Disclaimer: All portions of the HP universe/worlds/characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Yujincho universe/worlds/characters are the property of Yuki Midorikawa and Hakusensha (publisher). This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites.
AN: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.
Chapter 28: The Political Suicide of a Pompous Windbag
Takashima Town, Shiga, Japan
Ministry of Magic, London, England &
Kakushugakkou no Jujutsu
June 1994 ~ August 1994
The flight back to Japan was once again filled with Ryuu's friends and their family. Those students that had been sponsored to attend this year's summer session would be arriving via portkey on the first day of the new session instead of flying over early like their group. This year Ryuu hadn't picked a specific student to sponsor, having not taken the time to get to know any other students outside of his group and the exchange students that had joined them that year.
He had approached Professor Flitwick during one of their morning tutoring sessions about three weeks after the attack and presented his quandary to his Head of House. He was required to sponsor at least one student each summer and was given the option to sponsor one student to attend Hogwarts during the year. The solution was that Flitwick put together a lottery for his first, second, and third year classes (one for each year) and the winner of the lotteries would be granted a sponsorship for that summer.
Doing the lottery also gave all four house an equal chance to have a student attend the Japanese academy without limiting it to the houses that Ryuu and his friends were in (as it had been the past two years). The winners were Astoria Greengrass (first year Slytherin), Mark Summerby (second year Hufflepuff), and Hannah Abbott (third year Hufflepuff). Additionally, the twins had sponsored their friend Lee Jordan and fellow teammate Katie Bell while Neville had sponsored Susan Bones (at the request of his grandmother who was hoping the two would develop a romantic relationship).
Hermione had offered to sponsor Demelza Robins (a first year from Gryffindor that didn't have many friends) while Colin sponsored his brother who would be starting Hogwarts this next year. Luna wasn't sponsoring anyone personally, like Ryuu she'd allowed Flitwick to gambol away her sponsorship to free her from the need to approach the other students. While the dainty blonde was no longer tormented endlessly by the other students she had also not made any new friends with her former tormentors; she was quite content with her place among Ryuu and his other friends.
In order to accommodate all of the children, Takashi and Taki had hired a contractor to do a bit of renovation on their home over the course of the year (something they'd discussed the previous year when it became obvious that Ryuu's circle of friends was growing). They'd had several unused rooms on the ground floor gutted and turned into two dorm style rooms (one for the boys and one for the girls) and had two additional bathrooms installed to provide privacy for their guests.
That allowed for the family to maintain their private rooms on the second floor of the house instead of being forced to share with all of the children. Additionally, they had four guest houses built in the back garden, each one built to house up to two families for those parents that didn't wish to send their children alone. The Japanese Magical Magistrate had then sent warding specialists to ward their entire house with standard protections against fire, flooding, termites, and unauthorized magical transportation.
They also placed a hostile intent ward around the property in order to prevent witches and wizards seeking to harm the residents from entering the property. (Partly because of whom Ryuu was, the trouble he'd been in for the last three years, and as a protection against those who disliked the new relationship Japan's magical community now had with England's magical community.) A second portal was also installed, this one leading to District Seven, in order to allow for easier travel between their home and the magical shopping district without drawing attention to the public entrance by garnering the attention of the non-magicals due to their numbers.
Because they were ending up boarding so many students over the summer, the academy's Council of Elders decided that they would provide Takashi and Taki with a stipend to pay for food, supplies, and help offset the expense of added utility usage. The couple was also certified as an official boarding house for the school; entitling them to discounts for bulk orders at a handful of stores in District Seven (such as the book store, the pet store, the magical grocers, and the stationary store as well as a couple of others).
In return, Takashi set up a scholarship account with the Japanese branch of Gringotts for the sponsorship of Japanese students that were given the chance to attend Hogwarts. (He'd also set up a similar account with the goblins in London for the British students being sponsored to attend the Japanese academy only this one was under the Potter name instead of under Natsume). The scholarship fund would provide funds for transportation and supplies for those students that qualified as well as find lodging for those not sponsored by one of the students already in the program.
This summer would also be the first summer that several of the professors from Hogwarts would be holding workshops at Kakushugakkou no Jujutsu. Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout, Vector, and Babbling had all requested the chance to be first to visit the academy. McGonagall would be holding Animagus Training for those that had at least five years of schooling or were fifteen years of age (with parental permission).
Flitwick would be teaching Enchantment Workshops in conjunction with Babbling and Vector (Charms, Runes, and Arithmancy all playing a large part in creating magical enchantments). Sprout was offering a Herbology Workshop that focused on gardening spells. And both Babbling and Vector would be helping with the current Runes and Arithmancy classes respectfully.
