Crystal: This may as well be the oddest fic you will ever read. The idea came to me while watching Rurouni Kenshin one day. This idea has always appealed to me, and now I am finally putting it down on paper for the world to see. It may really suck, but that's your opinion, isn't it my friend.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter, but NOW I own all five books. The character Cahira Zeva Aiden is my character and is not allowed to be used. She is not based on a real person in any circumstances. Yes, this is boring, but it's important. So you can't sue me. I also do own the people who you do not recognize, so they are mine. No stealing please.
Crystal: I am so, so, so sorry that I gave away who died. I'm so sorry! But anyway, I know people don't really like this story, considering it only has about 3 reviews, but I enjoy writing it. I'm leaving for vacation to Arizona on Friday for a week, so I won't be updating anything for a while. Oh, and thanks to my only reviewers PiscesAngel and shannon! You're both the best!
~*~*~
Cahira sat at the front teachers table, her stomach in a small knot. Sure, she was nervous about her first class, I'm sure everyone who had just become a teacher was. But the fact that Calin, the guy of her dreams (literally), was in that class. She ate a few pieces of toast and drank some pumpkin juice. She didn't know why everyone liked it, when she preferred tea over everything else.
She twirled her napkin in her hands, which were clammy. Some of the students had entered the class and left, and Cahira was glad that her first class wasn't till after lunch. She had classes' everyday, but they varied in times. Today, hers was after lunch.
Seeing that she possibly couldn't put anything else in her mouth, she excused herself from the table. She walked out of the teacher entrance and exit, and then into the entrance hall. She passed many students, who just sort of looked at her before continuing their conversations.
Cahira sighed, and walked up the marble stairs and towards her tower. It was quite empty in this corridor, so she let out a long yawn, and walked over to her portrait.
"Good day Master Cahira" her portrait said. Cahira nodded her head, and the portrait swung, with no need of a password. Cahira grabbed the parchment filled with names, and walked inside. She had developed a new way for lighting, since the spell seemed to always mess up. Cahira stuck her hand above her and pointed her index finger, twirling it in spirals that matched the stairs.
The tower lit, and Cahira walked up to her rooms. She decided on a nice bath before she made sure everything was ready. She picked out a green haori, the pants white and the top green. She decided she would go all warrior today, which she normally wouldn't do. She picked out the green stockings that matched her haori top. She grabbed a towel, and walked into the bathroom, setting her clothes on a vanity.
Putting her hair into a messy bun, she slipped into the warm bathwater she had run before leaving for breakfast. The fire had not burnt out, so the water was still plenty warm.
She soaked, letting all her nervousness wash away in the herbal water. She sighed, letting her thoughts escape, and sinking into the water. After about thirty minutes, she came back to earth, noticing all her nervousness was now gone, and the sores she had gotten from training were gone. That's what she got for using the water from the fall.
She stepped out of the bath, wrapping the towel around her. She let her hair drop, before tying it back in its usual way. She slipped into the stockings, and then into her haori. She put her sandals on, and hung the towel on the bar over the window to dry. She looked at the clock, and it seemed it had been much longer then thirty minutes. Actually, three times that amount.
She still had plenty of time though, so she walked back into her room. A bird was now sitting in a cage that hung from the roof, but it wasn't an owl, nor was it a phoenix. It was a beautiful nightingale. Its tail was long like that of a phoenix, and it was a beautiful peacock green and blue. It had large, silver eyes, and a short, curved beak. It was gnawing on a rice ball that was attached to the cage wall.
Cahira smiled, walking up to it.
"Hello *Hotaru" Cahira said, stroking the bird. It belonged to her mother before she passed away, so Cahira had offered to take care of it. She used it instead of an owl, because nightingales were very common in the part of Japan she was from. Owls were not, and a phoenix would defiantly not fit in well. This bird, though, had a small string around its neck with a little cherry bell attached.
That's how people knew it was owned, and when people from her city saw it, like friends, they would call hi to it. The people who were after her, though, did not know of this bird. People in the city knew very well never to speak out Cahira's name when they saw something or someone that could lead the people to her.
