AN: I think some explanations are in order.
First order of business: East versus West in advancement and Law
Do not wrongly assume that the Eastern magic community is less advanced than in the West.
There are five major magic clans in China, the Li clan being the largest and most powerful, and centered around Hong Kong. They have 'rights' to all magical muggle (non wizard) born wizards in south China. They adopt these people into the clan, marry them into the family in most cases.
In the West you go to school and learn magic. You can be apprenticed for a craft, but not a skill. For instance, Madam Malkin, who makes robes for wizards in England, can have an apprentice in making clothing and the spells for it. It is her CRAFT, but apprenticing for magic itself is not acknowledged.
In the East there is still apprenticeship because everyone can use different things to focus their power. For instance, Li uses a sword, his mother uses a fan. Plus every clan has 'family secrets' that they guard jealously from outsiders. Everyone uses o-fuda (the bits of paper) though. Apprenticeship also keeps the clan together with cross family training.
The clans, or rather leaders/elders of the clan, are basically the Ministry of Magic for that area. It makes sense if you think about it, considering how huge China is compared to most European countries. They simply aren't recognized.
Why aren't they recognized? Because they saw no reason to be. Why bother? Their magic is vastly different anyways.
Basically the Western world isn't 'better' they just do it differently. Though, in a way China is more advanced than the Western world. Why? Shaoron and Meiling functioned perfectly in a muggle school, and they come from a wizarding family, how many English wizards can do that? Conversely the muggle government and the wizarding government work together in the west while in China the muggle government doesn't know about them.
Note Number One: The Chang Clan is pissy because SOMEONE moved away.
Note Number Two: The Laws of Proxy and Duel are not Laws per se. They are on the same order as the dept that is owed between wizards when one wizard saves another. However, that Law is not effected by the laws of men.
Basically this: You overturn a decision for someone to get the Dementor's kiss. It's no good. You step in and shove them out of the way right when they are about to get kissed then they owe you by Law.
On the other hand, the Laws of Proxy and Duel are governed, slightly, by the laws of men, hence the issue with apprenticeship.
Second Order: Romance: Is going to be secondary or tertiary, this is PLOT driven story people, but:
Y/S: It's supposed to be, but this thing might not behave. If it is it's going to be moments like what was in the last chapter, soft, not exactly WAFFy but...*makes inarticulate hand gestures* Moments like what was in the previous chapter.
Touya/Yuki: Yesishy in a cute way. I'm only now starting to like Toya.
Touya/Yue: Angstishy.
Kaho/Eriol: I seem them more like an old old married couple, at peace with each other, once Eriol grew up there would be sex, if they were still together.
Tomoyo/Sakura: Uh...nothing against it but I don't know how to write femslash. If it doesn't go Y/S it will go this way in all likeliness.
S/S: Not on you sporking life. Nothing against it personally, save that it's TOO common, I just see too much of it and Yue's better looking.
Meilin/Anyone: No idea, maybe Toyomo?
Harry/Sarkua: NO SPORKING WAY.
HPstudents/anyone: Not likely, though it might be funny to pair Li and Malfoy up. Or at least have Draco hit on him.
Notice: in the HP fandom I like HP/SS HP/LM (yes you are reading that right) HP/DM and various combinations there of.
Clow/Yue: In the past and current angst, maybe trying to get with him again on Yue's part.
Clow/Snape: This bunny is biting my ankle. -_-;;;
Third and Last Order: Reincarnation: There is a miniscule part of the Ministry of Magic that is enchanted so only certain people can find it. Namely those reincarnated people with enough of their former selves to have a claim on it. Basically Ron might be some random Malfoy reincarnated, fine, but he doesn't have enough of his former self to be a Malfoy and thus eligible to use some of that fortune.
Your soul is like a book, and each new life is like a new page, but sometimes the pages get stuck together, which is like Eriol and Clow. When this happens you get lost in the Ministry building and find your way there. People that are reincarnated this way are aware of who they were, or become aware shortly, because if you are not they cast a spell on you. You take a sip of Vertiserum and tell them who you were.
