was the fact that their equivalent of a calculator wasn't a standardized method, but a series of spells that would automate some of these calculations, with an effectiveness based completely on one's understanding of what was being done.
Essentially, each student who stayed in the class would eventually have to create the equivalent of a calculator from scratch, with its logic entirely dependent on how well one understood the underlying algorithms.
Now, Shinji was no stranger to calculating the future – or the past – based on various factors. Indeed, the Alchemists of Atlas used a method based on Laplace's Demon to calculate the future, though their method was standardized, with its effectiveness varying not on the algorithms one used to compute the future, but the quantity and quality of the data being for computation, and what had to be approximated. Moreover, they did these calculations in their minds, without the use of outside spells – and if they needed something beyond that, could build a magical computer of a sort.
He could understand the need for a powerful computational engine for things beyond the ability of one individual to deal with, and for a standardized method of computation, but what was being asked of in Arithmancy was a bit extreme.
(If one considered magic spells as programs that would affect the universe, then Arithmancy was essentially the study of programming, with each aspiring Arithmancer and spellcrafter required to essentially create their own compilers from scratch without fully understanding the rules of the programming language one was using.
And of course in this case, bad code wouldn't just fail to execute, it might very well kill you and those around you. Nor was talent any talisman against this, as Pandora Lovegood, who was known to be exceptionally talented, had died experimenting with a new charm.
It was for this reason that most practitioners of witchcraft used the common library of spells already known to them instead of creating anything new, as the risk of spell creation was not generally worth it. And since they could use other spells without risk, they did so willy-nilly, never acknowledging the price paid by those who came before so they could live comfortably.)
For magi, who courted death simply by using their magic circuits, acknowledging the price of thaumaturgy was part and parcel of what they did, and because their Craft came at such a risk, they took pains to pass down what they learned to future generations, with a magus' successor formally inheriting a Crest containing the compiled knowledge of those who had come before. Each generation built on what the last had done, adding more circuits – and knowledge – to the Crest, until it held a vast library of spells, methods, functions and so forth.
That was why there was only one heir, because for a magus, advancement of the knowledge one had spent one's life to obtain meant everything. To divide this knowledge, rendering it less than it could be, or passing it into the hands of someone less the capable, was anathema.
Matou Shinji understood that, as being passed over as heir had defined his life until he had received his Hogwarts letter. But this…this society where such knowledge not only wasn't passed down but wasn't even valued was…
'…horrifying.'
Hermione didn't see it. The others, steeped in this culture as they were, didn't see it. For them, this was just the way things were. The way things had been. The way things would be.
There was no other alternative, and little possibility things would ever change.
And to him, that was utterly terrifying.
The Study of Ancient Runes, on the other hand, was more comforting, as it was rather familiar to him. Too familiar in some ways, given that the material on the syllabus for this year was essentially the basic theory behind Runes and how to read them – most of which he'd already covered, thanks to his time with his Master, Aozaki Touko.
Not wanting to interrupt, he waited till after class, motioning for everyone to go on without him. Once they had gone, he went up to Professor Bathsheda Babbling and explained his current situation.
"So what you're telling me is that you have been apprenticed to a Professor of Ancient Runes at the Mahoutokoro School of Magic, and have already covered the material for this class," Professor Babbling echoed, her brown eyes peering at the boy curiously.
"That's right." Shinji nodded. "I didn't say anything during class because I didn't want to be rude, but is there more advanced material I could be taking?"
The Professor made a considering hmm sound as she pondered her options.
"I understand that this is probably frustrating to you," she replied. "However, in the past, my response has traditionally been no, given that those who approach me have generally only studied the topic on their own. Do you have documentation that you took lessons at Mahoutokoro?"
Shinji produced a letter from his Master, certifying that as her apprentice, he had completed the equivalent of a year of study in Ancient Runes – and was now rather glad he'd asked for it.
"Hmm, visiting Professor of Ancient Runes, eh?" Bathsheda Babbling commented, nodding slowly. "Yes, well, this seems in order. However, I am not sure if the course over at Mahoutokoro is equivalent to that at this school." She paused for a moment, a considering sound in her throat again. "I don't suppose you have a syllabus in English, do you?"
"…unfortunately not."
"Hm, I didn't think so," the Professor sighed. "I presume you covered the Elder Futhark, at the least?"
"Both the theory behind it – how to read it, and the meanings of it, basic arrays – basic applications," Shinji confirmed, as Babbling's eyes widened slightly.
