~Tears of a Phoenix~
A Fushigi Yuugi/Harry Potter Crossover
DISCLAIMER: Rowling-sama owns Harry Potter and Watase-sama owns Fushigi Yuugi. Chibigreen only owns a homemade Chichiri plushie. *glomps plushie*
~Chapter 6~
*Houjun's POV*
I had a feeling of unease as both the Gryffindor first years and the Slytherin first years walked into the dungeon where Potions was taught. Doukun had told me that he'd read that Slytherin and Gryffindor had always traditionally hated each other. There was a feeling of tension hanging in the air as the two houses sat apart, except for Miaka and Yui.
I found myself seated by Juan. We took out our supplies as Professor Snape walked in.
His black hair looked unbelievably greasy and limp, like he never washed it. There was a grimace on his face like he thought we were the most putrid bunch that he had ever seen. The only smiles he had were for the Slytherins, and I had a very bad feeling about taking this class. To my left, I noticed that Juan did not look any more reassured than I was.
The professor stepped up to the front of the classroom and turned around to face us. His robe's swishing was heard easily in the silent dungeon. Dark eyes glared at us from under greasy, limp hair. He spoke to us in the silence that no one dared to break. "We will not be wasting time with silly charms in this class. Here, you will learn, if you can, how to make truth serums so powerful that none can resist it. You will learn how to brew potions that can do things that no ridiculous wand waving can ever hope to accomplish. If you survive, you may even learn how to brew death." His voice was not raised at all, but everyone could hear him. "Form pairs now. We will start on the first, simplest potion you will ever make immediately."
Juan was trying his hardest to make our potion come out correctly, but it seems like every time I looked away, he managed to somehow make it stop bubbling or it turned the wrong color.
"It's supposed to be green no da," I said pleadingly as I stared between him and the black liquid bubbling in the cauldron. "It looks like tar no da. Did you remember to mix the horned slugs in slowly no da?" His sheepish face told me all I needed to know. Sighing, I stirred the pot slowly and balanced out the other ingredients before it returned to its original color.
"I'm sorry about that," he said.
I smiled. Smiling is much better than frowning no da. Hmm, that's strange; I usually don't have 'no da's in my thoughts. "Don't worry, no da. It's fixed now, na no da. I'm sure that you'll get better at potions soon, no da."
The boil-curing potion had finally returned to its correct color. I took it off the burner and added in the last ingredient, porcupine quills. The rest of class was unremarkable, for a wizarding class. Somehow everyone managed to survive.
*******
Next Friday night, I was carefully practicing charms with Doukun. The kid is obsessed with learning, so I decided to help him out. Some spells are practiced best in pairs, and it would give me an edge over other students in my class.
I stood opposite the dormitory door. Doukun looked up from a manual in Japanese that he had ordered by owl entitled Charms and Spells for Beginners. "Alright, Houjun, the next spell I want to try is the Disarming Spell. This one should be simple. All that you have to do is point your wand towards me and say, 'Expelliarmus!'" He demonstrated the hand movement. "We'll do it at the same time, okay?"
"Yes. On three?" He nodded. "One. Two. Three. Expelliarmus!" I shouted as he did. Red, sparkling light shot out of our wands and hit each other. For a few minutes, nothing happened, but then my spell overpowered Doukun's and hit his wand. It shot out of his hand and jumped towards me, so I caught it before it hit the ground. I threw it back towards him.
"It looks like I need to practice the spell more," he said ruefully. "I thought it was an easy spell."
"You did it fine, Doukun, no da. I've just had more practice with magic, na no da. You're doing great, no da!" I said encouragingly.
He smiled back. "Thank you. Let's go on to the next charm! This one's used to unlock doors. You just point at the lock…"
*******
It was Saturday night, and I was deeply asleep. A sudden movement in my sleep woke me up.
"Itai!"
I found my face in the carpet when I woke up with a bang. I had fallen off of the bed. I groggily was crawling back in when I felt a slip of paper between the mattress and the bedstead. I pulled it out, but then I remembered that it was night and I wouldn't be able to see it clearly. I stuck it under my pillow and decided to read it in the morning.
When I finally woke up again, it was late. Everyone else had already left for breakfast, but I was really wondering about the paper. I took it out and began to read what was written on it.
"Hello. I am known as Prongs, and I would like to congratulate you on finding the Marauders' Map. To use it, just touch it with you wand and say, 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.' When you're done, be sure to clear the paper. Tap on the paper and say, 'Mischief managed.' Try not to be caught by Filch! My advice: Get an Invisibility Cloak. I took that, but I left this map here for another Gryffindor to find. Have fun!"
Out of curiosity, I touched the letter and said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good, no da."
Nothing happened.
I strained to refrain from using 'no da.' "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good?"
Again, nothing happened. Perhaps the letter was not the Marauders' Map? I looked under my bed again, and sure enough, I found a blank piece of paper. I lay my wand on one corner of it and repeated myself. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good, no da."
Lines of ink began spreading from the tip of my wand. There were many colors, and when the first part had finally finished drawing itself, moving labeled dots appeared. My jaw dropped as I realized what I was holding.