They, the three people that run that part of the ministry, write it down and put it in a sealed envelope for the Ministries Records, to be opened ten years after your death, or however long you say; unless of course you want to reveal who you are right now. You also get one yourself, to be given to the Goblins at Gringotts so you can get any money your past self had. Up to two more official letters might be given to you if you ask, one for your own family one for the family you were part of.
Most people don't announce who they are as there is no reason to, they will still regard you as you are, not as you were. Hence Eriol did not release his identity to the public because people (at least westerners) would still look at him and see a child, not matter how many memories he had. He also doesn't like being Clow. This works in his favor as the people in that part of the ministry are not allowed to reveal his identity without permission, and Eriol can pretend Clow never died in the first place.
And Oh Yeah: Harry and Co are entering their fifth year and are sixteen, obviously, Sakura and Co are thirteen and fourteen range.
Chapter Two: The Once and Future King
They had moved Sakura to another shielded area. The beauty of it was that since all the shields were made by Eriol and had Clow's magic circle they didn't have to convey her manually or remove the shield to Teleport (as it is called in the East) her. They moved without moving because on a basic level all the shields were connected, it was called Tunneling.
Kerberos was with her now, laid out, Sakura leaning against him as if he was a couch, tucked under his wing and hiding from the world.
He was watching TV while she slept.
"In other news an unscheduled full solar eclipse occurred earlier to--"
He tuned it out lifting his head when he felt Clow's presence, which had come into being again at precisely noon that day blink out...or rather away. It was enough to wake Sakura up.
He turned to her and purred, rubbing his great golden head against her and licked her cheek once with his rough cat tongue. She had looked at him then, and perhaps she might have smiled. But Sakura never smiled anymore, nor did she speak out loud.
Now she simply lay against her Sun guardian, removing a card from the top of the deck and holding it. She had long ago stopped looking at the Return and Time cards. One could not change the past unless it had been changed. She remembered the adventure in capturing the Time card, and her lips quirked in a nervous tic, no matter what the ball had gone into the net, kicked or otherwise. Time could not be changed, History happened.
People stay dead.
So now she examined the Move card. Kero had called it useless as it was only able to move small things over short distances and never anything living. She looked at it and sensed locked inside of it was the knowledge on how to surpass its abilities, but the card itself was locked down so it could not do such things. She knew the Eastern thread of magic in it, it had been done to her before after all, this Tunneling, she thought perhaps she might be able to manage it. The Western she did not know yet and seemed far more complicated, Apparation, but the Port Keys seemed similar to Tunneling.
She held the Move card now because the deck had changed and it was the one on top.
Someone was moving. Destiny's gears were turning.
But it was also nice to look at, to commune with like Kero said.
She looked at all the cards this way--except for The Firey.
It, he was forgiven, she told the other cards this, it was just that...
/Fear./
Kero's wing tightened slightly around her and he turned to nuzzle her again.
"Sakura-chan?"
She turned and grabbed his ear, pulling herself closer to his head and wrapping her arms around his neck.
Kerberos smelled the tell tale scent of salt water as she wiped her tears away on his fur.
"Shhh..." He embraced her as well as he was able with a foreleg.
She did not touch the offensive cards much either, Shot, Watery, Sword and the rest, but Firey not at all.
The cards could disobey her, no, twist her will, they were alive after all. To capture Rain she had commanded Watery to form a binding chain, instead it had made a bubble, because a chain would not have worked and she wanted to capture Rain.
Eriol and Kero had told her how in the West most wizards and witches couldn't cast spells without their wands, and that a new wand acquired would almost certainly be weaker than the first.
She had been so very tired, there had been four previous duels that day, at the very least, coming when she was trying to get to sleep. She could not hold out any more, she knew she could not hold Shield against this one's spells, nor could she make Windy or Shadow strong enough to hold him. And so help her she was getting upset. She wanted to beat this one up a little so they would leave her alone for a while.
She knew these men, these Death Eaters valued power highly, so why not take some away from them?
She commanded Firey to make it so he couldn't cast spells anymore.
