"." - Talking (NO Duh!) ^.^ - Language (.) - My daft self - Singing/Battle Chants CAPS - Shouting or emphasis on that word *Note: '-' will be replacing those dot dot dot thingies since dot dot dots show as only one dot on ff.net.

Disclaimer: I don't own CC/CCS.

Aoi Youkai

*Chapter 17: Cometh Forth Into the Fabled World of Witchcraft and Wizardry*

~*~ Flashback ~*~

"When put into a new environment, an animal must choose - adapt and survive, or stay exactly the way you are and die."

~*~ End Flashback ~*~

Aya woke the next morning to an island that knew all about the night before. The true story, that is. Only Maaya refused to believe it. Even her little clique just nodded when she went ranting.

She was back to her old make-up-less self in no time, dressing in jeans, a white T-shirt and a huge blue button down shirt of her bro's that she wore as a jacket. She walked over to the Li's where Aki had told her he was. She got there, and discovered everyone else bored. She smiled and went over to poke Aoi. He gave a yelp, "What?"

"We have to make our wands and get our uniforms from Elle's mom."

He pointed to a couple of packages on the table, "The uniforms are there. She made my dress robes for me but she knows you like to do your own clothes."

She turned to Elle, "Thank your mom for me, will you? Now, Aoi and I have to do our wands."

Aoi was brushing the grass off his ass when he was glomped by a very squealy Maaya, who'd dashed in the moment the butler opened the door. The next couple of minutes were sheer torture, running and hopping over everyone and everything. Finally, she caught him in a final glomp and he shot an SOS signal at Aya.

Aya, who was leaning against the house, shook her head, "Shigeki-san, come on inside. I need to tell you something."

Maaya gave her a smug smile, "Yes. Don't worry. Being Aoi's best friend, you can be my bridesmaid."

Aya raised her eyebrow and nodded towards the glass sliding doors. Maaya gave her a mock-sweet smile, "Surely what you have to say to me you can say in front of everyone else."

Aya pushed herself from the wall, and not even smiling, grabbed Maaya by the collar of her Chanel blouse with one hand and slammed her against the wall, so that they were eye to eye. Maaya looked scared, and she had good reason to - her feet weren't even close to touching the ground. Aya glared straight into her eyes, making her whimper, "Do you know why I consider myself more sensible than most other girls? I don't go chasing dreams that weren't mine to begin with. Give it up, he's not gonna be yours. And no, that's not because I want him. I already told you. I would give you my blessing if he would have you. But he won't."

Aoi placed a hand on Aya's shoulder and she dropped Maaya, who ran off. The two of them then left the house in search of materials to make their wands with. Aya knew what wood she was going to use, but what core?

As if to answer her question, a portal suddenly opened and a box dropped from it. Aya picked up to box, which was addressed to her and opened it. There was a book, a crystal phial containing what looked strangely like blood and a letter.

Aya opened the letter, which said:

"Dear Aya, the book is a copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, soft cover Bloomsbury, just released. You'll need to keep track of his life. You'll be helping him in a few years. And as for the crystal phial, it contains the blood of a taboo child, a cross between a human and a demon, from one of the Omega worlds - Saiyuki. I think you know which one. I took it while he was asleep, so no harm done. Use it as a core for both your and your friend Aoi's wands. Take care, Suzaku."

Aoi looked over her shoulder and scanned through it before asking, "You know which one? Which one?"

"Sha Gojyo. Come on. We might as well get started. You know what wood you're going to use?"

"Yeah. I planted a pine cone in the school compound when I was a little kid."

"You mean you planted that pine tree? Cool. We'll drop by my tree first. It's the one you found me in on the first day of school."

They walked towards the school compound, and stopped by the cherry tree. Aya looked up at it and hopped up onto the branch Aoi had found her sitting on. She examined each and every branch and finally decided on a long straight one. She snapped it off and hopped back on the ground.

