Card Captor Harry, Season One Chapter 8: Harry's Weird Date, a harry potter fanfic

A/N: I have belatedly realized how filler the last chap was, and am very thankful I didn't take that Unbreakable Oath. Hope this one is better...

Warning! Contains implications of alternative gender preferences. Those who find that disturbing, how the heck did you get this far! Last chap's kissing scene should have made you stop already. Do you even know what Card Captor Sakura is?

Also, some innuendoes and outright dirty matters. Closet pervert-y in action. Guess who. XD

It's amazing how fast one writes when there are no distractions… just don't get used to this…

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Card Captor Harry

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Card 8, The Illusion: Harry's Weird Date

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP. Both are used here without their owners' permission, which would probably be hard to get.

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It was an absolutely beautiful day at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, Snape was terrorizing a bunch of first-years, and did we mention it was Friday? Yes, Friday, that magical- so to speak- day of the week before the weekends, revered by all students, muggle and magic alike, for being the day they are liberated from the tyranny of education. Well, revered by all students but Hermione Granger, but she's a weirdo, so she doesn't count.

Fei Lee was looking forward to this weekend. Her 'future-brother-in-law' (she snickered internally when she thought of him like that) had finally sent her the hitae-ate and gloves in that morning's owl-post. To her surprise, he had sent her one from each Hidden Village, so she had a grand total of nine forehead protectors and pairs of gloves. They were all carefully hidden in box under her dorm bed, warded with enough ofuda and spells to blast any idiot looking to open it without the key-spell to the moon. She trusted her roommates less than she trusted her sister to keep her hands off her 'future-husband' (again, an internal snicker).

This weekend would be the first time she'd be able to play around with them. Just because she'd had to work hard all her life didn't mean she'd lost her sense of fun. Even her 'f-b-i-l' would cut loose and watch those shonen anime he liked, although the presence of her cousins usually made it difficult.

Leaving her last class of the day, ignoring the blonde-brat's lame come-ons, she mentally reviewed mentally reviewed the things she would say to Potter when she saw him. The annoying Card Captor had been topping her in creativity lately (according to the latest Ravenclaw betting odds statistics review), and she could not allow that to continue. Even as she went through her 'brat-evasion' subroutine, ditching the blonde and as many Slytherins as she could, she was also making creative word-combinations to use on Potter. She needed extra money, and the quickest way she could think of was putting money on herself in the Hufflepuff betting rings.

Ditching the last of her Housemates, she made her way towards the library. She was well up on her schoolwork, but a few extra notes would help, and adding more western spells to her repertoire was a good idea. Her 'f-b-i-l' had suggested it. But he'd also suggested her getting a boyfriend, which she had promptly bashed him for. Still, no point in ignoring an intelligent suggestion.

While her summer had been hell- learning two years worth of Hogwarts education in a month and a half had been no picnic- it had allowed her to catch up with her classmates. Still, she had been lacking in offensive and defensive spells, curses and hexes, so every week she went to the library to research two or three and learn them. Not only would it help getting annoying ferrets of her back- if the need arose; used properly, Malfoy would be a good pawn, provided he didn't assume too much: ICK!- but it would also be useful against any more Clow Cards she encountered. Statistically, Potter had the advantage on her. He had more of the Cards, more experience using and fighting them (at least, she assumed), and probably knew and was experienced at using more spells. Her single Card, while formidable, was of questionable use against later encounters, and after that little… incident (at this, Fei went red) during her experiment, she wasn't sure if she really wanted to use it. She preferred to keep her dignity, thank-you-very-much!

The library was mostly empty when she entered. This early in the year, not many people needed to do heavy-duty research. There were a few first-years looking something up, a solitary seventh-year perusing a book and a girl who she recognized as the one Potter liked to hang out with checking out enough material to stock a shelf. The girl froze when she saw her, but Fei ignored the Gryffindor as she made her way towards a set of shelves in the back. Grabbing a certain book, she flipped to the page she had left off...

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Negi trembled as he and Evangeline drew back from each other. Beneath their feet, the circle for the double Pactio still glowed.

Evangeline recovered first. "Well," the vampire magi panted, "haven't done that with a guy in a while."

"Maybe we shouldn't have waited for my sex-change curse to wear off?" Negi said half-jokingly. He was getting good at this.

"Nah," the blonde said. "Your card would have turned out funny."

Asuna rolled her eyes, shaking her head in amusement. "Let go of him, you lolita-S&M pervert!" she said in mock righteous indignation.

"Jealous?" the two chorused, to which Asuna replied with a...

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Harry paused at that. What could Asuna reply with? It was during these times when being a fan fic writer was so frustrating. It was a little hard getting a Negi/Eva/Asuna threesome to work without making anyone go too OOC, but it was doable. Seven chapters and 97 (at last count) reviews on fanfiction dot net said as much. Still, it got difficult sometimes. At least his Konoka/Setsuna thing was working out.

History of Magic was the best time for writing fanfics on the sly, and also the worst. The former because Binns was literally dead to the world, and wouldn't notice a little writing, and the latter because Binns' voice tended to slowly kill Harry's muse. Fortunately, Harry usually managed to squeeze a few paragraphs in.

Today, however, Harry just couldn't quite meet that not-so-lofty standard. Lee's little victory a few days ago still bugged him. He had thought that as long as she couldn't Seal the Cards like her Sealing Wand could, she didn't really matter as a threat. But if the Card would go to the one who beat it, no matter if he was the one who did the Sealing...

"Harry, pay attention!" Hermione hissed, temporarily snapping him out of his reverie. Mock pouting at Hermione, Harry went back to scribbling out the latest chapter of 'Mahora Hearts'. She left him alone when she thought he was taking notes. After deciding whether to add more Nodoka/Yue/Haruna threesome fluff or to get started on the Chachamaru/Mana mushy scene, he resumed scribbling.

Five sheets of paper (he didn't use parchment for this), a lemon scene, teeth-rotting amounts of sugary fluff, two more lesbians, and a switch to his SasuSakuIno, NaruHina, ShizuKabu, KakaKureAnko, TemaTen fic later, the day was done. Carefully packing away his papers, he joined the seething mass of humanity on its way to freedom- for the next fifty-or-so hours, anyway.