"Applications, you say?" the woman asked, her voice curious now. "I don't suppose you could demonstrate?"
"I suppose," Shinji said, taking the syllabus and placing it on the floor. With the tip of his wand, he traced the Ansuz rune in the air, filling it with prana, as flames spread over the syllabus and burned it to ash. "I can do a few other minor things as well."
"Well, well. That certainly isn't taught in the first year of this class – this is next year's material. Given the circumstances, you wouldn't mind taking last year's final exam, would you?" the Ancient Runes professor inquired. "I need to see exactly what you learned before I can make a judgement."
And so Shinji sat what would have been the Ancient Runes year end exam, finding that some parts of it were as he expected – and that some parts of it he had no idea about, and had to guess. Some runes were obviously not of the Elder or Younger Futhark. Perhaps they were Celtic in nature? He honestly didn't know, but took his best stab at it.
After he had finished it as best he could, Professor Babbling took the parchment from him and graded it on the spot, making a number of curious noises as she marked the parchment in red.
"Your knowledge of the Elder Futhark, the foundation of the Runes we study, is indeed solid," the Ancient Runes Professor remarked. "However, there are areas you seem to have overlooked entirely, such as the pictographs we use in place of numbers, and some of the other systems mostly used here in Britain. I take it you did not cover them in your training?"
"No, ma'am," Shinji replied.
"I didn't think so."
Professor Babbling was silent for a moment, which made Shinji rather nervous.
"How did I do?" he inquired.
"Well, based on your score – which falls on the border between Acceptable and Exceeds Expectations, you would pass this year," she answered, shaking her head. "And I am impressed by your ability to apply the runes to practical uses, which is more advanced material. Based on your score, I have no reason not to advance you to the next class. However, what you're missing concerns me."
"Ah."
"Since you came to me, I'll give you a choice: I can advance you to the next year of Ancient Runes now, and address that in your schedule, or you can remain with your year for the fall term to catch up on the basics, and I will move you up in the Spring," Babbling offered, peering down at the boy. "I don't suppose you would be happy simply staying with your year?"
"Unfortunately not."
"Hmm, I didn't think so…in that case, I suppose you want me to move you up to the next class, schedule permitting?"
"…only if it's not too much trouble," Shinji murmured.
"It's always trouble, but it's worth it when it comes to helping a student," she commented. "What is your other elective?"
"Arithmancy, Ma'am."
"I suppose you would be one to study that art," Professor Babbling harrumphed. "Very well, I will talk with your head of house, and make the appropriate arrangements."
"Thank you, Professor."
And Shinji meant it, as he relished the idea of learning something useful and not wasting his time here at Hogwarts.
But she just waved off his gratitude.
"Bah, don't thank me. Just study hard and don't make me regret the paperwork I have to fill out."
Following the Arithmancy revelation and the trying work of taking the End of the Year exam for Ancient Runes, Shinji made his way over to the hallway outside the History Professor's office, somewhat anxious about what to expect.
"Come in. I've been expecting you," Lockhart's voice called just before he knocked – which made him wonder if the man had a charm on the door to notice if someone was approaching.
Not that he knew how to detect that, in all honesty, but it was something he'd have to look into.
As he entered, he noticed that the room was mostly the same as it had been the year before, save for some markings on the map of Magical Europe mounted on the wall. Notes, perhaps. Numbers. All around the Balkans, and Germany…
Curiously, though the Book of Spells sat on the desk, as well as a stack of parchment, Lockhart didn't seem to have been writing, as the man had his eyes closed, and his fingers steepled.
"Matou, what can I do for you?" he asked after a moment, opening his eyes.
"I wanted to thank you for what you did in class, Professor," Shinji said, getting to the point. "You saved our lives – even if that wasn't your purpose."
"Oh?" Lockhart inquired, a dangerous smile flitting at the corners of his lips. "And what was my purpose then?"
"I think we both know that, sir."
"Perhaps," the History Professor voiced eloquently. "Did your grandfather enjoy the play, by the way?"
"He did. Thank you, Professor."
"I see," Lockhart replied. "It is good that someone appreciates the old epics. Something like Makar Zolgen is not often spoken of outside Russia, after all, nor are most curious about it. Your grandfather can use magic, I suppose."
"…yes," Shinji said slowly. Not "Magic" per se, but magecraft certainly. Matou Zouken was an Archmagus, after all. This was a gamble but… "He gave me this book for you to look at actually."