Putting it in a pouch she had tied round her waist that also contained the crystal phial, she followed Aoi. After he'd picked a branch, they left to return to Aoi's house.

The next day, they were back on a plane on the way to England at eight am. They reached London at 1 pm, London time. They booked into the Ritz Carlton, one single room each, except Sakura and Syaoran who had a double. Suffering from jetlag, they didn't really care for anything other than their bathroom, their bed or the room service.

The next twenty-five days was spent mainly making their wands. Finally, day twenty-six came and Eriol called them to his room. He clapped his hands together, "Good. Everyone got his or her wands? I just want to see if you have to buy one after all. After this, change into your uniforms, the normal ones, and pack, 'cos we're checking out. A representative will be here to bring us to Diagon Alley to get your supplies, and then Hogwarts, where I'll have to create a fireplace. We'll have to leave by twelve, or else we'll pay for another day, so let's get started. Eri, you first, state the material, length and core."

Eri's was maple, eleven inches and a piece of gold said to be one of the amount Nicholas Flamel had created with the Philosopher's Stone, and when she tried it, a shower of gold and black sparks flew out. Rei's was wisteria, ten inches and quicksilver; she tried it and a silver glow filled the room. Aya's was cherry, fourteen inches and blood; a crimson cherry blossom appeared and dissolved as soon as it'd completely materialized. Aoi's was pine, thirteen and a half inches and blood; a blue dragon appeared and roared around the room before flying back into the wand. Maaya's was pine, thirteen inches and cherry blossoms; the chair in front of Eriol collapsed into pieces.

Eriol straightened his glasses and stopped twirling his own wand between his fingers. He pointed it at the fragments, "Reparo!" before turning to Maaya, "Well, Shigeki-san, I see we'll have to get you a wand later, together with my other two colleagues. You may leave now."

They left then and went to pack. Soon after, they were in a chartered minibus with a giant called Hagrid. They stopped at a corner, where Hagrid led them into a small bar called The Leaky Cauldron. Passing through a wall that opened up after Hagrid tapped it with a pink umbrella, they entered Diagon Alley. After buying their stuff, they proceeded back into the bar, where they headed straight for the fireplace.

Eriol closed his eyes and paled slightly for a few seconds before turning back to Hagrid, "It's there Hagrid."

"'K, professor." He turned to the five students and the other two heads of Seishiro High, "Now, ter use the Floo powder, yeh hafta grab a handful an' throw it inter the fire. Then, yeh step in an' shout 'ogwarts s'clear's possible, got me?"

They got him, and soon they were all stepping through a fireplace Eriol had created in the Entrance Hall.

Harry, Ron and Hermione stood amongst the other Gryffindors, and they suddenly met the sight of a large fireplace suddenly appearing in front of them. They watched in shock as Hagrid led three adults and five students around their age out.

Dumbledore, in the front, greeted the blue-haired one, "Ah, Professor Hiiragizawa. You're early I see. Welcome to Hogwarts. Just give me a moment."

He turned to face the students and his voice boomed throughout the corridor, "These are our delegates from Japan, and unlike the other two schools, this is their first time participating in the Triwizard Tournament, which should rightfully now be called the Tetrawizard Tournament...but never mind. Anyway, as I was saying, these students are not going to be studying on their own. Instead, we are assigning each to one of our own students, of the same age and gender, and he or she will sleep in his or her host's dormitory, where you'll find another bed has been squeezed in, take the same lessons as his or her host and theoretically become a part of his or her host's house for the rest of this year. The teachers and I have already decided who shall play host, so will Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Alicia Spinnet, Pansy Parkinson and Penelope Clearwater come down."

Hushed whispers filled the Entrance Hall as they wondered about age. Wasn't the limit seventeen? Surely Dumbledore didn't think they made them stronger a few time zones away?

The five Hogwarts students were as confused. It was announced that Harry was to take Aoi, Hermione, Aya, Alicia, Rei, Pansy, Maaya, and Penelope, Eri. Aya shot Pansy an evil smile while she led Maaya away, "Treat her well."

