AN#1
Hello my rabid readers and loyal favouriteers and Followers. I hope you have had a good Christmas and yes my story hasn't died and I apologise for the snails pace in uploads these days. Lots going on and my work monitors what we are all doing more these days so I don't get to write as much there.
Its been a crappy couple of years with covid hitting and I wish I'd been more help in posting chapters more often to help everyone get through. Below is my latest offering and I hope that you all enjoy it and stay safe.
Cheers
Craggle
Chapter 110 – Ingenuity My Arse
1045hrs Thursday 1st September, Platform 9 3/4 , Kings Cross Station, London, England
Ginny looked at her watch for what felt like the fifth time in as many minutes as she stood on the platform. It was still too early to get on the train and she was expecting Lavender to come and see her off. She stood with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley who had insisted on seeing her off to Hogwarts.
"Mum, Dad. You seriously don't have to stay and see me off. I'll be getting on the train in a minute and I'm sure you've plenty of other things to do. Besides, I am of age now." Mr. Weasley had a strange little smile on his face as he looked up and down the platform at all the other families scurrying about preparing to send their loved ones off to Hogwarts.
"Ginny, I've seen every single one of my children off and you being our youngest this is the last time I'll ever have a chance to do this." Mrs Weasley countered, fussing over Ginny as she swept away some invisible dust off Ginny's robes with her hand. "Unless of course I come with you when you have your own children and are sending them off to Hogwarts."
"Mum, seriously I'm fine. I'm here safe and sound and will be boarding in a minute." Ginny knew that there was no way on earth she'd subject her own children to her mother on their first trip to Hogwarts.
"Molly, she makes a good point. We have seen her safely to the train and we don't want to embarrass her." Mr. Weasley suddenly spoke and showed that he had been listening to the exchange the whole time.
"I'm not embarrassing her," Mrs. Weasley retorted, looking at Ginny proudly. "Quidditch Captain and Gryffindor Senior Prefect, none of your brothers managed to achieve both honours at the same time. We're so proud of you Ginny." She beamed proudly and her hand dusted across the two shiny badges pinned to Ginny's robes. This was why Ginny had broken the normal tradition of wearing muggle clothing to the platform and changing on the train.
"Thanks mum." Ginny gave a small smile as her mum finally stopped fussing over her. "Although I suspect if Harry was attending Hogwarts this year he'd have been Quidditch Captain." This was the first time in weeks that Ginny mentioned Harry in front of her parents.
She'd deliberately tried to avoid the mention of Harry because her mum always started in on reminding her how stupid Ginny had been in splitting up with him in the first place. She watched as the proud smile waned on both their faces for a moment before Mrs. Weasley put her hands on her daughter's shoulders and with a sympathetic smile said "I'm sure Harry and you will work things out Ginny."
Luckily at the moment however there was a loud squeal from behind Mr. and Mrs. Weasley "Uncle Arthur, Auntie Molly!" The Weasley's turned round and just in time to have a red haired little girl fling herself at Mr. Weasley, who caught the young eleven year old girl in his arms before he started peppering her face with kisses causing an eruption of giggles from the young girl as he said "Tee Tee" between kisses.
Following and approaching a more sedate pace was man and woman both dressed smartly with their arms linked and the lady was holding a little boy's hand who at his mother's encouragement let go and moved into the waiting arms of Molly who wrapped the little boy in a big hug and started talking to him enthusiastically as the adult couple approached Ginny and both gave her a hug.
"Congratulations on the Prefect and Quidditch Captain appointments, you must be delighted to be given a double honour." Ginny felt her face blushing as it always tended to do.
"Thanks Uncle Hamilton," Ginny said to her Uncle. "It did come as quite a surprise, although it's worked out even better this year. Dad bought me a Yajirushi racing broom since I'm the last one that is attending Hogwarts so he's saved a fortune in tuition fees." Ginny grinned looking at her Auntie Maeve who nodded along listening to Ginny.
"So you've selected an Asian broom rather than a European one. I bet Arthur had to pay a pretty knut to import that with the customs charges and taxes." Maeve said with that almost snooty look she always seemed to put on her face whenever she talked about Arthur.
"Well like I say there's only me attending Hogwarts this time and he's a department head at the ministry now so he wouldn't have done it if he couldn't afford it." Ginny's eyes narrowed a little. She knew her Aunt Maeve still thought she was superior. "You must visit mum and dad at The Burrow now that we've had it rebuilt, I'm sure they'd love to see you both and Forrester while Tia is at Hogwarts." Ginny added, crossing her arms over her chest as she stared down her aunt and her uncle shifted from one foot to the other a little uncomfortably like her dad did when he was expecting an argument or conflict.
"House renovations AND a new broom! It's almost like Arthurs won the Prophets Galleon Prize Draw for a second time with the windfall you've had." Maeve said with a face that looked like it was sucking on a lemon.
Ginny and her brothers loved their Uncle Hamilton who was dad's oldest brother but they all detested his wife, their Aunt Maeve. Maeve Weasley was a member of the Flint family and was aunt of former Slytherin Marcus Flint who captained the Slytherin Quidditch team in Ginny's first year.
Her Uncle Hamilton being the eldest brother married Maeve Flint just before the start of the first wizarding blood war after a fleeting romance that Ginny hadn't been told all the details of but her mother often commented that Hamilton was a fool to rush in and marry Maeve after only courting her for a few months.
Her other Uncles Robert, Maximillian, Donnal and Bryce had all married pureblood or half bloods and her dad was constantly talking about muggle inventions when they all got together at family events. Mrs. Weasley had to practically drag Mr. Weasley off by the ear in order to give her in-laws some peace as even though his sisters in law were half bloods most they'd all grown up with magical parents and in magic houses, so didn't know that much about muggle inventions other than what they'd heard from their muggleborn parent..
Ginny liked all her other aunts however except for Maeve who she tolerated for her Uncle Hamilton's benefit. Maeve Flint had come with a rather generous dowry from the Flint family so unlike the rest of the Weasley's her uncle Hamilton had or appeared to have money, although whether this was because of the gold Maeve brought to the marriage or because her uncle was thrifty and clever with his money, Ginny didn't know.
The rest of the Weasleys seemed to spend their gold as soon as it hit their coin purses and all had larger families just like her own. Maeve and Hamilton only had two children. A daughter, Tia, who was eleven and starting her first year at Hogwarts and her brother Forrester who was only eight years old.
"It's very good that he's able to establish his standing again with this promotion." Maeve went on to Ginny's annoyance, "I was beginning to suspect that maybe your brother Ronald inheriting the Slytherin name might have been financing this little spending spree from the Slytherin fortune?" Maeve clearly does not believe Arthur's promotion paid for the house renovations and broom purchase.
Ginny went even redder but was cut off from her retort by Mrs. Weasley approached them all with her arm around Forrester who was smiling at his parents and appeared to be eating a pumpkin pasty that Mrs. Weasley seemed to have provided him.
"It's lovely to see you Hamilton," she greeted, wrapping Hamilton in a bone crushing hug that he returned with equal enthusiasm before Mrs. Weasley moved onto her Aunt Maeve.
"Lovely to see you as well Maeve and I do like the coat you have on. Is that Mokeskin?" Ginny's anger disappeared and she had to cover a laugh at Maeve's uncomfortableness at receiving a hug. Her Aunt stood so rigid it was like someone had suddenly slipped bubotuber worms into her knickers.
Thankfully at that point Ginny noticed Lavender emerge from one of the fireplaces and called out and waved until Lavender spotted her. Ginny noticed that Lavender looked a little irritated so she made her excuses and promised to look after Tia at Hogwarts regardless of what house she got sorted into. She gave her mum and dad a quick hug, promising that she'd write to them and then set off down the platform meeting Lavender towards the front of the train where the prefect carriage was located near the new baggage car that had been added to the Express.
"Lav you doing ok?" Ginny was concerned. Her friend looked almost on the brink of tears. "What's the matter? It's not Ron is it?" A feeling of dread suddenly filled her stomach that something had happened to, or with, Ron.
"I…" Lavender fanned her face, her lip quivering slightly as she tried to stop herself crying.
"It's alright what's the matter?" Ginny pulled Lavender into a hug that Lavender fell into burying her head in Ginny's shoulder as she started crying loudly and whining as she bawled into Ginny's shoulder. Ginny patted her back and tried to not look at any of the nearby onlookers too closely.
