NejiTen month day 2

August 02/2021

Prompts: Harry Potter / Superhero

Alternate Universe

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Day 02. Harry Potter

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He listened to his Slytherin classmates talk about going to prank the Gryffindor primiparous and just continued with his attention on the book he was reading, few things were less appealing to him than having to discomfort himself for something as absurd as going to mess with newcomers who were just getting acquainted with the school.

He heard them once again invite him to join in and just declined, he would definitely prefer to keep reading for a while. The common room of his house was empty and in his mind he was grateful for the silence as well as the solitude.

He had advanced a couple of chapters when a lot of laughter made its presence, it wasn't his year mates who had entered, it was the newbies from his own house who arrived after the end of classes and apparently considered it a great idea to shout and laugh all over the place, even throwing some objects on the floor without bothering to pick them up, sure that someone like them had no reason to waste themselves in such a task and that there would be a servant or something similar to take care of it later.

He clicked his tongue, telling them to lower the volume was useless, so he preferred to get up and go for a walk around the castle. He initially thought about going to the Great Hall, but there was first the noise issue and second the question that he hadn't paid enough attention to his classmates to know where the prank they had mentioned would take place and he didn't want to be present when they did it.

If his uncle found out that the Slytherins had lost points because of him, he would punish him when he was back at the manor for the vacations – that after said he was glad that the stupid Gryffindor had gotten what they deserved – but Hiashi would still be angry with him.

His next idea was the library, but the librarian didn't have him among her affections for the house he belonged to and despite everything it occasionally attracted attention that someone like him spent so much time in the place, so it didn't seem like an option to him. So he tried to think of a third option, a place that would be quiet, allow him to read in peace or be with himself for a while.

Who was he trying to fool? Since he had left the common room of his house he knew the exact place he wanted to head to, he just didn't like to admit it and that was why he was always looking for other options. He exhaled heavily before heading for the stairs and going to the 5th floor, to the place he had discovered in his third year and which had somehow become his personal refuge, the place where he meditated and recharged himself to keep going.

The door appeared in front of him and he grabbed the knob at once, closed behind him and entered the room where there was only one object in the entire center. He took off his tunic and folded it as summer was getting closer and closer and that room it was warmer than outside, he also unbuttoned the sleeves of his shirt and gathered them to free his forearms. He left the book next to his tunic and sat down on the floor with his legs crossed, staring at the object before closing his eyes and starting to breathe slowly trying to relax a little.

He opened his eyes after a few minutes and fixed his gaze on the reflection. Seeing himself alone, sitting in the middle of the living room, he let the seconds pass and little by little the image began to change, and it was no longer just him who appeared. He could see his father, see himself at home during the Christmas vacation and the two of them by the tree about to open presents.

He barely breathed as the images continued to advance, holding back his excitement at the events being shown to him and when everything went dark around him he knew it was time to go back to his room, he reached for his wand to make a lumos, lighting the tip so he could guide himself to the exit, turning it off as soon as he was in the hallway as the light was glowing in the lanterns. He wasn't even hungry so he skipped dinner and went straight to bed.

He closed the curtains surrounding his bed and cast a spell so that no one would dare disturb him, again letting his head wander to what he had seen and to that detail that was common in most of the visions Erised's mirror gave him, the color of his tie and the crest on his tunic didn't match the one he carried in reality.

His uncle was a proud Slytherin and all the time while he was homeschooled he heard him repeat incessantly that it was his duty to carry on the family legacy and obviously continue to glorify the family name. After all, they were Hyūga and their family name was known throughout the magical world for always being the best.

During his years of being homeschooled, his governess had explained to him the difference of each of the houses and his uncle had made a couple of comments about it, such as the fact that he had better not be a mediocre like the Hufflepuffs, the Gryffindors were absurdly overrated, and although he had nothing in particular against the Ravenclaws, Slytherin was the Hyūga's house and he had better be chosen in this one. Or he would have to deal with the consequences.

For that very reason, the first day he arrived at the castle and was directed to the Great Hall to wait for the Sorting Hat to classify them, he focused all his thoughts on the fact that he had to honor his last name and be in the house that was destined for him. He didn't mind paying attention to which house the others were sent to, he listened from afar to the applause from the tables every time it was named where the new student would go. When his turn came he advanced with sure steps without stopping what was going through his head.

"Mmmmm," he heard it uttered with a meditative tone. "Are you sure what you want?" as he hadn't paid attention before, he wasn't sure if in any other case the hat had ever spoken directly to the student, let alone in the murmuring tone it had now, so no one else could hear what it was saying.

"It's where I belong," he answered in a whisper.

"No, it's where you've been led to believe you belong," the hat fell silent and he feared the worst as he waited, again wishing with all his might that the answer was the right one. "If that's what you want," he said reluctantly, raising his voice. "Slytherin!"

He exhaled in relief and made his way to the table where all the students in green ties were applauding, some even patting him on the back clearly proud that someone of his last name was following tradition and making it to the most important house – according to them – of all.

That was the change in the colors that was reflected in the visions that the mirror gave him, the hat that day had hesitated between Ravenclaw, – which was more suitable for his lifestyle personality – and Slytherin which was the one expected by his uncle. He always saw himself in that ideal world with the blue tie, because that was his heart's true desire, the house he would be comfortable in and the images always showed him that his father would have been proud to have a son who valued knowledge more than cunning.