*~*~*~*~*
Earlier that Day:
Fujitaka had removed Sakura from school in November, citing that someone had died and it was hitting Sakura very hard. The pure truth. Many of her friends came over to offer condolences for what they thought was the loss of a family member and she had just looked at them sadly. There was something inherently wrong with Sakura being depressed, one look at her was enough to make something twist in your chest and want to run away. It broke the laws of nature.
None of them came by anymore, though they still sent letters. Only Shaoron, Meiling, and Tomoyo came over any more. Yukito and Yue never left and switched between each other confidently and with no fuss for which ever one of them was better suited to the task at hand.
But that was besides the point. At the moment Fujitaka was the one arguing with Eriol on doing this.
Mostly because Eriol said something about removing part of Fujitaka's soul.
It wasn't as if Fujitaka was unwilling to do this, he'd do anything for Sakura. He was afraid, he'd have to be a complete idiot not to be afraid, and cautious. This was risky, and he wanted to make sure all other avenues were taken, or at least considered beforehand.
"Did you even try to enroll Sakura-chan without being Clow?"
"Yes, I did," Eriol said as he straightened out the large oversized robe and kneeled on the floor of Sakura's room. The book had spent the most time so there was much of Clow's magic was right there. Eriol looked up at Fujitaka and pulled something out an inner pocket and handed it to him.
It was a letter, yellowed and thick, sealed with wax and an emblem he recognized, Clow's magic circle. On the other side there was the address and return address, both obscured by large red letters. It took Fujitaka a moment to process what it said as he had never been good at English and was out of practice.
"Retur-return to Sender."
It was the first time anyone had ever seen Fujitaka looking angry, in fact he was never even irritated.
"Shall we do this then?"
Fujitaka nodded and knelt next to Eriol, scooting over until he was in the correct position indicated by Eriol.
He felt a flex of something, very faint, more like a ripple. Despite being ready for it he was still surprised when the glowing circle opened up under them, turning slowly around it's center, Eriol. There was another ripple and it came to a stop, turned upside down so Fujitaka was sitting neatly on the moon of the symbol.
"Now you."
The adult looked at the child who was so much older than him.
"Like this." One hand reached out and touched his shoulder and he closed his eyes. After a second he felt a barely used muscle shift and flex, and another magic circle had bloomed under him, the moon over Eriol's sun.
A surprisingly warm thing slid under his hands, the staff. He grasped it and felt something--ai...The last time he felt something like this was when Nadeshiko died.
/Relax./
...
/There's no need to be rude./
\You didn't tell me it would feel like this!\ He could feel the tears in his eyes, but not, he made a promise, he would not break it, he would not cry. But so help him he was closer to it than he ever had been before.
There was another shift, from where that pain was coming from and so help him it felt like he was with her again, something that was missing now there. But he never knew it was missing before.
\Two halves,\ he marveled.
/Yes./
That connection withdrew, like a hand extended and withdrawing, taking a piece of him with it. He felt tired, so tired, and hurt, such pain. He choked back tears and swallowed them down. He knew in that last instant that he would ALWAYS crave that feeling the same way he craved Nandeshiko pressance.
And promptly passed out.
He did not know that his magic circle had faded out and now the child was glowing. He was not a being of pure magic like a guardian, the body needed a little bit more time for magic and form altering magic like this. He grew up and broader filling in the over sized clothes, his hair longer, and changed colors.
A small child gave a cry and fell to dreaming and waiting.
The adult whispered a promise and cradled him, eased his fall, and promised the child that it would be all right in the end before he pushed himself up to consiousness.
Clow Reed stood up, "We have work to do."
==========
To make sure Y'all don't miss: Eriol sent a letter to Hogwarts before the fic started, DUMBLEDOR NEVER SAW IT. All incoming mail is scanned with a spell to check if it is about admissions, if so it gets stamped with RETURN TO SENDER and is never opened. Hence the need for political clout. Lucuis Malfoy isn't the only one that can make Fudge dance.
Also, this chapter WAS going to be longer, but I decided to chop the idea in half, enjoy the early gift.
And KEEP REVIEWING. Not only am I a total review whore but reading nice long reviews make the story click together in my head so I can write it.