"So, how is everyone, hmm?" Cahira asked, stroking the birds head. She chirped in a melodic way, before returning to the rice ball. Cahira giggled, sitting down next to her desk and opening a drawer. She took out a small, black book with a blue nightingale on the front. She opened it, and grabbed her brush and ink, before beginning to write her letter.
About another hour later, Cahira gave the two pieces of parchment to *Hotaru, who chirped.
"Now, one is for Master Keiji, who is staying in London. The other is for Akane, and you'll have to get her whereabouts from Master Keiji. Understand?" Cahira asked, letting the bird walk onto her hand and walking towards the window. Hotaru chirped in response.
"Good, now, if you're not back in a week, I'll get worried" Cahira said, and *Hotaru chirped again, before leaping of her hand and flying away. Cahira watched as she disappeared beyond the horizon, and looked at the sun. She turned to look at her clock.
"About thirty minutes till noon, and an hour and a half till lunch" Cahira said. "And my class is a two" Cahira said. "What to do?" She asked herself. She did not want to go and train, for she didn't want to strain any muscles when she was starting a class today.
"Maybe I'll just do exercises for an hour, then just make my way around the castle" Cahira said to herself again. She pulled out of the wardrobe a **shinai. She began to exercise her arms and legs, before moving onto easy training with the **shinai.
An hour later, when she finished, she put everything away and walked into the training room. Everything was nicely set up, and then a thought struck Cahira. She dashed into her room, sighing to see her Silver Dragon Sakaboto***. She grabbed it, slipping it into its position at her side, and continuing on her inspection of the training room. She noted that everything was set, and she had 20 minutes till lunch.
She had to be there at least 5 minutes early for some reason, and she decided she wouldn't eat too much as so she didn't weigh herself down. She slipped back into her sandals, which she had discarded while checking on the training room, and grabbed them. She did not want her feet to touch the wood, so if she was wearing stockings, she wouldn't put on her shoes till the little indent that separated her area from the castle stairs.
Master Keiji had told her she should do it no matter what, and Cahira thought about it. Now that there would be many more students, the wood would get scuffed up. So, she decided on it. Shoes weren't aloud on the wood, so she would have to talk to her students about that. They would use sandals in the training room, like she, and leave their other shoes behind.
The sandals fit all sizes, and she had enough for each person. She had also started to make her students' haoris, but hadn't put in colors yet. She would have to decide when she met them. Noticing she wasted five minutes pondering, and it would take her five to ten minutes to get downstairs, she slipped on her shoes at the indent, and began her way down.
She did not extinguish the candles, for in an hour she would just have to put them on again. She didn't want all her students waiting in the dark, now did she? She exited the portrait, and made her way to the Great Hall.
~*~*~
Harry, Ron, and Hermione, entered the Great Hall to see loads of students already in there.
"Damn that Snape, making us miss some of our lunch" Ron hissed.
"Really Ron, you and your stomach" Hermione sighed. They looked up at the staff table as they took their seats, and noticed Cahira talking with Professor Lupin. Her sword, like always, was safe at her side.
"She doesn't go anywhere without that thing, does she?" Harry asked.
"Seems not" Hermione said. They also noticed she was only eating rice and small pieces of beef and shrimp, hardly any food at all.
"She's going to starve herself like that" Ron said, as he grabbed a roll and began to shove it in his mouth.
"Maybe she's doing it for a reason" Hermione said. She decided she would take just as much food that Cahira had on her plate.
"No you're starving yourself, too?" Ron asked.
"No" Hermione said stiffly. "I'm just taking a pro-caution. When we do stuff in her class today, I don't want to throw up."
"She has a point" Harry said, also grabbing the necessary foods. Ron sighed.
"Fine then" he grunted, taking the foods as well. Cahira had taught them on Sunday how to use chopsticks, though they weren't the best at it yet. Ron would end up stabbing at the food when it frustrated him, and then resort to using his hands. Hermione and Harry had caught on to it, but they still had a problem with rice.
When they finished the small meal, they stood and exited the hall. They saw Cahira had also.
"Cahira!" Hermione called, waving. Cahira turned, smiling.
