~Tears of a Phoenix~
A Fushigi Yuugi/Harry Potter Crossover
DISCLAIMER: Rowling-sensei owns Harry Potter and Watase-sensei owns Fushigi Yuugi. Chibigreen only owns a homemade Chichiri plushie. *glomps plushie*
~Chapter 11~
*Shunkaku's POV*
Yawning, I rolled over in my bed – and fell on the ground. Bam. Now I feel dizzy…
Aniki rolls over in his own bed and peers down at me. "You fell out of your bed again," he observed. "How many times have you done it now?"
"Twenty-four," I said as I blinked at the ceiling. It was beginning to stop spinning. "Twenty-four since I came to Hogwarts."
Aniki sighed and climbed out of his own bed. "Here, let me help you up." I grasped his hand as he helped me stand, but I still almost lost my balance. Aniki put a steadying hand on my shoulder until I regained my balance. I smiled. Aniki's so nice.
"Arigatou, Aniki!" Cheerfully I changed out of my plaid pajamas and into my wizard's robes before bounding out into the Slytherin common room. It was very nice and mostly in shades of blue. It didn't actually look very homely because it looked like one of those rooms some people have just for entertaining guests, but it was nice. I went to sit in my favorite sofa seat while I wait for Aniki and my other friends to get into their robes
Huh? Something hard was under the sofa seat. It hadn't been there last night. Frowning slightly, I dug under the cushion until my hand encountered the object and pulled it out. What it was surprised me. It was a slightly worn-down blue book with black lettering down the side and on the front. It was in Chinese. Also on the front (which some Westerners would consider the back) was the outline of a gold diamond with a silver dragon on the inside. I touched the letters. I felt slightly odd. "Shi Jin Ten Chi Sho." That was the Four Gods Heaven Earth Book. Now I felt very odd and very curious. I opened up the book to a random page.
On the page was a picture of a strange weapon. At least, I think it was a weapon. It looked like a yo-yo, but with a ball at each end of a thick rope. It was also decorated with feathers. On the adjoining page I read, "Ryuuseisui: weapon for the Star of Seiryuu known as Suboshi. Only a wizard with strong telekinesis can control it. When wielded correctly, it is a deadly weapon. When the destined Star appears, the weapon will come into being at his command." What the heck was this book?
"Shun-kun!" sung a feminine voice. That can only mean one thing… Kaen is awake. She sat down on the sofa arm. "What are you reading there?" Without any consideration for me, she plucked the book out of my hand and looked at the cover. "Sounds interesting. Is it a spell book?"
"I don't know…" I said resentfully. She was trying to bother me, wasn't she? Sometimes she acts so frivolous.
She flipped a few pages and read for a moment before dropping the book back in my lap. "Nah, I don't want to read this," she said flippantly before walking off.
Kaen gets on my nerves so much sometimes. Girls! Who needs them?
Next to come down was Chuin. He was walking by me when he saw the book I was holding, and he just stopped in place and stared at it. He can be a creepy person when he wants to be, but him being…scared of a book?! That's troubling. Why would he be afraid of a book?
"Where did you get that book?"
Why was it important? "I found it under the sofa seat when I got down here." Had he seen the book before?
Apparently, yes. "That's weird… Last night, during my detention, it was in one of the unused library rooms when we were leaving…" he trailed off and shook his head. Was he just trying to creep me out? It was working if that's what it was! He grabbed the book and flipped to the front. "There's no copyright information, and it looks handwritten. This book must be one of a kind, so this has to be the one that was in the library!"
I noticed something on the cover and picked it off. Cat hair…? Chuin stared at the hair for a moment, shook his head again, and then walked off with the book. Hey! He still has it! Maybe he's taking it to the library… It wasn't mine in the first place, so I guess it's okay. Besides, I have to wait for Aniki! He'd better hurry. We have Potions first thing this morning.
********
Potions can be fun. Potions can be really bad. Potions can be really, really boring, and it was now. Snape was in full-blown lecture mood, and I was bored. I yawned and sighed. Who wants to learn the properties of Pimply eggs anyway?
Snape glared at me. Oops. Had I said the last past out loud? I froze as he walked towards me. "Mister Bu, do you know the properties of Pimply eggs?" I shook my head, but apparently he was waiting for an answer.
"No, sir."
"Do you know what types of potions Pimply eggs are used in?" he asked with a slight edge in his voice.
