Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling. The members of the Secret Sealing Club and Yakumo Yukari are the creations of ZUN.

Between the Lines 1

Hogwarts' Headmaster's Office
Before the start of term

Albus Dumbledore was very, very tired, though his exhaustion could not be traced back to any singular thing. He was old, and his days of fighting on the front lines, as he had once done against Grindelwald, were now very much behind him.

Perhaps, he thought, it was much better that he had been sacked from some of his positions. For a while now the constant games of the delegates over at the ICW had grated on his nerves, and so had the blood politics over at the Wizengamot which he had unsuccessfully tried to change.

Perhaps, he thought, he might just take this chance to retire–but how could he, when the spectre of Voldemort loomed over the horizon?

How he sorely wished he could just go out and fight one more time, to ward off evil with his hands, his own hands, again, one more time.

But it wasn't so simple. He was old, and even if he could, he was not longer sure if he should. People…grew complacent, if they thought there would always be a hero around to fix their mistakes. And so the mistakes grew, compounded, until it would have been better if a flood had came and washed all their sins away.

But Albus Dumbledore was never the kind of person to be so ruthless.

There was also the issue of the prophecy surrounding young Harry Potter. Whether it was by karmic fate or just sheer human irony, the possibility of events that Sybill Trelawney had spoke into the world was now going to be realized.

Again, his own mercy, of not telling young Harry the prophecy, of not putting the burden on his shoulders, of not preparing him enough…might become their undoing.

And now, even Trelawney herself had been attacked, and only bare fortune itself had saved her from Voldemort's clutches. He supposed that in her unconscious state, she was actually safer, since now she could not be interrogated.

And then, there was still the matter of the Diary, just another piece of evidence that Voldemort had gone further down a dark road than he himself had ever imagined.

He leaned back in his chair at the Hogwarts' Headmaster's Office and sighed. There was much to do, and yet he could not, in this moment, muster energy to do them.

"Bee in your bonnet, Brian?"

"Yukari." The foreign name, even after all these years, rolled of his tongue a bit awkwardly.

"May I come in? Of course, if you would prefer, we can simply continue this conversation while I stand in this precariously generated rend in reality–"

"Do come in, Mistress Yakumo."

There was an impression of purple, glowing eyes, and red ribbons, and then the most powerful woman in Magical Japan stepped forth, and sat down in the armchair opposite Dumbledore's.

"My, my, you sure are in a mood today, Brian." Yukari held up her fan to her face, obscuring the coy smile that Dumbledore nevertheless knew was present.

"You know me, Yukari."

In there was a curious bond, forged in the fire that was Grindelwald's War, of intelligence about nuclear weapons and boundary fields that had saved hundreds, nay, thousands, of magicals, both youkai and human alike.

(The denizens of Magical Japan had long ago learnt the perils of rampant expansionism by the failure of the First Lunar Invasion and the deaths of Yasora Kojiwa and Kamiyama Konngara. Sadly, their Muggle counterparts had not.)

"So, what can I do for you? Erase a Dark Lord from existence?"

Dumbledore jolted upright. "You know?"

"Of course I know. I have eyes and ears everywhere."

"Greenwich? Carlton Gardens?"

"Not telling." Yukari pointed her fan at Dumbledore. "Really, what do you need, Brian? I've known you for half your life, perhaps more. I've seen you go from hero to paragon to old meddler. Surely you can be straightforward with me?"

"Whereas I, for everything that I've been through, have only seen you in the role of meddler." Dumbledore sighed again, exasperation and weariness in his voice.

"The benefits of seniority. Now, out with it."

"I need to borrow two teachers. One for Defence Against the Dark Arts, and one for Divination."

It was Yukari's turn to sigh. "Really, Brian? You would have me put one of my acquaintances in a cursed position?"

Dumbledore blanched. "I apologise, Yukari, I did not mean offence."

"Bah, none taken. Fortunately, I do indeed have two people I can send. However," and there was another jab of the fan, "I will not let them fill the Defence position. Not negotiable." She forestalled Dumbledore's protests.

"Very well, then." Dumbledore sighed. If the rumors were true, Dolores Umbridge would be a deserving recipient of the curse on the position, either way. "Divination it is. Though, not to make a case against myself, but you are comfortable sending your people to Hogwarts, knowing that a Dark Lord is on the rise?"

"Fortunately for you, Brian, I do have some things I need to deal with over in the United Kingdom, so I am not, in fact, doing this purely out of the kindness of my own heart."

Yes, that was indeed the Yukari Yakumo he knew.

"As an added bonus for you, these magicians (1) have prior teaching experience, (2) have a higher predilection for Western magic than the average Japanese magic-user, and (3) can both speak fluent English already, by virtue of their education."

"Quite the fortuitous occasion, then. I suppose you want them to have diplomatic privileges?"

"With your current position, I doubt you can guarantee that. No, I'll deal with that on my end. Consider this a gift with purchase."

"I should have known you wouldn't pass up an opportunity to intimidate politicians, my friend."

Yukari simply smirked, then stood. "Well, I suppose that's the matter settled, then. You'll be hearing news in a couple of days."

"I do hope your people can take care of themselves, considering that a Ministry administrator will no doubt be appointed to the Defence position to meddle."

"Oh, Brian." Yukari gave a chuckle. "By the end of the year, I'll be surprised if you're not begging me to let them stay on for longer."

With a wave, another purple gap opened in the air, in which Yukari stepped into and vanished.

Staring at the rend that was now zipping itself up, Albus Dumbledore mused on the fact that one couldn't win all battles, not all the time.

Carlton Gardens is a reference to Carlton House Terrace, a street that houses the Royal Society in the United Kingdom.

Yasora Kojiwa is a character by Kimiko Muffin, creator of the webcomic Touhou Nekokayou. It's not going to be the last idea I'll be stealing from him, or I suppose her, now. The family name I used for Konngara comes from Summer Pockets: Reflection Blue, a visual novel published by Key Visual Arts.

(Both names are throwaway references that I thought would be fun to put in; don't read too much into these.)

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