thanks to little oro for my first review

Thoughts

'Not translated dialogue '

"Translated dialogue"

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin or Harry Potter.

Chapter 2

' "Oro?" ' Hiko repeated with a raised eyebrow. 'Is that even a word?'

Ignoring his master's comment, Kenshin recovered slightly from his undignified jump of fright. 'Why are you here, Mr. Owl?' he asked the owl politely.

Hiko started slapping his forehead repeatedly in his apprentice's apparent denseness. 'Do you not see the big yellowish letter tied to his leg?' He asked exasperatedly.

Looking closely, Kenshin saw that there was indeed a letter tied to the owl's outstretched leg which he somehow had missed. The owl hooted with an annoyance that was much too intelligent for Kenshin's mental image of an owl. What's a letter doing on an owl's leg? Kenshin asked himself while reaching down and untying the letter. He saw from the green ink that the letter was clearly meant for him:

Mr. K. Himura

The Cot in the Corner

Shack-in-the-Mountains

Outskirts of Kyoto

Japan

"Oro?" Kenshin asked softly. From the way his name was written, it was clearly from someone in the western countries, not an eastern resident using English. But who would want to write to me. Who would even know that I'm alive after what happened 5 years ago?

Flashback

A 6-year-old boy was riding in the backseat of a van that had just pulled out of a store's parking lot. Out of all of the orphans in the van, he was without doubt the youngest one there.

"Hey Shinta-chan!" called a young teenage girl from the front. "How do you like your first trip with us to the store so far?"

"Very much, Mai-dono," replied a very nervous Shinta, looking away from the trees bordering the empty road they were on speeding by.

"You don't have to be so nervous here, Shinta-chan," a smiling girl a little bit older than the one up front said to him. "You've known us for 2 years already."

"O-Okay Akina-san," Shinta replied, still as nervous as before.

Akina sighed. "Shinta, you're still too…"

Suddenly, the van screeched to a halt, causing all of the orphans to jerk forward, restrained only by their seat belts.

"What's going on!" one of the older boys asked. Getting up, he walked hunched over to the driver's seat. "Why did…" the words died on his lips when he looked up at the windshield.

Getting on the tips of his toes while standing on the seat, Shinta looked over the heads of suddenly terrified orphans. When he saw what was outside too, his eyes widened. A few feet in front of the van stood at least a dozen ragged men. What's worse was that each man had a small handgun pointed at the van. The guns were old models, but Shinta was sure that each and every one of them could kill a person just as well as the new ones could.

"Get out!" the man closest to them shouted. He was obviously the leader of the gang of modern bandits. "Get out of the van!"

Shinta saw the van driver, a middle-aged woman named Anda-dono, nod slowly with her hands up, opened the door, and get out of the car.

"Everyone!" yelled the brigand hysterically.

Anda-dono paused for a moment and then turned back at the van and told all the orphans to go out side and not panic.

Shinta was the last one out the side door so he was in the back and safest from the criminals.

"Now," the man said in an impatient voice. "We want everything that's worth anything."

Cautiously, Anda-dono said, "But sir, we are from an orphanage. We don't have anything that could…"

Finding this answer unsatisfactory, the man pulled the trigger. At hearing the unexpected bang, everyone jumped and many of the orphans, not including Shinta, screamed. By that time, everything seemed surreal to him. He could not believe what was happening. People don't just come out of nowhere and shoot Miss Anda, he thought. He then realized that the man who shot Anda-dono was talking again.

"…the oldest?" Kenshin heard him say hurriedly.

One of the boys answered, "I am."

"Okay, if we don't get anything in the next 30 seconds than all of you die," the man who shot Anda-dono declared.

All the orphans looked around in the hope of finding something.

"W-Would you like some gr-groceries?" Mai-dono asked fearfully.

"No," he replied harshly. "We need something worth a lot of money."

"I'm sorry sir, but we just don't have anything valuable," the oldest boy said, flinching as all of the guns were raised at him.

"Wrong answer," the bandit said. And then, gunshots were everywhere. The people that Shinta had known ever since he became an orphan died all around him. He saw one of the guns raised at him. Shinta did not move. He was frozen with fright. He knew he would die, but he could not move. However, though Shinta didn't move, someone moved for him. Mai saw what was about to happen to small, innocent Shinta and had to do everything she could to stop it. She threw herself in front of Shinta just in time to take the bullets meant for him.

"Shinta, you have to live," Mai gasped. "D-Don't give up." And with those words and one final smile, Mai fell still. Shinta's eyes widened. Mai couldn't die. She was Mai. She was supposed to always be there, teasing him, smiling at him. She couldn't die.

"No!" someone cried out. And then, Akina was the one in front of him. "Shinta, run," Akina said softly. And just like Mai, Akina fell to the ground, never to get up again. He couldn't believe it. How had this happened? This was his first trip to the store. Bad things couldn't happen today. Today was an exciting day. When had it become like this? How had it changed so much?