Pansy understood, and shot her a similar look, "Don't worry. I will."

Aya didn't worry, but Maaya caught this little exchange and started getting scared.

They made their way back, Aya giggling her heart out at Ron trying to say 'Aoi'. Finally, she couldn't take it, "Look Ron. I think it won't be very good for you to keep calling him an exclamation one might use when one is in pain. 'Owie' here doesn't need magic to inflict a lot of damage, and that's saying nothing. So just call him Li and be done with it. He's more used to that anyway. Where we come from, unless asked otherwise, we call people we just meet by their surnames."

Hermione looked slightly alarmed, "Then should I call you Lee too?"

"No thanks. It's a bit too formal for me. I was only in Japan since June. Before that, I've lived all my life in Singapore, which you will find is a highly westernised society."

They watched the delegates from Beauxbatons fly over the forest and after the Durmstrang ship emerged from the lake, they proceeded inwards to the feast that awaited them.

In the Great Hall, Hermione commented on the Beauxbatons students, most of whose eyes were the only body part left visible, "It's not THAT cold. Why didn't they bring cloaks?"

Aya rolled up her sleeves and stuck her arm all the way into her bag, fishing around for something to eat while they waited, "Couldn't've put it better myself. In fact, it's rather warm in here. The house-elves are doing a great job with the fires. I have to use magic at home if I want my room warm enough during the winter."

Hermione scowled, "Humph. You would say that. You don't know what house- elves go through. Imagine - they don't even get PAID."

Ron sighed exasperatedly and Aya replied, "C'mon Hermione. Don't be like that. You're not doing them any good. Admittedly, I've never met one face to face, but I think I know them well enough. They LIKE it this way. They wouldn't have it any other. And don't start about Dobby. There are weird ones in every species. Take me for example, not many can switch between hyper and sober whenever she wants to."

They were looking at her shocked, and Harry asked, "How'd you know about Dobby?"

"You'll be surprised at what else I know. All about Black, Scabbers, the Chamber of Secrets, Voldemort..."

Ron jumped a foot in the air, "Don't say that name!"

Aya shrugged, "Ok then. I'm just making my point that you shouldn't try to keep anything from me. I already know what's going to happen this year, plus I'm just beginning on mind reading."

Now it was Aoi's turn to be surprised, "Mind reading? You're at the university syllabus? But you're only a freshman."

"So? I find that our textbooks make extremely good reads and know them cover to cover."

Hermione was extremely curious, "Do you mind lending them to me sometime? I mean I for one have never heard of a witch or wizard who can mind read."

"That's because it's sorcery. There's a difference, you know. Most eastern magicians practise sorcery, while most western magicians practise wizardry. By far, most consider sorcery more powerful, but it has its weaknesses. Most of the more powerful spells are highly exhausting, and of course there are others that I don't know of."

Hermione's eyes widened, "Can you teach me?"

Aya looked at her for a while and smiled, "Yeah, sure. Your aura seems strong enough."

Ron groaned, "Oh bother. A second Trelawney."

"No. Her auras are fakes. Ours refer to a person's ki. It takes on a certain colour by way of appearance. No, you don't see it, exactly, but you sense it. The ability to sense auras is a trait particular to sorcerers."

The conversation couldn't go on any further as Dumbledore stood to speak. But after that, the food appeared. Aya was positively delighted, "Ooh. Sashimi."

She attacked her food and begun drinking everything she put on her plate. The others decided to ignore her appetite as long as she didn't finish all the food on the table, which seemed highly likely to happen.

The girl who'd laughed during Dumbledore's speech had removed her muffler and come over, "Excuse me, are you wanting ze bouillabaisse?"

Harry pushed it towards her, "Yeah, have it."

"You 'ave finished wiz it?"

"Yeah," Ron said hoarsely, "Yeah, it was excellent."

