Oopsies. Onami-wa is NOT goodnight, as I had it in the last chapter. That's just a mispronunciation on my part. Goodnight is actually Oyasumi-nasai. My bad. It's hard to remember these when you're taking Japanese over a satellite.
Disclaimer: I don't Harry Potter or the characters of Digimon Frontier. I'm just weird.
Chapter 13: Classes, Take One
"Kouichi…"
The boy snapped his head around, squinting as best he could to see through the darkness. There were shadows moving around him, but he couldn't tell what they were. The voice had come from one of them, but he couldn't tell which one, nor could he figure out why he recognized it.…
"Who's there?" he shouted insistently, trying to see them. "What do you want? Why do you keep calling me?"
"Kouichi…" the voice called again. "Come…come…back…"
There was a sudden loud, ringing sound that cut the scene abruptly short. Kouichi jumped, then blinked blankly at the green curtains around him before realizing what the alarm meant.
It was time to wake up for breakfast.
. . . . . .
"More rice?" Ron said blankly. "You even eat rice for breakfast?"
"Yup." Takuya said brightly, then popped some rice into his mouth, followed quickly by vegetables.
"Weird…" Ron shook his head. Hermione kicked him under the table.
Kouji grinned just a little, finishing off his own bowl, and reached for the piece of parchment that McGonagall had handed him. Takuya glanced at him, at the paper in his hand, then looked at his own.
"…This is bad." he muttered after a moment. "The Hon'yakusha doesn't translate writing. And I don't read English."
Hermione glanced over his shoulder, then took the parchment and turned it the right way up.
Kouji shook his head, reaching across the table to tap Takuya's parchment with his wand. "Look, goggle-head." he muttered, though Takuya's cap and goggles were stuffed in his trunk back in the common room. "Kenkyo showed us before we left, remember? Hon'yaku Suru, Eigo no Nihongo."
The writing broke into separate lines, swirled around the page, and re-wrote itself in the flowing, rounded script of Hiragana. He blinked, then looked up at Kouji. "Er…Thanks. I need to remember that."
"Yeah." Kouji nodded bluntly, then went back to his meal and his schedule.
Harry pulled his own over, downing a glass of pumpkin juice. Yesterday was Thursday, so today…
"Friday." he muttered to himself, then looked up at Ron. "Care of Magical Creatures first thing, then Transfiguration. Afternoon's off."
"Yeah…Gah, we're still with the Slytherins for Hagrid's class!" Ron groaned. "Why they don't just ban Malfoy and his flunkies from Care of Magical Creatures, I don't know…"
"He's the Care of Magical Creatures Professor?" Tomoki spoke up before that particular train of thought went too far. "Hagrid-san, I mean. He's a teacher?"
"Since our third year." Hermione nodded. "And he's good at it, too…he's always loved magical animals. The only problem is, well…He loves all magical animals, and he's not too good and telling which ones are dangerous or not."
She let that settle a moment, but apparently none of the transfers got her drift.
"Oh, never mind. You'll see." she sighed, slipping her own schedule into her bag and standing. "We better get going, then, if we don't want to be late."
. . . . . .
Kouichi sat cross-legged on the ground, leaning against one of a group of boulders that had been almost artfully positioned near the groundskeeper's hut. This was where he was supposed to be for his first class, but it was a bit awkward to say the least.
First of all, most of the other sixth-year Slytherins around him were discussing ways to torment the Professor, an extremely large, burly man who was at least half giant and apparently had a unfortunate liking for great, big, dangerous monsters. Secondly, the current plane was on a slope of at least 50 degrees, so they had to brace against these rocks to keep from rolling down and into the woods. And thirdly, he had just spent thirty minutes in the library and was trying to read one of his selections (translating one page at a time), but the wind was lashing the pages viciously so that they turned wildly on their own. He was now attempting to hold them down with his elbows, as he had a piece of toast that passed for his breakfast clutched in his right hand.
"Hey." one of the girls…Pansy Parkinson, her name was…called from the top of the rocks. "Looks like the Gryffindorks are coming this way. Late, as usual."
Kouichi glanced up. Coming down the large stone steps were a group of about ten red-robed students, the ones he recognized including Potter, Weasley and Granger. Takuya was wound up again, practically leaping down the wide, uneven steps as Kouji followed behind, much slower.
"Saint Potter." Malfoy sneered, eyes locked with more than a little resentment in his voice. "Savor of Mudbloods and Dummy-dore's precious favorite…"
"Hey, Kouichi." Takuya called with a wide grin, jumping over the last step to dash over. "How's it goin'?"
Kouichi smiled just a little, feeling the weight of Draco and the other Slytherins' eyes on his back. "Just fine."
Kouji caught up with Takuya, while the other Gryffindors seamed apt to stay as far away from their green-robed classmates as possible. He glanced at the book in his brother's lap. "Oh. That explains where you were at breakfast."
"Just checking out the library…" Kouichi held up the book to show the dewy-decimal code on the spine.
"The library? Already?" Takuya craned his head to look at the well-worn writing down the edge. "'Through Smoke and Stars: Interpreting Dreams and Nightmares'? That's a bit of an odd choice, ain't it?"
