Okay, I've got to explain a few things about this one. David wanted to make a Final Fantasy IX/Harry Potter fan fiction, but I resisted until now. I see how he wanted to do it, so I agreed. We've got a nice little plot growing in this chapter.
A few things about Final Fantasy IX that you'll need to know (most people haven't played it, so that's why I'm doing this): FFIX is based around a character named Zidane. It's an RPG that is very intimate with its characters, which are based in a fantastical world with monsters and minions and sword battles and magic powers called Black Magic (used by Black Mages-original) and White Magic, used by Summoners.
Zidane is a Genome, a creature created solely to serve Terra in joining with Gaia, the planet on which Zidane accidentally grew up on. He has an older "brother", created before him, named Kuja. Kuja sort of has his own ideas on things, but I'll get around to that later.
Zidane kidnaps the Princess of Alexandria, Garnet, and renames her Dagger. They are followed by Vivi (Tirui in this story, only not quite), a Black Mage; Adelbert Steiner, the Captain of the Knights of Pluto, the guardians of the castle; Freya, a Burmecian (they look a lot like rats, to tell the truth); and several smaller characters.
Zidane finally gets out of his little mess, which involves Kuja trying to kill him before he (Zidane) becomes superior to him (Kuja) and a man named Garland trying to fuse Gaia and Terra together to form one planet. Kuja finally sees the error of his ways in the end and dies with Zidane trying to help him to safety.
That's where this story takes off, but not quite as you might expect it. This is the core plot of the Winds of Aeolus.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Final Fantasy IX, neither do I own their affiliating characters.
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Chapter 10: Enter Tirui
I guess there really are few things people can live through and not become friends. Defeating a werewolf was definitely one of them. Needless to say, the six of us (Hermione, Angel, Harry, Ron, Remus, and myself) became friends. Remus allowed us in on several little secrets about Hogwarts that I never had known.
"Have you guys noticed that we've an empty bed in our dorm?" Ron asked, about a week after the battle with Romulus. "I saw this one weird kid in class yesterday. If I hadn't been looking for him, I wouldn't have seen him."
"I've seen him before," Harry nodded.
"Me, too, in the Common Room," Hermione said.
"I've never seen him before..." I said carefully.
"He's right over there," Harry point at the end of the table. It was the boy I'd seen on the train, the one with hooded hair and yellow-green eyes.
"He looks like Tirui," Angel said, biting into an orange.
"You're right," I stared closer. The others also stared, with the exception of Angel.
"Would you bakas quit gawking at him?" Angel snapped. "It's rude. If you want, you can go ask him to sit with us."
***POV, Third Person***
"Yes, my little angel, ask him to eat with you. I'm sure he'd agree. After all, he's only my most dedicated servant, even above Voldemort," smirked a man deep in shadow, whose face we cannot see. "Tommy has certainly gotten his own ideas over the years. The unexpected turns please me.
"Besides, Angel. You're there to destroy him. A special favor of mine. Perhaps Kuja could replace him for me. He's gotten better since our last little adventure with Zidane. I conceived the little Tommy, after all, he should learn his manners before his father. He should have thought twice before biting his master's hand."
Laughter rang in the black chamber in which our masked villain resided.
"Oh, I so enjoy toying with so many of these people's fates. They are so gullible, it should be written all over their faces."
"Gullible is as gullible does, Riddle."
"Riddle is as riddle does, Kuja, my son."
"Too true."
***POV, First Person***
"Hey, kid, want to come eat with us?" Angel had gotten up, fed up with us completely.
"Um...maybe...I guess...I-I suppose it w-would be all right," he stammered. I couldn't see his face, but from his eyes, I could see he was surprised.
"What's your name?" she asked as he packed up his things. He had long ago finished eating, but he had several large books opened in front of him. This included a spiral notebook, which he'd been writing in with a normal pencil.
"Tirui Dark," he answered. "I was a son of one of the Dark Lord's followers, but I reformed under Dumbledore. I've lived with my grandfather until now."
"Good for you, Mr. Tirui!" Angel cheered. "Wow, what is your grandfather like?"
"H-he died," Tirui answered, and his head ducked.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Angel said quickly. "I didn't know."
"It's all right."
Tirui seemed to be nice. His name, and his story, however, did not quite sit well with me. It was too much of a coincidence.
Just before Angel and I had left our dimension, Angel had just completed her very first RPG. She was very much in love with the characters in it, but none more than Tirui, an original name she'd given him herself. That game had been Final Fantasy IX, and I will probably get around to explaining it more in detail later.
