I'm not dead! Sorry for the wait and the short chapter, they're going to be a lot longer once Izuku/James gets to Hogwarts.

"So you can use your quirk as well?" Izuku asked. They were sitting in Frank's - Hagakure's - room, a large open space with large bright windows, and a four poster bed and soft sheets of red and green. Hagakure (and wasn't that strange? Of all the people to have reincarnated with him, Izuku hadn't expected her) was sitting on the side of the bed, dangling her legs off of the sides and swinging them back and forth.

"Yeah, but only a little bit," she said. Hagakure scrunched up her face in concentration, and slowly her body began to fade from sight, until she was just a vague outline in clothes. She let it go with a tired sigh, and quickly became totally visible again. "It takes a lot of effort, so I don't do it often. I also did a bit of research, and it turns out that wizards have spells that will let them turn almost totally invisible- clothes and everything." She gave a shrug. "So I think I'd rather just stick to that."

Izuku looked at her in surprise. "Are you sure? I mean, I can't use my quirk much either, but to not use it at all…." It wasn't even really his quirk, and he had a hard time even thinking about not using One for All anymore.

"Well, we've got a while to go until we learn those spells," Hagakure amended. "So I'll work on my quirk until then. Who knows, maybe I'll change my mind later on." She turned to face him. "What about you? How have you been doing with this whole 'reincarnation' thing?"

"It could be worse." Izuku looked away. "I've got wonderful parents, and what looks to be a bright future ahead of me, filled with magic." Something clenched in his chest. "But I still miss my old life. I miss my mom, and our friends."

"Yeah, me too." Hagakure raised her hands up for a moment, as if unsure of what to do with them. Then she reached over and gave Izuku a quick hug. "We'll get through this together, okay?"

"Y-yeah," Izuku agreed. His eyes widened as a thought struck him. "Hagakure, how are you doing with the whole - you know - being a guy thing?"

Hagakure laughed awkwardly. "Oh that? Yeah, it's pretty weird. I mean, it isn't like it's totally out of the blue, no one ever said we were gonna be reincarnated as our original genders anyways. Maybe I should be more freaked out than I am? It just hasn't been that big of a deal for some reason. I actually don't mind being a guy."

"Well," Izuku searched for something to say to that. "That's good, I guess. I'm glad it isn't too weird for you."

"Thanks." Hagakure smiled. "But you should probably call me Frank. I mean, maybe we could get away with using our own names if we were in Japan, but here…." Sh-He trailed off.

"It would seem really strange. Two British kids using Japanese names, when no one in their families were from Japan," Izuku finished. "You're right." Hagakure- Frank, nodded in agreement. Izuku looked out the window, trying to piece his thoughts together.

"It's not just the fact that you're a guy now that's strange," he said eventually. "It's that you're a year older than me, when I know you were still alive when I-" He choked on his words, an image of Shigaraki's twisted face flashing through his mind. "When I died."

"Yeah, that is weird." Frank frowned. I was- I was killed a year later than you. Things got-" he swallowed. "-things got really bad, after you died." He seemed to see the questions forming in Izuku's mind. "Please don't ask, I'd rather not talk about it. It's not like it matters anymore." He seemed to be trying to convince herself of that. "It doesn't matter."

I did matter though, at least to Izuku. It meant that anyone he knew could be anywhere in time. That it didn't matter when they died, they could appear in a completely random order. What if a villain had already aged to adulthood in this world, and could use all the spells they wanted, while Izuku and Frank were stuck as kids? What if some of his other friends weren't even born yet? What if-

"Izu-James. Please stop, please!" Frank's half sob broke Izuku from his thoughts- he must've been muttering out loud again. His old classmate looked close to tears, and guilt settled in Izuku's gut as he realized it was all his fault. "Please, I just- I just want to be happy in this new world. I don't want to think about that.