It was a very detail map of Hogwarts. Perhaps it was the only map of Hogwarts in existence. And the labeled dots were people in the castle. One was labeled 'Albus Dumbledore,' another was labeled 'Houjun Ri,' and a third was labeled 'Shun'u Kou.' I recognized the last as being Genrou's real name, and he was coming here. I had a feeling that the map might not be the best thing for him to find, so I said, "Mischief managed." The map disappeared just in time for me to hide it in my trunk. Even as I closed it, Genrou walked into the room.
"Hey, Houjun, what's takin' you so long?"
"A-ah, nothing," I replied hastily. "I just overslept, no da. What's up?"
"The others wanted me to tell you that breakfast is ending. Just thought that you might want to know," he said casually as he walked back out.
I hadn't eaten a large dinner last night, and I was very hungry. My stomach growled loudly. "Wait for me, Genrou, no da!" I ran out of the dormitory, completely forgetting about my new map.
*******
A couple of weeks later, I was walking out of class with Juan discussing his latest mess-up. He had improved in Potions, but he was still making a few mistakes occasionally.
"I don't know what's wrong," he said glumly as he looked as his hands. The solution, which was supposed to keep the body parts it was applied to warm, had instead turned his hands a bright rose red. As it hadn't hurt him, Professor Snape had refused to let him go to Madame Pomfrey, who was the nurse or the 'mediwitch.' "I just forget to add something, or I put it in too quickly or too slowly."
I was making a mental note to talk to Doukun about the Marauders' Map. "Um, at least you're improving no da," I said brightly. He just sighed sadly.
When we reached our dormitories, I noticed one important fact: My fox was gone! "Shadow is missing, no da!" I began to search every nook and cranny for my little fox.
When he heard my exclamation, Ryuuen also ran into the room to check on his pet. "Oh, no! Princess isn't here, either!"
Juan was looking under his bed. He finally stood back up, but there was no sign of his cat. He shook his head sadly at my unspoken question.
"We'll find him, no da!" I promised. "Even if we have to search the whole castle."
Genrou, who was sitting on a window seat, spoke up. "There's no need for that," he said with a glint in his eyes. He gestured behind him. "I just saw them out there. They were heading for the Forbidden Forest."
"WHAT?!" the three of us shouted at once.
"Ya heard what I said. They're out there." He grinned, and two long, fang-like canines showed. "We'll have to go out there and look for them, won't we? Everyone can go!"
"But… we're not allowed to, no da," I said helplessly.
"That doesn't matter. This is going to be so much fun!"
I began to wonder if the spells I had learned would be enough to keep me alive on my journey of the Hogwarts grounds. There was a reason why the Forbidden Forest was forbidden.
I just hoped that nothing was wrong with our pets. How had they gotten out, no da?
Chibigreen's Notes: Aw, isn't Houjun so cute? He's my favorite character, so I won't torture him… much… I think. But sorry for the shorter-than-usual chapter. The next one will be very interesting, I promise!
Oh yeah, I'll probably, most likely, under any circumstance write in some Ryuuen/Saihitei romance. ^___^ I do love that couple. But there's not any Tasuki/Chichiri in this one… I read too much of that stuff, and so I gave myself the challenge of writing a non-Tas/Chi fic. *gasps* The horror!
Oh, and I think that someone asked about the title a while ago. Well, the truth is, I'm not quite sure how it ties in myself. But it does tie in; I have several options on how to tie it in. It all depends on how the story flows.
Kryssa – Oops, did I make some people hate Miaka? I was just trying to show her as a bit childish, because she was at the beginning of FY. I'm glad that you liked the Saihitei and Ryuuen scene. ^___^
Athena Masterson – Thanks for the compliment. ^___^ I really didn't think that combining HP and FY was that special…
TA Maxwell – Ah, don't worry. Nuriko's going to be paired with Hotohori as soon as they both grow up a bit. (I mean, they're still 11!) And yes, you can be Hikou's pet. A white fox it is…
Sansele – I never thought that someone would want Hikou to narrate. But, sorry, he can't… I just can't get into his personality enough to write from his POV. I can get into Miboshi's, but not Hikou's. I might try one day, eventually… But Nuriko's not going to have a horrible life in this fic!
Keimei – Sorry that Genrou didn't narrate, but he should do it sometime in the next two chapters. I'm not sure if he's going to next chapter or not, but if not, it will be the chapter after that.
shadow priestess – The class descriptions gave you flashbacks from the books, you mean? I had to use some type of reference, you know, and I didn't want to go into detail about the classes.
Skipsida – I know that Mits is usually neglected, but he's an integral part of this story. Healers are always important people in stories 'cause they have to fix up the other characters so that they can survive long enough to stay main characters. ^___^ It would have been fun to have him narrate this chapter, but the masses picked Chichiri.
Also, a thanks to Merigold, Chibi Leelee Milo, wodenschild, and Saihitei no Miko a.k.a. Sanomi for the nice reviews. ^___^
And there are more character's pets! I decided to look over the reviews and grant spots, if I could. Let's see… *takes out list* TA Maxwell is Hikou's snow fox, Athena Masterson is ReiRei's cat, Chibi Leelee Milo is Tetsuya's owl, Fire-fairy is Keisuke's owl, SilvaraWilde is Shouka's cat, and Skipsida is Kouran's cat. All of these pets will appear at least once in my story.
Today's recommendation: It WAS a Normal Day at the Market by Kaze-chan. It's about the adventures of Subaru and the other Byakko Shichiseishi around the time of Byakko's Summoning, and it's a really nice story.
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