I'm baaaa-aaaaack. Sorry it took so long. I've been pretty busy since the semester exams. Okay, okay. I was a little lazy, too. But just a little. I should actually be working on this major big project that's due soon, but I'm procrastinating. Warning: This chapter contains language unsuitable for those younger than 12 or so. How definite. (Actually I was going to say I'm expanding the crossovers a bit more, but that sounded almost official. Flashbacks abound as well, so be prepared.)
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Harry sighed as he walked past the Great Hall. They had just arrived back and it felt good to be home. The Dursley's were to home as a mountain was to a bump in a carpet. A very small bump.
"Earth to Harry," said Ron, waving his hand in front of Harry's face.
"Sorry," muttered Harry embarrassed as Hermione joined them, threading her way through the crowd of returning students.
"Hey Harry, Ron. Have you seen-"
"HELlo!" greeted a loud voice in their ears.
They jumped and Hermione muffled a shriek. It was Professor Hiiragizawa.
"Oh excuse me," said Eriol, spotting Tomoyo.
"He's gonna kill us," moaned Ron, clutching his chest.
"What are they doing?" questioned Hermione, trying to calm her racing heart.
"Whatever it is, it's drawing a crowd," panted Harry. Fluffy was nothing compared to those new professors.
The three crept closer in order to hear better.
~*~
"Pleeeeaaaaasssssseeee Tomoyo," begged Eriol. "I promise to be good. Look at me! I'm kneeling! I promise, no more underage drinking. Just take the shield off of my magic. Please."
Ron gave a low whistle. "I didn't know there was anyone alive who could shield a person's magic from him without imploding."
Harry and Hermione looked faintly sick at that image.
"No."
Eriol switched tactics. "Tomoyo, I know you did what you thought was best," he said condescendingly, "but now is a time to exercise good sense."
"I am. You almost killed Sakura with a spoon."
Eriol winced. "In all fairness, it was a sharp spoon. Not that I was consciously trying to kill her," he added quickly.
"And you weren't aware that you were laughing maniacally the whole time. And every other time before that."
"My dear Tomoyo, sarcasm does not become you."
"The answer is still no."
Eriol switched tactics again. "If you don't release the shield I'll be forced to make you do it," he said warningly.
"How, tough guy? Anything you can do, I can do better. I can do anything better than you," she sang.
Eriol moaned. She had employed her magic with that stupid little commercial ditty. Again. And he was forced to make an idiot of himself. Again. But there was one more thing he could try this time.
He drew her in for a passionate kiss.
The girls in the crowd sighed.
"Hey, Potter!" someone called out. Malfoy came trotting up, smirking. "Jealous?" he asked, glancing at the two professors pointedly.
"At least I can get a girlfriend, Draco," retorted Harry.
They glared at each other until Harry finally cracked and chuckled. "How was your first break at school?"
Draco shrugged. "Great. How was your first break away from school?"
Harry grinned. "Great," he mimicked. "Thanks for the present."
"Do you think they notice the crowd?" interrupted Ron gesturing at Tomoyo and Eriol.
"Not that you'd notice," replied Hermione.
~*~
"Fine," said Harry, caving into Ron's suggestion. He turned to Draco. "Put me down for 7 sickles at 7 minutes."
Hermione looked up from her book and raised an eyebrow. "Are they still at it? You'd think they'd have run out of air by now."
Ron snorted. "You'd think they'd have died of suffocation by now."
Draco checked the parchment he had been scribbling on. "Well, they're already double Alicia's bet at 2 1/2 minutes and still going."
"Damn," swore Harry as Tomoyo and Eriol broke apart 1 1/2 minutes earlier than his bet.
Tomoyo was wearing a smile. "The answer's still no," she said, slightly dazed as she walked away.
~*~
"Do you think I'm being to hard on him?" Tomoyo asked Sakura and Syaoran when she reached her room.
"I think you should take the spells off of him soon," suggested Sakura.
Syaoran snorted. "I think you should take the spells off of him never. Just think of all the payback I could do."
There was a shout and a splash in the distance.
"That doesn't even begin what I mean to do to him," smirked Syaoran.
Sakura looked at Tomoyo and sighed. "I'll take Eriol shopping with me. We don't have classes until tomorrow afternoon."
"Oh no!" exclaimed Syaoran, bolting upright in his chair. "You are not going anywhere with – with him alone!"