Ryuu had already signed up for the Introduction to Enchantment class and of course was already taking both Runes and Arithmancy. Additionally, he was starting Introduction to Warding and French while entering his final year of Cultural Studies, Spell Casting, and Runes; hoping to obtain certificates of completion in all three courses. After a short debate, Ryuu was given permission to take the Animagus Training class since this was his fifth summer of courses.
McGonagall had protested at first, stating that he was too young (not quite fourteen yet) but Hatake had not hesitated to remind the older witch that Ryuu had both the power and control necessary to at least start the training despite his current age. She grumbled a bit but eventually relented since Takashi and both Headmasters had also given their permission but swore Ryuu would be dropped from the class if he messed around or couldn't keep up with his other classes.
This summer Ryuu had no trouble quickly settling into his usual summer routine; his unwanted adventure not leaving as much of an impact on the teen as those of his first two years. He started his mornings with Kimura and Flitwick refining his control (Kimura still not quite recovered from his close shave with the dementors); his patronus now a near permanent fixture as the steady drain of the wild magic drawn to him by the magical substances in his blood stabilized the imbalance that had marked most of the previous year. He was also working on the next level of Occlumency during those morning sessions now that he'd finally finished fixing the damage the dementors had done to his mental defenses.
Once he was finished with Kimura and Flitwick, Ryuu would turn back two hours and spend the next hour and a half in the dojo. Hatake had him working with a small group of first year students under the supervision of Satoshi who'd officially taken over the aikido classes though those students taking aikido still met in the same dojo as those taking jujitsu under Hatake.
Surprisingly, Ryuu had a natural teaching talent that had been developed through the tutoring sessions he'd been doing since his first year of summer school. The fact that he was a natural born leader helped as well since he unconsciously commanded the students' attention and respect by presenting himself professionally and offering respect to his students in turn while at the same time tolerating no nonsense. His lack of voice wasn't as much of a hindrance to the lessons as one might have expected since the lessons were based upon demonstrations rather than lectures.
After he was finished with training, he'd shower and dress for the day before heading down to breakfast with his friends. Directly after breakfast, Ryuu and Satoshi would head to Enchantment together (Satoshi not wanting to miss another chance to learn from his idol). Next for Ryuu was Master's Level Cultural Studies where they were focusing on the political aspects of the various magical communities, the magical upheavals in Europe during the twentieth century (mainly focusing on Grindelwald's and Voldemort's activities), and the purpose of the International Confederation of Wizards.
Ryuu then had an hour study period before he turned back two hours and attended French Class with Luna (who'd shyly asked him to take the class with her as she'd always wanted to learn French). Another study session followed after French before their group met up in the cafeteria for lunch. The first class of the afternoon was Introduction to Warding and the only reason he'd been allowed into that class was because he'd gotten his Master's Certification in Calligraphy the previous summer and he was very close to obtaining his Masters Certification in Runes (having taken Runes for two summer sessions in addition to a complete year at Hogwarts).
He was the youngest student in the class and also recognized as one of the best carvers because of his exceptional manual dexterity, fine motor control, and excellent penmanship. (Helped in no small part by the six years he'd been playing the flute and his need to communicate primarily through the written word. The fact that he was ambidextrous helped too since he wasn't limited to working with just one hand.)
After Warding he had Spell Casting before he turned back another two hours and attended the Animagus Training where Ryuu was once again the youngest student present. Their first class was an hour long lecture about the difficulty of the animagus transformation, the laws and regulations that apply to an animagus, and the two methods that are commonly used to achieve the actual transformation. The second hour of class was spent meditating while Professor McGonagall walked through the students testing them to see if they were capable of becoming an animagus.
Out of the sixty-seven students that had signed up for the class only eighteen of them ended up possessing the potential to complete the transformation. McGonagall was surprised to discover Ryuu was indeed one of those eighteen. They were told to choose the form they wished to take and write down the reason why they wanted that particular form for their next meeting before they were dismissed for the day. Another study period followed Animagus Training before Ryuu once more met up with Satoshi and the two of them headed up to the fourth floor where Satoshi joined Ryuu for Masters Level Music class.
Ryuu would be learning how to weave illusions with his music this year while Satoshi started with summoning. When Ryuu informed their sensei that he'd successfully summoned a fire phoenix (specifically Headmaster Dumbledore's phoenix familiar) the previous year the man became excited and asked him if he thought he could do it again. Ryuu replied that he didn't know because the ocarina he'd used to summon the phoenix (and other birds) had been destroyed and his new one just didn't sound the same. He offered to try all the same but instead of using the new clay ocarina his grandmother had gotten to replace the one lost, he used his old duel chamber ocarina.
