I apologize for taking so long…Driver's Ed + Writer's Block Eternal Frustration. (Aiie…It's been almost a month. Gomen ne! Gomen gomen! Please forgive me!)
As a note…there will be NO YAOI IN THIS FIC! (shudders at the suggested idea of Draco and Kouichi as a couple) I don't have anything against Yaoi. Actually, I rather enjoy it sometimes. But not with Harry Potter characters. And not with Harry Potter AND Digimon Frontier characters. (Besides, I'm already pushing Draco to the edge of OOC by showing his humane side…) No thank you.
Oh, and to those guessing who Kouji and Takuya's voices were, let me put it this way: There are only two Digimon who got really close to killing them. And did Duskmon ever actually 'laugh', besides at Mercurimon?
And the reason the twins aren't using their 'connection' is simple: It expends a lot of energy and Kouji doesn't want his brother passing out again. They'll use it again by the end of the story, worry not.
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or Harry Potter. I'm just really strange.
Chapter 27: A Western Christmas…
It was almost midnight that late November evening when Kouji touched down on the boarder of the Forbidden Forest. The moon was full above him, illuminating the dark school grounds ever so slightly.
He jumped nimbly off Izumi's broom, slipping it under a bush to retrieve it later. It'd taken quite a bit of rather degrading favor-begging, but a broom was the only way he could get down here and back to the common room without being caught, and the Inazuma 300 was twice as silent as any of the Western-style brooms.
Glancing quickly at Hagrid's hut, to make sure he wasn't being watched, he slipped into the trees. He was looking for the most private place he could, away from anyone's gaze…He needed to do a bit of a test.
He came to a small clearing…it would have to do.
Pausing a moment, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his D-Tector, which Kouichi had slipped to him during breakfast that morning. Directly following, his brother wandered aimlessly back to the Slytherin commons and was suspected to have slept through lunch and all the way up to dinner, when Malfoy finally drug him down.
Obviously, as long as he was bringing the Digivices through the connection, Kouichi was going to be far too tired to try Digivolving himself. And, seeing as it would be another three weeks before he got the strength to bring another one, this was the best time for them to try…just in case.
Kouji flipped the D-Tector into his hand, catching it the right way up. He pressed the side button, turning on the scanner, and closed his eyes…
"Execute, Spirit Evolution!"
( - ) ( - ) ( - )
Harry couldn't sleep.
This happened sometimes, much to his annoyance. If his maps in Astronomy were correct, it was mostly when the moon was on it's 22nd day, that is, the day right after the last quarter. Professor Trelawney would say, of course, that it was on a 22nd day that he had his first great tragedy or some rubbish of the sort. Hermione said he was just a bit more sensitive to that degree of moonlight and that this kind of thing happened to all sorts of wizards.
Whatever the reason, he was now sitting up in the window of the 6th-year boy's dorms, looking over the grounds and up at the less-than-quarter moon. He listened to the breathing around him, counting the sound of six boys fast asleep.
No, wait…only five. Kouji hadn't come up from the common room yet, leaving his bed empty. Harry checked his watch. It was past midnight, he wondered if the transfer had fallen asleep…
A sudden flash out the window drew his attention. He snapped his head around, just in time to see a sudden pocket of light explode from the Forbidden Forest, just at the edge, bright at pure white.
Harry squinted towards it, seeing as it illuminated half the grounds. For a moment, he though he saw the figure of a silvery-white wolf amongst the glow, and then…
It disappeared.
Harry blinked and rubbed his eyes, trying to get rid of the colored dots that fluttered before them. The light had vanished, as quickly as though someone had flipped a switch in a muggle home. But where did it come from?
The trees near that location rustled a bit, drawing his attention. A dark figure stepped out, glanced around with a tense posture, then reached down and pulled a broom from under a bush. They mounted it and kicked off, headed straight for the Common Room, six stories below him.
They hit the light just before entering the open window, and Harry's quick eyes (and the long, black ponytail as it whipped in behind him) identified it as one person: Kouji.