"Why, Syaoran. I believe you're jealous," stated Tomoyo.
Syaoran flushed. "I am not! Don't you remember what happened last time?"
*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%* Flashback *%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%
"It'll only be for a minute," assured Eriol. "We need it, we can't transport into such a highly concentrated area, and we're late. It's never good to keep my guardians waiting. It's never good to keep my guardians alone for two minutes, much less two hours."
Sakura looked at the car worriedly. "But they'll miss it. There must be something wrong with it to be in the back of the auto shop."
"We'll have it back before they know it. If they find out I'll make sure they forget."
Syaoran gave him a dubious look. "It's too logical an idea for you Hiiragizawa. Something is really flawed with that plan."
Tomoyo nodded in agreement. "Don't you remember what happened last time you had a sure-proof plan?"
"Which time?" asked Syaoran sourly.
Eriol waved away their caustic comments. "Get in before someone finds us," he warned.
The three exchanged glances and got in against their better judgment. Eriol started the car and quickly exited the garage.
"Uh oh," said Tomoyo. "We've been spotted."
Eriol was about to look behind him when Syaoran hissed, "Eyes on the road, baka. You're driving!"
They bridged the top of a hill and began going down.
"Um," began Eriol.
The other three looked at him. He sounded nervous.
"I just found out what's wrong with the car," he said weakly. "The brakes don't work."
Abruptly the hill looked much, much steeper, narrower, and more crowded.
They picked up speed.
"Oh. My. G-"
Sakura cut her off. "This is a Catholic district," she admonished.
"But you can slow the car with your magic, right?" questioned Syaoran nervously.
Eriol shook his head. "Then they'll think it's fixed and when the owners get it back…"
"At least you know how to drive," said Sakura tightly.
"Actually, I'm still a year too young."
Sakura paled. "But Clow…"
Eriol shook his head stiffly. "They were after his time."
They hit the steep decline and panicked.
The whole thing was an advanced obstacle course with limited control of the car. There were more narrow misses than they could count and they were due to luck rather than Eriol's use of the steering wheel. By the time they leveled out, three old ladies and a 17-year-old had nearly had heart attacks.
They passed other cars by marginal distance and one older man would later end up in a bar drunk, and telling any who would listen about the damn little people who refused to grant him his wishes and the time he was doing 60 on the highway and a car passed him by like he was standing still. Not many, drunk or otherwise, listened to his ranting.
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Tomoyo winced. "Well, that was with the four of us. I'm sure it'll turn out better with just two. Besides, Sakura's more than able to handle anything the world throws at them. I hope," she added under her breath. Even without magic, Eriol was a…unique…person, to put it mildly.
Sakura favored them with a reassuring smile. "I'll keep an eye on him," she promised.
~*~
Eriol grinned his trademark grin. "Do you have everything?" he asked her.
"Yep. I sent our packages ahead of us so I wouldn't have to carry them," replied Sakura tiredly. "I though we could transport ourselves from the park we passed a couple blocks back."
"Sounds good. I've been having so many mishaps today, it's a relief to get out," commented Eriol as they walked.
"Why do you think I brought you shopping?" asked Sakura wryly.
"So it was Syaoran. I suspected as much. Ah, well."
"You're very accepting about that," remarked Sakura as she began to set up the transport spell.
"There's not much to be done until I have the use of my magic one more," said Eriol with a shrug. "Besides, I built up a store of grievances against Syaoran in case something like this should happen that I would be unable to retaliate."
Sakura chuckled. "Okay, prepare yourself. I'm activating the spell."
The image of the world blurred around them, and then gradually came into focus as they faced the castle. There was only one problem.
It was the wrong castle!
Sakura blinked. "Who moved Hogwarts?" she asked petulantly.
Their attention was drawn to three girls who looked to be around seven splashing in the moat and a shimmering iridescent bird about the size of a grown man standing on the bridge, spreading his wings every once in a while to shake off droplets of water.
"Excuse me," began Eriol smoothly. "Can you tell us where we are?"
They stopped abruptly and giggled, delighted to know something that the older boy didn't.
"I'm Melody, and this is Harmony and Rhythm," said the girl with green tinted blond hair and green eyes, gesturing to who Eriol and Sakura assumed where her sisters.
"Whatever we play together becomes real," chimed in Harmony as she produced a harmonica from thin air and began playing along with Melody, who had begun to hum.