First order of business: East versus West in advancement and Law
Do not wrongly assume that the Eastern magic community is less advanced than in the West.
There are five major magic clans in China, the Li clan being the largest and most powerful, and centered around Hong Kong. They have 'rights' to all magical muggle (non wizard) born wizards in south China. They adopt these people into the clan, marry them into the family in most cases.
In the West you go to school and learn magic. You can be apprenticed for a craft, but not a skill. For instance, Madam Malkin, who makes robes for wizards in England, can have an apprentice in making clothing and the spells for it. It is her CRAFT, but apprenticing for magic itself is not acknowledged.
In the East there is still apprenticeship because everyone can use different things to focus their power. For instance, Li uses a sword, his mother uses a fan. Plus every clan has 'family secrets' that they guard jealously from outsiders. Everyone uses o-fuda (the bits of paper) though. Apprenticeship also keeps the clan together with cross family training.
The clans, or rather leaders/elders of the clan, are basically the Ministry of Magic for that area. It makes sense if you think about it, considering how huge China is compared to most European countries. They simply aren't recognized.
Why aren't they recognized? Because they saw no reason to be. Why bother? Their magic is vastly different anyways.
Basically the Western world isn't 'better' they just do it differently. Though, in a way China is more advanced than the Western world. Why? Shaoron and Meiling functioned perfectly in a muggle school, and they come from a wizarding family, how many English wizards can do that? Conversely the muggle government and the wizarding government work together in the west while in China the muggle government doesn't know about them.
Note Number One: The Chang Clan is pissy because SOMEONE moved away.
Note Number Two: The Laws of Proxy and Duel are not Laws per se. They are on the same order as the dept that is owed between wizards when one wizard saves another. However, that Law is not effected by the laws of men.
Basically this: You overturn a decision for someone to get the Dementor's kiss. It's no good. You step in and shove them out of the way right when they are about to get kissed then they owe you by Law.
On the other hand, the Laws of Proxy and Duel are governed, slightly, by the laws of men, hence the issue with apprenticeship.
Second Order: Romance: Is going to be secondary or tertiary, this is PLOT driven story people, but:
Y/S: It's supposed to be, but this thing might not behave. If it is it's going to be moments like what was in the last chapter, soft, not exactly WAFFy but...*makes inarticulate hand gestures* Moments like what was in the previous chapter.
Touya/Yuki: Yesishy in a cute way. I'm only now starting to like Toya.
Touya/Yue: Angstishy.
Kaho/Eriol: I seem them more like an old old married couple, at peace with each other, once Eriol grew up there would be sex, if they were still together.
Tomoyo/Sakura: Uh...nothing against it but I don't know how to write femslash. If it doesn't go Y/S it will go this way in all likeliness.
S/S: Not on you sporking life. Nothing against it personally, save that it's TOO common, I just see too much of it and Yue's better looking.
Meilin/Anyone: No idea, maybe Toyomo?
Harry/Sarkua: NO SPORKING WAY.
HPstudents/anyone: Not likely, though it might be funny to pair Li and Malfoy up. Or at least have Draco hit on him.
Notice: in the HP fandom I like HP/SS HP/LM (yes you are reading that right) HP/DM and various combinations there of.
Clow/Yue: In the past and current angst, maybe trying to get with him again on Yue's part.
Clow/Snape: This bunny is biting my ankle. -_-;;;
Third and Last Order: Reincarnation: There is a miniscule part of the Ministry of Magic that is enchanted so only certain people can find it. Namely those reincarnated people with enough of their former selves to have a claim on it. Basically Ron might be some random Malfoy reincarnated, fine, but he doesn't have enough of his former self to be a Malfoy and thus eligible to use some of that fortune.
Your soul is like a book, and each new life is like a new page, but sometimes the pages get stuck together, which is like Eriol and Clow. When this happens you get lost in the Ministry building and find your way there. People that are reincarnated this way are aware of who they were, or become aware shortly, because if you are not they cast a spell on you. You take a sip of Vertiserum and tell them who you were.
