I must beg of you: Even though I love long, detailed reviews, please please PLEASE don't correct me on a) my grammar, or b) my use of Japanese. Any grammatical errors are (mostly) my voice, seeing as I've got a really heavy Texas accent in all senses of the words. As for Japanese…I haven't even completed one semester yet, and I'm taking it over satellite. I'm relying on a Japanese-to-English dictionary that doesn't tell you how to string the words together…So back off a little, okay?
By the way…the Maho-Kiso terms AREN'T SUPPOSED TO BE IN JAPANESE!!! They're CHINESE!! Explanation at the bottom!
Oh, and about Kouichi getting picked on, but the others not…The only people who know how good of friends the group really is are Harry, Ron, Hermione and maybe Ginny. They just know that they all came from the same shrine in Japan, and that Kouji and Kouichi are twins. You have to admit, they don't really try to broadcast their friendship around school…(Kouichi, mostly, but that's for safety reasons…)
Disclaimer: I don't Harry Potter or the characters of Digimon Frontier. I'm just weird.
Chapter 18: Yin and Yang
Kouichi followed the two teachers anxiously. McGonagall had the look of the concerned but stern professor she was, but Snape, the Head of his own house, was absolutely impassive. Neither image did anything to soothe the poor boy's nerves, and he was most certain he was about to be expelled, for sure.
"I'm sorry, Hakaishi-sensei." he whispered in his mind, biting his lip and gazing back at the ground. "I tried to keep it secret, really I did…"
They came to a stop in front of a large gargoyle, the two professors standing on either side like prison guards. Kouichi suppressed a frightened whimper as he looked up at the huge statue.
"…Fever Fudge." McGonagall muttered disdainfully. The gargoyle sprang aside easily, reveling a long, winding staircase.
Snape gave the boy a small push towards the entrance. "In." he said gruffly, and they lead him up the stairs.
At the top of the highest landing was a large, intimidating wooden door. McGonagall raised her hand and knocked smartly. "Professor Dumbledore?"
A muffled response. "Come in, Minerva, come in."
Kouichi gulped as the doors opened, and he was escorted into the headmaster's office. It was large and spacious, almost like a fabulous observatory, with a huge globe in the very middle. Dozens of huge bookcases and cabinets lined the walls, filled with thick, worn books and complicated, almost delicate instruments.
In the center was a huge, well-worn wooden desk, scattered with papers, books and other odd things. It was here that the headmaster sat, writing in what seamed to be a large diary.
He looked up through his half-moon spectacles as they entered, smiling slightly when he saw the boy. "Ah. Mr. Kimura." he sighed, closing his book and motioning to the chair in front of the desk. "Sit down, please, sit down."
Kouichi did as he was told, pausing a moment to gaze in awe at the remarkable, gold-plumed phoenix perched beside the old man. The bird turned its head and looked at him with one big, blue eye, then jumped off his perch and hopped to the arm of the chair. He looked the boy straight in the eye, then rolled his head from side to side, examining him with scrutiny.
Professor Dumbledore smiled. "Fawkes is an excellent judge of character, Mr. Kimura." he said sagely. "It's no small feet to win a phoenix's approval."
Kouichi's hand hovered a moment over the bird, tempted to stroke it but afraid he would be bitten or burned if he tried. Fawkes seamed to sense his hesitation and lifted his head to butt against the bare palm, pushing it down his neck and across his feathered back.
The boy smiled just a little, then looked back up at the headmaster. His eyes were wide with nervousness, giving him the image of a small puppy cornered by a gang of alley cats.
"…Are you going to send me home, Professor?" he asked in a hesitant whisper.
"Home?" Dumbledore shook his head, standing. "Dear boy, I'm not going to have you expelled over a simple rumor."
Kouichi relaxed visibly. The headmaster smiled a bit wider and continued, moving around the desk. "I would, however, like to hear your side of the tale, if you would. What, do you suppose, could have lead to this assumption?"
Kouichi shifted slightly, running his hand down Fawkes's back absent-mindedly. "I…I suppose someone…must have…heard us talking…"
"By 'us', I take it you mean yourself and the other transfers." Dumbledore nodded, gazing at one of the spinning objects. "Did, in any recent conversation, you or any of your friends mention your 'practicing' of Dark arts?"
"It's was a mistranslation, sir." Kouichi said quietly.
Dumbledore smiled slightly, raising an eyebrow. "How so?"