Because Ryuu wasn't focusing specifically on Fawkes while he played this time, thinking the phoenix too far away to hear the call, the summoning spell he sent out wasn't very specific which turned out to be both a good thing and a bad thing. It was good because it meant that the call would not limit him to finding (and possibly not reaching) Fawkes but was bad because, since it wasn't specific, all the phoenixes that heard the call and felt like answering it did so since phoenix summoners were quite rare and phoenixes were naturally curious and social birds.
It wasn't just fire phoenixes that answered the call either; there were also ice, water, sand, stone, wind, shadow, light, and static phoenixes in addition to a single rare spirit phoenix. Needless to say the entire class (including the instructor) had been stunned speechless as the room filled up with hundreds of multicolored phoenixes that crowded around Ryuu who was playing with his eyes closed. When he stopped playing and opened his eyes to see if it worked, Ryuu was shocked by the number of curious black eyes that were peering at him from amidst the barrage of multicolored feathers.
After a while the birds slowly began leaving, some of them depositing tail or wing feathers in Ryuu's lap before they vanished. Finally, after nearly fifteen minutes, there were only two phoenixes left in the room; a red fire phoenix that Ryuu somehow knew was Fawkes and the small silver, white, and gold spirit phoenix. Fawkes trilled out a laugh as he landed on Ryuu's lap, nuzzled his chest, and tweaked Ryuu's hair before he vanished. The spirit phoenix on the other hand didn't leave at all; she just sat near Ryuu and stared at him. She twittered at him a time or two when their sensei finally collected himself enough to start the class but didn't approach him; nor did she leave.
At the end of class, Ryuu gathered up the three and a half dozen feathers he'd been gifted and carefully tucked them in his bag in a daze as he headed down to his dorm so he could turn back a final two hours in order to attend his last class of the day. The fact that the phoenix followed him through the school made a number of the students that had witnessed his mass summoning of one of the rarest breeds of magical birds in the world, sit back and take notice of exactly just how young, powerful, and talented Ryuu had proved to be.
The spirit phoenix was still following Ryuu when he met his friends just outside the dorms to head down to supper two hours later; the phoenix having latched onto the time turner's chain at the last second when Ryuu turned back a final two hours. Those who hadn't believed the rumors being spread about the fifth year that summoned somewhere around two hundred phoenixes were shocked when the bird soared into the dining room behind Ryuu and trilled a short song before landing on the table beside the thirteen year old. By the end of the meal, the spirit female would be perched on Ryuu's head and accepting occasional morsels of fruit and vegetables from the boy.
After the meal, Ryuu was approached by a large contingent of staff members and he shot his friends a betrayed pout as all of them but Luna bailed on him and wished him luck. Luna simply kissed his cheek and told him she'd see him in their study room to go over their vocabulary for French when he was finished; leaving behind a flustered Ryuu when she skipped out of the room. Ten minutes later, it was confirmed that the spirit phoenix had initiated a familiar bond with Ryuu; the thread connecting them somewhere between bronze and gold in color indicating that it was still in the early stages of the bond.
It was also determined that the young female was less than a year old and had not yet gone through her first rebirth; meaning she was newly hatched. She was also the first spirit phoenix to be seen in over two hundred years. Until now it was believed that they either never truly existed or that they were an extinct species of phoenix. Since there were no daily care guides on what one needed to do in order to care for a young phoenix, especially one whose abilities were largely unknown; a message was sent to Albus Dumbledore, the only other wizard currently alive with a phoenix familiar, detailing the situation. Ryuu would later send a second letter home to his parents with one of the school's owls to let them know what had happened.
Ryuu's newly gifted feathers, which included at least one tail feather and one flight feather from each species of phoenix except his new familiar, were placed into a protective case so they wouldn't be damaged or stolen (phoenix feathers being extremely valuable and highly sought after by wand makers, potion masters, potion suppliers, and collectors). He showed the feathers to his friends when they curiously asked to see the difference between the different kinds of phoenixes while Satoshi described what had happened during music class.
Ryuu blushed when he was asked what he was thinking when he summoned them all and he admitted that he hadn't been thinking which made everyone laugh. The young phoenix also garnered attention from more than half the school though she wouldn't allow anyone but Ryuu (and his familiars) to get close to her, let alone touch her; her skittishness due to the still forming bond and her young age.