After a few moments Lavender stood up straight, her eyes a little puffy as she extracted a hanky from inside her hand bag and dabbed her eyes.
"Are you alright?" Ginny asked while rubbing one of Lavender's arms soothingly as her friend's head nodded. Lavender's lovely golden curls bounced as she nodded her head.
"I'm sorry about that. I've just had a really shitty week and the meeting I had at work was just the last straw." Lavender put her hanky back in her bag, extracted a compact mirror and touched up her makeup before retrieving the hanky again.
"Why what happened? Are you in trouble or something?" Ginny wondered what could have gotten Lavender so upset. She had been on cloud nine ever since she'd met with Ron after the will readings and they'd decided to make another go of things.
"No, I'm not in trouble. I just had one shitty thing after another happen this week and I've not even got Ron to talk to about any of it all because he's away with the team. You're the only other person I feel comfortable telling it all to."
"Well what's happened?" Ginny rubbed Lavender by her upper arms looking at her friend's face trying to provide comfort.
"Well it all started this week when I got an owl from one of the furniture shops that Ron and I went to. They didn't have enough material to put together the curtains we ordered and that we'd have to wait a couple more weeks for them to get more of the material imported from Morocco." Lavender explained while she was fiddling with her handkerchief.
"You're getting this upset about curtains and having to wait a few weeks for them?" Ginny chuckled, hoping that wasn't what the problem was as her hands dropped from Lavender's arms, thinking that she couldn't believe Lavender was crying about curtains.
"No, I'm not upset about the damn curtains Ginny. I'm just explaining that's the first shitty thing that happened this week." Lavender rolled her eyes at her friend. "No well I'd had that letter arrive and that annoyed me. Ron had paid extra to have them made up and fitted in time for the day of the game so they'd be at Salamander House and installed by the time we got home." Ginny didn't seem to consider that something to be upset about. "Well fine after that I was annoyed and picked up the prophet and saw that article about how Susan Bones and Harry Potter had split up and how Susan was now moving onto Ron." Her face turned into a scowl.
"You seriously think that Susan Bones fancies Ron?" Ginny was surprised that Lavender had even given that article the time of day. "Did you not see it was Rita Skeeter who had written it?" Ginny asked, her scepticism evident.
"Why wouldn't she? Ron's gorgeous, smart, great at Quidditch…" Lavender indignantly replied at the question. She couldn't possibly understand why any woman couldn't possibly want her Won Won.
Meanwhile Ginny's eyebrows were raised, she couldn't believe that Lavender thought Ron was smart. He wasn't by any stretch, a little slow at times but she thought it was a massive stretch to label Ron as smart, Ginny thought to herself while Lavender rattled off what she considered Ron's good qualities.
"Not to mention that he's an amazing lover. That's part of why I miss him so much as the last time we were together we mph-" Lavender concluded the rest of her sentence with Ginny's hand suddenly clamped over her mouth.
"Please don't ever talk to me about the things you and my brother get up to when you're alone. That's seriously gross." Ginny said, satisfied that Lavender had stopped what she was going to say as she removed her hand tentatively, ready to move it back in place if needed.
"Oh honestly Ginny, don't be such a prude. You weren't so shy on the details when you were telling me about you and Harry getting down to it by the boat house or when you took him to the third floor corridor and fooled around with him in the room that Cerberus of Hagrid's was kept," Lavender countered.
"Yes well Harry isn't my brother," Ginny argued with a slight colouring of her cheeks. "It would be like me talking about someone's parents, doing... that" making the intercourse signal with her hands causing Lavender to giggle.
"You're so silly. You've done it, you know how good it feels, so why are you shy about talking about it?" Lavender amusedly questioned, but then she saw a familiar person over Ginny's shoulder that caused all the amusement in her to disappear. Astoria Greengrass and her family emerged from one of the floos. She quickly turned her head trying to pretend she hadn't seen them but Astoria had spotted her and was smirking at her in such a way that Lavender wanted to just slap her.
"I've not problem talking about sex just not when it involves my brother," Ginny noticed the change in her friend. "What's up?" Lavender was looking at her with a pinched look on her face, her eyes darting to the side a few times and trying to maintain contact with Ginny, who turned as she heard footsteps approaching.
"I do apologise for the interruption Miss Brown but we were wondering whether we might have a quick word with you." An elegant blonde lady, with a very pretty face and impeccable clothes announced. Ginny looked at the woman and then the man next to her up and down and recognised the Greengrass family.
"I'm actually talking to my friend before she goes to Hogwarts and unless you've come to apologise, I don't really think there's much to say to one another," Lavender replied. Her face was like stone and her eyes were hard.
"Well that's exactly what we'd like to do, actually Miss Brown." The man eloquently replied in a voice as smooth as silk.
"What?" Lavender showed surprise on her face which caused her cool demeanour to fade away.
"Yes we wish to apologise for what happened at the Manor the other day," Isabella Greengrass concluded politely.
"It was all my fault you see that I'd made a friendly bet with my daughter Astoria during one of our poker evenings and the stakes were upped and well I had to relinquish control of the manors wards for losing." Gerald explained with the very essence of politeness. He turned and indicated to Astoria who was standing about ten feet away looking at the scene with a mixture of boredom and annoyance on her pretty face.
"You gave your youngest daughter control of your house wards, for a bet?" Lavender asked sceptically.
"Yes I did. Unfortunately it was ill advised since clearly my youngest doesn't have the necessary knowledge yet to control them." Gerald tried to sound sincere, when in truth both his daughters had great magical control, so good in fact that they were worried that Astoria and Daphne weren't magical at all as they didn't have any accidental magic incidents until they both got angry about something at the ages of nine and ten.
"Dad!" Astoria exclaimed. "I've got great magical control and can handle the wards just fine." She received a hard look from her mother which silenced her.
"Obviously she doesn't, otherwise the incident when you turned up at the property wouldn't have happened. I do hope you can accept our apologies Miss Brown and that you weren't injured when you landed." Gerald finished and Isabella added her own sincerest apologies.
"No I wasn't injured as I was caught by some fir trees and dropped onto a large collection of long grass and moss." Lavender's anger bubbled up as she remembered how she'd been catapulted off the grounds and into a dense forest of evergreen and fir trees that had whipped against her slowing her descent before acting as a kind of net and dropping her onto a soft squidgy moss that was like a bed. "However my outfit was completely covered in dirt and debris and I had to go and change and I'll most likely have to have it professionally cleaned."
"Well please do send us the bill for the cleaning of it and we will gladly pay by way of apology." Isabella said to Lavender.
"What? But she..." Gerald held up a stern finger behind his back and once again Astoria's rant was cut off before it began.
"Again we do apologise for what happened and as my wife says please owl us the bill for the cleaning to Greengrass Manor and we will gladly cover the cost and please convey our apologies to your mother and father as well. We don't normally have our guests leave the property in such a fashion." Isabella finished and gave a small curtsey to Lavender before linking arms with her husband and moving away. He gave her a respectful nod of the head.
Ginny turned and watched as they separated when they got to their daughter and Lord Greengrass' arm went around Astoria's shoulder and the three Greengrass walked off down the platform. Ginny saw Astoria Greengrass turn and look over her shoulder at Lavender giving her an icy stare that would have made her sister Daphne proud. Ginny thought that the title of Ice Queen had been handed down now.
Ginny was a bit confused from the entire exchange, "What the bloody hell was all that about?".
Lavender let out a dejected sigh and immediately launched into the story about how she'd tracked Susan Bones down and told her clear as day to stay away from Ron at Greengrass Manor. Ginny listened, checking the clock of the platform occasionally to make sure she didn't miss the train, as Lavender retold the tale and had to cover a laugh with a cough when Lavender described the getting dunked in the fountain by the earth sprouted tentacle before being catapulted through the air into the woodland surrounding their Manor House.
"That sounds simply awful." Ginny commented before she couldn't help it and burst out into a fit of giggles that annoyed Lavender.
"It's not funny Ginny. I could have been seriously hurt because of that little shit Astoria Greengrass." Lavender chastised Ginny, who took a few moments to calm down. "Anyway that was just the tip of the wand for my shitty week. I got called into a work meeting this morning and was told that I'm going to lose my exclusive interview with Harry and Hermione!" She started fiddling with her handkerchief again to try and stop herself getting upset.