Kouichi shrugged. "I was…just curious." Now he felt Kouji's eyes on him, as well as the Slytherins who hadn't decided to ignore him. It was getting uncomfortable.
"If you're looking to bluff Divination…" Ron spoke up. "You're outta luck. We covered dreams last year."
Kouichi blinked, and decided to keep his mouth shut on the fact that he wasn't even taking Divination. He'd signed up for Ancient Runes instead. He did, however, notice that Draco was opening his mouth to say something smug, which was why he was very glad that Prof. Hagrid suddenly strode up, looking extremely pleased with himself.
"Everyone 'ere, then?" Hagrid beamed at them. "Alrighty! I decided to take advantage of the…well, odd circumstances, with the transfers bein' 'ere an' all. Thought we could examine a couple'a beauties from the orients…Come along, now, just follow meh."
The class followed behind in two groups, one of Gryffindors, in front, and one of Slytherins, behind them. Connecting the two groups were the three transfers, walking together.
Hermione looked back at them. "Any idea what he could have?" she asked in a low voice.
"Nope." Takuya shrugged.
"Come on, you must have a guess." Ron pressed. "Think, isn't there anything you studied in Japan that was big, dangerous and possibly ugly?"
"We never had this kind of class back home." Kouji muttered. "It'd be hard-pressed if we were studying kitsune in the back of the temple…"
"As long as he doesn't have an Oni, we should be fine." Takuya shrugged.
"What's an Oh-knee?" Seamus asked, sounding curious.
"A devil." all three transfers said at once.
The rest of the students went pale. "That…sounds like something Hagrid would bring in." Dean muttered under his breath.
Hagrid paused at the base of a large tree and motioned the students to stand back. "They can be pretty feisty, if you startle them, so just keep still for a bit…"
He turned and looked up into the tree, making a loud noise that sounded like a deep-throated parrot. For a moment, nothing happened. Then a few leaves fluttered down out of the trees, followed by today's 'subjects'.
They looked like small people with wings instead of arms, covered in red feathers from top to bottom. Their faces had large, gold beaks protruding out of them, and their eyes were shining gold. There were seven or eight of them, all about Harry's size and weight, who descended instantly on the bunch of fruit Hagrid held out.
"Tengu?!" Takuya sputtered. "Professor, you brought in Tengu?!"
Tin-goo? Harry and Ron glanced at each other. Weird names. All of them had weird names.
"Yup. Beauties, aren't they?" Hagrid said proudly.
All of the transfers looked a bit stunned, but Kouji spoke first. "But…How the hell did you get ahold of them? Even back home they only live in the mountains…"
"Got these beauties from a contact of Dumbledore's in Japan." Hagrid said proudly. "I told 'em I wanted a chance to show some'a teh rarer creatures, an' this is what he brought me."
"This is the first time I've seen one up close." Kouichi whispered in the same soft, almost delicate voice. He was staring at the largest one in the group, the alpha male of sorts, which was gobbling down the biggest and sweetest-looking fruits in the bunch.
"Now then…" Hagrid brushed his hands off. "Anybody care to get a bit closer?"
All of the Slytherins and half the Gryffindors immediately backed off. That left Ron, Harry, Hermione, and the Transfers. The Japanese students seamed calm enough, although Kouichi went vaguely pale and brushed a hand against his brother's as a nervous reflex.
"Eh now…" Hagrid glanced between them momentarily. "Harry! Care to give it a shot?"
"Er…" Harry glanced at the bird-things and stifled a bit of a gulp. "S-Sure, Hagrid. What do I do?"
"Just hold this out to 'em." Hagrid tossed him a large melon. "Approach slowly now, be careful. An' keep up the eye contact, don't look away for nothin'."
Harry took a deep breath and moved forward, holding out the melon. He paused where Hagrid showed him, about three feet from the birds, which were now preening their feathers.
One of them looked up and gazed at him with large, doe-like golden eyes. It blinked at him wordlessly, turning its head in curiosity. Harry kept his eyes focused on those round, glowing gold orbs, and moved another step closer.
The bird hopped forward, crouching down like a monkey with its hand-claws dragging along the floor. It came close to Harry, sniffing the fruit with its beak. Hermione drew in a short breath.
Suddenly, the bird snapped its hand forward and took hold of the fruit, but he didn't take it away from Harry. Instead, he used his claw to cut it in half, then took the top part and ate it gleefully.
"Very good, Harry!" Hagrid clapped. "He's decided yer a friend. Now take a bite of the fruit."
Harry glanced at him, a bit confused. "If yeh don't eat, yeh'll insult 'em." Hagrid explained. "Sortta like drinkin' after a toast. It's rude if you don't."
Harry grimaced, but took a bite from the tangy fruit and swallowed. The Tengu, already finished with his half, hopped over and looked up at him. He could've sworn it was smiling as it plucked a feather from his cloak-like wings and held it out to him.
"For me?" he felt more than a little awkward, but took it. "Gee…Uh, thanks."