It took Dumbledore two weeks to find the time to visit the school in order to give Ryuu advice on raising his new companion. He also brought news that Sirius Black's trial had finally been scheduled and that Ryuu would be required to take the stand at some point. Fawkes also turned up, to Dumbledore's surprise, and watched over the as yet unnamed spirit phoenix as her status as a familiar was formally registered with the Magical Magistrate.
The administrator asked when the fourth familiar would be registered and Ryuu said it wasn't his place to register Nyanko as his familiar because the cat had been with his father far longer and the cat disliked anything to do with magic. That garnered funny looks from those that didn't know Nyanko was a youkai but the matter was dropped since the cat wasn't Ryuu's constant companion like the other three were.
By the third week of summer, the bond between Ryuu and the phoenix had turned a light gold and he'd named her Shinjin, which meant faith, belief, or devotion, and sometimes called her Shin (which also meant faith, truth, fidelity, or sincerity). Her diet consisted of mainly fruits (like most phoenixes), vegetables (unlike most phoenixes), and the occasional bits of bread or chocolate (completely unlike any other phoenix). Out of Ryuu's other familiars, she got along best with Shogun who treated her like the infant she currently was, grooming the slightly larger phoenix and bringing her wild cherries (which were her favorite fruit). The two cats didn't seem to be too put out over her presence; though Tenji did get a little huffy whenever she claimed his usual perch on Ryuu's right shoulder.
Aside from the added work of integrating his new companion into his life, Ryuu was doing well with classes. In Enchantment, his summer project was to make a self cleaning tray for Shogun's perch in order to make cleaning up after the owl easier. He'd been making good progress on the initial design and the runes involved but had struggled a bit with the arithmancy because he'd not yet learned the higher level equations. Professor Vector helped him out by showing him the proper steps and warning Ryuu not to apply it another project without seeing him first.
In his warding class, Ryuu was creating a rat repellant ward stone that would repel rats for up to one hundred feet for his dorm room at Hogwarts as well as an amulet with the same ward that would prevent a rat from getting within ten feet of him. He wasn't certain it would work on an animagus but at least this way he wouldn't be jumping every time he saw a rat.
In Runes, Ryuu had decided to create amulets for his parents and grandparents with the runes for good luck and protection on them. He chose to carve them from cherry wood and shape each of them into a different animal. For his father he made a carving of Madara's natural form, his mother's was Madara's earthly vessel (she did so love Nyanko's cuteness), for his grandmother he made a koi, and his grandfather's would be a starling; the runes for each of them carved onto the back so as to disguise the nature of the pendants.
For his final project, which he'd need to have done by the end of the summer to earn his certification, Ryuu chose to make a portable pensieve. He didn't know if he'd have it finished or not though because the difficulty level required more enchantment than just simple runes. Because of that, he had a second project chosen in the form of a removable dust ward that could be hung in a room to repel dust.
The animal he'd chosen to be his animagus form was the red panda; a fact that he kept secret from everyone but Professor McGonagall. He wanted his form to be a surprise for his honorary uncle. His reasons for choosing that form were many; it was fairly small, not known to travel in large family groups (which meant it wouldn't be odd to see one alone), was extremely good at climbing, and most importantly, it was the form Hatake's patronus took because that was how the older wizard saw Ryuu.
Once his form had been approved by McGonagall (who'd vetoed a couple of other animals such as a dinosaur, a guppy, and any magical creatures that some of the other students had chosen), Ryuu began researching every thing he could about the red panda. He looked up its natural habitat, diet, social behavior, natural predators, current status in the wild, and life cycle. He also studied its physical appearance including musculature, bone structure, and natural coloration in addition to observing the red pandas at the zoo to observe how they moved, played, slept, and fought.
During the fourth week of the session, Ryuu was forced to miss two full days of classes in order to attend Sirius Black's trial. It was a brutal trial; far more so than Shogun's trial the year before. Minister Fudge fought hard to see Black thrown back into Azkaban; unwilling to admit that a mistake had been made over a decade ago. During the course of the trial it was soon revealed that Fudge had been one of the first ministry personnel to arrive on the scene (at the time he'd been with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement) and that he'd cast illegal memory charms on several key witnesses and 'lost' Black's wand before it could be checked for recent spells.
Once that information had come out, additional digging revealed that Lucius Malfoy had bribed several employees in the ministry (including Fudge at the time) to deny Black a trial in the hopes that his son would be named heir to the Black fortune. Also brought up was Dumbledore's conviction that Black had been the Potter's Secret Keeper; which had been the final nail in the coffin that had seen Black thrown into prison without a trial at the time much to Dumbledore's chagrin.