"Finally!" Ron said with a sigh, rubbing half-asleep gunk out of his eyes. "I think he's upped the bore-factor this week."

"It was worse then usual today," Harry agreed as he rubbed feeling back into his hand. Writer's cramp was murder. "I almost couldn't write."

Hermione sniffed. "Really, Harry, it's good you take notes, but must you write that... material you call fiction in class?"

Harry smirked. "Hey, I don't make cracks about your SasuNaru slash, Witch of Hermes. But at least mine has actual plot. No one goes yaoi just for a good lay, no matter what 'So Lonely' says, although it sounds like a Freudian cry for help."

As usual, Ron was lost. "Huh?"

"Muggle stuff, Ron," Harry said as he watched Hermione turn an interesting shade of pink. Him getting a rise out of Hermione was pretty rare, but such fun to watch. Ron's the one who gets the most rises out of her, but after that they usually don't talk for days.

"I'm getting back at you, Harry Potter!" Hermione growled out, still blushing, before she stomped off for the library.

"You realize you're in for a world of hurt," Ron said as they watched her stomp off.

"I'll live."

"Famous last words."

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Fei was walking down to dinner after her note-taking jaunt when she saw something that made her roll her eyes. Some idiot was walking down the hallway with their head down, obviously reading a thick sheaf of papers. Really, didn't they know they could get hurt doing that? She was very tempted to just let whoever it was walk into a wall or open door, but they were walking straight towards a staircase, with no sign they noticed it.

For a moment, she debated whether or not she should do anything. Slytherins weren't known for being helpful, but she really couldn't just stand there and let someone get hurt.

Conscience won over reputation, and she hurried over. "Stop," she said, grabbing the person's shoulder just as they were about to take a step into empty air.

The person blinked and looked down, noticing for the first time where she was. "Ugh. Again?" the person- a girl- said. "Thanks Har- um, have we met before?"

The minute the girl turned around, Fei went brain numb. Dark-brown eyes in a face framed by silver hair looked back at her.

"Oh, I don't think we've been introduced," the girl said, extending her hand. "I'm Winter Moon, from Ravenclaw."

Fei took it unconsciously, feeling a bit dazed. She could feel her face starting to flush as she made the required hand-shaking movement. "Lee. Lee Fe- uh, Fei Lee, from Slytherin. Call me Lee." She shut up before she started babbling.

Winter smiled cheerfully, and Fei felt her flush go up another notch. "Lee. You're the transfer, right? From Hong Kong?"

Fei nodded, her head threatening to bob up and down repeatedly before jerking to a halt. "Yes, that's me. From Hong Kong. Yup."

Winter switched smiles, to a serene one, although not one that was Mona Lisa-eque. "Thanks for stopping me, Lee. Most Slytherins would usually just laugh at me if they saw I was about to have an accident."

"I'm not like other Slytherins," Fei said before she could stop herself.

Winter laughed, a sound that reminded the Chinese girl of music and wind chimes, and choirs singing in praise. "No, you're not. Hey, you probably don't know too many people, right? Wanna be my friend? I could help you get around. It's the least I can do for you after you save my neck."

"Uh, sure?" Fei says, just getting back to terra-firma, but was quickly dislodged when, with another dazzling smile, Winter grabbed her hand in the one not full of papers and starts leading her to the Great Hall, saying if they didn't hurry all the good food will have been eaten already.

Fei followed numbly behind, once more out of it and now completely red. The word 'whoa' kept repeating itself in her head, and her last coherent thought was that her 'f-b-i-l's' other idea wasn't so bad after all, but it needed modifications.

Unknown to both, a thin line of blood began to flow from Fei's nose...

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Harry ate his usual half Dudley-sized helping off food as Hermione pointedly ignored him, sitting on Ron's other side as she ate, talking to Ginny. Dinner was as good as usual, but Harry wasn't blazing through it at his usual speed. Instead, his mind was preoccupied worrying what new Clow Card was going to crawl out of the woodwork next, and what other kinky things he could put in the SasuSakuInoTemaTen lemon scene. His fic wasn't called 'Icha Icha Paradise, Naruto Edition' for nothing.

He tried to ignore his physical reaction, but a voice that sounded like a cross between Jiraiya, Happosai, Ataru Moroboshi and, for some reason, Mitsune 'Kitsune' Konno and Itachi was whispering that maybe he should get some of the Clow Card girls together and have them 'help' him 'do' some 'research' on the subject, as they seem very willing...

Harry promptly stabbed himself with a fork to distract himself while he had the voice burned alive (it turned out to be a hentai cooty he picked up from Dudley). No way was he going down that road! He just wrote about the stuff!

Beside, did the Clow Cards even have someplace where he could stick his...

Getting rid of the other hentai cooty (he passed it to Hermione), Harry tried to bury himself in food. He'd think about his fics later. Much later. Still, 'Mahora Hearts' really needed more Eva/Asuna only scenes, just so it didn't look like they had only drunkenly screwed one another, although whether it should be in the vampire's 'kid' form or her 'mature' form...

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Fei numbly settled down in the Slytherin table, absently wiping the blood off her face with her sleeve. Somehow, she remembered promising to meet Winter in the library tomorrow afternoon. The rest had been a blur of blushing and unconscious nose-bleeding.

Idly, she wondered if this was how her sister felt. She didn't think she was in love, no, not that, but it must be something close. Was this what her cousin called a crush? In most instances, she trusted her cousin's opinions more than her sister's. Her twin could be a bit flaky most of the time, except when she was remarkably insightful. It had been her sister's idea to bug their cousin into getting a suitable wife, although the method was... unorthodox, to say the least.

"Something wrong, Lee?" Zabini asked her, looking mildly concerned.

"Nothing," Fei said tersely, a knee-jerk reaction. Now that she had been confronted, her attitude of aloofness and superiority- notable even by Slytherin standards- reasserted itself. She immediately regretted it, however. Zabini was... not exactly a friend, but they had a feeling of shared solidarity from being attacked by The Fight Card, although Blaise didn't know who had attacked him. When he reached for the peas, she silently handed it to him, a wordless apology for her tone, and he accepted, on both levels.