Looking around, Shinta saw he was one of the only three left alive. BANG! He was one of the only two left alive. BANG! He was the only one left alive. Shinta closed his eyes.

"AAAHH!"

Shinta's eyes snapped open to the cry of pain. There, in the middle of the bandits was a newcomer. He was huge, easily twice as tall as Shinta. He was holding a sword. And then he was gone, only to reappear five feet away cutting through another bandit with his katana. This went on for 10 seconds at most. The bandits were helpless. They couldn't get a clear shot at the swordsman. Soon they were all dead.

"You were lucky, boy," the swordsman told Shinta. "I've avenged you're family's death for you." Shinta was still too numb from the shock to reply. Hiko sighed. "There is a small village over there," Hiko pointed toward the trees to Kenshin's left. "Just walk straight that way and tell them that I sent you there. They will give you shelter and food." Hiko turned and departed the way he pointed.

Shinta didn't move for what seemed like hours. And then, as if the sunset was some kind of signal, Shinta started to work. He worked long and hard. He needed to give each of the bodies a proper burial in the forest. The road floor was much too hard to penetrate. Bodies were just bodies; corpses were just corpses.

He had no crosses so he had to make some himself. Using his hands, Kenshin broke some fallen branches into small sticks, and found string in the van to tie them together. He worked through the night. It seemed that he had no other purpose than to bury the bodies. And then he came upon Mai's and Akina's bodies. He knew that they deserve something better than just a shabby homemade cross. He put extra effort into making their crosses and then tried to find flowers. He searched from dawn until noon and could find nothing better than a pair of dandelions. Having nothing else, he had to settle for that.

Once Shinta was done, he had no idea what else to do. He just stood there for an hour, looking at the graves. And then, when he was looking at the sunset, he heard a gasp behind him. Looking back, he saw the swordsman from before standing there with a bottle of sake.

"You made graves for both your family and the bandits?" he asked in admiration, walking up beside Kenshin.

"They were not my true family. The true family dies over 2 years ago. They were my family at the orphanage. And no matter if they are bandits or family, when there is no life in it, a corpse is just a corpse," Kenshin told him.

"And who are these?"

Kenshin looked at what he was pointing at. "They were Mai and Akina. They sacrificed themselves so I may live. I wanted to give them something special, but all I could do was give them better made crosses and a few dandelions."

Hiko poured his sake over the graves. "It is a shame to not know good sake. I am giving what I can."

"Thank…you," Shinta said in a surprised voice.

Hiko grunted acknowledgement of the thanks. After a moment of silence, Hiko said, "I'm Hiko Seijuro, one of the few remaining swordsman of this age; what's your name?"

"Shinta"

"Shinta?" Hiko repeated. "That's much too soft for sword arts. From now on, your name will be Kenshin."

"Ken…Shin."

End flashback

I thought they listed everyone on that van as dead. It was in the newspaper Master brought home the next day- the only newspaper Master has ever brought home.

"But… Master," Kenshin began, unconsciously switching to English, while still staring at the letter. "I thought the government listed me as dead."

"The Japanese government." Hiko replied. "There was another government that had… more accurate ways to gather information."

"But which government, Master?"

"Read for yourself, idiot apprentice," Hiko answered. "It's how I found out."

"Oro?" Kenshin said confused. When Hiko did not explain, he decided he would just have to read the letter. Kenshin turned the envelope over and found a purple wax seal with a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large 'H'. With a strange feeling - as if his next action would change his whole life- Kenshin broke the seal. Pulling out one of the three letters, he started to read.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL

of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Orde of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,

Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Mr. Himura,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

Kenshin looked up at his master. "This is a cruel trick, Master," he said.

"Eh?" was the only reply.

"Though trying to get poor, neglected victim to think he will finally be rid of the arrogant, horrible slave driver and then ripping that hope away is rather cliché, is it not?" Kenshin said in a disappointed tone.

"Once again, my idiot apprentice shows how he earned his nickname," Hiko sighed, shaking his head. "This, Kenshin," Hiko said dramatically, "is no trick."

silence

"You really expect me to believe that?"

"Yes, I do."

"And you call me the idiot?" Kenshin remarked incredulously.

"Well I can't be expected to call myself an idiot," Hiko said irritably. "And as anyone would tell you, I am most definitely not an idiot," he added haughtily.

So arrogant, Kenshin thought shaking his head.

"And anyway," Hiko said. "How do you explain the disappearing pottery?"

"You threw it away yourself, just to trick me," Kenshin realized almost instantly. "And since when has magic been real?" Kenshin asked, realizing that he had, for a moment, actually believed that magic existed.

"That's just the point," Hiko explained. "Don't you think that if I was going to trick you, I would have conceived a much better and more plausible plan with my intellect?"

"Reverse psychology won't work on me," Kenshin said. "Don't think I've forgotten last year when you got me drunk."