Kouichi took a deep breath, then closed his eyes. "I'm not like that, professor." he said quietly. "I could never be like that again…"
"Again?" McGonagall interrupted, then fell silent with a motion from the headmaster.
The old man turned to face the boy. "Please elaborate, Mr. Kimura. We need to know as much as we can."
Kouichi froze. He couldn't tell them, not the real story. It was their secret, after they'd come home, they'd all sworn never to tell anyone about Cherubimon, or the Digital World, or…
"Mr. Kimura?"
He took another deep breath, to compose himself, then became very interested with the carved leg of the desk. There was silence a moment, then he spoke.
"A…A few years ago…" he whispered quietly. "S-Someone…someone tried to use me…like that. I…I swear, though, I didn't know…what they were doing…What I was doing…" another deep breath. "They…I nearly…They made me…hurt…some of the people that are closest to me."
He looked up then, eyes wide like a wounded animal. "I could never be like that again, sir."
Dumbledore nodded gently, coming to stand by the boy's side. Kouichi continued to look up at him, worried and nervous. He patted him on the shoulder.
"Kouichi." he said warmly. "According to the records sent by your former teachers, am I correct in assuming that your Maho-Kiso is of the Yin variety?"
Kouichi gaped at him a moment, but nodded. The headmaster's smile widened to its fullest extent, and he straightened.
"Then we have no more to worry about." he said confidently. "It's easy enough to remedy…Minerva?"
"Yes, Professor?"
"Please fetch Professor Tonks…She should be down in the kitchens, if I'm correct…and tell her I need to see her about a change in lesson plans." the woman nodded and exited, and he turned to the other teacher. "Severus, if you will escort Mr. Kimura here back to his common room. I trust a safe night's sleep will do him much good."
Snape nodded, motioning to the boy. Kouichi stood and, with a quick bow to the Headmaster, followed after his Head of House.
They didn't say anything during the long walk, which was not surprising in the least. Kouichi had never been very good at small talk, even amongst his friends, and he'd never so much as spoken to the Potions teacher before, not to mention that Snape didn't say much in the first place.
However, they did not go straight to the common room when they reached the dungeons, rather, Snape turned the opposite direction. Kouichi was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't realize where they were going until he opened the door to the Potions classroom.
"Inside, Kimura." Snape motioned at the door. The boy stared a moment, then did as he said. "Sit down. This will only take a moment."
Kouichi sat gingerly at one of the tables in the front of the room, watching the Potions Master curiously. In a few moments, one of the cauldrons was boiling with a strange, thick, light blue liquid over a pit in the middle of the room. Snape had a slightly bored look of concentration as he added ingredients, not really looking at them or at the student, gazing deeply into the boiling potion.
"You were rather sloppy, Kimura." he said, almost conversationally. "There are very few wizards of the Yin variety, and even fewer who know of it. Those who are both, rather wisely, keep it to themselves."
Kouichi shifted. No reason to tell him that's what he'd been trying to do… Besides, he'd watched him in class. Snape was very irritable when he was interrupted.
"Humans have never been known to be the most welcoming species in the world, Kimura." Snape's voice had gotten low as he began slowly stirring whatever concoction he was preparing. "Those who are different…Those with imperfections or abnormalities, other humans shun without regard. Their feelings are of no interest to those who find them inferior, their only intent is to tear them down until there is nothing left."
Kouichi was just a little surprised. The way the teacher was speaking…it was almost as though he knew exactly what…
The Potions Master picked up a smooth wooden cup, dipping a ladle into the potion. "In their attempt to escape this torture, those who are different tend to stop caring for other's emotions, and soon focus only on their own. Keeping them hidden, the only way to fight back is to become that which they despise…Sometimes, they are even worse."
"If those people were to group together.…" he set the cup in front of him, the milky-blue liquid already cool. "…It usually helps."
Kouichi stared blankly at the potion, and Snape moved to clean up the remains in the cauldron. It was several moments before Kouichi had put the information together enough to ask.
"Professor…were you…are you…?"
Unseen to the boy, Snape smirked slightly. "Drink up, Kimura." he ordered. "Your dormmates tell me you've had trouble sleeping. The drought should help, at least for the night."
"…Yes, sir."
"Kouichi!"
The boy turned around to find Izumi running up to him through the Great Hall, Tomoki and Junpei on her heels. It was breakfast time, Saturday morning. So far he'd managed to dodge two Trip Jinxes and a flying plate, the last one with the help of Goyle, who'd intercepted it in mid-route and tossed it like a Frisbee.