Two thoughts sprung instantly into Harry's mind. The first was, "Why didn't I think of that?"
And the second, "What the bloody hell was he doing!"
He heard the door start to open seconds before it did and dove into his own bed on instinct. He heard Kouji enter the room, yawn, change his clothes, yawn again, and finally collapse into bed. The transfer sounded…tired.
Harry rolled over, staring at the ceiling and thinking.
The light, and that shape he'd seen…it looked like a Patronus. Had Kouji been practicing the Patronus charm? It seamed plausible, they were studying the basics of the charm in Defense, and if anyone suited the 'Lone Wolf' persona, it was Kouji. But why out in the forest? And would it really make that much light if he was just practicing? The only time his had ever made such a glow was when he and Sirius…
He was so busy thinking that he hadn't realized he'd fallen asleep until the alarm went off the next morning.
( - ) ( - ) ( - )
The days seamed to go by rather quickly. Before anyone quite grasped it, it was time for the Christmas holidays. As usual, Harry remained, as did Hermione, Ron, and Ginny, whose parents apparently had other plans that they'd rather not participate in. Malfoy stayed too, but Harry, thankfully, saw very little of him. The transfers were remaining as well, seeing as jetlag was not the greatest gift.
The first week of the hols went by quickly, almost too quickly.
There was a blizzard about halfway through the week, covering everything in about two feet of fresh white snow that stayed through a full moon Christmas Eve. Hagrid dragged in the usual Christmas decorations of festive pine trees, as Professor Flitwick entertained himself by charming the portrait frames to flash different Yuletide colors.
As for Christmas morning…
"Harry! Oy! Hey, Harry, wake up!"
Harry burst awake at the insistent call. For a moment he blinked at the blurred red shape in front of him, then he found his glasses. The shape reveled itself to be Ron's red, freckly face, grinning at him from ear to ear.
"Happy Christmas, Harry!" he shouted brightly.
Harry blinked at him, then grinned slightly. "Happy Christmas, Ron." he yawned. "What time is it?"
"Seven." Ron sparked brightly, leaping across to Takuya and Kouji's beds and hitting both of their curtains at the same time. "Far too late if you ask me! Happy Christmas, you two!"
Takuya's head popped sleepily out of the red curtains, followed by Kouji's from the other bed. "…What are you going on about, Weasley?"
"Happy Christmas!" Ron repeated, bounding over to his own bed.
"And this is important…why?" Kouji mumbled, yawning.
Ron looked at him as though he'd grown a second head. "Well, look!" he exclaimed, holding up one of the packages that had appeared at the foot of his bunk.
Takuya blinked, then scrambled to look over his own stack of colorful gifts. "Woah!" he exclaimed. "Where'd those come from!"
"It's Christmas." Harry said with a shrug, selecting one of his own packages and starting on the paper.
Kouji, now sitting cross-legged at the foot of his bed, looked down at his pile emotionlessly. "It's a western tradition." he mumbled shortly, the shrugged himself. "I guess our folks must've sent the New Year's gifts early."
He picked up a smallish package from the top of the stack and started to open it, very carefully. After a moment Takuya dug in as well, not so carefully.
Harry looked up at them, opening a package from Lupin that seamed to be a new Defense Against the Dark Arts book. "You guys weren't expecting this?"
Kouji shrugged. "Why would we be? Japan's not Christian."
"Yeah." Takuya nodded, pulling the wrapper off a set of reinforced Quidditch Armor. (Harry assumed it was Eastern style, as it was thinner and ran further up the arms than his own did) "It's just another day back home. Christmas Eve's a date night."
"A what?"
"A date night." Takuya shrugged. "You know…take-your-girlfriend-out-for-a-night-on-the-town-or-she'll-never-forgive-you kind of thing."
He looked over at Kouji and burst out laughing. "Kouji, what is that?"
