It's baaaaack...
Consider this my (slightly belated) New Years' present to you all.
WARNINGS: picking at JKR's plotholes, Dumbledore bastardization, OCs (who are NOT going to defeat Voldemort and/or take Harry under their wing, I promise you!), Druidry/Paganism/Wicca, SLASH (not between canon characters). If any of the above offend you, please feel free to click the 'Back' button and try something else.
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Akasha Hall was huge to an adult, but to a child, it went on forever, a neverending labyrinth of rooms and corridors, garrets, stairways both straight and spiraling, secret passages and gardens, towers, and walkways open and covered.
The Library was only part of it, the part that contained all of the physical records of the Universe, but it was the only part that the legends really talked about. The Gardens were never really mentioned. The people who lived there lived wherever there was space, in the places where nothing needed to be put, and nothing dangerous was likely to escape from the Library and eat something important while you were sleeping. The Creatures were species extinct to the world outside the Island, and where they lived depended on how dangerous they were. If they were dangerous enough that the various inhabitants of the Hall who were considered mature enough to live in their own rooms outside the protective wards of the Children's Wing could not sleep soundly, then they were locked into a cell in the Library. Otherwise, they were allowed to roam the Gardens, provided they did not eat any of the other inhabitants.
Akasha Hall was located on an invisible, flying island that floated in the air according to the whims of the current Record Keepers. No one off the island could see it unless the Keepers wanted them to. If necessary, they could set the island down and make it part of the physical world for a while, as they had several weeks ago at this point.
And damn, but I wish we could've kept flying... Tsunade, current Head of the Keepers' Council, was grumpy. Traditionally, only the Keepers, assistant gardeners, assistant librarians, and the guards stayed at the Hall full-time. Everyone else was in a state of rotation to various degrees; they spent a fair amount of their time either traveling or on an active assignment, and if it was long-term, they only came back every once in a while to train.
Even though their work as the information-gatherers-and-keepers of Life was both delicate and complicated, and frequently dangerous, they were often given special missions by the Powers-That-Be, with the basic excuses that they would be watching whatever situation, anyway, and that their duties required them to form, and maintain, excellent contacts and better skills.
The current onus was the situation in the wizards' world. That meant England, and bigots, and lots of spies getting claustrophobia, and weak, awful magic that stuck out like six sore thumbs on the same hand, magic that could only be done with a wand, for the Gods' sake! They had always avoided the wizards' world, which was mainly in England and Europe, but it was a lot easier to ignore in mainland Europe. They hated England. The very air there tasted metallic and heavy, making your tongue feel like it was coated with something foul.
But there was absolutely no help for it. They already had spies in various levels of the Ministry, the Order of the Phoenix, the Death Eaters, in the newspapers, in Diagon alley, in Knockturn alley, and in many other vital places. There was only one more place necessary to infiltrate.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This assignment would, by far, be the worst; the awful pulling of the wizards' magic would be strongest there. Wizards' magic was far too highly ordered to mix easily with the powerful, wild magic that ran in the blood of everyone at the Hall. The wands themselves would become malicious, looking for the chance to do ill.
Tsunade had thought long and hard about who would get this assignment, and had eventually decided on three of her very best students and one of the Council. Seiji Date, and the twins, Ryo and Rhianna Amamiya would be posing as transfer students. She had fudged their ages to get them into the same year as Voldemort's main target, saying sixteen, rather then Seiji's seventeen and the twins' fifteen. Genkai would be this year's Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Silently, Tsunade thanked the gods that one of the posts was open, she could get an extremely capable adult in there this way, and the children could continue their training. The headmaster, Dumbledore, and at least one of the other teachers had mental powers, but all of the Akasha were very skilled, and the false students should be able to convince the old man not to separate them without too much trouble. Between the four of them, they were equipped to deal with any trouble that came their way.
In theory, everything was perfect. This was at least half the reason for her bad mood, shared by the rest of the Council, and in fact everyone in the mess hall. It was always when things seemed easiest that everything went to Hell in a handbasket quickest. Two large owls suddenly flew in through one of the many open windows and landed at Tsunade's and Genkai's plates, bearing large, bulky letters. Tsunade, upon opening hers, discovered three smaller letters, which she put aside.
Dear Mrs. Mabinogi,
I am terribly sorry for your loss and the losses of your grandchildren. Your daughter and son-in-law were wonderful people, and I remember them most fondly from the first war against Voldemort.
The children may, of course, come and attend school at Hogwarts, and we will try our hardest to meet any special needs that they have. Term starts September 2, and the Hogwarts Express leaves on September 1.
You have provided me with your grandchildren's' transcripts, and while all three achieved impressive marks in high-level classes, they must become accustomed to the school and the teachers. Therefore, I advise that they come with the teachers returning from summer, about two weeks before the students do. The train will leave on August 17 from platform 9 and 3/4 at eleven o'clock in the morning.
Good luck to you, and to them, and may you have a good year.
Albus Dumbledore
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Headmaster
Tsunade called up her chosen three and distributed the letters. "You're in."
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Well, there's the first of it. Tell me what you think!