Unspoken words built up in his throat, but refused to come out, leaving him choking. "Y-yeah. Yeah, we can just… not talk about it. Just enjoy our lives here for now." Frank gave an appreciative smile, and Izuku somehow managed to smile back, though his guilt and worries wouldn't leave him.

Izuku and his parents left, having promised to keep in touch. As glad as he was to see someone he remembered from his past life, the fact that others were here at all had opened up questions Izuku was terrified to learn the answers to.

Not that fear would stop him, if it did end up being a huge problem. He was a hero, after all.

—

Dad held Izuku's hand to keep him from getting lost in the crowd, swinging it back and forth lightly. "Are you excited? You haven't been to a Quidditch game since you were four; we just haven't had the time."

"You were probably too young to remember it," Mother pipes in, carrying snacks and merchandise in her arms. "It's hard to believe it's been three years since then. You've grown so fast!"

Izuku smiles up at them. "Yeah, I'm really excited!" He'd discovered Quidditch during his studies of the magical world, and remembered his parents talking about it over breakfast while reading the newspaper. He'd quizzed them on every detail, and felt he now had a good understanding of the sport, but he suspected seeing it in person would be an entirely different experience.

Mother ruffled his hair lightly, daftly stepping out of two wizards in garishly bright robes rushing past her. "I'm so glad. And we'll be meeting up with Frank and Augusta as well! I'm so glad you two get along well." In between their get-togethers with the Longbottoms, Izuku and Frank had taken to writing each other letters whenever possible, and sending them by owls. While it was frustrating, coming from a world where they could've just texted or called each other, writing letters certainly had its own charm.

Izuku had learned that Frank had discovered Quidditch at a much younger age than he, and had absolutely fallen in love with the sport. This meant that Izuku was currently sporting pale blue, as Frank's favorite team, the Appleby Arrows, was the team he was supporting in this game, where they were playing against the Wimbourne Wasps.

The Potters found their isle, and slid down the row of comfortable chairs, just a step below the box office seats. As they came closer, Izuku could clearly see his friend coming into focus, Frank waving his arms excitedly.

"James!" His friend wrapped him in a hug as soon as they were close enough. "This is gonna be so awesome! We get to watch the Arrows play in an actual match!"

"That is pretty cool," Izuku agreed. "Didn't you say the Arrows and the Wasps are rivals?"

Frank nodded solemnly, like the eight year old he physically was. "Yeah, a long time ago, one of the Wasp beaters hit a wasp nest at the Arrows' seeker, and the two have been big rivals ever since. This should be really exciting!"

"As exciting as it most certainly will be," Augusta said dryly, "You two might want to take your seats, before those behind you find a way to really drill holes in your head. The two boys spun around to see a group of fans decked out in merchandise, glaring at them. Embarrassed, Izuku quickly took his seat, Frank right behind him.

The game itself was amazing. Izuku watched in awe as the players zoomed back and forth on their brooms, passing the quaffle between them so fast that Izuku barely had any time to react. He found himself quickly getting into the game, jumping up and cheering with Frank when one of the Arrows chasers expertly looped around the Wasps' keeper and tossed the quaffle into the hoop, putting their team another ten points above their rivals.

"Quentin Sparrow is one of the best chasers in the European League at the moment," Frank informed him, catching his breath from the constant cheering. "The Arrows were really lucky to score the guy, but the problem is that he has lots of beef with one of the Wasps' beaters, so there might be some fouls pulled…" Sure enough, soon after the game commenced, one of the yellow and black clad beaters "accidentally" rammed his broom into Sparrow as he was about to receive a pass, earning a free shot for the Arrows. Frank and Izuku booed the Wasps as loud as they could.

The way the players moved, the stunts they pulled off, the thrill of the game… it was all amazing! Izuku could feel his heart soar with anticipation just watching them. He wanted to learn how to do that, how to move through the air like that. But for now, he was content with watching.