The dark-haired transfer glared, holding a very nice blue-and-white sweeter, with a snowflake pattern that seamed to change every time he moved it. "Mother makes all her gifts by hand. It's the only thing she can afford."
"Not that…" Takuya waved his hand nonchalantly, reaching over to Kouji's lap. "This."
He held up something in a bright, bulky plastic wrapping, colorful Japanese letters scattered across the bright packaging. The device inside seamed plastic as well, with a small screen and surrounded by a hard, colorful casing.
"Dad's present.." Kouji rolled his eyes. "You can have it, if you want."
"Nah. It's useless, anyway." Takuya tossed it onto Kouji's bed.
Ron retrieved it, examining the device strangely. "What the heck is this thing?"
"Some stupid video game." Kouji muttered, sampling some sort of sweet that had come with his mother's sweater. "It's the same kind of thing every year."
"A 'video game'?" Ron frowned. "Don't he know those don't work 'round here?"
"No." Kouji snapped simply, and turned bluntly away from him.
Ron turned confused eyes to Harry, who slashed the air as though to say, "Don't ask." The redhead shrugged and went back to plunging through his gifts.
Rather quickly, all four boys were surrounded by piles of colorful paper and bright ribbons. Books, candies, clothes and the other gifts were stacked amongst them, each having been assessed and counted by their respective new owners, who were scrambling to get dressed for the usual amazing Christmas lunch.…er, brunch.
Just as Harry and Ron had hurried down the stairs to the commons, a loud, animal-like sound rang through the room. The door bounced open as a large, silky black cat leapt into the room. A thick, red ribbon was tied around her neck and looped loosely around her front legs, holding a small, brown package between her shoulder blades. There was a small, parchment envelope clutched in her teeth, labeled in Kanji. Her green eyes were wide with intent excitement as she bounded across then room and leapt up onto Takuya's bed with a joyful purr.
"Wha…Yugure?" The brown-haired boy faltered, quickly pulling a t-shirt over his head and leaning down to look at the cat. Kouji, too, leaned over in curiosity as the cat presented her letter, looking quite pleased with herself.
Takuya took the letter, as it was addressed to him, opening it with a raised eyebrow. He scanned it over, reading some very plain, though familiar, hiragana script:
Takuya - Sorry it's late. Overslept. Merri Krismasu.
The brunet's eyebrow raised even further, glancing at Kouji before reaching over to pick up the brown package curiously. Yugure mewed happily, bounding over to sit in Kouji's lap as Takuya opened it.
A flash of black and red plastic told them instantly what it was. Takuya's grin widened slightly as the paper fell away, revealing his D-Tector and its glowing screen.
He looked up at Kouji with a slight smile. "Guess we better save him some lunch."
( - ) ( - ) ( - )
The kind remark was unnecessary, however, as Kouichi was there at the singular table that had been set for the few remaining students, wrapped warmly in a brand new red-and-green sweater that had a nice forest pattern on it. (Harry thought he saw small red animals running through the green trees) By the way he was yawning, it was a fair guess that Malfoy, next to him, had dragged him upstairs so he wouldn't miss the standard extravagance of Christmas 'brunch'. The few remaining students were already there, waiting impatiently, as Dumbledore wouldn't summon up the meal until everyone was there.
"Takuya!" Izumi waved him over to where the transfers…even Kouichi, though he was a bit apart, with Malfoy…were sitting. "Kouji, come on! You two are always running late!"
"Don't lump me in with him." Kouji muttered sliding into the bench next to his brother. Takuya took a place next to Izumi, while Harry and Ron were seated nearby…as far away from Malfoy as humanly possible.
Several girls, including Hermione, were gathered around Ginny in a giggling group. Ron frowned at them as he sat down. "Oi." he called. "What's with you lot?"
Some of the third-years glanced back at giggled at him. "Ginny's got a secret admirer!" one of them cooed.
"WHAT!" Ron exclaimed, going rigid.