A lot of the real feelings in Slytherin were exchanged in silence, she had noticed. Malfoy was in truth very lonely, with his father being an obsessed blood purist who spends more time furthering 'The Cause' than with his son, and he sublimates this by lame come-ons in a pathetic but heart-wrenching attempt to find love. Crabbe and Goyle were the only real friends Malfoy had, and while not exactly brain trusts, even dumb animals are smart enough to know when someone's hurting. Pansy Parkinson was more of a sister than the clingy fan-girl/girlfriend she acted like. They'd been friends for years, and they stuck together because they didn't have anyone else. Most of the time, the four just sit around in the dark in their dormitory, wallowing in self-pity and waiting for Malfoy to put himself back together enough to make a public appearance. It was mainly for show, since most purebloods in Slytherin- meaning most Slytherins in general- have lots of issues, and silently support each other by sticking together, going with each others ideas and opinions, no matter how hare-brained, and basically silently being there for each other. All this silence, however, tended to confuse their public and private personas, so most anyone saw, including other Slytherins, was the brash, uncaring facade that the world knew. This sort of behavior creates a surface distrust that keeps people from being really close. Hence, the wards and spells on her stuff. It was not uncommon in the snake House.

Still, in a way, Slytherin was more of a family than the other Houses, a fact that Voldemort once exploited. If one became a Death Eater, most of the 'family' became Death Eaters. This family just didn't really trust each other as far as they could throw each other.

Fei had her own family, one where she was happy. In Slytherin, happy people are snapped up and asked to tell stories about their families so the others can get a sense of what it's like. She found it sad, a generation of young adults growing up like that. Their parents ought to know better.

Slytherin couldn't be ever be her family. There were too many masks for her to feel comfortable. But just maybe, she could call them friends?

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Harry, Ron and Hermione were walking back to the common room, Hermione still not talking to Harry, when it happened. Harry was talking to Ron while idly rearranging his fics when someone plowed right into him, causing his conversation to be unceremoniously cut off.

"Oh my gosh!" the person who had plowed into him said. "I'm so sorr- Harry? Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going again, here, let me help you pick those up."

Guess who?

"No, it's alright, Winter, I wasn't watching where I was going either," Harry said, shifting to a more comfortable position on the ground better suited for picking things up. Ron snickered, and Hermione wore something similar superimposed over her annoyed-at-Harry look. The two of them slipped away unnoticed as the two one the ground started gathering the fallen sheets of paper.

Harry's reached for another sheet and accidentally brushed against Winter's hand. He jerked back as if burned, his face heating, but Winter didn't seem to notice. Instead, she was looking at the paper she had in her hand. When Harry finished gathering, she was still looking at it.

"Is something the matter, Winter?" he asked, looking at her anxiously and hoping that wasn't the sheet with the lemon scene. He'd die of embarrassment if she read that…

"Harry, this looks like a copy of a chapter of 'Mahora Hearts," Winter said. "Did someone send you a copy of an update? But why is it handwritten? Unless…"

Winter's eye widened, and she gave a fan-girl squeal, causing Harry to back off uncertainly. "Harry, did you write this? But that means you're…"

Winter gave another squeal as she suddenly appeared in Harry's face, the proverbial stars in her eyes, clutching the piece of paper in her hand reverently, her own stack lying forgotten on the floor. "Harry, are you Raijinkage the Writer-Sama? The writer of 'Mahora Hearts', 'Icha Icha Paradise, Naruto Edition', 'Sasuke Darkstalker, 'Negi Springfield and the Magic Book' and 'Naruto: Reservoir Chronicle'?"

It wasn't really a question. "Um, yes?"

There came a third squeal that nearly blew out his eardrums. "Raijinkage-sama, it's an honor to meet you face to face! I am your humble servant, Tsuki no Tenshi."

Harry blinked. That name was vaguely familiar. He tried to recall it. "Tsuki no Tenshi..." Harry mused. "Isn't she the one who..." Oh, how to put this delicately...

Fortunately, Winter beat him to it. "The one who writes lemon self-inserts? Yup! Actually, my neighbor writes the actual lemon parts. I don't have the nerve to write them myself," Winter said, blushing cutely. "Although her lemon scenes aren't as good as yours."

Let the death by embarrassment commence...

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When Harry walked into the Gryffindor common room later that night, his eyes were glazed, he had a nose-bleed, his front was soiled with blood, his glasses were askew, and he walked with a noticeable drunken wobble.

"Harry, what happened?" Ron exclaimed as Harry approached him and Hermione, whose only reaction was a raised eyebrow.

Harry ignored Ron, however. "Hermione, I apologize for what I said before, I'm really, really sorry, please be my friend again, I really need your help," Harry said in a rush as he dropped to his knees, his hands clenched pleadingly at the bushy-haired girl.

Hermione looked at him. He looked so pathetic like that that she was tempted to say something other than-

"No," she said, and went back to reading her book.

Harry drooped, but quickly stood up and went to Percy, who was standing close-by and looked about to start ragging on the twins about something. Dropping down on his knees like he had with Hermione, he clenched his hands pleadingly. "Percy, I really need your help, you're the only one I can turn to, please, HELP ME!"

Percy, surprised, turns towards Harry, who looks at him with teary-puppy-dog-eyes. The twins used this distraction to make a break for it. "Harry, I would be honored to be of assistance," he said, pulling Harry up and making sure his shiny Head Boy badge was visible. "As Head Boy, it is my duty to aid Hogwarts' younger generations with the wisdom of my years. So, what is your problem?"

Harry started looking very self-conscious, shuffling his feet, not looking Percy in the eye and being nervous. "Um, well, you see, I need help, and you're the only one I know with a girlfriend, so I was wondering if you could help me out. You see, there's this girl-"

"Okay, move along, Perce, this is a best friend's job," Ron said as he appeared suddenly next to Harry as if by... well, magic, grabbing Harry's arm and tugging him in a certain direction. On his other side, Hermione was doing the same, a wide and vaguely Mitsune-esque grin on her face. "We'll take it from here, right, Herme?"