"What? You've lost your exclusive with Harry and Hermione? Why? How?" Ginny was surprised at this because Lavender had told her how her editors had fawned over her interview with Ron and that they'd loved it. Ginny hadn't told her latest friend and her brother's new girlfriend that she thought the article was vomit worthy and completely rubbish from a person who might want to learn more about Ron's point of view but she didn't say it.
She felt it was a really wasted opportunity on her brother's part to let the world know who he was and what he was about but all he'd successfully done is make himself look like he'd achieved more than he did and make out he was some sort of Quidditch god. This was something the rest of the Weasley's agreed on. One night, Ginny had overheard Percy and George in the sitting room before dinner discussing if Ron was meant to be rebuilding and improving on the Slytherin name he might want to think a little differently about it.
"YES!" Lavender shrieked suddenly and so loudly that a couple of second years walking past jumped at the sound and was ignored totally by Lavender however as she launched into her explanations. "I spoke with my editor after she said the Witch Weekly board members wanted to assign my interviews with Harry and Hermione to Parvati of all people, and were going to pay for Parvati to go to Japan and do the interviews before she went off to school at Bazai Gonbad in Tajikistan where her brother is at school."
"I bet you're wondering why would they give it to Parvati?" Lavender asked, not pausing for breath long enough for Ginny to say she wasn't wondering at all. Lavender answered her question, her voice dripping in sarcasm as she did. "Because apparently she had a really great interview with Mance Gorman that's going to be coming out in the next edition over here."
"Mance Gorman.., As in the lead singer for the Stomping Unicorns… he's fit," Ginny commented with a slight giggle that Lavender clearly didn't hear or care to respond to.
"I had to threaten to take the interviews off them by writing to Harry and Hermione if they even thought about it and I'd make damn sure that they gave the interviews to someone else instead," Lavender concluded with a huff.
"And they didn't back down?" Ginny asked. "If Harry, Ron and Hermione had signed a contract though they couldn't back out, could they?" she tilted her head slightly puzzled.
"Of course they backed down," Lavender said with a momentary triumphant smile. "My editor even gave me a pay raise that I wouldn't normally have been entitled to until I'd been at the magazine for about three years. Those bitches Candice and Meredith were seething that I got a pay raise when I dropped that on them." That had been a good day when the two older and more experienced witches who she knew were belittling her had got their comeuppance. "As for the contract, well I've never actually had them sign a contract but I convinced Ron it was a good way to go and he agreed. He told Harry and Hermione it was all sorted, so they never questioned anything." Lavender was definitely a little disgruntled.
"So what's the problem then?" Ginny asked. "What did they say to you this morning that was so bad?"
"Well they told me this morning that apparently Harry wasn't quite as happy to trust Witch Weekly with his and Hermione's exclusive as I'd led them to believe and that he'd had some Aunt of his write to the board members through their solicitors in Japan with conditions that other publications attend an interview with them and that it had to happen when they wanted it to so apparently Parvati got to do the interview anyway." She was annoyed and actually stamped her foot like an irritated child to emphasise her displeasure.
"Oh well that's some pretty crappy luck," Ginny consoled. "But at least you've got a pay raise out of it."
"Yeah well. That's not the only bad news I had, apparently I'm going to have to earn that pay raise. Along with doing the gossip column, I'm also getting assigned economic news from Gringotts, which is going to eat up a hell of a lot of my free time that I was looking forward to spending with Ron," Lavender dejectedly concluded, thinking that it was the worst week.
Just then the Hogwarts Express whistled its final call for those to climb aboard and Lavender let out another sigh. "Please write to me Ginny. I'm going to be really bored until you return for Christmas break," she said to her redhead friend.
"Course I will. I'm sure you'll be having plenty of fun nights out and stuff before I finish for Christmas but I'll write to you I promise." Ginny replied while the two witches hastily hugged each other.
Those students remaining on the platform were mainly nervous first years who needed an encouraging push towards the Express and others who apparently had been restrained from getting onto the Express all made a late surge for the doors onto the train and Ginny and the other senior prefects from the other houses who appeared to be Ernie McMillan of Hufflepuff and Terry Boot of Ravenclaw. Who deliberately didn't meet Ginny's eye as he turned and looked down the train in the opposite direction suddenly when he spotted her. Finally the last senior prefect on the platform was a girl in Ginny's year named Tiffany McDowall, who was a brunette haired girl with a slightly pinched face who Ginny had a deep dislike for after Tiffany had spread some rumours about Ginny over the years.
When the platform was clear Ginny gave Lavender a final wave as the blonde haired girl disappeared into the floo and disappeared in a rush of emerald flames. She gave her mum and dad one final wave and climbed aboard herself letting out a sigh that at least everyone was on board and she just needed to go to the prefect's carriage and get the patrol schedule from the new Head Boy and Girl.
As Ginny had gotten on the train nearest the baggage car and prefect's carriage she had less distance to travel than others and only had to go through one open plan carriage with bench seats facing across from each other with tables in between which were taken up by a mixture of third and fourth years.
Ginny and her friends never really travelled in this style of car preferring the privacy of the cars towards the rear of the train with the private compartments that could comfortably sit about six older students or eight younger ones.
She got a couple of woof whistles as she passed a group of fourth year boys that only caused her to roll her eyes without turning before going through the car door at the end and into the prefect's carriage.
The Prefects carriage was arranged almost like a classroom set up with four rows of two person desks going back throughout the carriage so that each house and their three years worth of prefects all had a row with the other prefects in their year. In front of the rows of desks in the middle was the Head Boy and Girl's desk facing the prefect's desk with a blackboard behind it.
Ginny's eyes locked onto the list of seventh year prefects and senior prefects and looked to see who else was a prefect that year and had returned to Hogwarts from the year above, after last year was so brutally disrupted.
Ginny looked at the list and saw that a tall, mousey blonde haired boy in her year named Scott Flemming was the other Gryffindor senior prefect. She liked Scott because he was one of those naturally happy kind of people and was always up for a laugh. She knew that she'd have a good time on patrol with him when she was assigned with him.
For Ravenclaw it was Terry Boot and another returning member of the year above, Sue Li. For Hufflepuff it was Ernie McMillan who was repeating his year with another member of the previous year Megan Jones. Slytherin was Tiffany McDowall and Xavier Burton, a pompous spoiled pureblood wizard who thought he was god's gift to women.
Slytherin and Gryffindor were the two houses where none of the previous year appeared to be repeating their N.E.W.T year, which Ginny wasn't surprised about. She'd learned from Ron that most of his year were offered to finish their education away from Hogwarts and a lot of them including Harry and Hermione had taken the offer.
Ginny wished that she could have finished her education at another magical school for the experience if nothing else, but a larger part of her wanted to see whether Hogwarts was still the same or had been renovated back to how it was following the battle the previous year. Unfortunately no other offers had arrived for Ginny and so the inevitable conflict about where her mum wanted her to be so she knew she was safe didn't happen.
Ginny knew from previous years as a prefect that there was a list of duties that were to be performed by the prefects. From patrolling the corridor and cabins on the train, guiding the students to the carriages at Hogsmeade Station, the first week's patrol schedule and who the patrol teams were and in which parts of the castle or patrol route they were allocated.
The previous year Ginny had requested that she be put on more patrols with Terry Boot, whom she had started seeing part way through the year and this year she wanted to get into the meeting early to request to not be put on any with him at all given what had happened between them.
The other thing Ginny noticed as she entered the room however was that the new Head Boy was already sitting at the Head Boy and Girl desk making some notes on a piece of parchment.
"Justin?" Ginny said more as a question as the boy in question looked up at her with an easy smile.
"Hello Ginny." Justin Finch-Fletchley greeted with an easy smile. "Congrats on getting Senior Prefect and Quidditch Captain. That's quite a feat." he added, setting down his quill.
"Thanks Justin. Congratulations on making Head Boy." Ginny smiled at him as she moved to the desk in front of him and sat herself down where someone had placed a little place card like you'd find on tables at a wedding. Ginny thought the ever changing ink and handwriting looked very familiar. "It's great in a way that so many of your year have come back to complete their N.E. ."
"Well it's all thanks to Harry, Hermione and Ron really. If they hadn't done what they did to fight against You-Know-Who I was going to have to attend a magical school in Spain. I didn't really want to do that myself. I wanted to be the first in my family to get a complete education at Hogwarts." He explained seeing Ginny's brow crease momentarily as she tried to piece together what he was saying. "You know because all the other muggle borns weren't allowed to attend last year since the ministry decreed that magical learning was only to be permitted in pureblood families." The penny dropped for Ginny when he said that. With everything going on and worrying about her own friends and family she'd not really appreciated how hard it must have been for muggleborns.