Izumi slide to a stop and, quite suddenly, threw her arms around his shoulders. A fast blush rose into Kouichi's cheeks. "I-Izumi…"
"Izumi, girl, let up." Junpei muttered, annoyed and embarrassed at the same time. "Give the guy some air."
"I'm sorry." Izumi released, straightening again. "I know you're not the touchy-feely type…But we were all so worried about you!"
"Yeah…" Tomoki sighed, smiling a bit. "We thought you were gonna be expelled! Kouji's gonna be so glad…"
"Speaking of which…" Kouichi glanced around. "Where is my brother? And Takuya?"
The other three grinned slightly, glancing at each other sheepishly. Junpei rubbed his head slightly, looking more than a little awkward. Kouichi glanced between them. "What?"
"They're in…Detention." Tomoki grinned.
"Detention?!" Kouichi's eyes widened. "For what?"
"Well…" Izumi laughed a bit. "Right after the Professors came and got you, there were a lot of rumors flying around. You know, crazy stuff, like you were going to be expelled or arrested. And a couple of fifth years…a few Gryffindors and a Ravenclaw… Starting laughing about the whole thing. And, well…"
"Kouji snapped." Junpei finished up. "The guy was walking on eggshells in the first place…Knocked the first guy into a wall, then got into a fistfight with one of his buddies. And you know how Takuya is, jumped right on in after him."
"Flitwick and Sprout broke them up eventually." Izumi finished. "All six of them…Kouji, Takuya and the fifth-years…wound up with early-morning detention for a week."
Kouichi gave them a look which clearly read 'you're kidding, right?' The others grinned slightly, before splitting up and returning to their separate tables.
When Defense Against the Dark Arts started on Tuesday, Tonks seamed strangely serious. She shifted nervously at her desk, directing the class quickly to their separate tables but giving no other instructions. For about five minutes, the class whispered amongst themselves anxiously, then the young Professor stood and silenced them.
"Well folks, there…seams to have been some problems lately…" she glanced at Kouichi meaningfully. "…which I hope I can help with."
She sighed once, pointing her wand at the chalkboard. It seamed to flip over, into the wall, to reveal an odd symbol drawn in chalk. It was a circle, separated into two relative by a curved line. One side was colored white, with a blank black circle in the edge of the curve, and the other was black with a white circle.
"Anybody know what this symbol means?"
The transfers remained quiet. Hermione raised her hand, and responded when she as called on. "It's called…Um…I think it's Tai-chi, or Yin-Yang…I think it's supposed to symbolize light and darkness."
"Close, very close." Tonks sighed. "Five points to Gryffindor…Yes, this is symbol is known as Tai-chi in some parts of the world, and light and darkness do play a part in it, but that's not the whole story…"
She turned to face the class, thinking a moment. "Can anyone tell me the precise definitions of Yin and Yang?" she glanced around. No one raise their hand. "Come on now, anyone? Transfers, I know it's not your native tongue, but you should at least know it from the Kanji." Still nothing. "No? Well, all right then…"
She picked up a book from her desk and tapped a page with her wand. The book shook and rumble until the page ripped itself out (Harry could almost hear Hermione crying for it) and enlarged itself so that it was the size of a slide-show display.
It contained a hand-drawn version of the same symbol, as well as the star-shaped diagram Tonks had used in the first class, and an odd circle of twelve animals, including a rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.
Tonks summoned over a long, thin stick with her wand and point at the first diagram. "Yin and Yang are most accurately translated as 'shadowed' and 'sunny'." she began, and once again Harry was a bit surprised at how serious she was. "The white is the sun, and, naturally, the black is the shadow. Nowadays, the terms will mean all sorts of things…as long as they are opposites.
"Yang is Light, Life, Day, Active, Masculine and Heat. Yin is all of Yang's opposites…Darkness, Death, Night, Passive, Feminine and Cold." Tonks sighed. "Neither is good, and neither is evil. They are simply…opposite. Separate, but equal. But, at the same time, there is always a little Yin in Yang…and a bit of Yang in Yin, which is represented by these circles."
She tapped the circles with her pointer. Hermione scribbled down some more notes, nodding in understanding, but she and the transfers were the only ones. Everyone else looked immensely confused.
"The details are long and complicated, it takes years to understand them correctly." Tonks sighed. "As it stands in the West, only scholars and theologians really understand the principal. However, in Japan and China, where the philosophy originated, it is taught in almost every Buddhist-based shrines, and most Shinto ones as well.