"And you're in Xanth," finished Rhythm beating on a little drum. A miniature house made of cookies and candy flickered in the air between them.
Sakura cocked her head at the large bird, trying to place him.
"Melody, Harmony, Rhythm! What are you doing?" A woman appeared on the drawbridge.
"Nothing, mother!" replied Melody cutely.
"We were just playing in the moat when this man and lady appeared," explained Harmony.
"They asked where they were," said Rhythm.
"And we told them Xanth," concluded Melody.
The woman hurried out. "Hello. I'm Princess Ivy. I didn't realize we had visitors," she apologized. "We're usually more alert about such things."
"It's alright," replied Sakura warmly, with a bow. "We didn't know we were coming here to…"
"Castle Roogna," supplied Ivy.
"Thank you. We didn't know we were coming here either. My name is Sakura Kinomoto and this is my friend Eriol Hiiragizawa."
Ivy paused. "Are you, by chance, from Mundania?"
Sakura looked confused, so Eriol jumped in, understanding what she was asking.
"Yes." Deciding that they probably didn't keep magic a secret if the children used it so openly with strangers he continued. "I am a sorcerer and half reincarnation of Clow Reed. Sakura is a sorceress and Mistress of the former Clow, now Sakura, Cards." He grinned ruefully. "It gets a bit complicated to explain even without the rest of our party."
Ivy was confused. "You can't be from Mundania. There's only minimal magic there, like that of a rainbow."
Sakura shook her head. "Most believe that, but those who use magic don't make it well known."
"Interesting," mused Ivy. "None of our magic works there at all."
"The Simurgh's chick!" burst out Sakura. She flushed when the others looked at her. "Sorry, but he looked familiar."
"How do you know Sim?" asked Harmony.
Ivy shook herself. "I am deeply sorry for our rudeness. Please come in for some T and crumples. I believe that my mother and father, Queen Irene and King Dor, would like to meet you."
She led them inside. The children and Sim, losing interest in what was to become an adult conversation, resumed their splashing.
As they passed through the door a swirl of smoke appeared and a woman appeared in front of them.
"What do you want, Metria?" asked Ivy expressionlessly.
"I heard something tall was happening."
Sakura looked confused. "Something what?"
"Giant, large, massive, huge, major–"
"Big?"
"Whatever," agreed the demoness crossly. "So who are they?"
"I'm Sakura Kinomoto and this is Eriol Hiiragizawa. I'm a sorceress and – "
"Sorceress? There haven't been any sorceresses that we don't know of and we definitely haven't heard of you."
"We're from – what do you call it – Mundania?"
The demoness scowled. "Don't lie. Mundania doesn't have any magic.
"Those who know about it don't exactly go spreading the news around," replied Eriol with his perpetual smile.
"Don't do that," said Metria. "Ordinary mortal folk aren't allowed to creep out demons."
"So sorry," replied Eriol, expression not changing one whit. Indeed the whits were so frustrated that they shuddered and dissolved. (AN: Sorry. My attempt at Piers Anthony's writing style. Falls a bit flat, ne?)
"Someone has newspapers," muttered Metria.
"Has what?" asked Ivy before she could help herself. These were strange people for Metria to be as flustered as she was.
"Weekly magazines – no wait. Problems, mental instability, inability to cope, enigma–"
"Issues?"
"Whatever," agreed Metria, crossly fading out, forgetting why she had come.
"Right this way," said Ivy, gesturing through a doorway. "Mother, Father," she began. "This is Eriol Hiiragizawa and Sakura Kinomoto, a sorcerer and sorceress from Mundania."
A picture sniggered. "If she expects us to believe her, she has another thing coming."
Queen Irene glared at it and said one word. "Firewood."
Abruptly the various objects in the room fell silent as Irene sat back in her throne with a faint smile on her face.
"That's impossible," said Dor. "Mundania has no magic."
"If you'll pardon my protest," said Eriol with a bow, "that is incorrect. There is very little magic in what you call Mundania, but those who practice it or know of it keep it quiet. It is not surprising that people here in…Xanth," he continued with the barest pause as he grasped for the land's name, "believe otherwise."
"What is your talent?" challenged Irene.
"Talent?" asked Sakura confused.
"You claim to have magic. My magic talent is to make plants grow and my daughter, Ivy's, talent is Enhancement. Both are Sorceress level. My husband's is to enable the inanimate to speak in his presence, which is Magician level. You claim to be a Sorceress and a Sorcerer, which we assume is another name for Magician level. What is your talent?"