"Right," Hermione said, her grin getting wider and slightly more disturbing as the two of them dragged Harry back towards their chairs, leaving a put-out Percy. "You should have said so sooner, Harry. Of course I forgive you, I don't want to left out of this. So, who is it?" Her tone implied she already knew, but wanted him to say it out loud.

Harry blushed as they settled him down on a chair, staring at him eagerly, Hermione almost disturbingly so. "Ah, well, it's, um..."

"It's Winter, isn't it?" Hermione interrupted, apparently not being able to help herself. Blushing fiercely, Harry nodded, not looking them in the eye. Hermione squealed, endangering his eardrums and yelling out "I KNEW IT!", as Ron pumped his fist in the air with a loud "HAH!". The two high-fived.

"Guys, people are staring," Harry mutters, embarrassed. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea?

The two obviously didn't think so. "So, what happened after we left you two?" Ron said, the two of them leaning forward, eager for details.

"Um, well, we started picking up the papers I dropped. We were almost done when she asked me if I wrote those fics and I said yes," Harry said.

"Oh," Hermione said. She always suspected Harry wrote fanfics.

"Huh?" Ron said. As sometimes happened, he didn't get what they were talking about.

"Um, well, you see Ron, I'm a writer on the muggle internet. My penname is Raijinkage-" Harry wasn't able to finish as Hermione squealed.

"Harry, you're the writer of 'Three's Not A Crowd', the absolute best Sasuke story in existence!" Hermione gushed.

Harry nodded, surprised, although he idly thought that of course a Sasuke fan-girl like Hermione would know about his first- and, according to his 795 reviewers and twelve thousand plus hits (at last count), best- ongoing SasuSakuIno fic.

"Back to the subject?" Ron said, obviously feeling put out.

"Harry, I didn't know you were that good," Hermione continued.

"Back to Winter?" Ron stressed.

"Oh, right," Hermione said, snapping out of it.

"So what else?" Ron stressed, and Hermione got her disturbing grin back. Creepy, having her look like that.

"Uh, well, we got to talking, and she asked me to meet her in the library tomorrow afternoon," Harry said lamely.

The two waited. Nothing more was forthcoming.

"That's it?" Ron said, mildly disappointed.

"Yeah," Harry said, staring determinedly at his fingers, which were twiddling in Hinata-fashion. This was starting to feel like a bad idea.

Hermione shook her head. "I never thought I'd see the day. You've had a crush on Winter since first year, and you only got the nerve to ask her now!"

Twiddling was harder than it looked. His fingers kept hitting each other. "Actually, she asked me. I said so, didn't I?"

Ron whistled. "Whoa. Wish someone would ask me out."

Hermione looked at Harry closely and gasped. "Harry, you've been bleeding!"

Harry wiped some blood off his face. "Oh, this? Just a little nose bleed."

"Did you bump into a door or something?" Ron said.

"Uh, no. Winter wanted to talk about lemons," Harry muttered, his fingers twiddling like crazy and his face flushing as badly as the first time the Cards had kissed him.

"Ahhh..." Hermione said in understanding, a naughty look on her face.

"Lemons?" Ron, of course.

Hermione giggled. "I'll explain later."

"Don't you dare!" Harry said.

Hermione gave him a smug, slightly perverted, 'revenge is sweet' look. "You want my help or not?"

Really bad idea...

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Harry stumbled into the dorm, a glazed look in his eyes, a nose-bleed, front soiled with blood, glasses askew, and walking with a noticeable drunken wobble.

He made a vow to never ask those two for this sort of advice again!

Thankfully, he was the only other person up here. Friday night meant people slept late. He really didn't want to have to explain why he looked the way he did.

Ron and Hermione really put him through a wringer. Ron, having five older brothers, not to mention parents, got a lot of this sort of 'advice', and was more then glad to have someone to pass it on to. The glint in his eye said the bastard enjoyed putting Harry on the spot. And Hermione...

Harry shuddered and wiped his nose again as another nose-bleed appeared.

OMG, Hermione...

He really hadn't expected that of her. He thought she'd be able to help him with relating to other girls, since she was the only girl he could hold a conversation with. Instead, she'd taken off her mask and given him advice that would have given Jiraiya conniptions. Oh, she hadn't said it all straight out, but all those innuendoes were worse, much, much worse. He was surprised she hadn't sprung a nose-bleed, the ecchi-ness radiating from her was so strong. He knew he shouldn't be one to talk, he'd written lemons too, but man! To make things worse, their advice came out as a cross between The Talk, female psychology, Weasley dating lore, and the Kama Sutra. No way could he use it all.

He was never looking at Hermione the same way again. Harry was just glad that, as a writer, all she managed was cheesy, campy slash. If she ever managed to channel all her Jiraiya-ness into a lemon- or, heaven forbid, a series of lemons- ffnet was doomed to censure.

Now, a little worse off than he was before- there was no way in Shayol Ghul he was using Hermione's advice!- he planned to retreat to bed, hoping to forget every word and innuendo uttered downstairs.

Quickly getting dressed for bed, he closed the curtains of his four-poster. Tucking the Clow Book under his pillow, he lay back, starring at the ceiling.

"So," Kero said, coming out of the little pouch Harry had rigged for him on top of one of the bed's pillars, where it was hard to be seen. "How was your day?"

Harry made an indistinct sound.

"That bad, huh?"

Another sound. Harry suddenly had a strange image of himself wearing white shorts and a blue shirt with a red and white fan on the back.

Harry smirked. At least Sasuke doesn't have girl problems. Fan-girl problems by the truckload, sure, but no girl problems. Kind of like Negi Springfield...

Harry suddenly sat up. Why not? It can't be worse than the advice his friends gave him.

"Say, Kero, I was wondering if you could help me with something," Harry said. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, and there's no way it could be worse than ero-Hermione's advice, right?

Right?

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Wrong. Dead wrong.

Harry had come to a conclusion. James Bond was an amateur. Casanova was nothing.

And Clow Reed was a Jiraiya-level pervert.

Oh, from what Kero said, the guy was nice enough. Able, dependable, honorable, friendly, the kind of guy that was most people's friend. His descriptions sort of reminded Harry of Dumbledore. Just one thing.

