A.N.: Finally, an update! Sorry, kinda struggling with getting useful stuff done, both for school and for hobbies. Anyway, timeskip! Hopefully people won't be too mad at me for that.
xyzdreadnought: Yeah, that was embarrassing. Thanks for calling it out, I edited it immediately.
Albirmsam & Kitsune Obsessed Freak & prisontaker: Glad you enjoy the story!

Fiona's Light

~Chapter 5~

An important skill to those that want to participate properly in the art of Danmaku, is being able to fly. Indeed, most if not all inhabitants of Gensokyo are, one way or another, capable of flight. This includes a young grey-haired half-youkai who is currently trying her hardest to properly control this ability…

* Smack! *

"Auw… Bah, I almost had it." Fiona complained while rubbing her head. While she had an instinctive idea about how to fly, it was still something that needed practice. Fortunately, the tree did not seem to mind at all that a little half-youkai bumped her head hard on its trunk. And if it did, it chose not to show it.

Standing up once she had recovered from her unplanned landing, the young girl glared one last time at the annoying tree, before once again concentrating on flying. Immediately she felt the now familiar feel of weightlessness that came with her innate flight.

Slowly and carefully, she rose up until she was hovering above the forest canopy. Her high-speed forest flying still needed (quite) a bit of practice, but in the open air she was already doing rather well. Combining this with her pathfinding ability, she was surprisingly good at dodging danmaku attacks. Marisa, who was at the shrine a lot (and helped Fiona with practicing), had remarked that "It's kinda cheating, da-ze. Do you think you can teach me?". Fiona was pretty sure that it was only half joking.

Still, the Magician had a point. She always knew exactly what the way out of an attack was, if there was one. The only reason she didn't always manage to escape, was that she was still a beginning flyer. But as both Reimu and Yukari reminded her: practice makes perfect!

The gap youkai had shown up twice more during her first week in Gensokyo. Both times she said that she was "just checking up on our newest resident", but the magical guide had a feeling that that was not all. A feeling that was shared with Reimu.

When not busy playing "avoid-the-tree", she tried to practice the other side of danmaku. By now, she was able to properly change the size and the speed of her bolts, as well as their colour. She hadn't quite figured out the "homing" trick yet, however. Still, the colours allowed a simple but effective trick to keep her opponent on their toes: switching up the type of bullet! One moment green bullets were the slow ones and red bullets the fast ones, then suddenly a couple fast green ones were joined by slow blue ones!

Of course, the colours could also be used to make pretty patterns. One that worked quite well was the "Rainbow Fan (working name)", where she fired 7 different coloured flames together, and repeated it in a couple different directions. Especially Marisa really liked the colourful patterns.

While practicing Danmaku took up a lot of her time, Fiona did not forget exploring her other abilities. The most interesting was the "distance shortening". Quite some time was spent trying to learn about it. Eventually, together with Reimu, she figured out that it had to do with how fast both she and her "clients" wanted the journey to go. They discovered that she could travel rather fast, even when flying. Not as fast as a crow tengu, or Marisa on her broom, but unlike them she could easily take multiple "passengers" with her.

And of course, she could slip people through the Barrier without any problems. Which led to a very serious lecture about the safety of Gensokyo.

She shuddered a little as she remembered how scary Reimu had been. She really took her job seriously, and cared a lot for Gensokyo. So, the little guide promised to ask Reimu first, before she took anyone across. To dismay of Marisa, who was curious about the Outside World.

It had certainly been a busy week, she thought to herself while she was floating above the forest. Her lantern was floating right beside her, the yellow flame burning happily. Yes, it had been busy, but it had also been the most fun she had in a long time! Smiling, she prepared for her next round of avoid-the-tree.

It took 5 days for the Potter family to discover the farewell note. The parents immediately searched the area close to the house, before notifying Sirius and Remus. With their help, they were able to track her trail for a surprisingly long distance, but it ended a couple hundred meters before the coast. If they didn't know any better, they would have guessed that she teleported, especially considering that it was close to the spot where The Channel was the narrowest.

After that, they went ahead and contacted Dumbledore, telling him about the missing girl. The old Headmaster promised that he would look into it, and dismissed the worried parents. They did not yet need to know about the monitoring devices he had set up. He went back to his office to check up on them, only to discover that the ones related to Fiona Lily Potter were stopped and quiet! Someone had snuck into his office, and disabled them!

Angry and worried, he grabbed the closed envelope that had not been on his desk when he left. A quick check revealed no spells, and he quickly opened the letter.

Dear Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore,

I hope this letter finds you well. You are undoubtedly worried about little Fiona Potter. Rest assured, she safe and quite happy. I am, however, a little less happy. That is a lot of enchantments to cast on a child. I have taken the liberty to remove them from Fiona, but I left those on Harry. Those will be your responsibility.

Anyway, don't bother searching for the girl, she is well outside your reach, and has already found people who will take good care of her.

Best regards, for you might yet need them.

Yakumo Y.

His anger rose a little while reading the letter, until he reached the end. He read the name again to confirm, before finding his way to his chair. Sitting down, he glanced at the monitoring equipment. The devices that had been working this morning all sat completely silent, no longer connected to anyone.

Yakumo. The name of a very powerful magical family from Japan. And one of the most mysterious as well. All that was really known about them was their apparent magical prowess, and the fact that they refused to be a part of the Wizarding World. The magical government of Japan had given them an independent status, to make dealing with them easier.