The game continued along this exciting vein, and ended about three hours later, when Amelia Amerby, the seeker for the Arrows, pulled into a dive, shooting straight through the two opposing beaters who were trying to close ranks around her, looped around the quaffle, which was in the middle of being tossed, and closed her fingers around a small golden sparkle, which must've been the snitch. At that, half of the crowd, the half covered in blue and silver, deafened everybody with their victorious screams. Magical lights in the shape of arrows were shot into the air, and the winning team started doing victory laps around the stadium.

That night, once the celebrations were over and the two families had parted ways and returned to their homes, Izuku turned to his parents, eyes still wide with wonder from the match.

"Can I learn to fly like that?" He asked.

Dad smiled. "Of course you can. I think a broomstick might be a good present for your eighth birthday. What do you think of that?"

Izuku's responding squeal was all the confirmation his dad seemed to need.

—

"Somehow, I'm totally not surprised to find you in the library." Izuku's head shot up from his book, and he turned to see Frank peering around the shelf at him, looking amused. "We just got here," the other boy explained. "You probably didn't hear us."

"N-no, I didn't! Sorry about that." Izuku marked his page and shut the book, putting it down as Frank plopped down next to him in one of the plush armrests that littered their library.

"It's alright." Frank smiled at him. "What were you looking at anyways?"

Izuku gave a half shrug. "I know you don't want to think about being reincarnations or anything, but I can't help it! My brain won't stop going back to the idea of people reincarnating throughout time, so I've been looking in history books, to see if anyone matches up with someone we know." He sighed. "So far no luck, but I did just start. I can't expect results that quickly."

Frank looked away awkwardly, and Izuku wondered if he should've brought the topic up at all. A part of him was hitting himself; didn't he just say that Frank didn't want to talk about being reincarnated? But the other boy was literally the only person Izuku could confide in at the moment, at least until they hopefully found another reincarnation. And Izuku couldn't do this alone, now that he knew he wasn't the only one in this universe. He just couldn't.

To his pleasant surprise, however, Frank seemed willing to talk about it with him. "I get what you're trying to do, but how would we know if any of those people in the history books are reincarnations? Neither of us have anything close to our old names or appearances. I'm not even the same gender. Besides, who's to say that, if there was anyone who came here a long time ago, they even made it into the history books?"

"I see your point," Izuku conceded. "But can you imagine someone like Kacchan not trying to make a big enough splash to be remembered in history?"

Frank gave that a moment of thought. "Fair point. I guess we'll just have to look for mysterious explosions, or stories of wizards who somehow destroyed entire towns in a fit of rage."

Izuku decided to ignore that last part. Kacchan wasn't that bad. (Not anymore, at least.) "So you'll help me then?"

Frank smiled. "Where do you want me to start looking?"

Izuku beamed and directed his friend to the row of shelves next to him. "I'm currently on wizarding history during the medieval times. Apparently Muggles only occasionally determined correctly whether someone really was a witch or not, and even then the witch in question could just cast a spell that made them immune to burning." He picked his book back up again. "My favorite person that I've read about is Addison Booth, who attended as many witch burnings as he could, cast the flame freezing charm on whoever they were burning, then faked their deaths and smuggled them to safety."

"A real stand up guy," Frank agreed. He bent over to lean at Izuku's book, and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Hang on, this goes on to say that he was promptly ostracized from the wizarding community, for a 'disgraceful and wasteful use of magic that endangered the lives of wizards'. What does that even mean?"

"It means saving muggles from being burned alive was considered wasteful and dangerous, even though this was technically before the Statute of Secrecy was put into effect." As much as Izuku tried, he couldn't keep the bitterness from his voice. "I guess some wizards thought saving the lives of those who didn't have magic was somehow a bad thing."

"There are still some wizards who think that." The two looked up to see Izuku's Dad, looking at them with a sad smile. "Most are tuned out as the minority, but some are very old and powerful families, and have a lot of leeway with the Ministry of Magic. (aka the wizarding government for Britain. Izuku hadn't left the London Public Library for a week after learning about that.) They are the ones who try and pass as many harsh laws on wizard-muggle relations as they can. And you must know," he added, back when Addison Booth lived, there was a real danger of Muggles finding out one was a wizard. Flame freezing charms may have worked when one had their wand on them, but plenty of wizards were still killed, all across the country."

