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 36. Threat and Temptation

The din of combat filled the air as two figures strove mightily against one another, a flight of miniature dragons created by Draconifors meeting a flurry of ofuda, with spells batted aside in mid-air not by a shield, but by a gloved hand.

'He's quick!' Shinji thought as he faced his opponent, Fred Weasley, wondering where the other twin was, since it was supposed to be a 2 on 1 duel, and losing track of the other was dangerous.

…as was evinced when a shout of Incarcerous came from the seemingly empty air behind him, an unseen force knocking Matou to the ground, with thick cords appearing around his body to bind him tight.

Only for a dark fog to seep out of Matou's form, dissolving away the rope as if it had never been, as the boy recovered to his feet, his grey eyes glinting with a golden light.

"…a vanishing spell? You shouldn't know a fifth year transfiguration spell!" Fred asked, narrowing his eyes as he launched an orb of green lightning at the boy – noting with interest how Shinji didn't raise a shield to block it, but instead caught it with his hand…and turned, tossing the orb at what seemed an empty corner of the room, where it exploded on contact with a hastily raised shield spell – momentarily revealing the location of the disillusioned George."

"Untransfiguration, actually," the Matou scion grunted.

After all, conjuration was a form of transfiguration that creating an object from thin air…which meant that one didn't need a vanishing spell to erase it. One simply needed to revert it the conjured object to its original form: thin air.

With a frown, Fred snapped his fingers, with a horde of miniature dragons swarming forward, dozens upon dozens of bright green menaces that moved to attack the enemy before them, their fiery breath issuing forth to burn away any ofuda Matou might send against them…except that he sent none at all.

Instead, an orb of darkness issued from his wand, flying into the center of the swarm and detonating in a wave of shadow that engulfed them all, reverting the miniature dragons to what they had been before Fred's transfigurations - harmless paper airplanes that fluttered to the floor.

Fred took a step back in shock as he saw this, with Shinji pressing his momentary advantage with a silent stunning spell – though the smile faded as the crimson spellbeam was deflected by one of equal force from another corner of the room.

"You two know…spell fencing?" he asked warily, as the two moved to circle one another, with Shinji trying to keep the invisible George in his view – though he didn't really see George as much as a human-shaped form of red.

"Quirrell may have been a right arse," Fred quipped, launching a barrage of silent disarming spells, "but that doesn't mean, we can't use his techniques."

Cursing at the sudden onslaught, Shinji was forced to deflect them with a Shield Charm, while he commanded his ofuda to seek out the other – invisible – twin and bind him, only for his wand to fly out of his hand as he was hit by a disarming spell from behind.

"Huzzah!" Fred said, a smile creeping over his face as he used a whirlwind of force to knock the ofuda going after his brother to the ground, with Shinji's cherry wand describing a delicate arc through the air, and vanishing as it was plucked away by an unseen hand. "Your wand is gone, Matou, and so your main defense. Do you yield?"

But Shinji only chuckled, with the visible twin's expression going flat as the Matou scion produced a second wand – his wand of hazel and coral.

"I think…not!" the Ravenclaw replied, launching a small orb of ofuda into the air before him – one that detonated in an incandescent blaze of light and sound that blinded and deafened those combatants who weren't ready for it.

Whump-boom!

…naturally, this meant everyone but Matou Shinji, of course.

He wouldn't lose this battle. Couldn't afford to lose, since the Twins had agreed to help him out in Potions – but only if he managed to beat them in a battle in which they were going all out. After all, they were quite curious as to how he'd been named one of the two Champion candidates without going to the Potions Boot Camp at all – and all the more so when he had mentioned that his candidacy was based mostly on his skill at scavenging and combat.

"Well then," George had said after some minutes. "I think a test is in order, don't you, brother of mine?"

Shinji had been instantly on his guard.

"A test, you say?" the boy had replied, looking between the twins – one of which wore the enchanted gloves Shinji had passed along, with the other wearing the enchanted boots. He'd thought it only fair to give them his extras at the time, since Touko was giving him a new set of enchanted clothing, but he'd never anticipated that they'd turn them against him. "What did you have in mind?"

"Nothing complex," Fred had noted.

"Not a potions challenge, certainly," George had added, with the two looking at each other and nodding once.

"Combat."

The Twins had chorused that together, with Shinji feeling more than a little on edge. On a one-on-one basis, he could probably beat them, but…

"Against both of us," Fred had added.

"At once," George supplied.

—two on one was a different story, given that that meant he'd have to split his attention between them.

"What are your conditions?" he'd asked warily.

"Beat us," the two had said at once.