"You're limited to one type of magic only?" asked Sakura in astonishment.
"How else do you wield other magics, except with charms and the like?" questioned Dor quietly.
"Oh, we have charms and the like," explained Sakura, "but we're not limited to one thing. We learn different spells over the course of time, from books of other people. Most lean toward one specialty or another, so use magic related to those talents to get the best affect."
"Would you be kind enough to give us a demonstration?" Irene asked, raising her eyebrows.
"What would you like us to do?" asked Sakura politely.
"Only one of Sorceress level could stop my magic. I will try to grow my plants and you will prevent me," explained Irene.
"Sure," agreed Sakura with a careless shrug.
Irene scattered a few seeds. "Grow," she ordered.
The seeds didn't move.
"Grow!" commanded Irene more forcefully.
Still nothing.
The Queen settled back. "You have proved your point. Forgive us if we were doubtful."
"Of course, your majesties," said Eriol smoothly.
Then they began with technical talks, explaining some of their history, how they had gotten there, and how they knew the Simurgh.
"When you've other-world traveler, you get to know the regulars, but everyone knows the wisest bird in the universe and all the worlds therein," explained Eriol.
"She mentioned that she had a chick, but we were told he stayed in her home world. We'd never been here you see and I've been meaning to visit them," added Sakura.
"You travel worlds? I thought it was only possible if you went through the chain of worlds located by my twin sister, Ida," commented Ivy.
"No. A lot are close enough that it doesn't take much effort, and there is one that almost fully overlaps our world, that is called the Wizarding World. I'd love to be around when they finally meld," said Sakura with a smile. Recalling a former question she added, "I still need to check my figures. We should have ended up back at Hogwarts."
She snapped her fingers and a scroll of paper landed in her hand.
"Hmmm. Look. You left the parameters here too loose," Eriol said, tapping a section of the parchment, "and these figures over here were meant for two magic users, not one with his power blocked from him. Without my magic I couldn't sense the change. We were lucky we landed in such a hospitable world, instead of somewhere like Vsbubsk."
Sakura winced. "The Simurgh warned me about that world, a week before we went traveling again, but…" she trailed off.
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Sakura paused as they landed in unfamiliar territory: a dry, dirty street punctuated by bursts of eerie sounds emanating from nearby buildings.
"Didn't the Simurgh say something to you about this one," Tomoyo asked her.
Sakura frowned. "I think so, but I don't remember what. I have a bad feeling about this, though, and it's pretty dark."
"Why don't you check the worlds' map," suggested Syaoran.
"Okay." Sakura looked around, but the streetlights were either broken or had yet to be turned on. With a shrug she summoned Glow.
Immediately lights flared and sirens blared. People burst out onto the street, looking neither friendly, nor happy.
"Uh oh," whispered Sakura, taking a few steps backward.
"What is it?" asked Eriol, looking a bit intimidated himself in the face of the hostile mob.
"I think she said this was a world whose machines sensed magic and the Inquisition was never disbanded."
Tomoyo blanched. "Well then, let's just cut this little visit short and–"
She was cut off as the group hurriedly teleported themselves to a more friendly world just in time, for a laser had just seared the ground where they stood.
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"We thank you for your hospitality," said Sakura, munching on a pie and finishing the last of the mathematical corrections, "but we should be getting back before our friends and, uh, coworkers miss us."
"Yes," agreed Eriol. "Thank you very much."
"You're very welcome," said King Dor. "I hope you will find the time to visit us, and bring along your friends. I am sure there are many sights you would enjoy to see."
"I think we will. We would have to wait until summer, though," said Sakura apologetically. "Good bye."
The pair disappeared as if they had never been, but for the remains of a milk pod.
They reappeared in a field overlooking a castle.
It was the wrong castle.
Sakura growled in frustration. "This is just not my day."
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Haha! I am sooo evil. You'll just have to wait until the next chapter to find out this next crossover. Crossovers, crossovers, everywhere, but not a one that makes sense. I'm so clever, aren't I? Okay, okay. I know I'm a bit of a baka. But just a bit. I apologize once again, if I haven't before because I'm too lazy to check, for not updating for so long. Been sorta busy. I'll try to be better, really I will. Fine, don't believe. You're probably right anyway. Review, please! Kudasai!
-Mystical Magician