It was the scandal of the decade as not only did it once more drag the Malfoy name through the mud it revealed a long string of governmental corruption that ran back to the early sixties and seventies. The goblins grudgingly supplied an accounting of Fudge's, Malfoy's, and the Ministry's Gringotts' accounts and there was a direct correlation between the amount of money moving between those accounts and certain political moves and legal matters. A few prime examples being Lucius being cleared of all charges of being a Death Eater, Sirius Black being denied a trial, the passing of several questionable laws regarding magical sentients (such as the werewolf registration act), and the recent trials of Malfoy vs. Natsume and Natsume vs. Malfoy.
Ryuu took the stand and provided his memory of his kidnapping by the very much alive Pettigrew. It was a very graphic memory and more than one witch fainted while numerous witches and wizards retched when the rat animagus had lost his eye to Shogun. Many purebloods tried to get Ryuu arrested on charges of excessive and barbaric force on a 'pureblood' but they couldn't make the charges stick because the man had tortured Ryuu and threatened his familiars and Ryuu had restrained from outright killing the man. Still, Ryuu hadn't made any friends amongst those purebloods that had been followers of Voldemort that day or those that would be affected by Fudge's fall from grace.
That had taken place on the first day of classes he missed, on a Monday. He had to go back that Thursday when the verdict was being given in the event that he needed to answer any more questions about his interactions with Black both before and after his kidnapping. Both days he'd been more then a little irritable because he'd been forced to leave all three of his familiars at home (Shinjin because they hadn't wanted to reveal her presence to the Ministry of Magic until the bond was a bit stronger and the other two because Takashi hadn't trusted Malfoy not to try something to get revenge).
In the end, there was only one verdict that could be given; not guilty. The evidence was overwhelmingly irrefutable despite the sabotage attempts (both past and present) from Fudge, Malfoy, and a handful of others. The numerous scandals that were revealed during the course of the trial would see Fudge run out of office before the end of the summer and Malfoy desperately fighting to stay out of Azkaban. Replacing Fudge as Minister would be one Tiberius Ogden, a well liked older wizard with good business sense and unquestionable work ethics. When Ryuu returned home that night with his father and Hatake, they had two additional guests; Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.
The moment the portkey dropped them just out of sight in the backyard, Ryuu had been tackled by his familiars and Nyanko-sensei. Remus and Sirius had both stared at the dainty phoenix as they hadn't been told that Ryuu had picked up a new familiar during the first day of his summer session. When Hatake had shared the story of how the bonding had occurred (including how many phoenixes had turned up) both wizards had been impressed and a little intimidated because it indicated that Ryuu was an exceptionally powerful wizard.
That first weekend, Ryuu and Sirius danced about each other without trying to be obvious about it. Ryuu wasn't certain what the man wanted with him and Sirius was afraid of being rejected. Sirius spent quite a bit of time observing the teen; watching him with his adopted parents, watching him with his familiars, watching him interact with the other children present, and watching him study, train, and occasionally play. And as he watched, he discovered that he was most jealous, not of Takashi who'd become Ryuu's father, but of Hatake and the relationship the gray-haired wizard had with the teen. Hatake had taken the place Sirius had always thought would be his; the honorary uncle who just happened to also be his godfather.
Once Ryuu was back at school, Takashi descended on Sirius like a sudden storm; dragging the man into his office for an official counseling session. Getting the man to cooperate at first had been like pulling teeth; his sheer stubbornness rivaling even Ryuu's early refusals to leave the house. Once he cracked though, he couldn't stop and after the first four hours talking Takashi made arrangements for the Mind Healer that Ryuu had seen during his first summer session to work with the older wizard.
He also made the man several appointments with various specialists to treat the years of malnutrition, extreme exposure to the elements, and less than tender ministrations of the guards during his time in Azkaban. Lupin's presence helped considerably as the man knew his friend very well and was easily able to accurately gauge his moods and cheer him up when things got bad.
The second weekend Ryuu spent around his godfather wasn't quite as tense or stressful for either of them, though they still weren't quite comfortable with one another. Sirius's sessions with the Mind Healer were already showing signs of helping the man's emotional and mental stability as had the long confession/heart to heart he'd had with Takashi. He still had a long ways to go though; mostly because of how long he'd spent in the near constant presence of the dementors – even though half the time he'd been in his animagus form.
That was also the weekend of Ryuu's fourteenth birthday and this year they'd celebrated at home; Ryuu not wanting to spend yet another day away from his phoenix, who couldn't really go out in public because of her obviously magical appearance. From his parents that year he was given a professional grade etching kit. His grandparents had picked up several boxes of marble, slate, and granite tiles he could use for practicing his wards and runes. Hatake had given him his first full sized bo (with a reinforced steel core like his hanbo).