The guy managed to draw women like metal filings to a magnet. Just the things Kero managed to pick up without Clow actually telling him anything was… disturbing. The Clow Cards, thankfully, were never… um, that is to say, Clow considered them his children, so he never… um, well, you get the idea, although some (all?) of them managed to pick up a few things.

Like the kissing, for example.

Kero's advice was useless. Worse than useless. He was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. Curse the human body!

In fact, Harry was still wide awake when everyone had settled in for the night. The more he tried not to think about it, the more the things Ron, Hermione and Kero echoed in his head. The musings of whether Dumbledore had been like Clow weren't helping. There were just some things you shouldn't even consider people being capable of.

Sighing, Harry sat up. It was almost midnight, and he still couldn't go to sleep. This was getting ridiculous. It was just that he felt so… alone. It usually didn't bother him; after all, considering he lived with the Dursleys, he was pretty okay, without too many neuroses. It's just that, now that he was used to good human contact, when these things overtook him, he found it very hard to sleep. Sleep he really needed. He had less than eight hours before he had to meet Winter, and he really didn't want her to see him looking like an extra from 'Resident Evil'.

Closing his eyes, he let himself fall back to his pillow. Maybe this time he'd knock himself unconscious…

He hit the pillow with a loud 'thump' and his eyes flew open. He'd forgotten the Clow Book was under there.

A thought entered Harry's head. Pulling the book out from under his pillow, he debated before sighing and deciding, 'What the heck?'. Reaching for his Key, he began to intone quietly, hoping Kero didn't wake up. "Key of power, show me your true form…"

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Harry yawned as he stretched, before blearily rubbing sleep gunk out of his eyes. Next to him, the Clow Card he had summoned to keep him company last night yawned, stretching as well, before curling up again and snuggling against him. Smiling, Harry reached down and stroked his bedmate, marveling at the softness of her hair. It felt as light as air!

"Thanks for keeping me company last night," Harry said quietly, and the Card made a contented sound, snuggling against him some more. Deciding she had the right idea, he lay back, one arm around her, and curled up as well. The other arm, he used to pull the blanket over them.

It was nice and warm under the blanket, with the two of them. Harry really couldn't remember when he'd last slept so well. The only times that came to mind were the very first night he slept at Hogwarts and those times Mirror had slept with him. Alright, maybe not really the latter, since he'd been nervous as heck, but the relaxed sensation he'd felt as he'd slept certain came close. Until he'd woken up and found the girl/Clow-Card/sprite in the same bed with him. That had shot his composure apart.

This, however... this felt different. Having someone in his bed like this was a completely new experience for Harry, but at the same time, it wasn't exciting, or any of those things 'firsts' usually were. Instead, it felt... right. Right and… it felt like it was how things were supposed to be…

As Harry started to doze back off again, he decided he needed to do this more often. If ever he had trouble sleeping- and maybe if he didn't- he could just pull out the Clow Book. As oblivion started to encompass him, he had one last thought.

Really, Dash made for a very nice, fuzzy sleeping plushy.

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When he finally felt like getting up, he sent Dash back to the Book, but not before she gave him a quick nuzzle and peck on the cheek. For obvious reasons, it didn't make him as red as he usually does after getting kissed by her Clow Card brethren.

After washing and dressing carefully to make sure he didn't have anymore blood stains from last night's nose bleeds, he went down towards the Great Hall. Thankfully, he didn't run into Lee. He really wasn't in the mood for her. After a quick small breakfast- small as in only two average-sized servings; he was too nervous to eat more- he headed for the common room, his papers and stuff in hand. They really hadn't talked about what they'd be doing, but it must have something to do with them, right? So maybe he'd better make some more pages, just in case she wanted to read them. Yeah, that's it, he was going to write lots of cute, fluffy scenes for her to read. And maybe…

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Fei woke up feeling on the right side of the bed, which, coming from someone who got sent to the Snake House, was saying something. Quickly, while her roommates were still asleep, she pulled her box out from under her bed and undid the spell she put on it, before taking out the three ofuda she had put at the seams. Carefully, she took out its contents and considered them, before picking up the Konoha-marked hitae-ate and gloves and putting the rest back in the box. Unlike those three Ravenclaw idiots she had heard about, she was only going to wear it- discretely at that- not use it to play around in the halls.

Plus, she figured her date would like it.

Fei barely managed to keep a goofy grin off her face. Okay, so it wasn't really a date- a date was acknowledged by both parties- but it was as good as. Ever since she'd made eye-contact with Winter Moon, she had been captivated. Of course, she wouldn't admit it under heavy torture, but she was. There was something about her, some indefinable quality, which made her… interesting.

Carefully, she tied her forehead protector Hinata-style around her neck. It should be discrete enough there, she figured. Better than if she tied it on her head or around her forearm. No one would notice the gloves given the length of her school robes' sleeves.

Idly, she wondered if she should bring any weapons besides her sword, like a kunai or shuriken, but decided it was overkill. This was a dat- meeting, not a cosplay.

Yup, that was it. She'd just meet Winter. Nothing to get excited about…

Hah!

Time never seemed to move so slowly…

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Winter Moon sat in the library later that day, reading through one of her very thick stacks of paper. Currently, Sasuke-succubus just got her shirt ripped off, giving everyone a good look at her bandaged chest. Ino and Sakura were slowly coming to grips with the fact that the 'guy' they and every girl in the village had been swooning over since they could remember was really a girl. Naruto was going nuts realizing that a girl kept beating him at everything. Orochimaru's brain was slowly rebooting as he realized he'd be possessing another girl…

Reaching the bottom, Winter was about to turn over the page when she heard a sound behind her. She turned.

Lee stood there, looking a bit nervous and out of place, but Winter really didn't notice that. What she noticed was the almost-hidden sash of cloth around Lee's neck, where a plate of metal was nearly completely covered by the collar of Lee's robe.

Winter nearly squealed, managing to keep sound to a minimum as she for all intents and purposes jumped out of her chair and into Lee's face.

Well, into her neck, but it was pretty much the same thing.

"Oh my gosh, is that a hitae-ate?" Winter squeaked, staying barely below the accepted noise level. "A Konoha hitae-ate?"

