Of Wizards and Keyblades: Chapter 5

pairings: HP/GW, RW/HG, DM/PP, Sora/Kairi.

Author's note: Thanks for all of the positive feedback, reviewers!

"Congratulations, Sora! Gryffindors are known for their intense loyalty and courage. You are in the same House as Mr. Potter and Miss Granger. Good, they will be able to show you around, and answer any questions you might have." Dumbledore smiled and pointed to Sora's tie. Instead of being the original black, it was now colorfully stripped maroon and gold, as was the border of his vest, and the new House crest on his robe, with a valiant lion emblazoned on the front.

"Now, I'm afraid that the school isn't used to students wielding large weapons, so perhaps we should transfigure it into a wand."

Sora didn't really like the sound of that. He liked his blade just the way it was, thank you very much. But the old wizard did have a point. 'Think practically, you numbskull!" He berated himself, and graciously handed over his most prized possession to his Headmaster.

"Dissimulo dormio a virga!" His three and a half foot Keyblade shimmered and shrunk to form a 13 inch stick of mahogany. On the end was a unique handle, it was two small spheres on one larger sphere, like King Mickey's head. The Magic Kingdom's symbol.

"There. Now, if you ever need the Keyblade in its original form, just say "reversus" and it will change back. I think we are all done here, do you have any questions?" Dumbledore said, laying a aged hand on Sora's shoulder.

"Yes, actually. What classes do I have?"

"Oh, thank you for reminding me! Here is your new timetable, you have the same classes as Harry. Since you know nothing of practical magic, the teachers and I have agreed to tutor you for a while to catch you up. Don't worry about the classes. I am not expecting you to make much of an effort, since you obviously didn't choose this, but it is a very valuable education that we teach here, so it wouldn't hurt to try things out. Well, I will show you to your House."

With his new schedule and wand in hand, the Keyblade Master was led out of the office, down a corridor, up eight flights of stairs, and in front of a Fat Lady's picture. She stared down at the new student curiously. "Password?"

"'Flip flops' is the password of the week, Sora. One of your House prefects will tell you the new one each Sunday. Good day, lad." And with a twirl of his sky blue robes, Dumbledore was gone.

"Flip flops."

The picture frame swung open, and Sora had to jump out of the way to keep from being smacked in the head. He crawled inside the square hole in the wall and stepped into a beautiful circular living room, full of comfy looking furniture, bookshelves, a notice board, and a warm fireplace with a portrait of a tall bearded wizard with a lion at his feet. 'That must be Gryffindor.' He thought. The man in the portrait waved regally at him, and Sora couldn't help but grin shyly and wave back.

"Welcome to the Gryffindor common room, Sora. Take a seat, please. We need to go over the rules." Sora hadn't noticed the stern looking lady from last night sitting on one of the couches by the fire. On the opposite seat sat Harry and Hermione, both beaming at him.

"Thank you, ma'am. Hi Harry, Hermione."

"Hello Sora." they said in unison.

"I am Professor Minerva McGonagall, and I teach Transfiguration. I am your Head of House, who is responsible for all of the students in Gryffindor, now including you. We have provided your uniform, supplies, and text books, since you are unable to buy them yourself."

"I have some munny, ma'am, I could buy the items."

"Money? You have wizard money?"

"Well, I was told it was excepted everywhere."

"You have a Mastercard?" Harry asked, remembering the commercials 'It's everywhere you want to be.'

"Uh, no....here, let me show you." Sora pulled out a few pieces of munny, and everyone stared at them, clearly confused.

"What is it made of?" Hermione asked, taking one and examining it closely.

"I dunno. I'm guessing it is worthless here, right?"

"Afraid so. It is of no matter, however. We wouldn't make you pay anyway. Would you like an animal? You could have either an owl, a cat, or a toad." Sora thought for a moment, but didn't think a pet was a good idea for him now.

"No, thank you. I already have a duck and a dog, though they aren't in this world right now."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

'This kid boggles me. He's like an alien from another world...cool.' Harry thought, tuning in and out of the conversation.

"...and there is to be no wandering out of the portrait after 8:00. Mr. Potter, why don't you show your new classmate the dormitory?" Harry snapped out of it and nodded.

"Sure. It's up here, Sora." They walked up the staircase to the right of the fireplace and ascended a long twisting flight of steps. Finally, the two boys came onto a landing with a door that read "Fifth Years", and stepped inside. Six beds were placed in a circle, a nightstand and wardrobe in between each. Harry pointed to the new bed placed left of his.

"That's yours. Your new supplies are in the trunk at the foot of the bed. There are two other sets of uniforms, a day cloak, a winter cloak, a couple hats, boots, and dragon hide gloves in the wardrobe for you. Any questions?"

Sora wasn't listening much, he was running his hand over the trunk, and sorting through the things inside of it. Then he started testing out the bed. It wasn't as good as the guest room's, but it was still better than any others. He turned back to an amused Harry, and grinned.