"By which we mean that both of us must be incapacitated or made to yield," Fred had clarified.

"Best us, and we will help you with Potions—"

"—in return for a favor," the two had concluded together, eying the boy to see what his response would be.

"Agreed," Shinji had found himself saying.

Aside from the twins, he had precious few options for really boosting his potential in both combat and Potions. Pansy, of course, had been hinting – and none too subtly at that – that she'd be willing to aid him with the Competition, giving him information from Boot Camp and such, with the caveat that if he accepted her offer, he would have to appoint her his Second.

Harry wasn't an option, since the Boy-Who-Lived was his rival for the position of Champion, with the Heir of Slytherin having his own reasons for competing: something that drove him beyond a simple desire for fame or glory. Shinji knew full well that Harry wished to live up to the expectations of everyone around him, to become the hero they saw him as, and that he saw this competition as one step towards that.

He even respected it as a motivation – but that didn't mean he'd let his friend have the spot. Not when the Director of Atlas herself had expressed an interest in him being part of the Potions Championship, given its location on an ancient floating isle and such.

Above anyone else in this world, Matou Shinji was loyal to Sion Eltnam Atlasia, so if she had a wish, he would surely work to grant it – even if it set him against Harry. For surely, the Boy-Who-Lived would have other opportunities to prove himself.

Shinji had the one, and he wasn't about to squander it.

Hence he had approached the twins, instead of Pansy or Su Li, both of whom would gladly work with him, but would only boost his skill by so far.

…which brought him back to the present, where he was dueling the two of them.

Alone.

With the momentary advantage his flashbang had bought him, Matou Shinji felled Fred Weasley with a Stunning Spell, a halo of red blossoming around the older Gryffindor's form as the twin was caught flat footed, his form crumpling bonelessly to the ground.

He turned to do the same to the invisible – but presumably stunned – George, only to see a jet of crimson light coming straight for his face. Shinji ducked to avoid it, but couldn't avoid the followup of Flipendo Tria, a whirlwind of force that knocked him flat, with a second Disarming Charm catching him in mid-flight, his second wand flying from of his hands into that of his invisible opponent as he was flung into a corner of the room, his head ringing.

As he struggled to get back to his feet, the Matou scion sent a wave of explosive ofuda outwards, attempting to buy himself some time, but as it so happened, George wasn't pressing his attack anyway, with Shinji stifling a muffled curse as he heard the word Rennervate.

'…the Reviving spell. Which means Fred is back in action.'

So it proved, as the older teen surged to his feet, a wave of fire poured forth from his wand, incinerating the ofuda while with a cry of "Draconifors", the paper airplanes that had fluttered to the floor earlier became miniature dragons once more, taking flight and adding their fire to Fred's.

"You fought well, Matou," Fred commented, eying the young Ravenclaw who had been quite literally backed into a corner. "But this is it. Your wands are gone. Your surprises are spent. Your ofuda are useless against our small army of dragons. And both of us remain. Yield."

"…no," Shinji growled out, his eyes flashing gold in the dim light of the tower. "Not while I'm still…here!"

"Heh, to the last, is it?" Fred asked, raising an eyebrow. "As you wish, Matou!"

With a gesture, the dragons surged forward once more, rushing towards the stricken form of Matou Shinji, who simply closed his eyes, as if accepting his end.

As they came, his sense of self faded. His anger, his defiance, his bravado faded. Everything faded except what lay before him – the desire to reject this end. They were many and he was one. They had trained to fight a superior foe, but their tactics in the end were only human. Holding back, he could not beat them, for they weren't – they knew how he fought.

They knew most of his tricks.

They had tricks of their own, made to counter his – as they had seen the ones Harry used – hence they had fought to disarm him, not to stun him, as they knew his ofuda would simply revive him.

He could not defeat them with wand and ofuda. But he could imagine what could, as he opened the door to the world beyond, the door behind which lay everything and nothing and every possibility between.

In that moment, there was no Matou Shinji. There was no world.

All was one.

He returned to awareness as the miniature dragons swarmed over him, screaming in confusion as their raking claws proved useless against flesh hard and unyielding as stone itself. He could feel the room, the tower, everything around him. The flow of prana in the air, where both of the twins were, and more.

The stone of Hogwarts. The iron in the blood of those around him. The wood in their wands. The spells they were preparing. All of these sang to him, leaving nothing concealed from his sight.

From his body, spikes of earth shot out, impaling each of the miniature dragons that crowded around him, their forms going ashen grey and crumbling to dust in an instant.