"Um, yes?" Lee said.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so jealous," Winter gushed. "All the anime store back home has are some lousy Ota protectors. Who wants to be in Orochi-ville?"

Then Winter blinked, finally catching sight of Lee's face. Lee's rather red, flushed face. "Hey, are you alright? You're not coming down with anything, are you?"

The redness in Lee's face deepened. "Ah, I'm just feeling a little warm. It's nothing, really."

In a blink, Winter was smiling again. "Okay. That's good to know. It would be a shame if my new friend got sick." Winter suddenly caught sight of the other person she had been waiting for. She waved enthusiastically. "Over here, Harry!"

Thankfully, Madam Pinch wasn't anywhere in range.

Winter was oblivious to the change in mood as Fei Lee turned around and came face to face with Harry Potter.

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Fei glared. Potter glared. They managed to make their dislike of each other's presence evident in a mere 1/6th of a second, using the rest of the time to repeat the message over and over again. Eternity was contracted into one hate-filled moment before Winter broke the spell.

"Harry! It's great to see you!" Winter said, suddenly hugging the surprised Card Captor. Pulling back, the Ravenclaw girl smiled at him. "You know, this is probably the first time we've met when I'm not reading. Or about to fall down the stairs."

Potter smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, that did seem to happen a lot."

Fei started to growl at the back of her throat. Thankfully, no one heard. How come she hadn't rated a hug?

Winter seemed to hear the sound, and turned apologetically to Fei. "Oh, I almost forgot. Harry, this is Fei Lee, although she likes to be called just Lee. Lee, this is Harry Potter."

The two mentioned blinked and looked at her as if she'd just grown a second head. They were subtle about it, though. Seriously, why was she introducing them? The whole school knew they hated each other.

Winter seemed to take their looks as something else, though. "Oh, do you already know each other?"

"We've met," Potter and Fei said in unison, then glared again.

Winter giggled. "Jinx! You both owe me a chocolate frog. This is so cool! My to new friends know each other. It must be fate!"

The two gave her the 'two heads' look again.

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"Is it just me, or is she completely oblivious to the fact we hate each other?" Harry muttered into empty air as Winter went off to get her papers. There was no way he was having a civil conversation with Lee. Certainly not! He was just talking out loud, musing, that was all.

Fei deliberately looked at a bookcase. There was no way in Shayol Ghul she was going to let Potter think she was talking to him. Nope, none at all. "I guess Moon's not the kind who listens to what goes on around her much. Spends all her time reading, from the looks of it."

Harry glared at her. "Are you talking to me?" he all but growled out.

Fei sniffed. That Potter had a lot of nerve, thinking he was worth her time. "Of course not, scar-head! Why would I-"

"I'm back!" Winter said, suddenly appearing, and the two stiffen, before trying to act casual and not as if they were about to jump down each other's throats just a second ago. "Sorry I took so long. Shall we go?"

Without waiting for a reply, the silver-haired girl grabbed their elbows and started to drag them in her wake out of the library. The two, about to glare at each other, immediately stiffened. Harry blushed, while Fei went a delicate shade of crimson.

After a while of being dragged through thankfully empty halls, Harry finally managed to speak up. "Um, where are we going?"

"You'll see."

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'You'll see' turned out to be a small rise in the school grounds. They had somehow managed to reach it without a single student, teacher or ghost seeing them, for which Harry and Fei were grateful. They both had reputations to consider, after all!

Reaching the top, Winter let go of their hands, rushing towards the highest point and taking a deep breath, facing the sun. The two with her took the opportunity to give the other death-glares. They'd learned from the best, after all, and few could beat Snape.

"Um, Winter…" Harry began, but Winter cut him off.

"What do you think?" Winter said, twirling around and gesturing around her. "From here, you've got the best view of the sunset for miles. At sun-down," she turned, pointing towards the west, were the sun was slowly coming towards the horizon, "the sun's going to set right between those mountains and light up the lake. It's always spectacular."

"Although," Winter said, turning back towards the two, "not many people in Hogwarts know that. I'm one of the handful that do. And now, so are you."

"Moon…" Fei said, then stopped. Winter just smiled.

"This is where I take all my new friends," she said, walking back towards them and pulling them towards the tree that grew on the rise. Settling down beneath it, she pulled Harry and Fei next to her on either side. Harry managed to sit gracefully, considering he had been pulled down from a standing position, but Fei seemed to stumble, bumping against Winter before stiffening and pulling back, her blush back with a vengeance. Luckily, the light from the setting sun disguised her shade when Winter looked at her.

"I show them the sunset," Winter continued, leaning back against the tree and against Harry's shoulder. Harry flushed slightly. Winter didn't notice. "It's the most beautiful thing to see here at Hogwarts, so I think it's the best gift I can give my friends."

Okay, thought Harry, I really better clear this up before we pass the point of no return.

"Winter," Harry began again, "there's something you should know about me and Lee."

"Hm?" Winter turned towards Harry, who almost lost his nerve when those brown eyes met his. They had no right to sparkle like that! Bravely, he continued. "You see, Lee and I don't really get along that well. I mean, she's in Slytherin, and I'm in Gryffindor-"

"But somehow the two of you still manage to be friends!" Winter interrupted, smiling brightly. "I mean, any regular Gryffindor and Slytherin would be fighting with each other right now, but look at you two! If you keep this up as an example, Gryffindor and Slytherin will be friends again one day."

With that, she puts an arm around the two of them (rebooting Fei's blush yet again!), and turning them towards the sun. "Now come on. Let's watch the sunset."

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From Gryffindor tower's common room window, Ron and Hermione watch the cozy little scene. Both of them are smiling proudly, kind of like the way a parent does when their kid gets an award. From their angle, they can't see Fei.

"Look at those two," Ron said, shaking his head in amusement and approval.

"That Harry's pretty sly," Hermione agreed. "Fast worker, too. If he keeps this up, he'll use up all our advice in two weeks."

Ron gave her a look. "My advice, you mean. I don't think Harry's ready for what you had in mind."

"What-ever do you mean, Ron?" Hermione said innocently, batting her eyelashes, a twinkle quite unlike Dumbledore's in her eyes. All she had to do was poke a little, and Harry would be well on his way to getting laid! And it would be all thanks to her!