His friends had pooled their funds and bought him a leather jacket that had all four of his familiars likenesses embroidered on the back. Remus had given him a spell handbook that had a collection of spells that were commonly used in a wizard's everyday life but weren't taught at Hogwarts. And Sirius had given him ten tickets to the upcoming Quidditch World Cup. The twins thought the tickets were the best gift (all they could talk about was the game since the day they'd learned their father had managed to get tickets for their family to attend the game).
On the third weekend after the trial, the two of them would share their first conversation; stilted though it was. They stayed on safe topics such as school and the weather; both of them slowly testing the waters. Sirius still hadn't been told the details of Ryuu's early life and how he'd come to be adopted by Takashi but Sirius wasn't in any hurry to hear the details because he was afraid to hear how badly he'd failed his godson.
The biggest surprise for those who knew who Ryuu had been and who Sirius was to Ryuu was the fact that Sirius had no trouble accepting the fact that Ryuu had changed his name and was hiding who he had been. Sirius's response was that his godson was happy and that was all that mattered; something that had earned him a measure of respect from his godson who appreciated the fact that the man wasn't trying to make Ryuu live in his past in order to recapture what the man had lost the night the Potters died.
The final two weeks of the summer session were stressful for Ryuu, academically, as he worked to finish up his projects for Warding, Runes, and Enchantment, studied for his certification exams for Cultural Studies, Spell Casting, and Runes, and prepared his presentation for Master's Level Music in hopes of gaining the official title of Illusionist.
His performance test for music would require him to present an illusion of a well known Japanese fairytale or legend of his choice, create a solid appearing illusion (could be a person or an object), and either disguise or hide his presence for a total of five minutes. He would then be awarded points for quality, stability, accuracy, complexity, and originality; the cumulative total of points would be used to determine if he earned the title or not.
In his Animagus Training, Professor McGonagall would be testing how well they knew their chosen animal and how close they were to integrating their form into their magic. This would involve a lot of meditation, a few magical scans, and a series of verbal questions in a one on one setting. McGonagall would then transfigure them into their chosen form to see if they could retain their human minds and if they could function in the foreign body.
Those that passed that portion would then be given instructions on the next step in the process so they could spend the year preparing for the final two steps in the process when they returned the next summer. Those unable to retain their minds or move about properly in their chosen forms would need to repeat the introductory course and spend the year doing a more thorough research of their chosen form.
Ryuu did well in all of the classes though he struggled with his enchantment project because he just didn't yet have a good enough grasp of the arithmancy involved. He managed to complete his project and it worked as it was supposed to but he'd needed a bit more help than any of the older students. He still passed the class and would move up to the next level the following summer and was told he could direct his questions to one of the three instructors over the course of the year at Hogwarts in order to help prepare him for the next level.
His hopes of creating a portable pensieve had been set aside for this summer as well since he just wasn't at a high enough level to create something that complicated due to the amount of enchantment and arithmancy involved. He had all the research he would need to complete it once he had a better grasp of the skills he would need to create the pensieve; which would make it easier once he reached the appropriate level. His alternate project still gained him his rune certification though as did the thoroughness of his research into the creation of the pensieve.
His portable rodent ward earned him extra credit in Warding because the concept of non-stationary wards that weren't solely based upon a charm was unique and once thought to be impossible. Ryuu had based the design upon his protection amulets that Natori-san had made to protect him from the youkai and kept the warding system simple by focusing on a specific kind of rodent instead of just rodents in general. He'd also integrated three different types of runes into the ward, instead of sticking with a single alphabet which would have caused the project to fail, and tied the spells into the runes to make them self sustaining. His sensei had pulled him aside after class and offered to help him apply for a patent for his portable warding scheme since it was an original concept.
He achieved one of the highest scores on his Illusionary Projection; recreating the story of the Spider Weaver, creating an exact illusion of himself and his familiars so that when they stood side by side they couldn't determine which one was the real one without physically touching them, and managed to put the entire audience to sleep for five minutes while also changing his appearance so that when they woke up they couldn't find him until he dispelled the illusion.
He'd nearly exhausted himself giving the performance (mostly due to how hard he'd been pushing himself during those final two weeks) but it had been worth it when he was told he'd earned his second title. There were only three more possible titles he could earn; that of Elemental (the ability to manipulate the elements using music and magic), the title of Shaman (the art of healing using music and magic), and that of Master Bard if he could prove that he could effectively teach what he'd learned.