In the distance, the one named Fred went pale at the sight. Petrification magic was…was a high level Dark Art. A spell only the most powerful of Dark Wizards could accomplish in the histories.

"But Matou isn't…?" he breathed in confusion. "How is this even…?" But he steadied himself. He was not a Stone Cutter for nothing, after all, even if what he was seeing was not something he'd ever expected to encounter. And he had one more trick to play. "George, now!"

Fred Weasley gripped his wand tightly as he loosed spell after spell upon Matou's changed form, wondering what magic he had wrought to utterly transform himself, as even his clothing was different, and the younger boy seemed dangerous on a level he had never appeared before.

"Flipendo! Stupefy! Immobulus!"

All these and more he cast, coruscating beams of color and might streaking towards Matou Shinji, who did not even bother to block as he advanced, with the spells splintering upon his skin and fading. For in his fusion form, Matou Shinji was closer to an elemental than a human, and to such a being, wand spells were an inferior mystery.

"…spell resistance?"

Fred swallowed, crying out "Avis!" over and over, as an unending stream of birds shot from the tip of his wand, heading unerringly towards the advancing Ravenclaw's eyes.

'Maybe I can't stop him. But I can slow him down…'

Not for long though, for as the birds came close to Matou, they were wiped from reality by a shimmering field of power that forbade their existence – a bounded field that reverted transfigured things to their natural state.

Fred Weasley had only a moment to process what had just happened before he lost consciousness, his wand snatched from his hand by an unseen force.

And in that moment…

Light flared as George completed what he had been working on – a runic array carved into the stone of the Tower for a single purpose: to bind the human named Matou Shinji.

They had anticipated he would have odd tricks, much as Harry Potter or Robert Hillard did, and in the event such a thing proved overwhelming, they had created a powerful binding to trap him, though there was no magic poured into the runes to prevent him from sensing or seeing them. There was no sense not using every advantage possible, after all, not when they were the ones who had prepared the battlefield in advance.

As long as he was still human – or reasonably close – the binding would succeed, and with Matou Shinji rendered helpless, the match would be over.

Under the cover of an Invisibility cloak, George Weasley stamped his foot, pouring the final bit of magic he needed into the ground, with runes blazing into existence one after another across the entire surface of the room to stop Matou and hold him fast.

…but Matou Shinji did not stop.

'What…but the array…it's active, so why…?'

Yes. The array which he had inscribed and activated would surely have bound Matou Shinji - as long as the younger boy was human.

But in fusion form, the young Ravenclaw was not, in fact, human, a fact proven by how he advanced through the field of runes unhindered, heading inexorably towards George's location.

"Fizzle," the other intoned, with a haze of shadows rising from the ground and consuming the light of the runes, the energy within them stolen away by a superior force. "Bind."

George prepared for an onslaught of ofuda, for whatever was to come, but none came. His body simply stiffened as prana seeped into it from the many talismans that had been scattered all over the floor from a previous altercation, the shadows all about him congealing into lines and whorls, like ropes that froze as they touched their target.

"User of Witchcraft, I bind you."

The shadows rose, the freezing sensation of their touch stealing the sensation from his arms and legs, his wand slipping from his hand as he felt nothing at all. No pain, no shock, just nothing. And that was the greatest horror of all.

"Sons of Arthur and Molly Weasley, I bind you."

George tried to speak, to say something, but could not, as the chill stole over his throat, his chin, his face, leaving him helpless.

"George and Fred Weasley…I bind you."

And then it was complete, the ropes of power sinking into him and leaving him – and his brother – motionless as stone, bound not simply by intention and prana, but by knowledge of their nature, their lineage, their names.

…it was ironic in a way, given that this was very much what the Twins had tried to do to Matou Shinji, save that they had not accounted for an unexpected variable in their calculations.

His familiar.

In their minds, a familiar was simply a pet, after all. Even if they'd heard things about creatures from the east being able to transform and use magic of their own, to them, familiars didn't take part in combat – and to be fair, most British familiars, with the exception of beasts like the Basilisk of Slytherin or Albus Dumbledore's phoenix, were rather useless on the battlefield.

They'd hadn't seen Shinji with his fox familiar during the fight - but even if they had, they would have dismissed it as a threat. A fox was simply a fox - a cute, fluffy thing that might be nice to pet, but wouldn't be much good in combat, no? True, they knew things were different in the East, but it hadn't even crossed their minds that here in Britain, Shinji's familiar might play a role.

Such were the ingrained prejudices of Wizarding Britain.

"This battle is over," Shinji announced, his voice echoing in the now silent chamber. "And I have won."