"No, sir," I replied nervously. Where was this going?
"Then pay attention," he said and calmly walked back to the front of the room. "A point from Slytherin." Now my classmates were glaring me at. That was the first point Snape had taken from the Slytherin first years, since he was the Head of out House.
So he went on lecturing, and I listened…kinda. A Pimply is a type of pretty pathetic fish that has long rubbery webbed feet. It usually walks along the bottom of deep lakes, though occasionally it will come close enough to the surface to nibble on swimmers and their clothing. To get rid of it, tie the legs up as much as you can. It will simply float away while trying to untangle you. Overall, it's a pretty nonmagical fish.
On the other hand, its eggs are apparently good for something. Like Flobberworm fluid, the fluid from the eggs can be used to thicken potions. It is like oil, so many wizards use it when mechanical Muggle things that they have to use get rusty. It removes the rust, too.
The potion we were making today – I'm not sure what its name is – is a pretty simple mixture, mainly with Pimply egg fluid and Flobberworm fluid in it. As I make it, I notice that it doesn't smell very good at all. But it does look disgustingly familiar. It's the same junk that all the people trying to find their pets fell into.
When everyone was done and the potions were inspected, Snape went back into lecture mode. "This potion may not look very dangerous at first, but it can have disastrous effects if spilled." As he spoke, he ladled some into a shallow pan. "Watch." He dropped a small marble into the potion and gave it a push with the tip of his feather quill. The ball began to roll and did not stop. It was quickly coated with a layer of the slimy potion and continued to smack against the sides of the pan as it rolled around. "It completely cancels out the thing Muggles call friction. If they had this, they would be able to make their silly machines almost completely efficient."
So that's what I had slipped in. I made a face as I looked at it and wondered if they had found the pool of it on the Hogwarts ground. It doesn't really matter to me; I just want to get out of the class and get to Charms.
********
I love Charms class. I think it is the best class, mostly because the charms are so interesting. I heard that some of the more complex ones even fiddle with people's emotions. Now, though, we are learning something slightly less complex. It's name doesn't sound that good. It's called the Red Rover charm because it can apparently grab anything's attention easily, but it works best on dogs. It makes them trust the spell caster.
Why are we even learning it, then? Apparently, it's to give us a break before we learn a really hard charm. Now that sounds fun. But for now, we have this charm.
Professor Flitwick is, as always, standing on a pile of books behind his desk. "Today, as I have already told you, we will be learning the Red Rover charm." He went on into a small lecture about its uses and instructions on how to use it properly. He finished with, "Remember, the spell is 'Caneballo' [1]. Pronounce it correctly. And the hand movement is twirl and flick! Now pair up, and call me over if you have any trouble."
Of course Aniki and I worked together. Professor Flitwick had provided miniature dogs transfigured by McGonagall from feathers for us to try out the charm on. As it was, the dogs were cute and fluffy, and around two inches tall at the most. They also acted distrustful and mean, which I didn't understand until Flitwick said that the feathers had come from geese. Since geese are disagreeable most of the time, it makes sense that dogs made from their feathers are equally disagreeable.
"Do you want to try first?" Aniki offered.
I nodded and took out my wand. Twirl…and flick. "Caneballo!" The dog, who had been staring over the edge of the desk, stiffened suddenly and then relaxed. It turned towards me. The eyes looked glazed over as it trotted over happily. The mini-mutt sat in front of me with its mini-tail thumping on the desk and its mini-tongue hanging from its mouth. It was definitely entranced. I smiled and then used the Finite Incantatem spell so that the dog went back to normal.
Aniki tried next, and he had just as much success as me. I beamed at him, happy that we had both done so well.
Then Professor Flitwick told us to try it on each other. We had to try to concentrate on something besides our partner, who would then use the Red Rover charm on us and see if it worked. We had to get a new partner this time. I somehow or other ended up paired with Karasu. He's shorter than me, but he's even creepier than Chuin. He seems to like being in control of his life. Is it a Napoleonic complex?
I opened up my Charms book and tried to concentrate on it, but I couldn't help but nervously glance at Karasu once in a while. It's not like he's a bad person, but he likes to be the center of attention, the metaphorical most important player on the field. Sometimes it gets annoying.
I felt something forcing me to look around, so I turned my head and saw Chuin. He had been partnered up with Aniki, so why had he used the spell on me? But, wait… His wand wasn't pointed at me! It was pointed straight at Aniki. Why had the spell affected me, then? It had never happened before. I slowly forced myself to look back at my book, thereby breaking the spell. That was weird.