"See for yourself." Hermione stated boldly, taking something from Ginny and holding it out to the boys. It was a smiling, brown teddy bear with shining, bright green eyes. There was a red ribbon around its neck with a heart-shaped card attached to it, an unfamiliar script reading:
With love…Tohi.
Ron went red in the face, which prompted Harry to slip an ice cube down his back to bring him back to his senses. "ACK! HARRY!"
Laughter rippled across the table as Ron shook the ice out of his shirt. Hermione continued to examine the card with scrutiny. "Hm… 'Tohi', huh?" she glanced at Izumi. "Does that mean anything in Japanese?"
"Well…" Izumi shrugged. "It's either to escape, or the choice between right or wrong…there's probably more, that's just off the top of my head."
"Lemme see." Takuya pulled the bear over and examined the tag. After a moment a mysterious grin cracked over his face, but it disappeared quickly as he handed it back. "Who knows. Whoever it is, he's pretty shy…"
No one noticed a certain boy's cheeks flush slightly pink as he hid behind a comic magazine.
With a small rush, the feast appeared and everyone dug in heartily.
Ron was now distracting himself by toying with the video game, having finally got it out of the plastic packaging as he ate. "Weird…" he mumbled through his food, turning the toy over and over in his hands. "Mind if I send it to my dad? He loves this kinda stuff…"
"Whatever." Kouji shrugged, taking a rather large bite of stewed mutton.
"Hey, Kimura." Ron swallowed his food and leaned over to look down the table. Kouichi glanced his way with quiet manners, ignoring Malfoy's foul look towards the redhead. "Did your dad send you somethin' weird like this?"
Harry choked slightly on the potatoes he'd been eating. Out of respect for the twin's privacy, he hadn't told anyone, including Ron, about their…parental…situation, so it wouldn't exactly be fair to kick him, but still…
Takuya, on the other hand, promptly kicked Ron in the shin, which was less than Izumi would have done had the redhead been within her reach.
Kouichi's eyes took on a quietly sad gaze. "No." he sighed with a rather pathetic pretending-not-to-care smile. "…He didn't send anything. Dad…Hates me."
Harry felt a wave of sympathy wash over him as Kouichi turned back to his lunch, trying to hide his depression, with a rather unsuccessful smile. Ron was frowning and looked about to ask something, but was easily silenced by Kouji's icy glare. Harry noticed his hand slip under the table to squeeze his brother's almost protectively.
Hermione reached over and grabbed Ron by the ear. "Next time, think before you speak." she hissed.
"How was I supposed to know?" the redhead groaned, pulling himself free and rubbing his sore ear.
Somehow, Professor Dumbledore seamed to realize it was getting a bit too tense at their end of the table, because he suddenly appeared with a large basket of wizarding crackers floating beside him. He smiled warmly at Harry, pulling out one of the crackers and offering him an end. "Christmas is not a time for sour memories."
A grin cracked across Harry's face. He grasped his end and pulled.
The cracker went off like a cannon, causing several 2nd-years and all of the transfers to jump a foot. From the smoke came half a dozen white mice and a large, curved, striped hat like something out of Doctor Seuss. Dumbledore grinned widely as he pushed it down over Harry's head, making him and the rest of the Gryffindors laugh.
With a wave of his wand, the Headmaster tossed the crackers over the table, and soon the hall was filled with enough gunshots and smoke to fake a war zone. Between the laughing, joking, and trading of wild prizes, the earlier tension was easily forgotten.
And when they fell into bed that night, everyone…even the Transfers, who had never before experienced a western Christmas, and Draco Malfoy, who almost never smiled period…wore the same content, happy and relaxed grin, slipping away to enjoy the rest of the winter holidays…
TBC…
Yes, I do believe that the moon has an effect on the human body. Myself, I am unable to sleep until late at night on the 5th day, and wake up especially early after the 24th.
Merri Krismasu - 'Merry Christmas', written in Katakana. Japanese pronunciation. I probably didn't spell it right. Oh well.
(evil grin) Thus begins the introduction of my special surprise couple! If you can guess it, you get a cyber-cookie!