She took the dish and looked with scorn at Aya who seemed oblivious to the whole situation, still shovelling food onto her plate and into her mouth, "You should not eat so much. You will grow fat."

Aya stopped eating, "Damn. Lost my momentum. S'all your fault. What do you care if I'm fat, anyway?"

She stood up straight and glared down on the girl, looking slightly intimidating. It was then when most realized that they looked slightly similar, putting aside minor physical differences like hair colour, face shape and the fact that Aya was comparably taller despite age.

Both of them gave a very long impression and their hair, one crimson and the other seemingly a cross between silver and gold, fell in a glossy sheet to the girls' waists, as if rebonded.

The girl tossed her chin and stalked off, leaving Aya to glare after her as she sat back down to continue eating. Ron commented, his voice still hoarse, "She's a Veela!"

"Of course she isn't." Hermione said tartly, "Even if her temper's something to take into consideration... but I don't see anyone else gaping at her like an idiot."

They heard their first of Aoi's voice as he snorted, "Yeah right."

They looked around and saw a lot of faces looking at her, mostly lovesick male ones. Ron was slightly shocked, "That's the first time we heard you talk."

"I didn't see the need."

"By the way, I noticed something. You guys don't talk with accents."

"Do you want us to? I can do a great Australian one. Besides, we were trained to talk without an accent, so it's easier for people to understand what we're saying."

"Oh."

After a lengthy explanation by Dumbledore, the Goblet of Fire was brought in, "An Age Line will be drawn around the Goblet to prevent underage students from trying to take part and therefore, Professor Hiiragizawa or one of his colleagues will be putting in the Seishiro students' names in. And don't worry, I have been convinced that they will be up to the job despite their age. Goodnight."

They ran into a touch of trouble with Professor Karkaroff at the door, before proceeding up to the dormitories. In the room Hermione shared with Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown and two other fourth year girls, another bed was set up between Hermione's and Parvati's.

Aya sat down on it and turned to Hermione, "Is there anything here that can support my weight without breaking or moving?"

Her friend looked around, "No, but if you're light enough, we can probably help. What is it?"

Aya laughed and looked at her bag, "My bag's pretty big on the inside. I need to unpack."

They looked her as she removed a long rope that was usually used for rock climbing and tossed it into the bag, holding on to the other end. She passed it to Hermione and turned to Parvati & Lavender, who were trying to look down her bag, "All my bags are really portals to a particular room I created in one of the sub-worlds. That's where I keep all my stuff. And so's one of Aoi's. He couldn't be bothered with luggage either."

She attached a pulley to the bed and went down. Attaching some stuff to the rope, she called for them to pull it up before throwing the rope back down. Then, she climbed back up the rope, thanking her new friends.

When they woke the next morning and got dressed. This time, Aya put on her new uniform for the first time - a white long-sleeved blouse, a navy blue tie, a pair of navy boot-cut pants made out of a material that felt like a mix between denim & some other thing to make it slightly stretchy and strangely warm navy blue silk long-sleeved robes. The robes hardly differed from the Hogwarts robes (I'm referring mainly to what I see in the movie, the HP figurines and the covers of the four HP books. The fifth is coming out today and I'm going to collect my reserved copy later). The bodice fit nicely and the bottom flared out, leaving lots of room for movement. The collar was V-shaped, giving it a smart look, showing the top of the tie and the collar of her blouse like sweaters do. Seeing no apparent ruling about shoes, she pulled on a pair of white ankle socks and some black ankle boots with one-inch heels.

On the stairs, Aya asked Hermione, "When's the welcome feast gonna be? I heard my heads mention it a couple times."

"The thirtieth."

They met the guys in the common room and proceeded to their first lesson. Ron tried warning them, "I suggest you guys try not to get blacklisted by Snape. He's HORRIBLE. Although he'll probably discriminate you just because you're hanging with us..."