It happened again…and again…and again, and I think it happened to Aniki when Karasu used the charm on me. I could hear Chuin say, "Hey, you're supposed to be concentrating on me when I use the charm!"
We're being affected by spells used on the opposite? In the wizarding world, it's not impossible, I guess. It's just troubling… How closely connected am I with my brother? If I get hurt, will he get hurt? If I die before him, will he…? I don't want to know. I really don't.
Could he get hurt because of me? Say that I trip and skin my knee. Will he feel the pain from that? I want to protect Aniki. He has always tried his best to take care of me, and what have I done for him? Sure, I stand up for him whenever someone talks badly about him or threatens him, but is that enough now? Does me being in pain hurt Aniki just as much as if he was the one who had received the wound? Not just physically, I mean, but emotionally, too? This turn of events… I never expected anything like it.
I promise that I will protect Aniki and myself as much as I. That way he never gets hurt because of me. He's always watched out for me. It's now time to return the favor.
Karasu used the charm to get my attention. He simply smiled when I glared at him. "So, are you going to the Quidditch game?" he asked while I tried to break the charm's effect again.
"I don't even know what Quidditch is!" I complained loudly as I finally snap the effect and am able to focus on something other than Karasu. Other people in the room that heard me stared at me like I had grown a second head. "What?" I ask. Is it really that big of a deal? Everyone turns back to their work when Professor Flitwick told them to return to their charms. Maybe I should go to this "Quidditch" game and see what it is.
*Kaen's POV*
I'm glad it's Sunday. Last week was boring, but today we have a Quidditch game to watch. The weather wasn't the best. It was cloudy and gray, but I was sure that it would still be a good day. Today would be the day I saw my first Quidditch match! Like almost everyone else, I'm excited to be out of the school with something to do. The entire school turned out for the Quidditch match just for an excuse to get out of the castle. Getting to watch an amazing game while they were at it was just a bonus.
I'm surprised that Shunkaku didn't know what Quidditch was! It's a huge sport here, and it's also getting more popular in Japan. I'm not sure about the Americas, but I do know that most of the wizarding world does know about Quidditch. He is half wizard, so he should have known about it. But if his wizard parent was a traditionalist, it's understandable. Some of the Japanese wizards look down on Quidditch as un-Japanese. Or he could have just not heard about it. Because Tokyo is such a large city, there are hardly any good places to play Quidditch. Some people in Tokyo don't know about Quidditch because of that.
I looked at the Quidditch field from my seat with interest. I've never actually seen one because, after all, I did live in Tokyo. The seats are on top of very tall walls. It looks to me as if the walls are cloth over a wooden construction. There are many squares in a checkerboard-like pattern, and there were colors to represent each House, even the ones not playing today. Though colorful, the walls reminded me of the outer parapets of a castle, complete with towers where the teachers could sit. Its oval shape enclosed the Quidditch field, which was much different than any Muggle field.
Muggle fields are all laid out on the ground. This is not true with wizard fields because no major wizard sport is played on the ground. All wizard sports are played on broomsticks. That would be very uncomfortable for us wizards if we didn't have the nice Cushioning Charm to make an invisible seat on the broom. Brooms have an entire repertoire of charms and spells installed in them to make them safe and easy to use. As for the Quidditch field, it was mostly empty except for three hoops on poles on each end of the field. The ground was marked with a small circle in the center, and there were also lines to notate the scoring area around the hoops, which served as the goals.
Then the players came onto the field. Today's game was Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff. First years aren't allowed to play, but I don't really want to be on the school team. I want to watch Quidditch, not play it.
Madame Hooch, the flying instructor and today's referee, rode her broom to the center of the field and the teams gathered on either side of her. When everyone was set, she threw the scarlet ball up, and the players on their brooms were off. One player on each team, the Keeper, moved to guard the goals.
Besides the scarlet ball, known as the Quaffle, there were three other balls on the field (or rather floating somewhere above it). There were two Bludgers, which are bowling ball-sized iron balls that are enchanted to try to hit the nearest player, and the Golden Snitch, which is a small golden ball with wings that flitters around. Two Beaters on each team went after the Bludgers to try to hit them at the opposing team, and one player (the Seeker) from each team hovered as high as they could go to try to see the Snitch below. There were three Chasers on each team. Their job was to use the Quaffle to score. It was ten points for each goal, and the game ended when a Seeker caught the Snitch for a total of 250 points.