In the game, there had been a black mage by the name of Tirui (his original name had been Vivi). Tirui was created from some kind of evil Mist, but never knew it. His "grandfather", a Qu, had caught him in an airship while fishing. The Qu had been considering eating him, but raised him as his grandson instead. The Qu died only a few years before the game timeline had begun.
It was simply too much of a coincidence for me, I guess.
We talked with Tirui a bit more at breakfast, and the feeling deepened. His entire being was immaculately precise to the Tirui in the game. The yellow eyes (they were yellow, now that I saw him); the hair, which was a strange shade of tan and was steepled, just like the game's Tirui; his face, which was hidden completely in black; and his stature. He was short, but extremely fast, if not a little clumsy.
This was confirmed even worse for me when we were getting ready to leave.
As Angel was getting up, she wasn't watching where she was going. Tirui also stood and followed her. What ensued was the worst four-way collision in the history of Hogwarts.
I said four, because coming down the aisle were two others. One headed for his classroom, and the other to ask a question of Professor McGonagall, more easily reached if approached from the other side of the Griffindor table.
Draco Malfoy, Severus Snape, Angel Galis, and Tirui Dark collided, all going at nearly a run.
Angel definitely caught the worst of it, being most closely at the middle, almost like a three-pronged attack. A sickening crack reverberated all over the Great Hall as her arm snapped in two different places. A stray ink bottle from her bag flew out, spattering all four with bright blue ink.
Tirui, struck only from the outside of the collision, landed firmly on his butt and was badly winded.
Malfoy was flung against the wall, and twisted his ankle. He was also winded, but not badly.
Snape fell on top of the Griffindor table, completely covered in flapjack dressings (jam, syrup, chocolate sauce, among them). He also got the worst of the ink bottle, as it landed directly on top of what had to be the only white shirt he owned.
"D-Detention!" Snape hissed, obviously very angry and very embarrassed. The entire Griffindor table looked like it was going to burst out laughing any minute. Fred and George did, but Snape luckily was no where near them.
Unluckily for Angel, as I later found out.
"All three of you!" Snape roared. He leapt from the table, flinging a stray flapjack from his hair. "I will see you tonight, here, at seven o'clock sharp. No excuses."
"B-But, sir!" Angel sputtered, tears in her eyes. I knew it was not from the pain in her arm, which she was cradling very carefully. She had always been strong about physical agony, no matter what. I had to admire her for her strength just then.
"No excuses!" Snape snarled and took off faster than before.
Angel burst into tears right there on the floor, as the entire Griffindor table watched her, feeling a pity in their hearts. Everyone else thought she was simply in pain from her arm, which must be hurting so badly right now. But I knew she wasn't.
You see, Angel had always prided herself in the fact that she had never gotten in trouble at school before. She'd never been in trouble before, never in anything, even when she beat up that one kid.
And now her record was tainted forever by a mere accident in which she had not had any say in at all. Malfoy gingerly got to his feet, and, despite his ankle, he made his way toward Angel and helped her up.
"Are you all right?" he asked her. His voice wasn't tainted by hate or with any kind of sneer or taunt at all. Malfoy was being kind and courteous, as any gentleman should be.
"Y-Yes," Angel answered, sniffling a bit. I knew she was in no way all right, but her pride held her back. She had only a tiny scrap of pride left in her and she was holding onto it with every ounce of her strength.
"Angel, do you need help up to the hospital wing?" Harry asked quietly.
"No, I'll be fine," Angel answered with a smile, but it turned into a wince. "Get to class, you're going to be late. McGonagall will be mad if you're late again."
Harry, Ron, and I blushed. We had been late four times since the beginning of the year, three too many already for McGonagall.
"I can help you up, if you want," Hermione offered.
"No, I'll need your notes later," Angel smirked a little. "It isn't word for word." I blushed an even deeper shade of red than the others.
"I'll help her," Malfoy said, and almost demanded of us. "You heard the lady. Get to class."
Malfoy grit his teeth together against the sprain in his leg and walked, head held high, by Angel's side out of the Great Hall. I did not see Angel again until lunch that day.
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Oh my GOD! I got a detention! How could he do this to me? He knows I've never gotten in trouble before at school! Yes, it's the truth, I've never had a detention before. I don't know if anyone caught the "word-for-word" joke. But I hope you're all rolling about the flapjack dressings all over Snape! HAHAHA! He deserves it, the meanie!! Yes, I'm being immature. Thanks for everything! And thank Ami of Destiny and Telex for getting me to update this one! WOOOOOO, THANKS GUYS! The POWER OF SKITTLES AND CODE RED RULES OVER ME! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
Anyway, see ya'll aroun'.