"So what did you do? Did you have to go into hiding like Dean or Harry?" Ginny asked, wondering whether Justin would have had the horrific year her ex-boyfriends had been.
"Thankfully I didn't have anything like as bad a time as Harry and Dean. I wasn't actively being hunted. My family and I went to our villa in Gibraltar for a year in order to get away from the war and the Muggleborn Registration act." Justin explained while getting up and moving around the desk and then half leaning half sitting on the edge of it with his hands in his pockets looking down at Ginny.
"Well that sounds like a holiday in comparison to having Snatchers hunting you down like Dean and Harry did." Ginny said thinking how that didn't sound so bad. "Sorry. I didn't mean any offence or to belittle how hard a time you had or anything" she apologised as Justin held a hand up to stop her.
"It's fine no offence taken. I'd have taken a year not able to do magic over getting hunted down by Death Eaters and Snatchers any day." Justin let out a sigh. It wasn't lost on him how much better he'd had it than most.
"But the battle?!" Ginny suddenly remembered seeing Justin and Ernie McMillan helping Professor Sprout launch Mandrakes at Death Eaters and Snatchers during the battle.
Justin nodded and grinned at her. "Well I was a member of Dumbledore's Army or well Potter's Army now I guess" As if that explained it all. Ginny shook her head not understanding. He pulled his hand out of his pocket, a large gold galleon in his hand as he showed it to Ginny. "Do you not remember sending a message out before the battle calling for everyone to come to Hogwarts?" he asked smiling. "Well Ernie had given me one of a pair of portkeys that his family had arranged to go to his family home and for them to come to our villa in Gibraltar if things got too bad for them here."
"So I activated the portkey to his house and apparated to Hogsmeade and bumped into your twin brothers. I followed them all into the Hogs Head and into the Room of Requirement and then everyone was streaming down into the Great Hall where the Professors asked me to help them with the battle plan," He explained as Ginny listened, completely fascinated.
"And then you just joined the battle even though you could have been safe in another country." Ginny nodded her head impressed.
"Well even though your house is known for your bravery, us Hufflepuffs are still pretty brave as well… Plus you know we are loyal as well." He said with a carefree shrug and a little stab of guilt as he remembered the times he had been harsh and judged Harry with the whole snake, Heir of Slytherin thing, and the name coming out of the Goblet of Fire as well.
"I know you are. I saw the way all Hufflepuff stood up almost at the same time as Gryffindor when that bitch Parkinson wanted to hand Harry over to Voldemort."
"That's right we did." Justin had been so proud of his house mates that night, more so than any other time he'd been at Hogwarts because they stood as one in defiance at Pansy Parkinson's suggestion. "Harry seems to have forgiven Parkinson from what I've seen in The Prophet and what Susan and Hannah have told me. I'm assuming Harry isn't coming back and that's why I got this." Justin tapped the Head Boy badge on his chest.
"No he's not coming back. He's gone to Japan with Hermione." At least Hermione will be able to provide him some protection from other girls while he was away and hopefully she would assist Ginny in getting back together with Harry. She helped her last time so she should be able to do it again.
"Ah well he and Hermione were always together weren't they. I see your brother started off his professional Quidditch career as well. That's pretty amazing. Do you get to see him play much?" Justin asked kindly, thinking if he was honest he wouldn't have wanted Ron playing for his team, the Falmouth Falcons. He was a very patchy form kind of player and that's not what you want in a Keeper.
"Yes, he loves playing professionally as well. I'm hoping to do the same after Hogwarts." Ginny was honestly surprised she was being so open about her future plans with Justin. She only really knew him through the DA.
"Well having seen you play both Seeker and Chaser I'd imagine you'll have teams clambering all over themselves trying to recruit you." Justin said honestly as there was a noise from outside the door.
"Thanks, that's really nice of you to say." Ginny replied hearing the noise outside their compartment as well. "So who's the new Head Girl?" she asked, curious as she wondered whether it would have been one of Harry, Ron's and Hermione's old classmates.
"You don't know?" Justin said with a smile creeping onto his face. "Well you're in for a treat this year. I think it's going to be so much fun." He added conspiratorially as he laughed at Ginny's eyebrow arching.
"Go on, who is it?" she asked him, "What makes you say it's going to be fun?" He opened his mouth to answer just as the lock on the compartment door clicked open loudly and as the door slid back Ginny's mouth opened slightly in surprise.
"Luna?" Ginny said as she looked at her friend in the doorway, noticing that her friend looked a lot different than the last time she had seen her. Her eyes couldn't help themselves as she looked Luna up and down noticing how her friend stood a good half a foot taller and was around five foot eight inches in height now similar to Ginny herself.
Her normally messy blonde hair was brushed neatly and tied up in a sort of elegant twisted bun and she had a thin yet tasteful amount of makeup on her face that actually made her look really pretty. The dangling radish earrings however were missing and instead Luna wore two small silver stud earrings, one shaped like an eagle with its wings spread in her left ear. In her right ear was one shaped like a leopard's face, which Ginny knew from having been round to Luna's house that the Leopard made up part of the Lovegood family crest and she recognised the Eagle from the Ravenclaw crest. She has seen it every day attending Hogwarts.
Ginny was happy to see that Luna's transformation wasn't completely and totally without Luna's individuality though. She noticed that Luna had her wand stuck behind her ear like she normally did.
The biggest shock though for Ginny was that her boobs looked absolutely huge. Big enough to rival Susan Bones and Tracey Davis, who Ginny had heard boys daydreaming and ogling for years.
Ginny noticed the shiny gold badge on the lapel of Luna's robes and saw the sapphire blue HG on it, which she might not have noticed as quickly if it wasn't for Luna's apparent increase in bust.
"Oh, hello Ginny. It's good to see you." Luna greeted with a genuine smile reaching her face and giving a wave with her free hand as the other hand held a large roll of parchment. "Did you have a nice summer?" she asked, looking at Ginny unblinkingly for a moment.
"I've had better." Ginny replied, too distracted by the hundred questions she had about Luna's appearance running through her head at that point to expand further. "Luna, you look… different… Really different." Ginny was in awe as well as slightly in shock.
"Oh I know. I'm trying some things that some of my new friends suggested I do to improve my appearance. It's so nice to have so many friends now even though obviously you're my oldest friend." Luna said dreamily.
"Why would they tell you to improve your appearance? Luna there's nothing wrong with the way you've always looked," Ginny felt her anger boiling a little. Luna was a wonderfully carefree spirit and didn't conform with any social expectations and that was something that Ginny both loved and admired about Luna.
"Well I liked the way I looked as well. They said the same thing but when I asked them about certain things about themselves they gave me some advice and told me to try it if I wanted to. So I did." Luna's pale grey eyes looked at Ginny's as she blinked and Ginny noticed that Luna's eye lashes were curled.
"So they didn't tell you to change your appearance, you're just doing it because you want to?" Ginny wondered who these new friends of Luna's were.
"Oh no they are very nice and said that they loved the way I looked and how individualistic I was. I just thought that if I asked for some pointers on my appearance from them then it might have people poke less fun at me or say horrible things about me... and will help with other things." Luna explained as Ginny continued to study her. Luna stood there unashamedly.
"Other things?" Ginny asked as Luna just looked at her.
"Yes, other things." Luna leaned in a little as she said it, like it was a secret and not adding anything further.
"I've never really been one for using sleek-easy in my hair or wearing makeup." Luna said dismissively and in her slightly sing songy voice. "I'm not sure I've done it properly though. I kept getting some strange looks from people as I was walking up the train corridor and down the platform earlier."
"What do you mean strange looks?" Ginny's eyes narrowed. She didn't want or like people making fun of her oldest friend.
"Oh just people looking at me like they didn't recognise me or that I had something stuck on my face or something. They may have just been infected by nargles though" Luna replied. She closed the door as she stepped into the carriage and Ginny out of the corner of her eye noticed Justin's head come up at the comment as well.
"Probably people were just surprised to see the new you, Luna. Don't worry about it, you look great," Justin said kindly. He picked up the quill he'd been using and started going back to checking the list he'd been working on when Ginny had entered the carriage.
"Thanks Justin, it's very nice of you to say so." Luna said, giving a small shy smile and blushing slightly at the compliment and looking away a little shyly.