The facts of the game are very dry and boring. The game play is much more interesting.
The Seekers were still hovering over the field as the Chasers went all-out. Wands were banned from being used against others, but they were doing everything they could to make sure they won. Ravenclaw currently had possession of the Quaffle. One went in for the score, and most of the stadium groaned when it bounced off the hoop. All Hufflepuffs cheered as their team took the Quaffle, but then a Bludger hit by a Ravenclaw got too close to their lead Chaser. He spun temporarily out of control, and an opposing Chaser took the chance to steal the Quaffle. She was able to get it past the Hufflepuff Keeper and through the goal hoop so quickly that even the Hufflepuffs were close to cheering.
The game went on like that for a while, back and forth, but the Seekers couldn't find the Snitch. The game was tied fifty-fifty, so whoever caught the Snitch first would win.
Suddenly the Ravenclaw Seeker went into a dive and went straight for Madame Hooch. The Hufflepuff Seeker followed, but barely missed hitting the referee as the Ravenclaw quickly went around the teacher and grabbed the Snitch from behind her. An angry Hufflepuff Beater hit a Bludger so hard that it went crashing into the woods, but above the cheering crowd only a few heard a loud yelp and an angry growl like I did. I was at the top row of the seats, so I turned to look behind me. There were glowing red eyes in the wood.
Before I could say anything, a pack of gigantic dogs tore out of the woods. Every single one of them was completely black, and every single one of them had three heads with extremely sharp teeth. I knew what these were. "Cerberuses! There's a pack of Cerberuses out there!" I shouted to everyone else. People turned to look, and the students erupted in shouts of surprise and screams. One Cerberus bounded forward and ripped a hole in the wall of the Quidditch pitch.
I decided that now would be a good time to try out the new spell I had learned while reading that book Shunkaku had had. Like it had directed in the book, I pointed my wand straight at the sky. "Haku Jin Rai!" I shouted, and blue lightning gathered in the clouds above me. I swung my wand down to point at the mass of elephant-sized dogs below me, and the lightning followed. The huge thunderclap that came after the burst of lightning was enough to knock some students over.
The lightning hadn't been enough to kill them, but some of the Cerberuses ran away. However, a few remained. I prepared to use my spell again, but a shout to my right distracted me. Genrou of Gryffindor was standing on the bench and had his wand held back like he was throwing something. "Rekka Shinen!" he shouted as he whipped the wand forward. A tsunami of blindingly bright fire rushed from the wand's tip and turned half of the dogs into ashes.
I used my lightning spell again, and Genrou used his fire spell at the same time. They merged together and landed in the midst of the dogs with an extremely loud explosion. When the dust cleared and the light faded, there was not only no more dogs, there was a small crater between the forest and the Quidditch pitch. I looked sheepishly back towards the field and the teachers.
Professor Dumbledore didn't frown at the hole. Instead, he smiled at me and at Genrou. "That was an extremely job at preventing disaster. Congratulations, Miss Haku, Mister Kou. Fifty points to each of your houses." And then everyone in the stands applauded. They were applauding us.
*Tama's POV*
Why did a pack of Cerberuses from the Forbidden Forest attack a Quidditch match? Why would I know?
But I do know. I consider it to be my job, so I keep watch of these types of things. I prefer to sleep on the warm comfy rug before the fire of the Gryffindor common room to watching, so I'm taking a break there now that the trouble is over with.
One of the cats – I'm still not sure which – someone or other wandered into Cerberus territory. Most dogs chase cats. A Cerberus is still a type of dog. The whole pack chased after the cat, and one was about to chomp the cat in question when a stray Bludger from the strange game that humans play hit the Cerberus in the head. It happened to be the alpha male, so the whole pack went after the one who had offended them. They really were going to tear down the Quidditch field and kill everyone in it if they could, but then the spells from two of the humans stopped them.
I'm glad that I arranged for the books to be taken from the library to our humans. It was a very good decision, as it turned out.
*Kaen's POV*
That was an exciting day, but I'm glad it's over. Using that spell wore me out completely. It's good that dinners at Hogwarts are so spectacular. I am controlling my eating, but I'm ravenous.