"But that doesn't mean he should've left those people to die, just because they were Muggles!" Frank protested hotly. "They were being killed and persecuted as well! Shouldn't the wizards and persecuted Muggles have banded together to try and help each other?"

"And I agree completely with you," Dad said. "It wasn't right, that they hurt those who tried to help Muggles. I'm just giving you a bit more context into that time. Everyone was paranoid, and terrified of being outed as a wizard to their neighbors. Fear makes people think irrationally, and much of that irrational fear was directed at muggles."

"And a lot of that irrational fear and resentment continues to this day, even though the witch burnings and such have been over for centuries," Izuku summarized. Dad nodded gravely. "That's awful."

"That it is. And that's why those of us who know better have to be thoughtful and open minded and never judge someone by how much magic they have in their veins, or what their parentage is."

"And stick up to anyone who says otherwise." Frank added.

Dad smiled. "Absolutely."

—

Izuku, freshly eight, looked down at his new broom, which was laying innocently on the grass. It was the newest model, and boy was it sleek, with a polished handle and neat bristles. And it was all Izuku's. He could hardly believe his luck.

From a few feet away, Mother smiled at him encouragingly. "Alright, now stick your hand straight over the broom, and say 'up!' Do it firmly now, the broom is much more likely to respond to you if you sound confidant." Izuku wondered just how sentient the broom was, but decided against asking for once, eager to get started with flying.

He put his hand over the broomstick, and mustered up the most confidant voice he could manage. "Up!" The broom sailed right into his hand, hitting his palm with a satisfying smack.

"Good!" Now you mount the broom like so." With his mother's gentle guidance, Izuku pulled himself onto his broom, and found himself hovering in the air, just a few feet above the ground.

"This is so cool!" he breathed, looking down at the empty space between him and the ground. To think, he could do this, hover without a flying quirk- it was cooler than he'd ever dreamed it would be. "How do I move forward and backward?"

"To move forward, you need to lean forward slightly. The farther you lean, the faster you will go. Pulling up has the opposite effect, and will slow you to a stop. To go up or down, or left or right, you tilt your broom in the direction you want to go." Izuku nodded thoughtfully. It was like one of those segway things he, Uraraka, and Iida had taken once then, just with a few more directions that could be taken. He leaned forward, and felt his broom moving along with him. Gaining confidence, Izuku took a few laps around the field outside their house, where they had set up his broom.

"You're a natural!" Mother praised, as Izuku pulled to a stop in front of her. "I could see you playing for your house team once you reach Hogwarts.

Izuku perked up. "They have quidditch at Hogwarts? Is it one team per house, or is there more? Is there an age qualification? You did say that I'll be spending seven years going to that school, do they have teams separated by age?"

Mother answered his questions good naturedly. "They do have quidditch, and it's one team per house. Everyone plays together, but you can only try out for the team in your second year. First years take flying lessons, so those who aren't from wizarding families, or those who simply haven't flown before, can get used to flying."

"Huh," Izuku mused. "I guess I have four years to practice before I can try out then." Surely that was enough for him to make the team, right? But so many other kids from wizarding families had that time to practice too, and what if they were just more talented than him? Izuku really like flying, and quidditch. He wanted to be on a team!

Now that he thought about it, Hogwarts was only three years away at this point. It was strange, how it was suddenly getting closer and closer. Izuku was filled with excitement for the day he could finally go off to a real magic school, and his research on magic could begin in earnest.

And maybe, just maybe, he'd meet some people he already knew there.

And as for who got the identity of Frank right, the answer is no one! Anyone can be reincarnated as any gender (although some can take to that better than others). I hope you aren't disappointed, as I planed for him to be Hagakure from the start.

Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading, and please review if you can!