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A cool breeze blew across the Hogwarts grounds. The sun had finally set, the lake's fire had cooled to velvet. High on the rise, the three sat, Winter still leaning on Harry. None said anything, not wanting to break the spell of the moment, a spell more powerful than any they had been taught, yet infinitely more fragile. Eternity seemed to envelope them, keeping the bubble of wonder they had made around themselves.

It broke when Winter's head drooped onto Fei's shoulder and she started to snore.

While Lee blushed red for the nth time that day, Harry waved his hand over Winter's face. "I don't believe it," Harry said. "She's asleep."

The mood changed slightly. A chemist would say that now that Winter was asleep, the enzyme had been removed from the mixture. Element Harry and element Fei would now combine with lots of heat and explosive force.

For a time, neither spoke.

"I'm not telling her," Harry said, breaking the silence. "Are you?"

Fei looked at the face of the girl on her shoulder. Brown eyes were now covered by pale lids, the face, now in repose, artistically framed by strands of silver hair. She imagined what expression it would hold once it's owner. Would they still look at her the same way when she learned the truth?

"No," Fei said, still looking at the face of the girl beside her. "I won't." She didn't know, but she did not want the girl next to her to look at her in that light. She didn't think she could take it. "Truce?"

Harry leaned back, his face slightly shadowed. Something about how Lee had been acting disturbed him for some reason, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Still, it made him uneasy. "When she's around, truce," he agreed.

Fei nodded, then knowing that it would only be a heartbeat before one of them said something, began to nudge Winter awake. "Moon," she nearly cooed (sending Harry's eyebrows to the stratosphere, as he hadn't thought Lee's voice could sound like that) as she gently nudged the girl beside her. "Wake up. Supper's going to be served soon."

Actually, Harry thought as Winter stirred, from the sound of it, supper was already being eaten.

"Wh-huh?" Winter said as she blinked cutely, rubbing her eyes. "Did I fall asleep?"

"You did," Potter said softly, making Fei give him a look. He had no right to sound that soft!

"Oh," Winter said, shakily getting up, supported by Lee. Harry glared at her. He was the guy, he's supposed to be the one to do that! "We'd better go inside."

The three began to walk down the slope, the two on either side of Winter. Now that they had officially become friends (according to Winter), the silver-haired girl was silent, seemingly just enjoying their company. Nothing more was said until they were a stone's throw from the front door.

"Say, Winter," Harry said hesitantly.

"Hm?" the girl said.

"I was hoping we could, you know, keep this to ourselves. My being friends with Lee, I mean," Harry fumbled, trying to seem guileless. "It's just that, if our Housemates knew, they… wouldn't understand," he finished lamely. "I mean, they'd give us a hard time and stuff, and…"

"Say no more, "Winter said brightly, smiling wide and somehow giving Harry a Maito-Gai-and-Rock-Lee impression. "I, Winter Moon, shall keep secret this flame of friendship from those who would dare snuff it out by their heartless words and deeds! It's power, youth and vitality will not be allowed to die! This I swear, IN THE NAME OF THE MOON!"

The two winced slightly as her voice rose at that last.

Fei broke the weirded-out silence that followed. "Naruto and Sailor Moon otaku, I see," she said dryly. "Do you do that often, Moon?"

Winter giggled. "Actually, it's my first time, but man, I've always wanted to say that!"

Harry chuckled slightly, and he could have sworn Lee did the same. "Come on, let's go in."

They walked towards the door, apart this time (Winter apparently meant what she said, insane as it had sounded when spoken). Walking a little behind Winter, Harry glanced at Lee, she had done the same. 'This never happened,' he mouthed at her.

Fei nodded grimly.

"What are you nodding about, Lee?" Winter said, surprising them.

"Nothing," Fei said, managing to make it sound natural. "Although I was thinking… let's look at the sunset again some time?"

"Definitely," Harry nodded.

Winter smiled brightly again. "How about tomorrow?"

The two Card users looked at each other, both faces neutral, before nodding.

"Okay," Potter said.

"We'll be there," Lee affirmed.

"Cool!" Winter said, opening the doors, then stepping back as Harry gallantly did it for her, giving him a thankful smile that set Fei's teeth on edge. "It's a date!"

Harry's hand on the door slipped as Fei turned red once more…

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- To be continued...

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A/N: How's that? I intend to flesh out Fei some more, so that she's not a total Syaoran clone, and Winter… well, she makes things interesting for the two, so there:-p Now the hard part for me begins: weaving this all into a CLAMP- and Rowling-quality plot…

It's a logical partnership: Ravenclaws make the odds; Hufflepuffs make up the betting rings, both live off the Gryffindors and Slytherins. Thus is the Hogwarts economy. The twins are entrepreneurs. What else could you call them?

Harry, the slightly perverted fanfic writer of Hogwarts (as in lemon scenes, but tastefully done. Really, how bad can a thirteen year old write? My fics at thirteen were horrendous!). I couldn't help it! He only updates during the summers. I pity his fans. Good thing for you guys I don't go to Hogwarts. XD This is set in a wonderful alternate universe where ffnet still has NC-17 fics. XD Imagine, old ffnet with Naruto fics… -drool "SakuInoTemaTenHinaKureShizuAnko…" drool-

Hermione, the cheesy slash writer. She can't be good at everything, and it's the kind of thing she'd write. XD

They're only in their third or so week at school. Lee's pretty antisocial, so she doesn't really know a lot of people. Kind of like Syaoran.

Winter is pretty spaced out from reading her fanfics, so she doesn't know about Fei and Harry's 'encounters'. Although she's not as spaced out as she may seem…

DID I JUST WRITE SLYTHERIN ANGST! ARGH, MY EYES ARE TAINTED!

How do you like Harry's ffnet handle? Anyone who wants to use the fic titles I mentioned is free to do so, but I have dibs on 'Sasuke Darkstalker'. Sasuke as a girl and a succubus is just something I can't get out of my head!

I wanted to use Mirror or Light, but after all that dirty stuff, I figured something innocent and light-hearted was in order. I'm assuming Dash is female. Actually, unless otherwise stated, all the non-anthropomorphic Cards are female.