"Hello" she said, walking over. "I see you followed my example" she said. They looked at her confused. She laughed slightly. "With the food" she said to them. They nodded in understanding. "Before going into training, they say you shouldn't eat much. It weighs you down, and so tricks are harder to learn" Cahira said. They nodded.
"Where are you going?" Hermione asked.
"Hmm, over to the edge of the forest" Cahira answered.
"Why?" Harry asked, walking with her as she began.
"I talked to Hagrid before Breakfast this morning. He said he would try and get some of the ingredients for me" Cahira said, referring to the potion for Professor Lupin.
"He said he'd try for the centaur tooth and the dark energy leaf" Cahira said.
"Have you started looking for the pure hearted?" Cahira asked.
"I'm going to start in my class today, and then I'll do it in the Great Hall at dinner" Cahira said. "It's hard to do though with big groups of people" Cahira muttered. Hagrid was walking along the edge of the forest, pulling a large bag.
"Hagrid!" Cahira called. He turned and smiled.
"G'day Mis' Cahira" Hagrid said, "'Arry, Ron, 'Ermione" Hagrid greeted.
"I'm here for the ingredients, Hagrid" Cahira said softly so the people on the grounds didn't hear.
"O' course, righ' here in tis bag" Hagrid said. He opened it, and took out a small bottle with a single tooth in it, and another with a single leaf in it.
"Thank you, Hagrid" Cahira smiled.
"Noh problem" Hagrid said, "I'll see you bunch late'" Hagrid said, and he continued to trudge off down the forest edge. Cahira smiled, as she began her way back across the grounds.
"Enjoy lunch" she called to them, before disappearing in a crowd of people.
~*~*~
"One minute till class" Hermione said. "Thirty seconds, twenty-five, twenty" Hermione counted off her watch. "Five…" she said, and the portrait swung open. Many of the other students jumped away. Cahira stepped out.
"Hello" she smiled. It was the first many of the students had heard her speak, beside Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Now, before we head to class, I would like to give you the rules and things like that" Cahira said, as the portrait shut behind her.
"First, the password. It is Haru kin'youbi" Cahira said first. "Now, the rules are no insulting." Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked over at Malfoy and his cronies. "You must follow directions at all times, and you may only speak when called on. When we reach the top of the tower, I ask all of you to remove your shoes" Cahira said. This must be new Harry, Ron, and Hermione thought.
The portrait opened without said to a password. "Now, you may notice this. After a month or so, my portrait will recognize you by your aura and allow you in" Cahira said. She walked in, and the thirty people of the class followed. Cahira stood on the first step as everyone piled in and made sure the portrait shut tightly.
She began walking up the steps, and the class followed. Some of them whispered, but Cahira didn't mind because they were not yet in her room. They approached the landing minutes later, though some people were lagging.
"Remove your shoes" Cahira said, and she did before stepping onto the wood. Everyone followed, and stepped onto it, questioning their friends why they had to do so.
"Now, you are in my domain, so, as soon as you step onto the landing, rules ensue" Cahira smiled. The class became quiet, and she led the ones ready to the training room. "If you would go and stand against the wall" she said to them. They nodded, and did as she was told. For some reason, all of them had this feeling they shouldn't disobey her.
When everyone was standing against the wall, she walked to the front of the class, wearing her black, training sandals.
"Now, I will call your name and point to your seat for the rest of the year. The only way to move is if you're either excelling in the class, or being disruptive" Cahira said. She picked up the signup list, and walked to the first cushion. "Now, on each cushion there is a pair of black sandals which become yours as soon as you sit down. You are responsible to bring them to every class here, and I suggest you personalize them in some way" Cahira said. Then she began calling names.
"Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil, Draco Malfoy, Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan, Ally Moon, Calin Caedmon" Cahira said, sitting the first row. Then she moved onto the middle one. "Hannah Abbot, Ernie Macmallon, Neville Longbottom, Blaise Zambini, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Padma Patil, Millicent Bulstrode, Pansy Parkinson, Susan Bones" Cahira said, and she moved onto the last row. "Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, Terry Boot, Mandy Brocklehurst, Morag McDougal, Alex Nott, Sally-Anne Perks, Lisa Turpin, Alvin Simon, and Olivia Jones" Cahira finished. (A/N Some of the names are made up, like the last two and you already know about Calin. Alex Nott and Ally Moon could be real people, though. In the first book it says they called up an Alex and a Nott)
"Now that that's all sorted out, lets begin" Cahira said. She un-sheeted her sword in her normal way, making the class watch her movements. "This" Cahira began, "Is a Silver Dragon Sakaboto***" Cahira said. "It has been handed down in my family for many generations, and is priceless. I never go anywhere without it" Cahira said.
"Now, you may be wondering if you'll ever get to use a sword" Cahira said. "The answer is yes, but much later in the year" Cahira said. Malfoy, who had been put apart from Crabbe and Goyle, was passing notes to back to them, though he wasn't getting any response.
"Bunch of idiots" he muttered. Cahira stopped talking.
"Mr. Malfoy" Cahira said, walking over. "I'm glad you volunteered" Cahira smiled. "Stand up" Cahira instructed, and Draco did so. He stood, and Cahira instructed him to stand over by a large beam.
"Now" she instructed, "If you would throw this" she showed him a small, white ball, "At me, that will be fine." Cahira said. She walked over to stand about three yards away from him. He threw it fast, and Cahira drew her sword. She ran towards the overcoming ball, and passed it with what looked like no movement. The ball fell to the ground in fourths. "Thank you, Mr. Malfoy" Cahira said, "You may sit" she said, and he obliged.
"That is a simple trick you will learn when the time comes, but till about maybe November, you won't even touch any of this equipment" Cahira said, and many of the students were flashed with shock. "The first rule to becoming a swordsman is to learn discipline, so that's what we're going to do. Today's exercise will test your emotions" Cahira said.
She walked over to the side wall, next to the door. She pressed a button, and walked to the middle of the room. About 15 onions flew out of the wall. Cahira held up her sword, and the students watched as she moved slightly and, what seemed to be, missing the onions. They all landed on a sheet, and opened perfectly in half. She sat on the sheet.
"Harry Potter" she called, and he walked up. She put a single half of an onion in him, and covered the rest with a spell, so only the single half could be seen and smelt.
"Now Harry, the point of this is to see if you can be made cry easily" Cahira said. She took a small dagger, watching Harry's face. "Focus" she said, locking eyes with him. He nodded, and she began to cut the onion perfectly without looking. Harry felt the fumes come into his eyes and nose, but found himself unable to blink them away.
His body began to shake, and she was only half way through. He began to think of other things, anything but the onion. But it was utmost impossible, since there was not a sound, except the slice of the onion. No talking, no moving, nothing.
Harry felt his eyes slowly start to water, and saw that they were a fourth away from finishing.
"Concentrate" Cahira said softly, and Harry went back to thinking. Concentrate he repeated to himself in his mind, keeping his eyes forward. He heard the dagger hit the sheet, and he looked down. The onion lay there, in millions of pieces.
"Congratulations" Cahira said, and she stood. "Wait here a moment" she said as she walked out of the classroom. Everyone suddenly burst into whispers, except for some of the Gryffindors and Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They had informed their friends about her hearing, so she could probably hear everyone who was talking.
Cahira walked back in, and the talking ceased instantly.
"To all of you who were talking, and I know who you are" Cahira said. "You receive a warning" she said in a soft voice. Harry noticed she had three boxes with her, and there were many more in the halls. She opened one, and pulled out an emerald haori that matched the style of her own.
"Stand" Cahira said. "You have discipline, and listen to your instincts. But this is only step one. For your acts you receive a haori, the custom outfit of a Japanese swordsman" Cahira said. She handed the outfit to him. "This color was chosen for you personality, your aura, and your heart" Cahira said.
"Take it as an honor, and when asked, wear it" Cahira said sternly. "You may sit" Cahira said, and Harry did so. Cahira continued on, and by the end of the class, only five people had gotten haoris. Harry, Hermione (A/N Surprise!), Draco, Calin, and Blaise.
