Rain engulfed the city of London as scintillating flashes of lightning threatened to strike anyone who dared step outside. But this did not seem to bother two teenage girls who were sitting in the bakery of Harrod's department store and conversing normally while sharing an ice cream sundae. And, knowing who those two people are, we can easily guess what the conversation is about...
"NO! Why do you keep dragging me to these places? Even when we're supposed to be on vacation, all you can think about is fabric and designing!" the first girl had almost screamed while holding her head in her hands in her disgust. The first girl had long, dark brown hair that flowed freely down her back. Her dark, emerald green sleeveless top matched her very vibrant eyes while a black skirt and matching sandals completed the look. This was Sakura Kinomoto, famed sorceress and card mistress.
"Oh come on, Sakura! What's the point of coming to Harrod's in the first place if we aren't going to shop? Besides, it's only one little section! And, I have to redo your entire wardrobe, anyway!" The second girl, or "fashion demon" if you prefer, looked so different from the first that if a person was told the very true statement that they were cousins, he or she would scratch their head and go, "Huh?" Tomoyo Daidouji had perfectly straight, violet hair that was slightly longer than Sakura's, though not by much. Most of the time, her deep, clear lavender eyes held nothing and everything at the same time;a mixture that seemed to hold the secret of life. Currently, though, they were filled with a bright shimmer that could only exist when talking about Sakura's wardrobe.
"Fine, fine, Tomoyo. But, for every dress you make or buy, it's an extra hour of training. Deal?" Sakura actually enjoyed training with Tomoyo. With the guidance of Yue, Kero and (on rare occasions) Eriol, the two regularly "communed" with their cards and learned and/or discovered each card's individual quirks and useful combo attacks, or they studied other, independent spells of sorcery. Sakura compared it to chatting with friends, which it was. Tomoyo liked it as well, and quickly became friends with the cards as well.
But, yes, that's right. Tomoyo Daidouji, the supposedly magic-less best friend was now a full-fledged sorceress, virtually as powerful as Sakura herself. You see, not long after the sealing of the Hope Card, a strange, yet powerful magical aura flared out from dormancy inside Tomoyo. It wasn't a sorcerer's aura, but it was magic still the same. Realizing that Tomoyo's magic and sorcery were extremely incompatible to the point where they couldn't even be in the same room without feeling sick, Sakura decided to perform a very tricky and completely unheard-of-up-until-that-time ritual. Using a combination of Change, Create, Twin, just about every other single card in between, and the full magic of herself, Kero, Yue, Eriol, Spinel & Ruby Moon, not only was she able to permanently convert Tomoyo's other magic base into Sorcery magic base, but she had also managed to create a new deck of cards, the Tomoyo Cards, for her. The new cards were exact duplicates of the Sakura cards, and even used the same spirits; the only differences were the source of power (Tomoyo or Sakura) and the color (pink versus lavender). It would be a while before they found out that the "other magic" was, in fact, called wizardry, but now and forever more, Tomoyo is a sorceress.
"OK, No Problem. Let's hustle up to the third floor!"
"Tomoyo, huff I think I'll take back that deal. pant I'm too tired to train right now." Skaura wheezed as she plopped the five bags she was carrying onto the bench next to her. "And you said only one little section!"
"I'm sorry, Sakura! But one section led to another to another..."
"...before you bought out the entire fabric and cloth department."
"Well! There were so many wonderful patterns! I couldn't choose just a few!"
"Yeah, well, I'm not the only one you have to apologize to. Ryujii almost cried when you made him carry the rest out into the car." Which happened to be strangely all full with five bags left over, thus forcing the two of them to walk with the five bags. Strangely, the rain stopped just as they walked outside...
"Psh, he'll get over it. Besides, it's such a wonderful afternoon to walk!" With this, Tomoyo pulled Sakura off the park bench and with a loud groan, Sakura resisted, though half-heartedly. A nearby teenage girl with brown hair, who was walking a rather, large black dog chuckled at the scene before disappearing down a different path of the park. "And, it's good exercise and good for the environment! This could be our training for the day: physical endurance!"
"Whatever. Though, I think it'll take more than an hour to get back to the apartment we've been renting for the month. sigh I can't believe our vacation is practically over." They left the park and started walking through side streets. They waved good-bye to the brown-haired girl and her dog as the girl and her dog took their leave at Grimmauld Place.
"Well, it isn't really... I mean, we won't have time to goof off and do whatever we want, but we'll still be in England."
"Scotland, actually. Why are we going there again? Do you think it's another dead end?"
"I don't think Eriol told us that bit of info. All he told us is that we need to go to wherever it is and how to get there. But, we'll be taking a train! Not a subway or a local train like in Tokyo, but an actual train! I hope it isn't as crowded as a Japanese train."
"Me neither. That's what I like about England. It isn't as crowded as Japan."
The rest of the walk passed by in relative silence between the two best friends, with the occasional comment about a house that looked rather unusual ("Why would anyone want puke-brown flowers?"), a statue that had graffiti all over it ("Bubble, please fix this!") or complaints from Sakura about how Tomoyo could buy so much all the time ("Just be glad we're not at the Ginza!"). But, there was more or less silence for the rest of the walk home.
"Ah, we're finally here! Good old Southington Drive and Wutherford Place. I'll be so sad when we leave tomorrow. I'll actually miss the rain and dreary weather and car exhaust and weird, advanced English words I don't know and..."
"Sakura, I'm so glad you had a good time, but could you please shush? I'm watching the news. Why don't you start packing up everything? The place is a mess."