The dungeons felt damp and dark, which is what they were, anyway. That day in Potions, they were pairing up. Naturally, Aya was with Hermione and Aoi was with Harry, but poor Ron was stuck with Neville. Aya was observing Snape's every move with what seemed like suspicion. Ron whispered over to Harry, "I think I got the point in a bit to far."

Aya smiled at this but kept silent. She'd heard Snape was highly biased towards the Slytherins and against the Gryffindors. Let's see if it applied to the exchange students too...

Snape tapped the blackboard with his wand and ingredients & instructions appeared. Aya and Hermione set forth on their task, but to their great misfortune, added to the big mistake they made by sitting by the aisle, Neville had set a flask rolling off the table and was saved only when Aya dove after it, landing on her back smack in the middle of the aisle, staring sheepishly up at the Potions master.

She got up and brushed the immense amount of dust off her robes, "Sorry, professor."

"Ten points from Gryffindor, Longbottom, for that ardent display of clumsiness and for making a guest clean up your mess." He then looked at Aya who was beating dust off her skirt, and managed to catch a glimpse of her shoes, "Miss LEE, is it? I hear that technically, you are something of a Hogwarts student now, am I not right?"

"Yes sir."

"Then why, if I may, are you wearing heels? That is not part of the standard uniform, the last time I checked, or have they made some changes during your arrival that I was not aware of? Ten more point fro-"

Aya interrupted, standing up straight and looking the professor in the eye, a gesture which a few were shocked at, "Excuse me sir, I don't mean to be overly rude, but though technically, in most ways, I AM somewhat a Hogwarts student for the rest of the year, I still wear the Seishiro uniform. When we received it, we were not told what shoes we could or could not wear, and therefore, I slipped on the first pair I could grab this morning. Therefore, as only the HOGWARTS uniform has rules against heels and the SEISHIRO uniform doesn't, technically, you can't punish me for that. Besides, our heads have always encouraged creativity in the students."

Snape, angry at having been proved wrong by a student, shot her a look of loathing that he normally reserved for Harry, "Ten points from Gryffindor for blatant disrespect. I see that you're even more like Potter than his own son. Have you considered a link?"

He swept off as Aya sat back down. Gryffindors shot her looks of admiration; they'd never have dared to talk to Snape like that. Snape swept round the classroom once more, and when he saw Hermione and Aya's potion, he sneered, "Did I not say that it should be opaque by now? Your fire is too small and at this speed, you'll never pass your OWLs due to lack of time. Evanesco!"

Little did he know, Aya was smarter than she looked, and her hands were in her pockets, fiddling with those little red marbles of hers that contained items or spells. When the spell hit the potion, it didn't vanish, but bubbled slightly where the spell hit it and turned opaque. Aya feigned innocent surprise, "Hey, thanks professor. I think you just did the job for us."

Snape, confused, glared at her once more before sweeping off to inspect Pansy and Maaya's potion, "Very nice. I see your Japanese teachers aren't COMPLETELY useless."

Aya's eyes narrowed as she watched the potion begin to boil. She stiffened, feeling highly offended at this remark; she'd grown quite fond of her teachers. Suddenly, the fire grew to twice its size and Hermione leapt back in shock. Aya scowled, "Sorry." and waved her hand at it, making it disappear. Sure enough, Snape, casting a suspicious look in their direction, said, "Class, pour the potion into a flask and hand it in for grading. I want a one foot essay on common healing herbs."

Outside in the corridor, Maaya stopped Aya and in a mocking tone, said, "Your aura flared. I KNOW you did a piece of magic. If I tell Snape, you'll be in trouble. I don't think he likes you much anymore. Well, at least I wasn't stupid enough to show my feet to the world. You're not the only one who can wear cool shoes."

She lifted her skirt slightly to show off a pair of four-inch stilettos before stalking off with Pansy, both cackling. Aya looked surprisingly calm after that. She closed her eyes and opened them again when she was sure they were out of earshot, even if she yelled, giving the slightest smirk, "Do you know why I NEVER wear stilettos?" she paused, "They break."