Ayuru is acting nicer to me. I wonder if I impressed him with my spell? Before, he had never really treated me seriously. Now he does, and I'm starting to realize that I never really treated him seriously, either. He is cute, but he is also intelligent and ambitious. He wants to become the youngest Japanese Minister of Magic ever and crack down on Dark wizards. That is odd for someone in Slytherin, but I agree with him. Dark wizards never amounted to much, really, except for Voldemort. And who'd want to join forces with him? After he died, the truth of how he treated his followers came out.
The encounter with the Cerberuses showed me that I could amount to something great. One day I'll do something big, and people will remember me. They won't remember me as someone's wife, like my mother wants, or from getting good marks, like my father wants. I will do things my own way and reach my own destiny. No one else will decide it for me.
I wonder what I can do with my life? I don't think that was a normal spell that I used today. What does it all mean? I have to think about it. Christmas break is coming up. Maybe I should stay at Hogwarts for the holidays. I have a feeling I'll find out something important about my life.
[1] Caneballo – Actually, this came from Italian. Cane = dog, ballo = dance… I think…
Translations: arigatou – thank you; Aniki – older brother (Suboshi refers to Amiboshi as his aniki); -kun – a title for someone you consider your equal that is used between equals or friends, especially guys
Chibigreen's Notes: Ooh, a daylong writing spree… I feel dizzy. @_@ This is definitely a once-in-a-very-long-while thing. Yikes, Suboshi got serious in his POV… I may be the one writing it, but I don't think I have much control over what happens.
Shunkaku: Of course you do! You could either do something incredibly stupid…
Kaen: …or you could listen to us!
Mikki-muse: The characters are getting smarter. *nods wisely* Their game has risen above Chibigreen's.
Rime-muse: Fewmets. If they control Chibigreen, nothing horrible will happen to them. (And what's with the Hikaru no Go-type quote, Mikki…?)
Chibigreen: Anyhow! The next chapter will be Christmas-ish, ya know? ^___^
Kryssa – I'm SO happy that someone liked the way I portrayed Chuin. ^____^ I know he wasn't quite in character, but… *shrugs*
Ryuen – Um, you can download the song Coming Out at Strawberry Sherbert (http://oddimals.com/ss/). If it's not still up, you can probably request that the owner of that website put it back up. She's a Megumi Ogata fan, too.
TA Maxwell – I'll try to get more Nuriko in sooner or later… I don't know when, but he is an interesting character to mess around with- I mean, to write.
shadow priestess – I like featuring Ryuuen. ^___^ He's a very fun character.
Sara Jaye – Um, when you said Hotohori, did you mean Nuriko?
anon – I was surprised by how many people wanted Shunkaku to be next. ^___^
Kang Xiu – I've never heard of "Tsuki no Nai Yoru", but I'll try to find some place where I can download it. ^___^
ember-fang – Sorry, but Ryuuen won't end up with Chuin. *sweatdrops* I never expected someone to ask for them to be a couple… Ryuuen's going to end up with Saihitei, and as for Chuin… I have no idea.
Keimei – Sorry for leaving you hanging with the Shi Jin Ten Chi Sho thing! ^___^ It should get much more interesting in the future.
Saturn-hime – I might have Snape say, "I'm not wearing any knickers," in this story, but I really don't know if I'll be able to fit it in. *sweatdrops* That'd be very, very strange…
Draconsis – You were right about Kaen tying in with the last chapter better than Shunkaku, but I just had to have him in it. So I had both of them ! ^___^
Singing Nightingale – You're probably right about everyone having a dysfunctional family on some level or other.
Flying heart – Don't worry, Ashitare will be fairly nice. ^___^ Anyway, I take my personality quizzes at the anime section of http://www.selectsmart.com/
Sanomi – I'm glad you liked it. ^___^
Anonymous – I'm not going to do a Nuriko/Miaka story, so don't worry there. ^___^ But I'm not going to make Chiriko a girl. I'm not offended by the idea at all, but it just wouldn't work very well in this story.
An93x – Thanks for the compliment. ^___^
Today's recommendations: I would recommend The Last Wish (http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=287276) by Ryuen because it made me cry and it has to be very good to make me cry… but I've been recommending Ryuen's fics quite frequently. So, I'll do another recommendation: Nijuusei (http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=628646) by Kaen. It stars Yui and reincarnated Suboshi and Amiboshi, who have never met and do not remember the past. It's quite good, and I like it though I'm not a big fan of Yui or Suboshi. ^___^
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