"You all did very well, and we will continue this throughout the week. See to it that you try and become stronger throughout the nights, and even practice with a friend. You may sit and talk till the bell, and will you five please come here" Cahira said, motioning to the five who now held haoris. Harry's emerald, Hermione's peacock blue, Draco's dark blue, Calin's faded red (A/N Like Kenshins'!), and Blaise's was gray.
"Now, you five are very excelled in discipline, and I am very proud. Tomorrow, if you would turn up 10 minutes before class, I would like to give you something" Cahira said. They nodded. "Excused" she said to them, and they began to walk towards their seats. "From class" she said behind them. They nodded, but stayed behind anyway.
"Class dismissed" Cahira said. Everyone stood and made their way to the door.
"Are you coming to lunch, Cahira?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, but I'll be down in a little while" Cahira said, and she nodded. They began for the stairs, putting their shoes back on.
"You guys are lucky to have excelled, but it was pretty easy to tell Hermione was going to" Ron said as they made their way down the tower stairs. Hermione hit him upside the head.
"Actually, it's quite hard. You have to think of something else without closing your eyes" Hermione said. They turned the corner in the small landing on the many stairs. And below, turning round, was Draco.
"That's odd, Malfoy isn't being followed by his cronies" Harry said.
"Didn't you hear?" Ron asked. Harry shook his head in a 'no'.
"Well, during the time period before you received your himori, or whatever, Draco told Crabbe and Goyle that they were to idiotic to be his friends. Now he and Blaise are best friends" Ron said.
"Blaise isn't that mean, either. He was in my Aritmancy class last year, and he sat next to me. Really nice and has a good sense of humor, especially when he teases Pansy" Hermione said.
"Then does this end everything between us and Malfoy?" Harry asked.
~*~*~
Crystal: Cliffy! I just had to end it there. Ok, you may not have noticed a few of the words in there, so I put a little dictionary here at the bottom.
*Hotaru: Firefly.
**shinai: Bamboo training sword.
***Sakaboto: Reverse blade sword.
Crystal: Also, I hope you don't mind that I decided to put Blaise as Draco's new best friend, I just like that idea. Anyway, I want to run an idea past the few people that read this story. It's about another Harry Potter story, and the preview is below!
Title: The Lion, the Witch, and the…Trunk?
Author: CrystalMoon
Rated: PG-13 (I always do that for safety)
Genre: Romance
Sub-Genre: Action/Adventure
"I can't believe we can't get out of the library" Harry sighed. Hermione, Draco, Ginny, and himself had all been in the library when the doors had shut and they wouldn't open again. Madam Pince was nowhere, and either were other students or teachers.
"It is rather odd, isn't it?" Hermione said.
"Yea, and boring" Ginny said her forehead against a table. Draco was sleeping.
"Then lets do something, we won't get in trouble" Harry said.
"I know" Draco said, popping out of his sleep. "Hide and seek" Draco said.
"Hide and see-" Harry began.
"Not it!" Draco, Hermione, and Ginny called. Harry sighed.
"Fine" he muttered.
"Count to 50" Ginny said. He nodded, and put his head face down as they ran off to hide. Ginny scurried down one of the library rows, but found nothing. She turned, and suddenly there was a trunk sitting there. She stared at it. "What a great hiding place" she said. She opened it, and climbed in, when she felt that the trunk was much longer, she fell about three feet.
"What the hell?" Ginny said, but the trunk was still open, so she had light. She saw she was in some sort of tunnel, and there was light at the end of it. So, she crawled towards the light. (A/N What an idiot.)
She felt her knees go wet, and found herself outside suddenly, with snow everywhere.
"But it's spring" Ginny said to no one. She saw another light, and began to step through all the snow towards it. When she reached it, she saw that it was a lamppost.
"Odd…" she said to herself, and then heard the break of a twig. She turned to see what looked to be half man, half goat. A fawn. He dropped his parcels and umbrella that he was carrying. He gaped at her.
"Daughter of Eve…?" He stuttered in a question.
To Be Continued…
Crystal: So, what did you think? I hope you like it, because I'll start writing it when I have time. Well, Ciao!