There was an evil grin all over her face, and she raised her wand. Her sleeve swept down as if she was throwing something round the corner Maaya and Pansy had walked, bellowing, "Diffindo!"

True enough, a bolt of light shot round the corner and there was a shriek. She grinned at her friends who were looking delighted and on the verge of laughter as they ran to have a look. They had to go up into the Entrance Hall before they found Maaya. She was sprawled all over the floor, looking furious. Her bag had split open and everything was on the floor, and sure enough, the heels of both her expensive looking shoes were clean cut diagonally, although the cut on the left shoe was slightly higher than that on the right, as if something had slashed through the left and couldn't stop before it got through the right.

Aya looked at her with and innocently surprised look on her face, "My, my, I was just telling the others - stilettos tend to be rather, how do you say this? FRAGILE."

Maaya glared at her, shaking with fury, and tried to stand, but she lost her balance, and tried to take advantage of the opportunity and fall forwards onto Aoi, but missed, given that he saw this and stepped inconspicuously backwards. She sat on the floor and tore off her shoes before flinging them in the general direction of Aya's head, though she was shaking so much they missed by at least half a foot. She got up and pointed her shaking finger at Aya, "YOU! YOU DID THAT! YOU!"

Aya gave her a dose of the puppy eyes crossed with the Almighty Glint of Evilness, "I what? I was standing in the same spot where you left me until I heard your scream. I knew it was you. By now, I've come to recognize the pitch. I just followed your aura and found you here."

"I KNOW IT'S YOU! YOU WAIT! I'LL GET YOU!"

"Get me how?" Aya looked over her shoulder at the shoes lying some distance behind her, "I don't suppose you can attack me with shoes, seeing that you've already thrown away both of yours. Maybe you should want to get some more? I'll wait here if you want."

The teachers had by now heard the commotion and tore through the crowd. Syaoran gave the two of them piercing looks, and Aya, remembering something, cleared her face of all emotion and cleared her mind. Maaya began ranting again, "SENSEI! SHE'D CURSED ME! EXPEL HER! SHE MADE ME FALL!"

Syaoran let her go on and held up a hand, silencing her, "Shigeki, if you're not going to tell me what happened calmly and logically, I suppose I'll ask Aya first. Aya, what happened?"

"After Potions, Shigeki was showing off her shoes and went off cackling. I didn't want to have to harm her and gain a bad reputation on my first day here and stayed there a while to calm down. Hermione, Harry, Ron, Aoi and I were about to head to the next lesson, Transfiguration, and we heard a scream. I recognized it to be Shigeki's and followed her aura here. Then she began accusing me of breaking her four-inch stilettos, which you can see behind me," she gestured to the miserable looking shoes, "and she threw them at me. I merely retaliated with words, denying what I hadn't done."

He turned to Shigeki, who was still shaking, so Syaoran had no choice but to do what Aya had successfully avoided him using on herself - mind reading. All he saw was Pansy and Maaya walking away cackling, then Maaya falling, and then Maaya shouting at Aya. He scowled and turned to the considerably taller Dumbledore, "May I use your office, professor?"

"You're more than welcome."

"Thank you. Shigeki, a word please. And bring your things."

Maaya stared shocked at Syaoran, furious. As she picked her things up, she glared at Aya, "I'll be Champion. You'll see."

The crowd FINALLY dispersed, and Professor McGonagall, who was on her way to the lesson herself, spoke to the five, "Well, now that that's over, will you please proceed to my class. I'm warning you that if you're later than me, I'll take ten points apiece."

She began walking quickly away and they looked to each other, before running past her and towards their classroom.

After the day was over, they were back in the common room; Ron & Harry were telling everyone about the day's events. After Fred and George had wrung her hand and everyone was gone, Ron realized something, "Y'know, Aya and that girl sort of remind me of Harry and Malfoy."

They laughed their way up the stairs and said goodnight.

Yayz! Just finished reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for the second time even though I just got it three days ago. R+R!