But his father was dead, and he was a Slytherin.

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She looked at the cauldron in front of her and went to the cupboard to look for the ingredient she needed, trying to remember which was the jumping fungus and which was the death fungus as she always confused them. She stretched her hand hesitantly between the two jars, as the professor was watching her and considering that she was in her sixth year she should already know the difference between them. She bit her lip and then seemed to notice that one of the jars was moving slightly, so that was the one she grabbed and gave a slight excited squeal as she realized that it was indeed the one she needed.

She opened the jar happily and then all the fungus that was stored there began to jump, scattering all over the floor as she cursed in her mind for having forgotten that jumping fungus had that name for a reason. The professor rolled his eyes as the laughter of several students could be heard, hearing even a low hissing sound that reminded her that she shouldn't be there and that she would never quite fit into that world.

"Miss Ama, I hope you leave everything tidied up before leaving the classroom," she nodded resignedly as she turned a deaf ear to the laughter that continued.

Potions was not her forte, well, in fact she had been slowly discovering which things in the magical world she was good at and which she wasn't. If she took into account that she was the first witch in her family, and that many things had stunned her to discover not only that she was a witch, but also the corresponding walk through Diagon Alley to buy her implements while her parents tried not to look as absorbed and stupefied as she was. It was overwhelming everything that had involved arriving at that castle and starting to formally study subjects completely different from those she had known when she went to normal school.

Because she remembered everything exactly, from Professor Maito Gai who had come to her house with that letter that would completely change her life as he explained to both her and her parents what was going on and the reason for being there, to going to the bank with many small and strange looking people that she later learned were called goblins. Then going through the stores amidst many people dressed differently than she was used to and finally ending that afternoon with the purchase of her wand.

Her wand was made of elm and unicorn tail hair, or so the person who sold it to her told her because she still felt like she was being spoken to in a different language than her own, and that she was in some kind of daydream or hallucination and was going to wake up at any moment to realize that she was just a muggle and magic didn't exist, neither did the word muggle.

She had looked everywhere on the train and had boarded it with trepidation; it was the first time she would be going far from home. Although the idea of studying at some distant boarding school had once crossed her mind, she had never thought that it would actually become a reality, and even less that it would be at a school like the one she was going to. Many of her classmates who were also first-years looked as dazzled as she was by the facilities, others were smug or petulant and viewed the others with superiority for being surprised by such a little thing.

In front of the hat she was startled at first – It was a talking hat! Not only that, it was a mind-reading hat or something like that and according to that it decided where everyone went. She listened carefully to where each one was sent and it didn't escape her notice that those who seemed the most antipathetic were sent to Slytherin, which were the ones in green. When it was her turn she sat down and tried not to show her fear of the hat and hide any possible thoughts she didn't want it to read, just in case.

"Interesting, very interesting," she listened to it and raised her eyes as if that way she could see it. "There are many things in you, you could be in Hufllepuff or Gryffindor," she was still in the phase that they were speaking to her in another language, "you have no idea what I am talking about."

"I'm sorry," she excused herself all at once.

"Oh no, don't apologize. It's brave to accept what it' s not known," she felt herself blushing at the compliment. "Gryffindor!" The table where everyone had red and gold scarves burst into applause and just as the students before her had done she made her way over there, being greeted with smiles and words of welcome.

She liked her house, as that first school year had progressed she had slowly started to get familiar with all the strange things the place had, like the stairs that moved, the painting that asked her for a password to let her into the common room or something that for everyone else was as simple as the food on the table that appeared by itself and was always delicious.

It was precisely in Potions class where she heard that expression that she didn't understand at first, she knew it wasn't good, nothing good could ever come out of a Slytherin's mouth and even less when they were in a group, they called themselves snakes but they were a group of cowards who acted in a bunch, when one of them was alone didn't usually say much.

She clearly remembered the three glares stuck on her, one of a very light color that was almost white and the other two black as coal, but they all had the same hint of superiority when the mudblood was spat in her direction by a black-eyed man. It was somewhat contemptuous and the way her housemates came out to defend her and tell the damn vipers to mind their own business remarked on it.

She had gone away feeling hurt even if she didn't understand it and had sought out Gai, the teacher who had taken her there and asked him what such a word meant, seeing him furrow his huge eyebrows and asking her where she had heard such an expression. She denied, saying that she had read it somewhere but the man didn't believe her and again asked her to give him the exact names of those who had told her that.

She denied again, saying that she wouldn't, she just wanted to know the meaning and nothing more. The man explained it to her and after that he raised his thumb in her direction and smiled at her, telling her that she shouldn't pay attention to such comments and that the blood would never say anything about the kind of wizard a person was. There were many purebloods who contributed little to society other than continuing a classist and retrograde system, and there were many like her who had changed the history of magic.

Now in her sixth year she had proven that those words were true and she didn't let herself be daunted when they referred to her disparagingly only because of her origin, she was a good witch and the hat had sent her to the right house.

While she chased the last fungus that were still jumping from side to side in the classroom she kept thinking about that issue, about how some people thought they were superior without having any merit beyond a surname and how having always been surrounded by magic had made something that for her was still spectacular and that never ceased to surprise her, into something ordinary and almost boring.

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Hey! This is a twoshot that will continue on the 9th day.

See you tomorrow in day 3!

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All corrections and comments are always well received, they help me improve a lot.

Hope you like it.

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Att: Sally K