Someone asked if there would be any pairing in this fic. To be honest, I might throw some in, but I'm not entirely sure which ones to do for Harry Potter. Digimon, I've got that down pretty much…the only pairing I'm constant with is Takumi (Takuya/Izumi) with lots of the brotherly-type love between the twins. Even the stuff I throw in would be pretty light, mostly just hintings, like in the show, though I may put in teasing and/or a small kiss. What do you guys think?
P.S. - If anything is odd about this chapter, I blame it on the gas they put me on to take out my wisdom teeth on Tuesday. It did something to my mind…the proof is in my latest Saint Seiya story…
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or Harry Potter. So there.
Chapter 4: Two Sides of London
London is a very large and busy city, but its alleys and side-roads are far from the most hospitable places in the world. Cold, dark and rather small, many people choose to avoid them rather than slip down these hiding places for drunks and pick-pockets.
As it was, only a raggedy-looking man waking up with a very bad hangover noticed that a large carpet carrying six teenagers (circled in the back playing cards) and one older-looking woman (apparently asleep) swooped out of the sky and landed in one of the aforementioned alleyways. The drunk eyed them wordlessly a moment, then decided he was hallucinating and rolled over to get a bit more sleep.
The apparently-asleep woman stretched, smiling as the carpet touched down. "And we're here." she announced brightly, turning back to the students.
All six of said pupils had at least a few burns and singes on their clothes and fingers, thanks to a four-hour game of Di Hin Min with cards that were meant for Exploding Snap. There was a large burn mark in the middle of the rug, where the material had caught fire. They abandoned the game in an instant, quickly climbing off the carpet to look around.
"Yuck." Izumi commented, grimacing at the foul odor. "Where are we?"
"London, England." Kenkyo said brightly, flicking her wand to roll up the carpet. "A back-alley somewhere, shouldn't be too far from our destination."
She brushed off her robe, smartly shrinking the carpet as she had the trunks and slipping it into her pocket. "Well then. Let's be off. Stay together now, we don't want to lose anyone in Muggle London…"
It wasn't really hard, seeing as the moment they stepped out into the crowd they were sandwiched together so tightly they couldn't break away if they wanted to. They were all smaller than your average westerner, except for maybe Junpei and Kenkyo, so none of them could see where they were going. Tomoki, still much smaller than the rest, even with five years of growth, was nearly trampled until Izumi and Takuya grabbed each of his arms to pull him steady. Koji reached back and caught Kouichi's wrist, a bit worried that his brother's usual habit of daydreaming as he went would get him swept off into the throng.
"Here we are." Kenkyo announced, after about ten minutes of struggling through the busy streets. "The Leaky Cauldron."
"T-That's it?!" Junpei exclaimed, pushing forward to get a good view of the shop. "You've got to be kidding me!"
When the others managed to push their way forward, most of them had similar sentiments. The place was rather run-down, with its pealing paint and partially-broken sign. The only thing about it that you could tell was magical at all was that the muggles around them couldn't see it. There was a spell keeping them oblivious.
"Remember, my young minarai…" Kenkyo said, a coy smile on her face. "In our world of magic, do not judge a book by its cover. This way."
The inside of the pub was very much like the outside, dark and rather dingy-looking, but they hardly noticed as they gazed around at the dozens of people. In Japan, it was extremely rare to see so many witches and wizards in their normal state, though none of them ever dressed like this. Even rarer was to find such interesting characters as hags and vampires. Each of them took a direction and just stared, wide-eyed and few open-mouthed.
Kenkyo smirked, walking up to the desk in front of a long hallway. A wizened old man with no teeth sat there, going over some kind of register.
"Good day, Tom." she said cheerily, tapping her wand on his parchment to get his attention.
"Eh, Ms. Kenkyo." The old man looked around her at the teens and gave them a toothless grin. "I see you've got the new Hogwarts Transfers with you. Have a nice trip?"
"Pleasant enough." the teacher said brightly. "We'll need three rooms…One with three beds, the others with two each."
She looked back at the group with a smile as Tom began rustling through his books. "One of the two-beds will be ours, Izumi. The boys can split up the other two."
"Great." Junpei yawned, stretching as he did so. "So we can turn in and go to bed…"
"Don't think so." Kenkyo grinned, waving a finger in fake-warning. "Check the clock, Shibuyama-san. The local time is 11:00 AM."
"Huh?" Junpei's mouth fell open, and the others blinked. "That can't be right! We left at three in the afternoon!"
"A five-hour flight, backwards, over nine time zones." Kenkyo said coyly. "We've got just enough time to put your stuff away before lunch, then we can get some shopping done…"
The kids stared at her blankly, sleep already pulling at their eyes. She grinned, enjoying the stunned looks. "I hope all remembered to take a nap, as I said, the jetlag is killer."
. . . . . .
The past few weeks had been chaos, and it had all been quite fun.
Ron was right, the Burrow was a center of madness with all of the Order coming in and out on a regular basis. Hermione had turned up about half-way through the second week, with permission from her parents to stay with the Weasleys…Although both parents seamed just a little worried when Mr. Weasley asked if he could remove the engine of their car.