"He's right Luna, you look amazing really. Really pretty," Ginny said honestly. "You appear to have had quite the growth spurt in the summer since I saw you though."
"Well I'm not really this tall. I'm about four inches shorter than this but I charmed my shoes by accident to make me taller when I was experimenting with a couple of charms to tie and polish my school shoes. I put them on and found I was taller as well. I quite like it though as it will make grooming the older and taller thestrals easier." Luna said a little dreamily.
"And…err...the erm… boobs?" Ginny was really uncomfortable but she heard a snort from Justin behind her. He was chuckling silently to himself while he bit his fist, she assumed to stop himself from laughing.
Ginny rounded on the black haired boy, "Something funny Justin?"
"Oh no. Nothing funny… don't mind me and carry on." Justin replied before having to turn a loud yelping laugh into a fake sneeze. His shoulders rose and fell as he chuckled silently and tried to keep it together.
"My boobs?" Luna questioned as if she'd not been paying attention and was pulled back to the moment.
"Yes, your boobs Luna. Forgive me for saying but they are massive, when did they get so big? How?" Ginny asked, her eyes drawn to them as Luna thrust her chest out.
"Oh I charmed them to grow bigger as well, although my new friends didn't tell me to do that. I noticed that a lot of the girls who like Harry have big boobs, so I thought most boys would like them. Do you want to feel them?" Luna asked while moving towards Ginny. Ginny backed up quickly with her hands out, palms facing Luna, to indicate to stop.
"Oh Godric! Luna no I don't want to touch them." Ginny said aghast knowing that Luna wasn't shy about such things and would probably grab Ginny's hands and put them on her chest if Ginny didn't move quickly enough out of range.
"Oh ok. I'll show you them then and you can tell me what you think." Luna started quickly unbuttoning her blouse as Justin made another yelping hoot of a laugh before seeming to gain control of himself after another dark glare from Ginny as the older boy tried to contain his laughter at the situation.
"LUNA STOP!" Ginny called loudly as her friend's hands paused mid button on her blouse. "Justin is sitting right there." She pointed at Justin whose cheeks were starting to turn pink as he hadn't been able to prevent himself looking up at Luna saying she would let Ginny touch her boobs.
"Yes I know. Would you like to see my boobs Justin?" Luna innocently inquired looking at Justin who just blinked back at her like an owl completely dumbstruck, before quickly averting his eyes and finding the ceiling very interesting.
"Luna you can't just go showing your boobs to boys." Ginny admonished before stepping forwards and starting to button Luna's blouse back up that was showing a large amount of pale creamy cleavage.
"Why not? Justin seems nice and he'd give me an honest opinion." Luna innocently argued as she looked at Ginny's blushing face as her friend quickly did up her blouse.
"Justin may be very nice Luna, but there's certain things that are proper and certain things that aren't." Ginny stares hard at her. "Why would you want to look like one of the girls interested in Harry anyway?" She took a step back but was ready to step forwards again if needed as a ball of dread started filling up inside her. She was worried that her friend also fancied Harry. The competition for Harry was already substantially filled with competitors as it was.
"Well I just noticed it and knowing that Harry kissed some of these girls that it must be something that most wizards like, so I thought I'd charm them bigger," Luna explained with a shrug.
"So you've not naturally just got bigger but you've used magic on them?" Ginny was aghast but also relieved. "Luna, you weren't exactly flat chested beforehand, so I don't really understand it. Do you fancy Harry? Did he say to you he likes girls with bigger boobs?" Ginny asked a little desperately thinking that Luna will tell her honestly and not wanting to have to go to those lengths to win Harry back, but if it helped her it was useful information to have.
"No, I don't fancy Harry. I was just asking him whether he thought I should make my boobs bigger because I was wondering whether Neville preferred them bigger." Luna replied, blushing a little.
"OOOOOOOOOOH" Ginny slowly voiced as the penny dropped. "So you fancy Neville." Her mind turned but was also relieved that Luna didn't fancy Harry as well. Ginny knew Harry had always had a soft spot for Luna but didn't know whether that involved any romantic feelings.
"You do realise that Neville has gone to Castelobruxo already?" Luna nodded, "So he can't see the big boobs that you've got or how you look." Luna waited for Ginny to explain. "So if Neville isn't at Hogwarts this year why have you charmed your boobs bigger?"
"Oh well just to see if I can really and see whether what my friends said was true that boys talk to their Babylon's instead of their faces. Plus it would allow me time to make them different sizes and see what sort of reaction they get. We could do it together if you like as we can see what your boyfriend thinks about you with a big pair of boobs." Luna's face is completely neutral and serious.
Justin couldn't take it anymore and rather than laughing out loud at the absurdity of Luna's thinking, which might be construed as him mocking her, he decided to take himself out of the carriage and away from the conversation as he got to his feet.
"I think I'll leave you two to it." Justin said politely.
He had to approach them both in order to get past them to leave the carriage. "Are you sure you don't want to see them, Justin? I'm not terribly shy and I've heard witches at school say you are nice, so I wouldn't mind." Luna questioned, not at all flirtatiously and looking at him with her unblinking saucer like eyes. "Maybe Ginny can show you hers too, then you can compare them."
"LUNA!" Ginny hissed at her friend mortified with the suggestion and she was happy to see Justin blush and look away embarrassed. "STOP IT!"
"What?" Luna asked innocently.
"As much as the offer is appreciated Luna and I'm sure you both are equally blessed in that department, I'm going to have to politely decline." Justin replied as he opened the compartment door. "Oh and for the record, Luna I would agree with your friends and just be as you are. Someone will always like you for you and you're always best being yourself rather than what you think someone else would like." Justin said sincerely, giving Luna a kind smile before giving them both a wave and informing them that he was going to gather up the rest of the prefects for their meeting and that he'd see them in a bit.
"I can't believe you just said that to him, Luna." Ginny's cheeks started slowly losing their redness after Luna embarrassed her by offering to have Justin compare their boobs.
"Justin is nice and he seemed very gentlemanly. He reminds me of Harry a little as he said something similar to me when I asked him about whether I should make my boobs bigger." Luna replied while she moved into the carriage proper. She took her wand from behind her ear and tapped the parchment in her other hand and then each place where someone was going to sit.
A roll of parchment the mirror of the one Luna was holding appeared in each place as she made her way along the rows. Ginny took her seat and unrolled the parchment to see that it was a patrol schedule for the year and a time table of who was patrolling when and where and most importantly for Ginny, with whom.
Her eyes went down the parchment quickly as Luna made her way around the desks before finally coming to sit in the Head Girl and Boys table and took her seat and Ginny felt Luna's eyes on her.
"Erm Luna. Is there any chance that you can amend this so I don't have to do patrols with Terry?" Ginny knew that Luna would want to know why.
"I suppose that I can, why wouldn't you want to do patrols with Terry? I remember that you seemed to want to do them with him almost exclusively last year." Luna wanted to hear it from Ginny herself.
"Well… We kind of split up. I found out that Terry Boot is a major shit." Ginny said, causing Luna's head to tilt to the side as her friend's unblinking eyes studied her. "Fine, I'll tell you what happened. I know you're going to get it out of me anyway." Ginny let out a sigh as Luna had an amazing ability to make Ginny spill her guts and thoughts just by looking at her and not saying anything. Ginny always felt compelled to tell Luna what was going on with her life.
Ginny quickly explained about splitting up with Harry and going out with Terry exclusively and how stupid she had been. Luna listened, confirming and tying up details and events that happened, which she'd heard from Harry himself and her new friends who she had started calling the Slytherpuffs after befriending them and hearing Harry refer to them as such.
"Alright I'll see what I can do." Luna said, taking her parchment and examining it. She quickly muttered what Ginny assumed were ideas under her breath and was pointing and tapping at different places on her parchment.
Ginny looked down to see the names almost dancing on her own copy of the parchment Luna had conjured and was impressed by how quickly she was able to rearrange the schedule so that Ginny was patrolling with someone else instead of Terry.
"Wow Luna, that's amazing, thanks." Ginny stated as Luna finished with the parchment and put her wand back behind her ear.
"That's ok. I had a feeling that you might not want to patrol with Terry so I'd memorised potential changes I might need to make after reading the article about him grabbing Daphne Greengrass in the Spiny Serpent over the summer." Luna replied. "I think you made a really big mistake splitting up with Harry, Ginny."