In his final Animagus class, he was one of five out of the eighteen that had the potential to transform that managed to retain their human minds, one of three that could function in the foreign body, and the only one that had fully integrated his animal into his magic. He was so comfortable in his form that he'd actually played around with his familiars for a bit while Professor McGonagall had watched in shock. She'd fully expected him to be one of the ones that would need to repeat the course next year but she had underestimated his desire to surprise his surrogate uncle.
The three identifying markings that made him stand out from a true red panda were his green eyes, the faint white lines around his eyes that looked like glasses, and a tracery of white fur on his forelegs that exactly matched the scars on his arms. The scar on his back and the one on his lower abdomen appeared as a thin lines hidden by the reddish brown fur of his back and the darker fur of his belly respectfully.
Ryuu ended the summer on a high note with three more certifications under his belt, promotions in his other classes, a new title, and the instructions he needed to eventually be able to transform himself into his animagus form. He would go on to sleep through the next forty-eight hours with only a few moment of lucidity while they traveled back to England as he'd pushed himself to his limits and exhausted himself. It hadn't helped that he'd been adding sixteen hours to his school days; turning for eight hours worth of classes and then adding an additional eight hours for sleep.
Healer Inoue had nearly banned him from using the time turner towards the end of the summer and would have if he'd known how close to exhaustion Ryuu would be once the session ended. As it was his next year at Hogwarts would see him dropping his hours back to four hours of extra time for classes and four hours for sleep only three days a week in order to reduce the risk of him stressing his body as he entered puberty.
After his power nap (as Sirius had called it) Ryuu felt much better and was actually looking forward to seeing a professional game of Quidditch. He wasn't an avid fan of the sport and he had no interest in playing himself but he did enjoy watching the school matches on occasion. He'd offered his extra tickets to his father, Hatake, Sirius, Remus, Satoshi, Luna and her father, Neville, and Hermione. Fred and George were going to the match as well, along with the rest of their family, and the twins were looking forward to introducing Ryuu to their oldest (and therefore coolest) two brothers.
His mother and Neville's grandmother would be going with them but would be staying in their campsite instead of watching the game. Shinjin and Nyanko would both be staying behind as well; Shinjin because she'd attract far too much attention and Nyanko so he could provide an added measure of security for those not watching the game. Xeno Lovegood provided the tent for their camp, Augusta Longbottom provided the food, and Hatake planned to ward their camp to prevent trouble from finding the two ladies that would be staying behind while they were in the stands. Sirius insisted on paying for everyone's souvenirs once they arrived; stating he had money to burn and it would make his parents roll in their graves to waste money on such frivolous nonsense.
A couple of days after they arrived in England and three days before they would be heading off for the World Cup, Takashi and Taki pulled Ryuu aside to talk to him. Ryuu grew nervous when he noticed how nervous they were behaving and wondered if they'd heard some bad news that in some way involved him. Turns out they were nervous for a whole different reason and Ryuu was left with mixed feelings; Taki was pregnant.
They'd not been actively trying for a child (though they both knew they wanted more children) and had planned on waiting for Ryuu to be just a bit older before they actually began trying for a child. Apparently the magic in the castle had interfered with Taki's birth control pills and they'd been a little less diligent about protection around the time Ryuu had been kidnapped when they'd needed the comfort and still believed the pills were working.
Ryuu was honestly happy for his parents; he knew they both loved children and he'd often listened to them talk about the day when they'd have a child. The reason he felt conflicted was because he wasn't certain what would happen to him once his new little brother or sister arrived. Babies need lots of care and attention and Ryuu knew his parents had given him a large chunk of their time in the past but with a baby in the family there wasn't going to be enough time in the day for his parents to spend with both of them.
He knew his parents wouldn't stop loving him, they'd proved it time and time again through the years; but he feared that he would take attention away from the new baby because of all the trouble he'd get into or that he'd need his mother or father only to find they couldn't be there to help him because the baby needed them. All in all, it was a pretty normal reaction to a new addition and his parents did their best to let him know they weren't going to let the new baby change the important aspects of their life because there was no doubt the new baby would bring about some changes.
The day before the day of the Quidditch Cup, their group arrived at their appointed campsite in the early morning. They were situated at the edge of the forest (as requested) and right next to what would become the Weasley campground in another day. Xeno, Sirius, and Remus set up the magical tent that at first glance appeared to be nothing more than a large canvas tent similar to what one would expect to find at a park being used for a family reunion in order to keep their food free from flies and the heat.