Shayol Ghul is a Wheel of Time reference. Those who've read it would agree it's an appropriate word to use.

To AzureSky123: To your first question, Lee's family is the only one who knew who Clow Reed was. The rest were either one-night stands with women who didn't know who he was or he used magical birth control (he could do it!). To the next ones, in order; they will be hinted at, no, no, 'til seven, more-or-less.

To HarbringerLady: This soon enough? XD

To Dumbledork: nice to hear from you again.

To damon blade: Will do!

To Baka Shinobi: may I suggest checking out shoujoai dot com for more of the same? XD

To Magnificent the Destroyer Lord: I'm trying to work it in. I like bed sce- brilliant chapters too. Yes, I'm using all the Clow Cards, although I won't show all being caught, just the fun ones. Too time-consuming. I'll list the Cards at the ends of Chapters every so often, so you guys don't lose track. Sorry I made you fall off your chair -sheepish grin-

'Maelstrom Cards'. Hmm. I'll think about it. That incident you mentioned is after she becomes Mistress of the Cards. Harry isn't Master yet. Not sure if he could use multiple at once. I'll have to write it in eventually.

To Ran Hoshino: No suggestions, Ran? That's okay, I don't want to be accused of being an interactive fic anyway. More Hermione-deviant-behavior-but-totally-in-character when I think of some. There will be hints on the Meilin situation (there are a few in this chap and quite a number in the Gaiden in the last, so keep your eye out), as well as subtle foreshadowing regarding Fei's position with regards to CCS canon. Oh-kay, where did those boggart snake-villains come from? -panics- Get them away before they give my characters villain-cooties! -sprays them with 'VillainAway- DIE! DIE!

To Lina Thanatos: No, Remus is not another Kaho. Excellent point about The Illusion Card, I forgot about that. And the guy's name is Touya.

To LostGryffindorFoundSlytherin: The Twin and Sword Cards are accounted for. Thanks for the ideas for The Bubbles Card, couldn't think of a way to write it in.

Please review, C&C welcome. Those who send flames will be made to keep the ghost who has a crush on Clow company.

……………

Honestly, I thought my clues were pretty blatant! No one knew what they meant? Either I'm getting better at writing or WB really messed up CCS in NA. Is it really Card-crap-tors?

Okay, here's my only explicit clue: who in CCS has Fei's eyes? That's all I'm saying!

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"Active Time Event" or "Rivals Gaiden 1: 'You Both Owe Me!'"

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Harry turned to Lee the minute Winter was out of range. No one was around for the moment, so this was the best time to say this.

Fei turned to Potter the minute Winter was out of range. No one was around for the moment, so this was the best time to say this.

"This never happened," both said, then glared at the other. "Stop repeating me," they chorused. "No, you stop. No, you stop. No, you. No, you. YOU! YO-"

"JINX!" Winter said from behind them, causing them both to jump. "Now you both each owe me a chocolate frog and a Pumpkin Pasty."

"Darn…" both muttered, then exchanged a look.

"JINX!"

They both groaned, palming their faces.

"JINX! Man, you're both so easy…"

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"Letters Home"

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The boy took the letter from the barn owl, who gave a tired hoot and flapped off. The boy smiled sadly. He had only sympathy for the bird. It was a long way back to the British Islands, and if you were flying under your own power…

Trying not to think about it- jet lag from flying on a plane was bad enough; flying by flapping must be way worse- the boy went back to his bed and sat back against the headboard. It was the middle of the night where he was, and the sounds of the night flowed through the open window, but it was never too late- or early- to read one of his dear cousin's letters.

Looking at the date on the corner to see how current the news was- four days old- the boy carefully opened the envelope and took out the sheet of paper inside, wrapped around by an ofuda with his name on it. Pressing his thumb on a certain seal, the band of paper fell away instead of exploding violently and taking off his hands. His cousin always was paranoid.

Skipping over his name, he skimmed the sheet until he got to the meat of the letter. He smiled brightly. Apparently, his little cousin (he chuckled at that. It was a running joke between them, even though she had been taller than him when they were younger, for a time, anyway) had managed to catch her first Clow Card. Good for her, he thought. There was also a note thanking him for the Naruto stuff he had sent over. Really, after taking so long to get around to it, it was the least he could do.

He skimmed through the rest. She was doing well in her studies; her aunt- and his mother- would be pleased, and he was glad she'd be under slightly less pressure to perform. Guy named Malfoy was bothering her, but that was alright, she could take care of herself. History of Magic, boring as all outdoors; Arithmancy, she was plowing through it like a dolphin in the ocean. He smiled at that. Her and math.

It was at the very last paragraph of the letter, a postscript, really, right after her, 'With love, Fei'. It was a carefully worded question that sent a grin on his face and at the same time made him sigh in regret. His cousin was growing up. First love, and it would have to be with someone in her new school. It was like only yesterday she was laughing at his predicament.

Actually, the last time he had seen her, she had been laughing at his predicament.

Still, he really shouldn't be one to talk. He was growing a little- okay, more than a little- that way himself. He looked at his nightstand, where two frames stood where he could easily see it. Three kids were shown in one, the three of them three years ago. He stood in the center, a slightly harried look on his face. Fei stood on his right, one arm around his neck, the other in a 'V' sign; her sister stood to his left, clamped on to his arm possessively and smiling brightly at the camera, her face rubbing against his. That had been before family destiny sent him away, only for him to return in failure. Now, it was Fei's turn, and she had not failed.

He looked at the other frame, and blushed slightly, not as badly as Fei would have, but he had a lot of experience in this field. The picture was slightly obscured by light being reflected of it, but he really didn't need to see it. It was all there in his mind's eye. Yes, he had definitely grown that way.

Tucking the latest letter and envelope into the drawer beneath the pictures, which was already half-full of similar missives, he lay back in his bed and prayed that his favorite cousin would become as happy as he wished to be…

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"End ATE"

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Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.

(Don't you just hate it when your muse works faster than you do? She has things up to the sixth year! I'll be lucky if I write that long! Hopefully, I'll hit fourth year by Christmas or summer, well, March, since summer and Christmas come at the same time in some parts of the world. Oh, and I will not be entertaining questions about Yue. Just read. Please?)