"Wow, you're right!" Sakura surveyed the dump that mostly consisted of food wrappers and fabric scraps. "We do leave tomorrow, after all. We should pack everything. Move! Power! Let's go!"
The Black Residence at Number 12 Grimmauld Place was abuzz with activity. Today was August 31, and Hogwarts would start tomorrow. Hermione, who had just taken Sirius out for a walk to get some fresh air, walked in the house and was almost bowled over by Fred and George scurrying up to their room, Mrs. Weasley running from the living room to take care of dinner that was almost burning, Sirius, who had by now turned into a human, running off to join Lupin take care of his mother, and an owl smacking her in the face. She felt like screaming, but instead punched the wall. Behavior that was totally unbefitting of the female Gryffindor prefect, but as everyone else was totally immersed in their own noisy affairs, she calmly walked into the dining room pretending that all was right in the world. Such was live at 12 Grimmauld Place.
It was hard not to notice the huge banner erected in the dining room that celebrated the new prefects, Ron and Hermione. However, Harry wasn't in the mood for celebrating. He ate his dinner quietly, listening half-heartedly to everyone's conversations, even assisting a deal between the twins and Mundungus Fletcher, though he cringed to think what kind of disease would require Venomous Tentacula seeds...
"Hey, Harry, c'mere. I want to show you something." Mad-Eye Moody took something out of his pockets, which turned out to be an old photograph.
"It's the original Order of the Phoenix. Thought people might want to look at it."
Harry was immediately drawn to two smiling people in the front row...his parents.
"There's me," he said, pointing to himself, "and there's Dumbledore, Dedalus Diggle, the one next to him is Marlene McKinnon, she was killed two weeks after the photo was taken, they got her whole family..."
Harry listened to Moody go on about all the members as they took their turns in the spotlight, some familiar and some unfamiliar...
"That's Dumbledore's brother Aberforth, strange guy, the only time I ever met him, and those are David and Sonomi Daidouji, two of the best aurors I've ever seen, right up there with your parents, they were attacked the night before your family was, we found David's mangled body the next morning, but we never did find Sonomi or their daughter..."
Harry's heart panged. His parents' beaming faces were smiling up at him, next to Sirius and...Wormtail... How could they all smile and be friends when one was probably at that moment turning and betraying them to die...
Kings Cross Station in London, England was normally very busy with jungles of people going their own separate ways throughout the British Isles. However, today, September 1st, was unusually quiet for a Saturday at 10:45 in the morning. 'Probably because every sane person sleeps in on Saturday mornings,' fifteen-year-old Sakura Avalon from Birmingham reasoned. Ms. Avalon was definitely not a morning person: never was and probably never will be. As such, she was walking half-asleep; the only thing preventing her from passing out on the station floor was her best friend, Madison Taylor, pulling her along in search of the platform of their train along with the trolley containing all her effects.
"Sakura, wake up! We're there!"
"Huh? Oh, Madison! You know, you shouldn't say such things about Mr. Terada. Rita will smack you..."
"SAKURA!"
"WWAAAA!" Madison sighed as her best friend literally jumped five feet into the air before landing on the pavement with a big "Owie!"
"Madison, what was that about? My butt hurts now..."
"Sakura, we're there. See? The big, red train? That's the one Master said to go on, remember?"
"Oh, yeah." Sakura looked around. Many students were here already, saying their goodbyes to parents, relatives, etc. Sakura secretly envied those children who had both parents left. Both she and Madison did not have that luxury. Sure, she had an older brother, but Tory lived in the United States with a successful job as an accountant. Of course, he nearly had a heart attack when they split, but it was for the best. He had a real life now and a strong, significant other. Neither Sakura nor Madison couldn't wait until Christmas, when they were going to be married; they were invited after all.
A strange, wet sensation on her hand brought her back from reminiscing about her brother. A large, black shaggy dog was licking her hand. "Hey, there! How are you?" The dog barked his reply, then started licking her face as Sakura bent down into a hug.
Madison knelt down and started petting the dog's back as well. "You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say that dog has a crush on you, Sakura!" This of course resulted in the dog's tackling Madison.
"Hey, you two-timing mutt! That's it, I'm through with you!" Sakura stood up and mock pouted. But, across the station at the front of the train, a suspicious blonde quickly ducked behind a column. Sakura frowned as she saw this, but didn't think about it much because a clawing at her skirt made her pay attention to the apologetic dog with big puppy eyes.
"Come here, you flirt!"A boy around Sakura and Madison's age ran up to them and grabbed the dog by the collar. He had messy, dark brown hair with bangs obscuring his forehead. His dark, forest green eyes were obscured by large black-rimmed glasses. "I'm sorry for Snuffles's behavior."
"Snuffles?" Both the girls had to laugh at that. "What kind of a name is Snuffles?"
The boy shyly hid his face, which was blushing slightly. "I didn't pick the name... My guardian did..."
"Harry!" Harry, which apparently was the boy's name, turned to a red-haired woman.
"I've got to go..." he said diminutively as he walked quickly back to the woman.
"Well, he was nice..." Madison said in Sakura's ear.
"Yeah, and I think he's an orphan, too. He did say he had a guardian, and the woman looks too different to be his mom and the same goes for the freaky guy carrying the luggage. Is that eye real?"
"I don't think so, but let's not judge other people, Sakura. We have no idea what his situation is, so..."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, Madison, let's find a compartment on the train. I want to lie down!"
I do not own neither Card Captor Sakura nor Harry Potter and nor do I wish to. Frankly, it would be too much work.