After collecting their wands – and his – he released them from their bindings, and revived Fred Weasley, with the Twins looking at his new form with a wary sense of respect and fear, given what they'd seen him do – and his odd appearance, with his grey robes and his crown of branches.

"What is…?"

"This is called fusion," Matou Shinji explained, his golden eyes looking upon the Twins with an almost gentle regard. "One of the greatest techniques of wizardkind, long forgotten by the West, created by the combination of a nature spirit with one of our kind."

"…a nature spirit?"

"Like a kitsune," the boy noted, with George feeling more than a little unnerved at how calm the boy sounded, as if they had not just fought each other, had not hurled powerful spells at each other – as if Shinji had not just used that powerful binding on him, stealing away not just his ability to move but his ability to sense anything at all but sound. "Or some other youkai. But you don't have many such spirits in Britain."

"…no. We don't," Fred admitted, taking a deep breath as he shook his head. "Fair's fair, I suppose. You've beaten us, so we'll help you."

"We actually didn't expect you to win," George stated bluntly. "Especially since we'd devised this strategy to counter powerful opponents like Hillard or Harry. One Twin holding an opponent's attention with charms and more showy transfiguration abilities, while the other attacked from behind, set up a runic binding and more."

"To be honest, we weren't sure you knew what you were asking for," Fred added, shaking his head. "Asking for our help in Potions meant that you wanted us to train you to beat Harry, after all. And given that he's Snape's prize pupil, there's not much hope of beating him in brewing. So you'd have to be able to beat him on the field, more than just matching him."

"I don't think that will be a problem, do you?" Shinji inquired solicitously, with both of the twins shaking their heads.

"No—"

"—we don't—"

"—think so."

"Good," Matou Shinji noted, releasing the fusion and reverting back to his normal form, with Zelkova perched upon his shoulder. "I rather hoped not."

"Merlin's bloody balls…" George whispered. "So what…this is like an Eastern Animagus transformation?"

"You could say that," the Ravenclaw said. It was not dissimilar, he supposed… "But you'd need a familiar to pull it off. A powerful one, not something you'd get in a pet store."

"Ah," the twins chorused as one. "Then we know our favor."

"Yes?" Shinji asked, wondering what it would be.

"We want familiars," they noted.

"That form of yours…it's…wicked."

Shinji smiled slightly.

"Agreed."

He just hoped Matsuo-san wouldn't mind visitors in the summer.

"…so…can Lovegood use fusion too?" Fred said slowly, remembering that Luna had accompanied Shinji to Japan and had gotten a fox, much like he had.

"…she usually beats me when using it," the boy admitted, with Fred stunned into silence by the boy's frank statement.

"Remind me not to make her angry," George quipped after a beat, thinking that if Luna could beat Shinji at his full power, then the girl was liable to be rather scary indeed.

And well, she was, given that in fusion form, she could - and did - use walls of razor wind, swirling fireballs that consumed spells, and more, in addition to things like basic spell resistance, limited flight, and invisibility, with a viciousness and power belied by her cute appearance.

"I'll second that, brother of mine," Fred added fervently. "I'll second that."

Later that evening, Shinji found himself talking with Robert Hillard, the strategist of the Stone Cutters, as well as the others, about their plans for the spiders. By the end of the week, the equipment he had commissioned – the wyvernhide armor and such – would finally be complete, and he wanted to know what the Head Boy had come up with.

"First off, we'll need to spend a great deal of time drilling ourselves for the attack," Hillard noted. "And of course, we'll have to get buy-in from a teacher, given that someone should know where we are. Probably Lockhart, given that he probably knows a thing or two about fighting spiders. Though…"

"Yes, Robert?"

"…it's just that there are so many of them," the Head Boy said, his lips pressed together in a thin line as he examined a battle map of the hollow and surrounding areas. "True, they're hibernating now, but once we begin, I'm sure they'll wake up."

"We'll be able to eliminate a few first, right?" Harry asked.

"A few is not the problem," Hillard responded bluntly. "I understand we've been successful in our engagements against the spiders to date, but we've also only fought a few at a time. I'm concerned that against the numbers we're looking at, we're going to be worn down at the very least. There is nothing more tiring than battle, Moody tells me, and I for one believe him."

"Well, how about getting some outside help?" Shinji broke in, with the others turning to him.

"What do you mean?" Fred asked.

"Do you mean the Ourea?" George added.

"Not exactly," the Matou scion responded. "I mean Lockhart. He is said to be the greatest adventurer in all of Britain, after all, and I'm sure he may have dealt with a situation similar to this. Acromantulae are used to guard treasures, after all."