The Weasley family seamed a bit smaller than usual. Bill was around most often of the older Weasleys, although Charlie had stopped by more than once. Fred and George hadn't turned up at all, but they had sent a handsome owl with a small bag of Gallons (for 'family expenses') and letters for each person in the house…As though to show that they'd have more respect for their parents than Percy, who still wasn't talking to them and hadn't turned up either.
But even with most of the brothers traveling or living on their own, the place was packed. Lupin had been here the whole time, waiting for orders from Dumbledore on where to go next. He was looking shabby as ever, but seamed to be doing alright, all things considered. Mad-Eye was around as well, though not as often. Tonks was in and out almost constantly, she, Hermione and Ginny shared Percy's old room, and the Morphmagus was acting quite…oddly, even for her. And there was the air of secrecy around some of their dinner conversations…
But it wasn't the threatening kind of secrecy, it was more of the playful, excited, don't-spoil-the-big-secret kind of secrecy, like there had been over the Triwizard Tournament. Harry and the others tried to get the adults to slip up and tell them something, but, as before, nothing worked.
The Sunday before the term started, Harry, Ron, Charlie and Ginny had an extremely entertaining mini-Quidditch game out behind the house, and returned around sunset sweaty, muddy, and with huge smiles on their faces. There they found Mrs. Weasly hurriedly sorting the contents of four sets of trunks, a stressed, wind-blown look on her face.
"Good, you're back." she sighed as the group entered. She cast her wand at three folded stacks of robes, each tied with a bright red rope, and sent them zooming into the arms of Harry, Ron and Ginny. "We need to get you some new ones, Ginny dear. Take these up to your rooms and get them packed up, Tonks already left and we won't have any time to pack tomorrow."
She flicked out at a pile of small bundles, their socks and ties, and some how managed to send them all flying at their correct owners. Though at the rapid-fire pace, even Harry was having trouble grabbing all of them.
"Mum…" Ron mumbled through a tie that was caught in his mouth. "Wuht's this awl fer?"
"We're going to Diagon Alley tomorrow." Mrs. Weasley reported briskly, bustling towards the kitchen and summoning an apron to tie around her waist. "We have to get all your new things, and it's closer to the Platform than this is. It should be more comfortable than usual, hopefully…"
Hermione appeared at the foot of the stairs and was immediately attacked by a bundle of robes. She had, apparently, heard everything before-hand and was ready for them, though the force knocked her back up two steps.
Charlie checked his watch. "Better get going, then." he sighed. "Mesilla is expecting me to take the Vipertooths back in Romania. Those little buggers are fast."
"I packed some extra tonic in your bag, dear." Mrs. Weasley said, sending the backpack at her older son.
Charlie caught it easily, slipping it over his shoulder. "Thanks mum. And you four, good luck with your term. See you around." A wave and a wink, and he'd Disaparated.
A stray pair of socks came flying and hit Ron in the head. Ginny chuckled and started up the stairs after Hermione.
"Ha-ha. Very funny." he muttered, and started after, a grinning Harry on his heels.
. . . . . .
"I think our teacher has lost it." Junpei muttered to Takuya, and the goggle-wearing teen had to admit, he agreed.
They were standing in a slightly huddled group near the trash bin against the wall of the pub. Kenkyo had her wand out, and was tapping confidently on a brick along the edge of the wall. However, nothing was happening.
Kenkyo's confidence turned to confusion. "Well, come on." she muttered, turning her wand to prod, rather than tap. "This has always worked before…"
"We could be here a while…" Izumi sighed, putting a hand to her temple as though she was getting a head ache.
The twins had managed to reclaim a newspaper from one of the men at the bar, and were combing through it together with mild interest. The wizards in the front-page picture were having a rather rowdy fight, firing their spells in and around the words The Daily Prophet at the top.
Tomoki tried to read over Kouichi's shoulder, but even on his tip-toes he couldn't get a good look. "Anything interesting?"
"Nope." Kouji sighed, folding the paper up. "But the Tengu beat Germany by over two-hundred points yesterday."
"Sweet." Takuya mentioned with a grin. "The team's really great this year, a few more seasons and that World Cup is comin' to Japan."
Kenkyo suddenly knocked her hand against her head with an exclamation of self-mockery. "Oh, how did I forget that?" she laughed, counting bricks again. "It's three up, two across…and…"
She tapped the brick three times. There was a slight rumbling noise and all six transfers backed away as the bricks began to shift and re-align themselves. A huge gateway formed in the wall, pulling the trash bin back with it and reveling something that made all their mouths drop open.
Shops upon shops lined the cobblestone street, all of them selling things they were used to buying in the back of arcades or convenience stores. Stacks of cauldrons, piles of spell books, the squawking and screeching of various magical animals, and an apothecary to put even old man Ryokucha to shame.
"Welcome…" said Kenkyo smugly. "To Diagon Alley."
TBC…
P.S. - The closest I have ever been to a vacation out of the country is a weekend in Montreal. As such, I have never been to London. I just assume it's like every other large city in the world.
Minarai = Students