Hagrid beamed. "Good work, Harry! Now, each of yeh needs to approach a Tengu an' get it to accept yeh. Take a fruit from this basket here, there yeh go…"
In groups of eight the students stepped forward, each calling forward a separate Tengu and getting different results. Kouji wound up in a staring contest with the alpha male, neither of them backing down for a good fifteen minutes. Lavender Brown was doing fine, until the little one she was coaxing over tried to build a nest from her hair. A female grabbed Neville by the shoulders, flew him up into a tree, and left him hanging on a high branch (apparently, its motherly instincts told her he wasn't old enough to leave the nest…).
But all and all, nobody got themselves into any real danger…At least, not until Malfoy stepped up to his.
Everything went just fine, at first. The Tengu took the apple, split in in half, and left one with Draco. The boy looked at the piece in his hand, then broke a bit off and pretended to eat it, dropping it behind him instead.
No one noticed, except Kouichi, who was standing right behind him. "Um… Malfoy?"
"What?" the blonde turned back to him coolly.
Kouichi kept his voice very low, so that no one else could hear him. "The Tengu will be insulted…"
"I honestly don't care, Kimura." Malfoy sniffed haughtily. "That oaf can't expect me to eat after one of these ugly things."
The color drained out of Kouichi's face. "M-Malfoy…"
"What is it, Kimura?"
"Move!" Kouichi grabbed him by the shoulders and yanked him backwards, right before the Tengu's claws came crashing down where he had been standing.
The half-bird, half-human creature let out an unearthly shriek, taking flight and diving forward towards Malfoy. Kouichi shoved the blonde one way and dropping back in the other direction and hitting the ground as the bird-creature soared past.
"Back! Back! All of you, stand back!" Hagrid shouted, grabbing Kouji, who was trying to get to his brother, by the collar and tossing him out of the way. When the Tengu came charging back, aimed at Kouichi this time, Hagrid snatched it out of the air and stuffed something into its mouth. After a moment of fighting, the bird-creature was calm.
Hagrid let it go and it waddled back over to its flock mates, perfectly placid. Malfoy was still on the ground, gasping for breath, as was Kouichi. "What…What was that?" the transfer gasped.
"Just a kumquat." Hagrid sighed. "But I 'ad Prof. Sprout fill it with a little bit o' ragweed…Calms 'em down good an' well. You two alright?"
"F-Fine…I'm fine…" Kouichi grabbed on to the massive hand and pulled himself to his feet. "Thanks…"
Malfoy was recovering his attitude. "What the hell was its problem?"
"I told you what the problem was, Malfoy." Kouichi, very wisely, stepped in before Ron or Harry could get at him. He didn't yell or even sound accusing, keeping his voice very low and even-toned. "Tengu are really smart. They don't like being tricked."
He held out his hand to the other boy, a tiny smile on his lips. "You're really lucky you weren't hurt, or worse. Here, let me give you a hand."
Malfoy glared, looking furious, and knocked the hand away. "I don't need your help." he growled, climbing to his feet a bit to fast. He swayed dangerously and Kouichi steadied him by the arm. "I said I didn't need your help!"
Kouichi looked a little surprised, but shrugged and let go, slipping hands into his pockets and going back to his brother. Malfoy let out a frustrated noise and went back to Crabbe and Goyle.
The class ended on a sour note.
. . . . . .
"You really have to stop associating with those Gryffindors."
Kouichi looked up from his lunch, a mite surprised. He'd never even be introduced to Parkinson, and yet here she was, staring him down with half a dozen other Slytherin sixth-years, all looking rather accusing.
"…I don't understand." he murmured quietly.
"Stop talking to them." Parkinson shuddered, looking sickened.
Theodore Nott leaned forward, a cool gaze in his eyes. "We can make some amends for Minamoto, since he's your…brother, and all." he looked disgusted as well, possibly at the idea of being related to a Gryffindor. "But you will simply have to ignore those other pests."
Kouichi felt a defensive prickle at the back of his neck. "Pests?"
"The loudmouth." Parkinson rolled her eyes with a sour look to Takuya.
"And the twerp." Nott added, motioning with his hands to a short person. Tomoki.
"And the rest of that Gryffindor riff-raff." Malfoy finished, his eyes narrowed almost dangerously. "Potty, Weasel and Grunge-er."
Kouichi licked his lips nervously. He wasn't really close to Potter and Weasley, but it was almost blasphemous to reject his friends, after they'd done so much for him, he'd never forgive himself. But there was a poison in the glares of the other Slytherins, like the venomous snakes on their badges, ready to strike. He had to be careful.
"I'll take that into account." he muttered placidly, standing up from the table. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some…studying to do."
He could not get out of their sight fast enough.
TBC…
Hon'yaku Suru, Eigo no Nihongo - Translate to Another Language, English to Japanese.
Yes, I'm using the Hogwarts setting from the PoA movie. Just because I really, really like it, and that's how I imagine Hogwarts to be.
Kouichi's other choice from the Library was Hogwarts: A History, if you're curious.
Tengu - Yes, these are from ancient Japanese myth. I didn't make them up, although I did make them a bit less human than the myths, for the sake of the class. They're also the mascot of Japan's leading Quidditch team, Takuya's favorite, the Toyohashi Tengu, who were mentioned in Ch. 4.