From his mokeskin pouch, he withdrew the Russian tome that Zouken had sent him, with Lockhart raising an eyebrow as he waved his wand over the book, and a second book appeared.
"Gemino charm. Copies the contents without any of the magic that might be inside it. Useful thing for an adventurer," the man explained when Shinji raised an eyebrow. "Hmm, let's see."
The man opened the cover of the copy, poring through the first few pages, and all but froze as he read the contents.
"Did your grandfather say anything to you about what is in this tome?" Lockhart asked quietly, looking at Shinji with an intensity that was almost terrifying.
"Only that it allegedly concerned the Templar Order," Shinji replied truthfully.
"And what do you know of the Templars?" the History Professor inquired in the same tone of voice.
While revealing what he knew might be dangerous, he imagined it would be even more dangerous to lie to the man, given that Lockhart had an uncanny way of seeing through him.
"…that they are a small but powerful faction that specialized in hunting what they called heretics?" Shinji asked.
"…and?"
"…that they were opposed by several organizations. Organizations such as the Illuminati."
"…and?"
"…the Order of Assassins," Shinji concluded. He swallowed as he looked at Lockhart in realization, unable to keep himself from continuing. "The ones led by the one they called Hassan-i-Sabbah, the…"
"…Old Man of the Mountain, yes," Lockhart said mildly. "I thought it a curious title." Though Shinji suspected there was far more to it than that. "And I do have to say, you know more about the world than your peers, don't you? Especially when that old book is a journal."
"A journal?"
"A chronicle of observations on the Templars. By one Makar Zolgen, no less," the man continued, quirking an eyebrow. "Your grandfather must have gone through some trouble to get his hands on this."
"…I suppose," Shinji allowed. "I don't know much about grandfather's past. He doesn't talk about it very much."
"I imagine he wouldn't." Lockhart let the comment hang in the air for a long moment, before he shook his head. "But that is neither here nor there, is it? You and I both know you are here for more than to thank me. So what is it you desire?"
"I wish to learn," Shinji replied.
"A statement any teacher would appreciate, but learn what, I wonder?"
"As you are the most skilled adventurer in Magical Britain, I was hoping you would be able to tell me what I could best benefit from," the boy from the east said quietly.
Lockhart chuckled as he got to his feet.
"Well, that is easy enough," he related. "The art of movement is something you and the other Stone Cutters could bear to learn. How to move quickly, but quietly, to be unseen unless one wishes, so one can blend into a crowd or seem to be the only one in a room. How to bypass obstacles, like walls and barriers. Knowing how to move is a virtue few possess in the wizarding world. Certainly, most of your professors lack it, except for Professor Flitwick, a duelist, or Professor Snape, who was once a spy."
"Or yourself, an adventurer," Shinji supplied, remembering how quickly he had moved to stop Umbridge, and how ruthlessly he had crushed her.
"Indeed," Lockhart confirmed. "Most believe power is something of spells and curses or laws. And there is that, but more than magic, there is power in appearances. In knowledge. There are three things I find invaluable: awareness of my surroundings, preventing possible threats from knowing what I am capable of, and having the speed to capitalize on my advantages."
"You would be willing to teach me this?" Shinji asked.
"I would, though there will be a favor to collect later. Is this acceptable?"
Matou Shinji had been afraid that would be the answer, but he supposed he didn't have a choice.
"Yes, sir."
"Good," Lockhart replied with a smile, as the air of danger seemed to fade. "One evening a week then, we will train you in this technique, using the Book of Spells. Was there anything else?"
"Yes, sir. In the aftermath of what happened in History, when Umbridge tried to kill us all for no reason—" And here he barely managed to keep a straight face. "I thought it would be useful for the Ourea to create a defense organization, since you won't always be there to protect us."
"A wise idea. I assume you wish to appoint Mister Diggory as its head, given his training and his age?"
"No, actually," Shinji noted. "I was thinking Susan Bones, given her relation to the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, with Pansy Parkinson as her second."
"While I do not presume to question your judgement, you do realize that Prefect Diggory is likely to be unhappy with this arrangement?" Lockhart inquired, but shook his head. "But that is your business, and you may bring up the proposal to the Ourea as whole this Sunday."
"Very well, sir." Shinji realized he'd forgotten one very important thing. "Just one thing – what is the password this year? 'Lily of the Valley' doesn't work anymore."
"I was intending to have the password sent out to you all soon, but since you ask, the password is 'Alamut'."