"What's my first class?"

Harry's amused face left to be replaced with frown. "Potions with Professor Snape."

"Oooh, that sounds very interesting. Is he a good teacher?"

Harry wanted to laugh, but understood the boy's naivete. "Uh, no. He is the slimiest, most spiteful bastard you'll every have the displeasure of meeting, well, besides Voldemort. He is the Head of Slytherin House, and he hates Gryffindors, so he'll pick on you a lot. We better head down there now, we don't want to be late. He loves to take points off."

Harry and Sora raced down the stairs, and met up with Hermione.

"We need to get going. Have your books and supplies, Sora?" She asked kindly, strapping her pack on.

"Yep. It's all here in this backpack. Where is the class, anyway?"

"In the dungeons, so we have a long way to go."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sora had never been more tired in his life. 'I bet everyone in this school has a tight ass from all these damn stairs they have to climb up and down every friggin' day!' He was sweating now, and Hermione and Harry were miles ahead of him. Maybe if he just slid down the banister....no, the fall was too risky. So he pushed on, ever so aware of the cramps in his leg muscles. He was in shape but geez!

Finally, they reached the dungeons. There, Sora was introduced to Ron, who he liked immediately, Seamus, Dean, and Neville, who seemed at the end of his wits in this atmosphere. He also shook hands with Parvati Patil, and Lavender Brown, who giggled and whispered to each other secretively. Sora noticed that half of the class were from a different House, and they didn't seem to be the friendly Hufflepuffs, or the courteous Ravenclaws. 'So these must be the Slytherins. How charming they all look.' Sora noted the glances of disgust and dislike on all of their faces, especially a snobby looking blonde boy. Harry told him to sit next to Hermione so she could help him out, but that wasn't to last. Then a tall bat of a man billowed into a room. Sora recognized him from last night as well, the one who had carried Harry up to the hospital wing.

"Class, we have an exchange student with us today. Stand up and introduce yourself." He said, turning around and starting to write that day's assignment on the board.

"Hi, my name is Sora, and I, um, well, I come from..."

"The Kingdom Military Academy for Combative Magical Training!" hissed Hermione.

"...The Kingdom Military Academy for Combative Magical Training. It's cool to come to Hogwarts. I hope to become friends with all of you." He finished, mouthing a 'thank you' to Hermione, who winked at him in return.

"You may sit down Mr...Sora. Well, class, I'm going to pair you off for today's Mindswipe potion. Potter and Longbottom, Brown and Bulstrode, Patil and Zabini, Thomas and Goyle, Finnigan and Crabbe, Granger and Parkinson, Sora and Malfoy. Directions are on the board...begin!" The blonde haired boy moved over next to Sora. As they prepared the ingredients, the Keyblade Master had to keep asking him questions like,"Which one is a shrivelfig?"or,"Leech spleens?! Do leeches have spleens?!" The boy, who finally told him that his name was Draco, would always huff out a reply, and was obviously frustrated at the questionnaire. He finally snapped when Sora firaga-ed the cauldron to light it, and caught Draco's robes on fire as well.

"Merlin, boy, do you know anything?! What the blazes did they teach you at that military school?!" he yelled, throwing the shrivelfig at Sora. 'How rude! It was just an accident, but now I'm pissed.' He thought, glaring at the brat in front of him.

"They taught me combat magic....wanna see if I remembered any of it?" Sora threatened, his wand glowing with a suppressed spell to turn the snot into a block of ice.

"You will do no such thing! Ten points from Gryffindor for threatening another pupil. Get back to your potion. Now." Snape growled, and swept back up to his desk.

Sora opened his mouth to retort, but Harry reached his leg across the aisle and kicked him to be quiet. Silently fuming, he started peeling the shrivelfig Malfoy threw at him, and angrily tossed it into the cauldron.

Meanwhile, Neville was shaking like a leaf, and accidentally dropped the leech spleens into the potion too soon, and it bubbled over, spilling acidic purple ooze all over the stone floor. People shrieked and ran away from it as it ate through backpacks on the floor and table legs. Raging toward him, Snape cleaned the potion and restored all of the damage with a swish of his wand, and towered above Neville. Sora felt a wave of sympathy to his classmate; no wonder he seemed to be on the edge of a near death experience when in this classroom.

"You clumsy little oaf! Fifteen points from Gryffindor House! You will come in tonight to redo this potion if you want a passing grade!"

"Professor, that is hardly fair! It was an accident, why are you punishing the whole House?" From his fellow Gryffindor's looks of terror and frightful surprise, he knew he had made a tactical error. His professor slowly turned, taking two strides to bear down on him like a grizzly bear. Sora audibly gulped. Malfoy sneered at him from behind his teacher's back.

"Twenty five points, Sora. Now it is a round fifty you louts have lost yourselves for questioning my judgement." Snape softly hissed, leaning in until they were nose to nose. Sora couldn't stop his mouth in time, though.

"What judgement?"