…that and he was reasonably certain that Lockhart was part of the Order of Assassins, and they were quite good at killing things, if nothing else.

"I had considered that," Hillard remarked. "Though I'm a little concerned about what he might want in return, if actually comes with us. There's the risk he'll claim the lion's share of the wealth when we do the work, after all. Also, I'm not sure I want to reveal all of our abilities to him. While he's been a useful ally, I'm not sure how much I trust him."

"That's true," Shinji admitted. There were times that the man disturbed him a fair bit as well. "Though I don't think him knowing what we're capable of is something to worry about for now. Let's concentrate on one threat at a time."

"True," Harry conceded. "Why don't you start with asking him for advice? I don't know what to believe about Hagrid. I don't think he'd intentionally do something wrong, but…"

"It doesn't matter what he meant," Fred said quietly.

"Just what he did," George chimed in.

"Those spiders could very well kill someone," the twins chorused, disgruntled. "Explains why he would never let us into the Forbidden Forest though. Protecting his secrets, no doubt."

"It's concerning, I agree," Shinji noted. "I'll ask Lockhart, but you have to remember the man is very perceptive. It is…very hard to hide things from him. And…I remember first year. I don't want that to happen again because we overestimated ourselves. Our secrets are important, but…"

"Not as important as our lives," Hillard finished. "It's true. Still, there are some things we can probably keep back, like any absolute trumps. Being perfectly honest, most of what we do is common knowledge anyway – that you can use ofuda, that Harry is advanced in Defense, that I can do the Patronus, that the Twins are good at Runes and setting traps, and that Luna is good at unusual strategy. I assume the design of whatever protective garment you are commissioning came from him?"

"…indeed," Shinji confirmed.

"Interesting. Tell me, is there anything else you know about Lockhart?" the Head Boy asked. "When you talk about him, there's something in your tone that implies he's more than an adventurer. Especially when you mention what he's been training you in."

Matou Shinji was silent for a moment as he considered what to say. From what Sion had told him, it was likely Lockhart was an Assassin, but he hadn't ever confirmed that – nor did he think it was safe to really look into.

"There might be something," he admitted reluctantly, frowning as he spoke. "I've seen hints here and there, but I haven't confirmed it, and frankly, I don't think it would be safe to look into. I don't think he's a dark wizard, mind you, just that he's a dangerous man in a number of ways."

The words of Tomas, that there would be precious little evil done in the world if evil could never be done in the name of good, echoed in his mind, reminding him of the dreams he sometimes suffered from, and the future he found so very uncertain.

"…I'd figured that much out myself," Hillard grunted, shaking his head. "But since you insist, I'll leave it at that for now. For now, here's what I have in mind. Matou, you and the Twins are the best at Runes among us. I want you to scout the perimeter around the hollow while they're asleep, erecting a runic array if possible to keep the spiders inside. We don't want any escaping."

"Mm, it doesn't matter how strong we are if they run away," Luna said distantly, speaking up for the first time that meeting.

"Indeed," Hillard said, smiling slightly. "So while they're hibernating, I want us to make preparations. We needed a shielded rest area we can retreat to if necessary, as well as a boundary."

"Understood," the Twins chorused.

"Harry. I'll need you to brew us quite a few potions. Stamina potions, healing potions, and the like. You can have others help out – say it's for a project we're working on."

"…and it wouldn't even be a lie," Harry noted with a faint smile. "Alright."

"Luna, I want more details about how many spiders there are, of what size, what the hollow looks like exactly, and such. Get Matou to help you out."

"Mm. Ok."

"Since I am collaborating with Lockhart on creating this year's Kobayashi Maru exercise, I'll have access to the Book of Spells, and will be using it to create a scenario for us to practice, based on Luna's information. Every evening you're not busy with something else, I expect you to be practicing your abilities, sparring each other, and working with each other on your assignments. We have a lot to get done in a couple of months, and we need to know each other's abilities inside and out if we want a chance of victory."

"Understood," the others said, each one looking at Hillard with determination in their eyes.

"Good. You all make me proud to be a Stone Cutter. Let's just hope this adventure goes a wee bit better than last time, eh?"

"…so I hope," Harry murmured distantly, looking at the empty chair - the one representing the presence of the one who'd fought with them in their first year, but who was no longer among them - the late Sialim Sokaris. "So I hope."

"Speaking of adventures…I don't suppose you could give any hints as far as what you're making for the Kobayashi?" Shinji asked dryly. "Not that I expect you to, but…"

"You'll find out with everyone else, Matou. After all, it wouldn't be much of a test if you knew what was coming, eh?"