"These factors of Yin and Yang also have a principal in Maho-Kiso." Tonks was quiet a moment, then sighed again. "And that, I believe, is the root of our problem."
There was another moment of silence as she contemplated what to say next. "…Does anyone know the Muggle Principal of positive and negative charges?"
Muggle-Born wizards nodded, while the Wizard-Borns looks profoundly confused. A few people raised their hands, but Tonks didn't call on anyone.
"There is a principal of Muggle science that says electricity can hold either a positive or a negative charge." Tonks said quietly. "The same idea goes for atomic charge, which alchemists learn, and, in a way, to magic."
A slight smile crept across her face. "But, for those of you who aren't taking Magical Theory this year, this might need a bit more explanation."
Tonks spun on her heels, flicking her wand towards the paper display. It shrank back to normal size and re-inserted itself into the book, as though it had never left. It was replaced by a fuzzy projection that reminded Harry of the holograms in some science fiction show he'd seen Dudley watching. It showed the outline of a human body, with a sort of stream running through it, like diagrams of how your blood flows in medical textbooks.
Tonks dimmed the lights and turned out to the class, gazing up at the slightly glowing projection. "Magic is simply a redistribution of a charge that flows through the human body. Those who have a certain level of this charge, and the capacity to harness it, are known as Wizards. Those who don't or can't are Muggles, or Squibs."
"When you use spells, it works the same way as Muggle electricity…It flows from your body into a conductor, or your wand core, and is reformed into a new kind of energy, in the form of a spell.
"Now this energy also works under the same principal as the Muggle forms of energy…There can be positive and negative flows. Spells work very much on this principal, as some, such as Lumos and Expelliarmus, have a positive charge, while others…more difficult ones, to we in the west, such as Reducio and Impervious…hold a negative charge. The wand motions, incantations, and level of magic put in to the conductor will determine how the spells turns out.
"The magic energies within wizards also holds a charge." Tonks seamed quite serious now, turning out to the class. "Some people have more positive charge flowing through them, and are called Yang in Maho-Kiso. Others have a negative charge and are labeled Yin. It is not impossible to use a spell with the opposite charge of your own magic, but it is more difficult."
This seams to have been the point of her lecture, because dissipated all her examples, restored the lights, and moved to the very middle of the room so everyone could see her.
"I must tell you that Yin wizards and Dark wizards, are not…and I repeat, they are not…the same thing. Yin wizards are those who have more skill and control over negatively-charged spells. Dark wizards are those who use spells…Yin or Yang…with the intent of gaining power or harming others. It's a matter of morals and intents, not of spells and likeness. And please note that two of the three Unforgivable Curses are of the Yang variety."
The class was in a hush now. Those who understood were in awe of the philosophy behind it all, and those who did not understand were just plain shocked dumb.
Tonks began walking around the room slowly, not really looking at anyone. "Yin wizards are very rare in this part of the world. It's mostly because of our group teachings, those who are Yin at birth are eventually trained so well to work in Yang magics that there is no longer any difference. However, places such as Japan and China separate the two trainings, each honing their own skills and working specifically on their weaknesses. As such, their correlation of Yin-to-Yang is about…oh, 1-to-3."
For a moment, she was quiet again. Then she spoke with a determined voice. "Yin wizards are no different for Yang wizards. There's probably at least five or six of you in class today who would've been trained as a Yin if you'd been born in Japan. But there are miscommunications. You hear something you don't understand…" she glanced at Lavender, who slipped a bit lower in her chair, "…and a rumor is started. Rumors get out of hand. People get hurt. None of it is right. I hope all of you can understand that."
There was silence. Then she sighed, and turned to smile at the group. "All right then. If you will all please begin practice on the spells assigned to you yesterday, we'll get right back on track. Wands out, and get moving!"
TBC…
Wow. It worked. Snape can be nice AND in character at the same time! Yea! Mama was right! (don't ask) Jeez, but the second half was one long explanation…Sorry! Main plot resumes in next chapter! And I do hope it wasn't too confusing…
Yin, Yang and all forces attributed (save the name) to Maho-Kiso are CHINESE, not Japanese. Japan is, compared to China, a relatively new Asian nation. It just seams more plausible for most magical theory to have developed there, seeing as Buddhism was incorporated and taught alongside the Japanese Shinto. (Again, don't ask…That's the anthropologist talking)
Oh, and for the person who did ask: Kouji is fire, but his specialty, if you notice, is spells that produce energy and light, not attacks like Harry and Takuya. One of the big things about the Fire elemental is that it and wood are the most versatile.