Once you stepped inside, the true magic of the tent was revealed as you stepped into a large, five bedroom, two bathroom house complete with kitchen and living room. Sirius stepped outside along with Hatake and the two of them set about securing the edge of their campsite with discreet wards that wouldn't be noticed by the non-magicals that managed the large stretch of moorland that the Quidditch Stadium had been erected on for this year's World Cup. Ryuu slipped outside with Shogun and Tenji to watch; the fourteen year old interested in seeing practical wards set up on a temporary location.
The rest of that first night was spent discussing what they could expect the next day when the game finally got underway. Satoshi, an avid sports fan, knew almost everything there was to know about the two teams; including their current team stats, what mascot they were likely to have brought, and the current odds on which team would win. Beyond the walls of their tent, the gathered crowd partied and argued as anticipation ran high as it drew closer to the start of the match.
Sunrise brought with it the arrival of half the Weasley family, the oldest three sons due to arrive via apparation later and the matriarch choosing to stay home. The twins eagerly greeted Ryuu and the others while Ron glared and stalked off on his own and Ginny hovered shyly near her father as he attempted to put up their barrowed tent.
Around noon, when the older boys arrived, Fred and George dragged the two oldest over to introduce them to everyone. Bill, the oldest, solemnly thanked Takashi and Taki for putting up with the twins and beating a semblance of manners into them which effectively made everyone who knew the twins laugh. That broke the ice and the two groups sat around outside chatting comfortably about the up coming game, the looming school term, and the career choices of the two eldest Weasley boys.
Bill worked for Gringotts Bank out of Egypt where he was a curse breaker; his job to retrieve priceless artifacts from deep within the pyramids while breaking the traps the Egyptian wizards had set up and cleaning the treasure of harmful curses. Charlie, the second oldest, was a dragon handler who worked on a reserve in Romania that raised approximately fifteen different types of dragons (and the one who'd arranged for Hagrid's dragon to be smuggled out of Hogwarts in Ryuu's first year).
Luna, in one of her quirkier moments, firmly told Charlie that he was not to try and steal her Dragon away to lock him up on the reserve. The group of friends laughed uproariously as Ryuu blushed bright red in mortification while Satoshi explained exactly who Luna's dragon was. He was further embarrassed when Charlie glanced at him before smirking and teasingly offering Luna a few tips for keeping her dragon in line. It was made even worse when the twins interjected that Luna could probably teach Charlie a few new tricks on how to properly train a dragon; Ryuu's mock glower promised painful and humiliating retribution.
Before they knew it, they were joining the line of fans heading into the stadium as the moment they'd been waiting for finally arrived. The Weasleys and Ryuu's group made their way up to the very top box where they had a brief, unpleasant encounter with the Malfoys. They also met the new British Minister of Magic who in turn introduced them to the Bulgarian Minister of Magic.
The game was officially opened by Ludo Bagman shortly after that as he introduced first the team mascots (veela for the Bulgarians and leprechauns for the Irish) before introducing the actual teams. The game itself was fast and brutal, lasting for nearly six hours before the Bulgarian's seeker, Viktor Krum, captured the snitch ending the game but giving the win to the Irish. The celebratory atmosphere that followed the game would be broken around midnight by the arrival of several masked Death Eaters torturing the non-magical family that managed the grounds and terrorizing the fans.
Pandemonium ruled for nearly an hour before the Dark Mark was suddenly seen hanging over the forest and sheer terror followed on the heels of the appearance of the green skull and snake. Hatake had kept their group safely contained in their campsite; their wards protecting them from the worst of the stampeding crowds and from the Death Eaters. The five youngest Weasleys had been brought into their camp when Arthur tried sending them fleeing into the forest before he'd gone to help contain the Death Eaters with the help of his two oldest boys.
When the Dark Mark rose, Ryuu stood and stared at the green glowing skull and snake with an unreadable expression on his face while all three of his familiars hissed, snarled, and shrieked angrily. Madara too stared at the glittering mark; his golden eyes calculating as he peered intently into the forest.
AN: I know this chapter seems kind of rushed but there was a ton of things that needed to be included in preparation for Ryuu's fourth year. I'll also apologize to those readers that were hoping to read the entire Quidditch Cup match but since the game basically followed canon, I left it out instead.
The next chapter or two I post will be on Banished Destiny (the HP/Gundam Wing crossover I mentioned I'd be posting in the last chapter). Chapter 30 of Haunted will be up by next weekend so long as nothing else comes up. Anywho, hope you enjoyed the chapter. ~ Jenn
09-24-12: Chapters 17 & 18 were reposted with minor edits.