Ginny sighed and put her head in her hands, "You can say that again."
"I think you made a really big mistake splitting up with Harry, Ginny." Luna said again with a smile as Ginny looked up and rolled her eyes at Luna literally taking her seriously.
"Ha bloody ha." Ginny looked up, "I've really dropped the quaffle breaking up with Harry." She saw Luna raise her eyebrows and press her lips together as she nodded slowly agreeing with Ginny.
"You can say that again."
"I've really dropped the quaffle breaking up with Harry." Ginny parroted, causing Luna to throw her head back and laugh out an amused and girly giggle. Ginny couldn't help but smile as well and soon the two of them were laughing along until Luna had to pause for breath.
"I've got a plan to get Harry back though." Ginny said to Luna who stopped laughing almost instantly.
"Really? I'm not sure that's…" Luna started to say but Ginny cut her off."No, it's going to work, I'm positive."
The compartment door slid open slowly and Justin entered the room giving them both a small wave. He sensed the lack of tension so he made his way to his seat followed by the rest of the prefects who started taking their seats.
Ginny saw Terry walk in looking like the cat that got the cream as he winked at her. Ginny scowled at him before turning back to Luna and quietly saying "But I'll tell you more about it later." Luna nodded and said for Ginny to come find her after the opening feast in the great hall.
"Bloody Hell is that you Loony? Where have you been hiding those tits?" Terry questioned when he recognised Luna for the first time. He took a seat and Luna watched him and Ginny saw that unlike the dreamy relaxed expression Luna normally had, this time her eyes were more focused and she was almost appraising Terry.
"It's Luna, not Loony alright Boot and watch your mouth." Justin intervened, to Ginny's surprise. She hadn't expected the friendly Hufflepuff to speak with such tenacity straight off the bat and get at Terry before she had a chance.
"Bleeding heck Finch-Fletchley calm down I was only having a laugh." Terry Boot said with a smirk that even Draco Malfoy would have been proud of it. "No need for you to get into a twist about it or are you just wanting to try and catch a glimpse of her changing to find out what happened to her tits when you get to the Head Boys and Girls dorm?" He added getting a snigger from a couple of the Slytherin boy prefects and one of the younger Ravenclaw prefects.
"Unlike you Terry, not all wizards are perverts who like to take advantage of any witch they come across." Ginny snapped at Terry who turned in his seat towards her.
"You didn't seem to mind a couple of months ago Red. You were more than happy to let me see if the carpet matches the drapes." Terry said with a snigger. Ginny went from calm to angry in a flash.
Just as Ginny fired her wand from its wand holster into her hand and moved it to point it towards Terry, she felt a hand firmly grip her forearm. Not aggressively and looked up to see Justin had got up from his chair and made his way around the desk to hers and was stopping her from hexing her ex boyfriend.
"Will you pack it in? Do you really have so little respect for other people?" Justin started saying as Terry cut him off.
"Listen Justin this has nothing to do with you. Ginny is a big girl and can take care of herself and so is Luna. You were in the DA with them and know that. I'm just having a laugh, so stop trying to play the bleeding hero. You're acting as bad as Potter when he was here." Terry said with a scoff.
Justin let go of Ginny's arm and moved over to Terry's desk and put his hands on the wood and leaned forward so he was looking down at Terry who just rolled his eyes as if he was bored with Justin's show of bravado.
"I know they can take care of themselves and you should be thanking me for doing you a favour and interjecting as both of them could kick your arse magically and I wouldn't bet against Ginny kicking your arse physically as well if you keep talking to her and Luna like that." Justin said, feeling his anger pumping around him as he tried to contain it.
"Yeah alright, whatever. Like you know anything about me or what witches want," Terry flippantly countered, not caring what a jumped up muggleborn had to say for himself. He'd always thought Finch-Fletchley was a pompous self-righteous arse hat.
"Just have a little respect for your peers, alright." He stood up and looked around the carriage at the rest of the prefects assembled and made eye contact with each one of them in turn. "Let's get one thing straight. We're meant to be stopping other students acting like idiots and talking to each other like that and cursing each other." He said the last to Ginny but not unkindly.
"So we are going to have a united front and if anyone wants to sling mud at each other after what we've been through over the last couple of years then you may as well turn in your badges when we get to Hogwarts." Justin said resolutely then noticing a few of those in the room had their hands subconsciously move to cover their prefect's badges protectively.
"Bloody hell talk about being dramatic. Ginny and I have a history and Luna's been in my House all the way through Hogwarts and you know nothing about our history or relationship with each other." Terry shot back hotly. Though any kind of relationship other than him pointing out to Luna Lovegood how much of a freak she was, was stretching it a bit but he couldn't lose face now.
"Yeah, well no more disrespecting Luna or I'll make sure that you're going to spend the rest of the year calling Luna 'Head Girl or Miss' with your wand shoved up your backside, so show the new Head Girl some respect yeah."
Luna stood and turned to Justin and moved around the desk joining him and patted his forearm gently. "It's alright Justin, I'm sure Terry was just joking." She said airily and gave Terry a look of curiosity more than anything.
"See... Everyone knows I was just joking except you and Ginny, so you both just need to chill the fuck out." Terry said, folding his arms over his chest.
"Why don't we all have a moment and calm down a minute and Justin and I will go through the changes that have been made at Hogwarts following the repairs and the changes that the prefects are going to have to help guide the other students with." Luna casually suggested. She looked around the room and to her surprise people seemed to listen to her.
The silence stretched out for a moment as Luna took in the atmosphere almost as if there wasn't a crackle of tension between the new Head Boy and Ravenclaw Senior Prefect. "You'll see on your desk that there is a piece of parchment and I think you'll find it very interesting and useful." Several of those in attendance picked up the parchment and unrolled it onto their tables.
One of the sixth year Hufflepuff prefects commented,"It's just a blank map of Hogwarts." Then looked back up at Luna strangely.
"It's not going to remain totally blank and I'm sure it's not totally blank right now." Luna stated again, albeit knowingly to those assembled as they all looked again.
"Alright so it's got the professors names dotted around the place, so what?" asked a fifth year boy named Stuart Drinkwater who was one of the new Slytherin prefects.
"They're moving?" gasped a sixth year Ravenclaw girl called Madeline Vane. "Is this? Is this like a map of Hogwarts as it is now? I wonder why Professor Flitwick is in Hagrid's Hut?"
"Mmmm hmmm yes. Professor Flitwick told me that he goes to see Hagrid before the new students arrive for the start of term feast just to catch up on how their summers have gone." Luna serenely supplied.
"So what? We are going to know where the Professors are when in Hogwarts. What good is that?" a fifth year Gryffindor boy by the name of David Bell asked.
"Well do you not think it's a good idea to know where the Professors are if you catch a student doing something they shouldn't be doing that needs a decision beyond a detention happening for example?" Justin asked the room.
"Or given how something happens at Hogwarts every year it would be good to know where the staff are in case we need help." Luna added. The rest of the prefects nodded along that it made sense.
"Where the hell did you get the idea or knowledge on how to make this?" a sixth year Slytherin girl called Jennifer Harvey asked.
"It's not really my idea but something I am trying to recreate. A friend of mine owned something similar which his father and friends created when they were at Hogwarts called the Marauders Map." Luna said to the group who she saw were listening attentively.
"Marauders? The Marauders?" A Slytherin boy named Richard Bear asked with disgust.
"You know the Marauders?" Ginny asked, turning in her seat.
"Yeah. They wrote 'Slytherin's suck arse' in the boy's bathroom in our common room." Richard ground his teeth as those not in Slytherin laughed.
"Ah well they were pranksters and all in Gryffindor." Luna explained as she remembered Harry writing to her one summer telling her about her father's exploits. "Anyway they created a map to track every person that came to Hogwarts but I've not been able to add anyone other than the professors yet since I've not perfected the magic behind it, this can still be a useful tool," Luna said to the agreement of everyone.
"Any updates I make to my own map will copy onto all of yours. I cast a protean charm on them just like Hermione did with the DA coins." Luna said as the prefects looked at her impressed.
"A little indication as to how you made Head Girl there then. Lovegood, that's pretty advanced stuff." Sue Li gave Luna a thumbs up.