They, the three people that run that part of the ministry, write it down and put it in a sealed envelope for the Ministries Records, to be opened ten years after your death, or however long you say; unless of course you want to reveal who you are right now. You also get one yourself, to be given to the Goblins at Gringotts so you can get any money your past self had. Up to two more official letters might be given to you if you ask, one for your own family one for the family you were part of.
Most people don't announce who they are as there is no reason to, they will still regard you as you are, not as you were. Hence Eriol did not release his identity to the public because people (at least westerners) would still look at him and see a child, not matter how many memories he had. He also doesn't like being Clow. This works in his favor as the people in that part of the ministry are not allowed to reveal his identity without permission, and Eriol can pretend Clow never died in the first place.
And Oh Yeah: Harry and Co are entering their fifth year and are sixteen, obviously, Sakura and Co are thirteen and fourteen range.
Chapter Two: The Once and Future King
They had moved Sakura to another shielded area. The beauty of it was that since all the shields were made by Eriol and had Clow's magic circle they didn't have to convey her manually or remove the shield to Teleport (as it is called in the East) her. They moved without moving because on a basic level all the shields were connected, it was called Tunneling.
Kerberos was with her now, laid out, Sakura leaning against him as if he was a couch, tucked under his wing and hiding from the world.
He was watching TV while she slept.
"In other news an unscheduled full solar eclipse occurred earlier to--"
He tuned it out lifting his head when he felt Clow's presence, which had come into being again at precisely noon that day blink out...or rather away. It was enough to wake Sakura up.
He turned to her and purred, rubbing his great golden head against her and licked her cheek once with his rough cat tongue. She had looked at him then, and perhaps she might have smiled. But Sakura never smiled anymore, nor did she speak out loud.
Now she simply lay against her Sun guardian, removing a card from the top of the deck and holding it. She had long ago stopped looking at the Return and Time cards. One could not change the past unless it had been changed. She remembered the adventure in capturing the Time card, and her lips quirked in a nervous tic, no matter what the ball had gone into the net, kicked or otherwise. Time could not be changed, History happened.
People stay dead.
So now she examined the Move card. Kero had called it useless as it was only able to move small things over short distances and never anything living. She looked at it and sensed locked inside of it was the knowledge on how to surpass its abilities, but the card itself was locked down so it could not do such things. She knew the Eastern thread of magic in it, it had been done to her before after all, this Tunneling, she thought perhaps she might be able to manage it. The Western she did not know yet and seemed far more complicated, Apparation, but the Port Keys seemed similar to Tunneling.
She held the Move card now because the deck had changed and it was the one on top.
Someone was moving. Destiny's gears were turning.
But it was also nice to look at, to commune with like Kero said.
She looked at all the cards this way--except for The Firey.
It, he was forgiven, she told the other cards this, it was just that...
/Fear./
Kero's wing tightened slightly around her and he turned to nuzzle her again.
"Sakura-chan?"
She turned and grabbed his ear, pulling herself closer to his head and wrapping her arms around his neck.
Kerberos smelled the tell tale scent of salt water as she wiped her tears away on his fur.
"Shhh..." He embraced her as well as he was able with a foreleg.
She did not touch the offensive cards much either, Shot, Watery, Sword and the rest, but Firey not at all.
The cards could disobey her, no, twist her will, they were alive after all. To capture Rain she had commanded Watery to form a binding chain, instead it had made a bubble, because a chain would not have worked and she wanted to capture Rain.
Eriol and Kero had told her how in the West most wizards and witches couldn't cast spells without their wands, and that a new wand acquired would almost certainly be weaker than the first.
She had been so very tired, there had been four previous duels that day, at the very least, coming when she was trying to get to sleep. She could not hold out any more, she knew she could not hold Shield against this one's spells, nor could she make Windy or Shadow strong enough to hold him. And so help her she was getting upset. She wanted to beat this one up a little so they would leave her alone for a while.
She knew these men, these Death Eaters valued power highly, so why not take some away from them?
She commanded Firey to make it so he couldn't cast spells anymore.