Ron closed his eyes and put his head in his head. Harry grimaced, and Hermione gasped. 'Now you've done it, bigmouth. And on your first day, too.'

"Detention. See me at 6:00 tomorrow night, and don't be late." The Potions Master breathed down his face.

"Anything you say, sir."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Harry had to hand it to the guy; he had guts to stand up to the most feared professor in Hogwarts. But he was out of his league....man, detention and thirty five points off in the first class alone. He needed some cheering up.

"Hey Sora! Wanna go meet a friend of mine for some tea? I think you'll like him a lot. What do you say, mate?" Harry gave him his best 'Aw, cheer up' smile, and offered his elbow with a pompous flourish. Sora curtsied and took it, and they both walked out, Harry bowing and Sora curtsying at all the students who gave them odd stares. They laughed until they cried when they reached the lawn outside.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Harry had been right...Sora loved Hagrid's cheerful nature and laid-back attitude. Fang slobbered all over the Keyblade Master's face, but Sora giggled and ruffled the boarhound's fur. He decided that he did not like tea, it was too....leafy. And the rock cakes hurt his teeth. But he enjoyed Harry's and Hagrid's comfortable company.

"Geez, we've been here for a whole hour, Sora! We need to get going if we don't want to miss Transfiguration! Bye Hagrid, thanks for tea!"

"Anytime, lads! It was nice meetin' ya, Sora. I won' ferget what ya did fer 'Arry, ere." Hagrid boomed, pulling the boy into a rib-cracking bear hug. Sora patted him on the shoulder, glad to be let go, his breath had been squeezed out of him.

Running back up to the castle, they caught up with Ron and Hermione at the main doors, who were standing rather close to each other. As Harry and Sora got closer they yanked apart like they had been burned, and Harry sniggered behind his hand.

"Hey, lovebirds. Ready for some Transfiguration?"

"Heh, Of course. You are going to love this class, Sora, it is so fascinating!" Hermione exulted, linking arms with him and Ron, and practically skipping to class.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Today, class, we have a new student from..."McGonagall looked down at the parchment Hermione had scribbled Sora's fake school name on," Kingdom Military Academy for Combative Magical Training. He will be with us for a while to learn more about practical magic and the such. Please, introduce yourself, young man."

Sora repeated most of what he said in potions, except that the class greeted him warmly, with a short applause after his introduction. "I like the Hufflepuffs much better than the Slytherins." he thought, as they welcomed him into their class.

"Today we will be learning to turn useless items, like these old rusted keys and nails, into bread. Can anyone come up with a logical reason why this would be useful?"

Sora came up with a reasonable answer, so he raised his hand, waving it slightly in impatience.

"Yes, Sora?" McGonagall pointed to him.

"Well, I would guess that if you were ever stuck in a situation without food, changing garbage to bread would be able to sustain you long enough to find a way out without starving to death first."

"That is a very good answer. Five points to Gryffindor. Now, swish and tap your wand on the items and say 'panisa' clearly."

Sora stared hard at his rusty key. Watching Hermione, he mimicked her swish and tap, muttered "Panisa!", and watched in fascination as his piece of metal junk turned into delicious looking bread.

"For your first practical spell, that was excellent! Five more points to Gryffindor." McGonagall smiled down at him. The brunette reckoned she heard about her colleague's severity with him in his first class, and tried to restore some of the points he had unjustifiably lost.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

At dinner, the new quartet chatted about the day, cursing Snape and blessing McGonagall, Harry teased Ron and Hermione about finding them being a bit...close at the door, and Ron asking a lot of questions about Sora. When getting to the topic of his "home world," Hermione shushed him and said that that subject was not to be discussed at the dinner table where anyone could overhear. Ron muttered an apology, and Sora readily replied "No problem, I'll tell you about it later."

The appearing and disappearing food fascinated the Keyblade wielder, as did the food itself. On his island and during his travels, he had never in his life had "mashed potatoes" or "roast chicken." His favorite had been the cheesecake for dessert.

After dinner, they slowly trudged their way up the endless stairs, groaning as their full bellies increased the weight. Sora had never felt this full and content in his life. When the three boys reached the dormitory, they shrugged off their clothes and drowsily donned the Gryffindor crest-emblazoned night shirts. As soon as they hit the bed, the three of them were out like lights.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sora was halfway through a dream about himself and Kairi drawing on the walls of the secret room on Destiny Islands, when he was rudely jarred awake by Harry's yells.

Sitting bold upright and racing over to his new friend's side, he shook the thrashing boy awake. Harry stared at him wildly, and Ron and the other boys rushed over to see what happened.

"Another nightmare, Harry?" Ron asked anxiously, rubbing his best friend on the back.

"Sora, I think I found your duck and your dog."

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author's note: Yay, my longest chapter so far! What did ya'll think? Please review! Chapter 6 will be up as soon as I finish my damn biology project!

*Hey, Katrina and Kristin! This chapter is dedicated to the both of you! Luvs and Hugs!*