Yakumo. He had no personal experience with them, but if even half the stories were true, the letter was right in that he would not get his hands on the girl again anytime soon. Fortunately, the boy was still here, and shaping up to be a proper hero. Maybe it was even better this way. Now they could focus all their attention into getting the boy ready. Ready for his destiny, ready to save Wizarding Britain! With the help of the Great Albus Dumbledore, of course!

Now what to tell the Potters?

*Fwoosh! Bam!*

The fairy disappeared together with the ball of yellow flames. Fortunately, fairies were weak, but that didn't make them any less annoying, Fiona thought to herself. Checking her surroundings for more pests, she then continued flying towards to her destination. She was on her way to the Eientei residence, to get something for the lady of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Remilia Scarlet. Thinking back, she realized that it hadn't even been that long before she found her own niche in Gensokyo. While running a delivery/mail service wasn't at all the purpose of her abilities, the fact was that not many inhabitants of Gensokyo needed a guide to help them get around.

She only really needed to help the occasional accidental visitor, but those didn't appear often. Which meant the Barrier was doing its job properly, so she shouldn't complain. Twice though, she had helped a group of youkai move into Gensokyo. Surprisingly enough, Yukari seemed to be genuinely thankful for her help, not doing her usual mysterious act. Especially Reimu was taken aback by that.

The sight of her destination shook her from her memories and back to the present. She landed gracefully close to the main gate. Walking into the compound, she could see a couple rabbits running around, doing some miscellaneous tasks. Some greeted her, and she returned the greetings. Having been running around for more than a year, most inhabitants knew who she was. The guide-turned-delivery girl entered the main building, and quickly found Reisen. The moon rabbit was busy writing something, but stopped as soon as she noticed Fiona entering.

"Good day to you, Fiona." the rabbit-girl greeted her.

"Hello, Reisen. I'm here for Remilia-Sama's package. Is it ready?" the grey-haired girl answered.

"Uhm… Ah yes, it should be. Give me a moment." Reisen replied, and she started looking through a nearby cabinet. It didn't take long for her to find what she was looking for, and she presented the package to Fiona. "Here you go."

"Thank you, Reisen." Saying her gratitude, the little girl took the package and stuffed it inside one of the it-always-fits magical pockets of her travellers' cloak. The cloak had been a gift from Yukari on her birthday. It came with the cryptic message "It would be unfair if you didn't get a magic cloak.", which was promptly discarded as more of Yukari's normal weirdness. Still, the cloak was very useful, especially when carrying big, unwieldy packages.

Waving goodbye to the helpful assistant, she exited the building. She had to avoid a couple rabbits on her way out, but soon enough she had left the premises and was on her way to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. She wondered what kind of tea Sakuya would have prepared. She always had something ready.

… … …

Today it was a soft green tea blend. Fiona had tasted it a couple times before. It wasn't her absolute favourite, but (as to be expected, because Sakuya made it) it still tasted great. The journey back from Eientei had been rather fast, so Remilia-Sama was quite happy. The magical guide was not sure about what was in the package, but she had already learned that sometimes she shouldn't ask that question. Of course, keeping her clients' secrets was one of the things she prided herself on. It was one of the biggest reasons people trusted her with special jobs. Havin been personally recommended by the Hakurei Shrine Maiden was of course also a good reason.

"It's been about 1 and a half years since you first arrived her, right? How do you feel about living in Gensokyo?" Remilia-Sama asked her, once Sakuya had finished serving the tea.

Taking a careful sip from her cup, the grey-haired girl thought about the question for a moment. "Well, it's much better than Britain. And much more fun too! Danmaku is so much better than quidditch. Also, the people here actually care about me. … I'm really happy to be here, Remilia-Sama." Learning to fly, learning Danmaku, and also having some really cool abilities that wizards could only dream of.

"So, you don't miss your old place?" The Mistress of the Mansion asked her.

"No, not really. Gensokyo is much better. No annoying rules made by old wizards pretending we live in the middle ages. Even this place is more modern!" slightly peeved, Fiona replied.

"Hehehe. Yes, I can see them do that. … You know, if you ever do go back, try asking about The Scarlet Devil. And then mention that you know her personally. I wonder what kind of face they will make. I was quite well feared, you know? But the constant hunters and the decline of magic got annoying, so we moved here. It's a good place, but it can be boring at times. … Maybe I should cause another incident…" Knowing a little about the vampire, Fiona wasn't sure if that last bit was serious or not.

"Mistress, please don't. It would only cause problems." Sakuya spoke up, in a slightly resigned tone. She knew she couldn't really stop the mistress, but she could still try.

"I'm joking, I'm joking. No need to be so serious all the time, Sakuya." Remilia answered with a slight pout.

The Perfect and Elegant Maid just smiled, as she took a drink from her own cup. After that exchange, the conversation shifted to normal chit-chat while they enjoyed their tea.

… … …

Fiona was walking through the Forest of Magic, enjoying the nature (and killing annoying fairies, but that was just part of travelling in Gensokyo) and rest a little. It had been a busy day, having completed five deliveries, including one to Old Hell. While the youkai there were not as friendly, they still respected her as a neutral and reliable courier.

… Maybe she should visit Alice, now that she was here. Her dolls were really nice, and she enjoyed playing around with the moving puppets.

… Well, maybe later. It's not like she was in a hurry.

~End of Chapter 5~

A.N.: If you find any grammar or spelling errors, or have suggestions about the story, let me know!