*~*~*~*~*
Earlier that Day:
Fujitaka had removed Sakura from school in November, citing that someone had died and it was hitting Sakura very hard. The pure truth. Many of her friends came over to offer condolences for what they thought was the loss of a family member and she had just looked at them sadly. There was something inherently wrong with Sakura being depressed, one look at her was enough to make something twist in your chest and want to run away. It broke the laws of nature.
None of them came by anymore, though they still sent letters. Only Shaoron, Meiling, and Tomoyo came over any more. Yukito and Yue never left and switched between each other confidently and with no fuss for which ever one of them was better suited to the task at hand.
But that was besides the point. At the moment Fujitaka was the one arguing with Eriol on doing this.
Mostly because Eriol said something about removing part of Fujitaka's soul.
It wasn't as if Fujitaka was unwilling to do this, he'd do anything for Sakura. He was afraid, he'd have to be a complete idiot not to be afraid, and cautious. This was risky, and he wanted to make sure all other avenues were taken, or at least considered beforehand.
"Did you even try to enroll Sakura-chan without being Clow?"
"Yes, I did," Eriol said as he straightened out the large oversized robe and kneeled on the floor of Sakura's room. The book had spent the most time so there was much of Clow's magic was right there. Eriol looked up at Fujitaka and pulled something out an inner pocket and handed it to him.
It was a letter, yellowed and thick, sealed with wax and an emblem he recognized, Clow's magic circle. On the other side there was the address and return address, both obscured by large red letters. It took Fujitaka a moment to process what it said as he had never been good at English and was out of practice.
"Retur-return to Sender."
It was the first time anyone had ever seen Fujitaka looking angry, in fact he was never even irritated.
"Shall we do this then?"
Fujitaka nodded and knelt next to Eriol, scooting over until he was in the correct position indicated by Eriol.
He felt a flex of something, very faint, more like a ripple. Despite being ready for it he was still surprised when the glowing circle opened up under them, turning slowly around it's center, Eriol. There was another ripple and it came to a stop, turned upside down so Fujitaka was sitting neatly on the moon of the symbol.
"Now you."
The adult looked at the child who was so much older than him.
"Like this." One hand reached out and touched his shoulder and he closed his eyes. After a second he felt a barely used muscle shift and flex, and another magic circle had bloomed under him, the moon over Eriol's sun.
A surprisingly warm thing slid under his hands, the staff. He grasped it and felt something--ai...The last time he felt something like this was when Nadeshiko died.
/Relax./
...
/There's no need to be rude./
\You didn't tell me it would feel like this!\ He could feel the tears in his eyes, but not, he made a promise, he would not break it, he would not cry. But so help him he was closer to it than he ever had been before.
There was another shift, from where that pain was coming from and so help him it felt like he was with her again, something that was missing now there. But he never knew it was missing before.
\Two halves,\ he marveled.
/Yes./
That connection withdrew, like a hand extended and withdrawing, taking a piece of him with it. He felt tired, so tired, and hurt, such pain. He choked back tears and swallowed them down. He knew in that last instant that he would ALWAYS crave that feeling the same way he craved Nandeshiko pressance.
And promptly passed out.
He did not know that his magic circle had faded out and now the child was glowing. He was not a being of pure magic like a guardian, the body needed a little bit more time for magic and form altering magic like this. He grew up and broader filling in the over sized clothes, his hair longer, and changed colors.
A small child gave a cry and fell to dreaming and waiting.
The adult whispered a promise and cradled him, eased his fall, and promised the child that it would be all right in the end before he pushed himself up to consiousness.
Clow Reed stood up, "We have work to do."
==========
To make sure Y'all don't miss: Eriol sent a letter to Hogwarts before the fic started, DUMBLEDOR NEVER SAW IT. All incoming mail is scanned with a spell to check if it is about admissions, if so it gets stamped with RETURN TO SENDER and is never opened. Hence the need for political clout. Lucuis Malfoy isn't the only one that can make Fudge dance.
Also, this chapter WAS going to be longer, but I decided to chop the idea in half, enjoy the early gift.
And KEEP REVIEWING. Not only am I a total review whore but reading nice long reviews make the story click together in my head so I can write it.