"Indeed," Justin stepped forward, put a hand on Luna's shoulder, and gave her a smile. "Right then. So the next order of business is the changes to the castle and the grounds, if you'd all like to spread your maps out on your desks we'll go through them." He and Luna went to the other side of their desks and took their own map out and began. "So…"
0832hrs Monday 5th September – Path leading from the Jade Pagoda to the Duelling Hall, Mahoutokoro
"So you clearly were frigging born to do Defence magic Harry. I mean looking at the amount you've written for your assignment for Master Kuzuko she's going to be blown away. She only wanted two feet of parchment and you've done, what? Five feet?" Sunny Hichiro asked.
"Well I just assumed you'd all come up with more than one battle formation after the last lesson. I didn't assume Master Kuzuko was talking about a three person battle formation," Harry replied modestly.
"Well she probably doesn't, but I really struggled to think up more formations for a three person side in a battle as your triangle technique you had the Turtles do in the last lesson is the most effective," Charlie Chung commented from the other side of Sunny.
"But that formation does have its own weaknesses as well." Harry pointed out as he adjusted the bag on his shoulder.
"Not that I can see. It's great for repelling and deflecting spells from all directions," Charlie responded.
"Yeah but it's mainly effective when surrounded by more than three opponents." Hester said from behind them where she was walking with her arm linked with Rosa.
"That's right, yeah." Harry looked over his shoulder and gave Hester a grin, "I assume you did more than one formation as well." Harry said to Hester who nodded prettily at him.
"Yes I did a few for different groups from three to six opponents. I mean Charlie is right the triangle formation back to back is the best when largely outnumbered but is also very defensive. I understand why you had the Turtles get in that formation in the last class as the whole point was about deflecting and swatting spells." Harry nodded as they trudged along closely listening to Hester.
"That's right and being defensive when outnumbered is a good thing but you'll notice Charlie that ultimately Gwen, June and lost and were incapacitated," Harry explained.
"Ah crap I'm going to get a shit grade in this. I was mainly focusing on being outnumbered and protecting each other," Charlie groused. Rachel agreed she'd thought that was what Master Kuzuko wanted as well given that it was about spell deflection.
"Don't worry you two I'm sure you'll get a reasonable grade, but in real life you can't think defensively or offensively all the time when it comes to dueling either by yourself or with someone. The whole point is to win," Harry passionately pointed out.
"And protect those on your side and those you care about, right?" Riko Rei said from behind Harry.
"Absolutely Ray Ray. The hardest lesson I've ever had to learn when dueling in a group is that you've got to think about yourself first and trust them to do all they can to protect themselves. If you go into a fight with one eye on your opponent and one of your comrades you'll most likely lose or get killed." The Dragon's knew he was speaking from experience after everything they'd heard, seen, and witnessed for themselves.
"Tell that to Hermione after you jumped in the way of that curse in dueling practice. You had one eye on her then." Emre argued.
"That was different." Hester cut off Emre and any further comments. "Hermione had beaten Marco on her own and she and Harry didn't need to protect each other in that duel. Harry wiped the floor with Eirwen and Hermione kicked Ronaldo's arse. He was just a fucking coward and threw a curse at her back even after he'd surrendered." Hester concluded heatedly thinking how disgusting and coward Marco had been.
"Yes, but Hermione shouldn't have turned her back on her opponent even after he'd admitted defeat," Harry pointed out. "That's one of the first things I taught everyone when I started teaching people defence at Hogwarts." Harry then started fielding questions about why he'd had to teach people defence at Hogwarts.
This took them all the way up to the Dueling Hall and they made their way inside bowing to Master Kuzuko who was already standing in the middle of the central mat with her arms behind her back and a face like thunder.
Harry saw Hero and the Turtles were already sitting on their bench next to the Dragon's as they took their seats and looking the other way saw that Phoenix Clan, minus Marco, were already seated on their bench.
"What's up with Master Kuzuko?" Harry asked Hero.
"I think she's probably pissed off about that graffiti and vandalism that was on the Dueling Hall over the weekend. I was on patrol with Mio last night and she said that her, Li and Hermione got collared on the way back from dinner to help clean everything up. Apparently Master Kuzuko didn't let them go until ten o'clock when everything was back to normal." Hero explained in a hushed and quick whisper before sitting back up straight quickly when he saw Master Kuzuko turn her head towards him.
The Tigers arrived a few moments later in good spirits and loud, but they silenced instantly upon spotting their Dueling Master and Harry noticed that Master Kuzuko gave the Tigers nods except Hermione, Li and Mio whose bows she returned.
"Oh god this is going to be hell," Trevor muttered under his breath. Harry could feel the tension building in the room as no one spoke, watching Master Kuzuko and waiting for her to speak like a snake preparing to strike.
The class sat there in silence with Master Kuzuko basically looking at them all individually and working away along the line. Some of them unintentionally looked nervous under her gaze. The silence stretched out and the students started feeling uncomfortable. Harry and Hero looked at each other, and Harry decided to find out what was going on because it had been about ten minutes of Master Kuzuko's glaring.
"Master Kuzuko is everything alright?" The students released a collective sigh that someone had broken the silence.
Master Kuzuko turned to Harry, pinning him with a stare. "I'm glad you asked Mr. Potter. Things are better now, but I have to admit that after being away from the school for the weekend I was more than a little…" she paused to find the correct word, "irritated," she finally said, "to find that my Dueling Hall had been vandalised." She turned and looked along the lines.
"Yes we saw what had happened to the hall when we left Tiger Land over the weekend," Goro Jing called, with the Tigers agreeing with his statement. "I can assure you Master Kuzuko that none of the Tigers were responsible for the graffiti or anything that happened to the Dueling Hall."
"Yes I am well aware that the Tigers aren't accepting responsibility for what happened and I thank your Clan for assisting me in cleaning up the mess. Miss Mali and Naiko have already informed me that the Tigers were not responsible." Master Kuzuko looked at the other clans and Stacey Wong, Hester and Hero all stood up and were about to speak when Master Kuzuko held her hand up to stop them talking, the three of them looked between one another surprised.
"I'm assuming that the three of you are also going to say that your clans were not responsible either," Master Kuzuko said curtly, with the three students nodding that she was correct.
"Well you all seem to forget that I was a student here as were many of the staff, and I know all about the Truth or Dare competition that happens in your final year at Mahoutokoro." She firmly looked along the lines to see that this news surprised some of those present.
"So I understand that while it's all a bit of a laugh and a joke as you compete." She started to walk slowly along the line of students as she spoke before turning and walking back the other way. Harry couldn't help thinking she was like a lion preparing to strike. "That however does not exclude anyone thinking that they are going to be allowed to disrespect and vandalise school property," She barked at them causing several people to jump in their seats.
"So I'll give the people responsible a chance to step forward otherwise the rest of you are going to suffer." Master Kuzuko came to a stop and faced them all with her hands behind her back and feet shoulder width apart.
Raising his hand bravely, Chinook waited for Master Kuzuko to acknowledge him, waving down the whisper questions about what he was doing from his Clan mates. "Yes Mr. Kanook?" Master Kuzuko asked.
"Erm, well Master Kuzuko," Chinook gulped. "How do you know it was someone in our year and not someone from another year?" A few of the other students were thinking the same thing.
Master Kuzuko managed to keep the smile from her face because she had expected the question, "I'm glad you asked Mr. Kanook." She moved towards the Dragons who all seemed to tense a little as she approached them, "The answer is quite simple. I've been working here long enough and have been a student here." She said looking along the line and drawing out the silence. "I recognise a certain series of events happening throughout the year so far and I know what is causing them and I know no younger students who would be skilled or bold enough to do what happened to my Dueling Hall." All the students shuffled uncomfortably where they stood.
Master Kuzuko was still trying to observe who looked the most guilty to try and identify the culprit but she was prepared to punish the whole class. "Do you think that the teaching staff are completely blind and not noticing what is happening? You all might be very skilled and intelligent but remember that the staff have seen these events before and we aren't foolish enough to not know what is going on." She concluded matter of factly and leveling Chinook with a stare as he wilted under her gaze
The students didn't really have an answer to that and so looked at each other as if they might spot who the guilty party was. "So are any of you brave enough to admit that you carried out the task, because if not then the whole class is going to do magical Kairo until the perpetrators come forward." Master Kuzuko announced to the collective groans from the class.
"What the hell is a magical Kairo?" Harry quietly asked Trevor.
"It's where Master Kuzuko conjured a series of posts at the ends of the Dueling Hall and basically makes the floor in the middle a swamp."