"Well, if you had just told me why you were spending more and more time in buying my sake, I wouldn't have been forced to take such drastic measures as to waste my sake on you," Hiko replied to an outraged shout of "I was underage!". "And while we're on that subject, exactly when will I be meeting this girl, Akane?" Hiko added.

"Master!" Kenshin shouted, now totally oblivious to the letter he was still holding. "We were just talking!"

"From the way you were talking (and after drinking only one bottle, you really need to learn how to handle your sake), I could guess that you would have wanted to do something other than talking to her," Hiko said smugly. "Something that starts with a 'K' and rhymes with 'pi…"

"Master!" Kenshin yelled again, now sounding thoroughly offended. "We are getting away from the subject!"

"Don't worry about it idiot apprentice," Hiko said sympathetically. "Though I have never been in your plight, I understand that you are not alone in being a boy who has experienced their first love rejecting him."

"I would never, ever think about being so forward with a girl I barely even knew!" Kenshin desperately tried to convince Hiko. "Whatever I said back then must have completely been the sake talking."

'Whatever, we're off the subject now, idiot apprentice."

Didn't I just say that? Kenshin tried to remember.

'And from now on, you will be using English only with no exceptions.'

'Oops,' Kenshin bashfully remarked, just realizing he had been using Japanese.

'Good,' Hiko said. 'Now, you will have to send back your reply; the owl is getting impatient and seeing as he's the only one we have, we better send the reply back with him.'

'You still think you can trick me?'

'No, because this is not a trick,' an annoyed Hiko said. 'If you need proof, send your reply back saying that you accept, and then come with me to get your supplies.'

'Supplies?' Kenshin asked. The concept of needing supplies had escaped Kenshin so far. 'Where are we going to get supplies?'

'Good, you're finally believing me,' Hiko smirked at Kenshin. 'And to answer your question, we will get them somewhere in London, where we will meet a guide because apparently, I cannot see where we will be going,' Hiko said the last part with a small scowl, as if the idea of him not being able to see irritated him.

'Did you go to this school,' Kenshin asked suspiciously, still skeptical on the idea that there was a school of magic.

'No. It seems I am something called a 'muggle' because I am unable to do magic tricks,' Hiko replied once again with a small scowl.

'Then how do you know all this?' Kenshin probed, looking for a weakness in his master's story.

'You never give up do you,' Hiko said. 'Well, I also received a letter, though it was quite a while ago. Right now, I'll keep the summary brief. In short, it said I had adopted a magical child and since all the magic schools in our vicinity require a child to begin being taught within a year of his or her birth, Albus Dumbledore would allow you to attend his school.'

'Alb…?' Kenshin began to ask.

'The headmaster of Hogwarts, pay more attention to your letters,' Hiko answered before the question was even completed.

'Oh, yeah,' Kenshin said, embarrassed by his own ignorance. 'Wait, you said this school was somewhere in London?' Kenshin questioned, something beginning to dawn upon him.

'Actually, I don't know exactly where it is, but we get there from London, yes.'

'Then exactly how are we supposed to get there?' Kenshin asked, bringing up a good point.

'Well, if we start now, we could probably sprint there in less than four months,' Hiko said smirking.

'Wha…?' Kenshin spluttered. We're going there by foot?

'Relax, idiot apprentice, I'm just joking,' Hiko said, laughing. Kenshin looked a mixture of relieved at not going on foot and outraged at being tricked again. 'No, we're taking something called a "Portkey" in July, plenty of time to start some special training, eh?'

'What do you mean by some "Special Trai…" OW!' Kenshin was interrupted by a pain in his shin. Looking down, it seemed that the Hogwarts owl had finally lost his patience and started pecking Kenshin's leg. 'Ok, Ok, I'll reply right now!' Kenshin yelled. 'Just please stop pecking me!'

Finding this a good answer, the owl stopped so Kenshin could write the reply. Sighing, Kenshin bent down to tie the note, which said that he did accept, onto the owl and said, 'Sorry Mr. Owl, it's just that this is such a big shock to me.' The owl gave Kenshin what looked like an understanding nod and then flew away into the sunset.

'Like I said, training begins tomorrow,' Hiko, who had been very amused while watching the scene, said. Turning away to go back inside the shack he added 'Get some sleep, it's getting late.'

Kenshin obediently replied, 'Yes, Master.' Following Hiko, Kenshin went inside. He was still full of questions, but for now, he was convinced of three things: that there was magic in the world, that there was a school that taught people about magic, and that he was going to go to that school.

In the next chapter, we skip ahead a few months and see what Kenshin was learning from Hiko in some "special training".

a little note about chan, san, and dono

Titles can't really be translated from japanese to english accurately so i just left them as they are without trying.

-chan is a term people use to affectionately address girls or small children,

-san is a term people use to politely address others; children are almost never addressed as -san, also, enemies also can be and should be addressed as -san

-dono is a more polite version of -san. i'm not completely sure if you can address a man as -dono even though i'm pretty sure you can