Sunny on his other side chipped in, "You've then got to use the Cast and Pull spell to hook onto the posts at the end and pull yourself through the swamp to the other end."
"Then you've got to do the same charms to go up onto the beams near the top of the ceiling and pull yourself up before jumping and using a cushioning charm to stop yourself crashing into the floor," Trevor explained before Sunny continued. "Then you've got to repeat the process at the other end and keep doing them until Master Kuzuko tells us to stop."
"Well that doesn't sound so bad," Harry. He could think of worse things.
"Trust us it is bad. It's not so bad the first couple of times but as your magic starts to wane and you get tired, Master Kuzuko starts firing hexes and spells at you if she doesn't think you're moving quickly enough or thinks you're dragging out time trying to recover." Trevor said with a far off look that Harry could tell was all too evident that he'd experienced this personally.
"Well I suppose that doesn't sound as good if she's cursing us for taking a breather."
"She's scarily accurate with a stinging and slapping hex. Last year Charlie and I were taking a breather and I made the mistake of complaining that she was pushing us too hard. She fired off a slapping hex that hit my bollocks from about forty feet away and it nearly made me puke." Trevor said, giving a little shiver at the memory.
"Well I guess I'll find out shortly," Harry commented. Sunny and Trevor gave dejected nods as Harry could see that Rosa and Hester were having an increasingly whispered conversation. Hester physically pulled Rosa back to the bench as she started to rise. Harry's eyes flicked to Rosa and then Master Kuzuko and he noted that the Dueling Master had clocked the movement and was pretending not to watch the exchange.
Suddenly Rosa shook her head quite determinedly and much to Hester's obvious irritation her Spanish friend got to her feet. The Finnish blonde immediately pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. She did the now fabled Sanchez flick with her hair, squared her shoulders, and looked at Master Kuzuko, "Yes, Miss Sanchez?"
"I…" Rosa started but there was a collective groan from the Dragon's before Rosa seemed to pause for dramatic effect.
"Wow she's admitting it was her," Harry was impressed. "Why are you guys looking so worried and despondent about it though?"
"Master Kuzuko will probably punish the whole Clan for not doing the honourable thing and dobbing her in." Trevor replied quietly.
"Oh right, I see." Harry said, pressing his lips together and seeing Trevor's point.
"Well Miss Sanchez." Master Kuzuko said, giving a curt nod to Rosa. She admired Rosa's courage to step forward to take the punishment. "I'm assuming when you say your part in your dare that there was another person from a different Clan also involved?" She asked, getting a wide eyed stare back from Rosa whose mouth was opening and closing with a look of alarm on her face as she moved her mouth but no sound came out.
"Well?" Master Kuzuko asked, her eyes narrowing.
"I'm sorry Master Kuzuko but I can't say." Rosa shook her head and pointed at her mouth with a shrug as the game's magic stopped her from confessing it was her who had done the dare.
"I see that the magic involved is stopping what I assume is a confession Miss Sanchez." Master Kuzuko began pacing again, "But it's fairly obvious that a Dragon and a Phoenix Clan member were involved in the vandalism on my Dueling Hall. I'm assuming one did the drawing of the other and then their opponent responded in kind" she correctly assumed, her voice like a whip keeping them all at complete attention as the Dragon's and Phoenix Clan members shuffled uncomfortably on their benches.
"So as the magic of the game cannot make any of you confess I guess I have no other option than to punish you all." Master Kuzuko concluded standing with her hands behind her back.
She looked up to see Goro Jing with his hand up, "Yes Mr. Jing?"
"I assume you mean to punish all of Dragon and Phoenix." Goro said pointedly and got a wry smile from Master Kuzuko.
"No Mr. Jing, I meant all of you. All the Clans." She replied to the genuinely aggrieved Tigers and Turtle members.
"But our Clan's didn't do anything!" Akiko Yuki called out not waiting to be called upon, "Why would our Clans be punished when you've just said that you believe it was a Dragon and Phoenix member who vandalised the Dueling Hall."
"As a lesson for future Truth or Dare rounds Miss Yuki," Master Kuzuko said, seeing the puzzled exchanges between the students. "If you all share in the Phoenix and Dragon's punishment it will be a lesson to all of you what will happen if any of you dare the other to vandalise my Dueling Hall again." She saw that the message hit home.
"LINE UP" she called, stretching her arms out pointing to the opposite ends of the Dueling Hall to the collective groan of the class. The Tigers and Phoenix members went to one end with the Dragons and Turtles to the other.
"Don't think that we won't get you back for this." Giovanni Testudo groused to Riko Rei who just shrugged and replied, "I doubt this will be the last time we have to do this in dueling class."
"What do you mean?" Louis Marcel asked her.
"Well Master Kuzuko has just given everyone a really good dare for someone to challenge their opponent to. Who's going to want to do this again?" Riko replied as the two boys nodded their understanding.
While the students were taking their places Master Kuzuko went to the side of the hall near the power rankings posters and tapped her wand on one of the support beams that went all the way up to the ceiling.
A rune cluster appeared and she quickly did the relevant movement to unlock it and heard a metallic clunk before the cluster disappeared. From the ground at each end and in the middle of the dueling hall twenty-two bollards made out of stone rose from the floor.
Then with a series of clicks the floor around the central bollards in the middle of the hall started retracting towards the bollards at each end and the smell of musty and damp grass and mud filled the hall.
It had often been a class punishment over the centuries for the students to have to operate in this muddy and putrid damp ground that is beneath the dueling hall since it was built. The staff had affectionately called the punishment "The Dead Ground" and regularly used it for the more serious punishment of students breaking rules because the muddy sludge not only smelt bad but was horrible to the touch as well.
Harry's nose wrinkled at the smell and the groans from everyone was audible as the putrid stench hit their nostrils. Harry looked across to the opposite end of the hall and could make out Hermione's face showing her evident dislike of the smell as well.
Master Kuzuko cast a series of spells Harry didn't recognise by the wand movement and blue almost ghost like zeroes appeared above the posts in the middle of the room and in front of each of the students.
"Now I've set the counters on all of the posts so you are going to have to touch both the post in the middle between you and the other member of your class as well as the one on your side of the ground." Master Kuzuko called out loudly and smiling to herself that this was one punishment that the most senior class at Mahoutokoro wouldn't want to repeat so none of them would dare defile her dueling hall again.
She wasn't too mad as the Truth or Dare game was something that had gone back for generations and it was a rite of passage. It was mainly because she didn't want a flurry of graffiti and god knows what else for her to clean up that she was doing this. "I'm going to go and grade your assignments so I would say fifty reps each should be more than enough. Now begin," she called out to the class and made her way along the side of the dirty ground or bog for want of a better world. Harry saw Master Kuzuko had a large smile on her face as she went behind the Turtles and Dragons and into her office where she closed the door.
Harry heard the Phoenix and Tiger clan members starting to cast the hook and pull spells onto the post and watched as Goro Jing and Cadogen Ryan were the first people to hit the posts in the centre of the room and then were propelled forwards into a dive into the dirty thick sludge and slowly dragged towards the middle post.
"Wait" Harry called out as he saw Hester and Hero leading by example and starting to cast spells as they pulled their wand back.
"Harry we've got to get this started otherwise Master Kuzuko might make us do more if we are the last to finish." Tim called from the far end of the Turtles as more and more Tiger and Phoenix members started to copy Goro and Cadogen Ryan.
"I know but let's just think about this for a second." Harry said to them as the Dragons and Turtles looked at him uneasily. "Have you all had to do this before?" Harry asked the two clans.
"Only in detention a couple of years ago," answered Rachel Yu.
"And do the posts have any sort of spell on them to make sure it's you that's touched them or anything?" Harry asked Rachel who shrugged.
"I don't know," she replied as she thought about it.
"Last time me and Louis did this we wouldn't have dared not do it properly as we were doing Master Ping's detention for cursing a couple of Phoenix members on the way to the dining hall," Omori called.
"Somehow the guys from Phoenix managed to do it quicker than us though and I think Master Ping helped them as they seemed to rack the number of times they'd done it up a lot quicker than us," Tim concluded.
"What are you thinking Harry?" Hester had a curious expression touching her pretty face.
"Just whether we can do this without all of us having to get caked in this stuff," Harry pointed at the thick smelly bog of mud.
"You don't have to be all gallant and do our punishment for us Harry," Hester said.
"Ewww Ewwww EWWWWWWWW there's something moving in here, it's just slithered over my legs" Gosia Potizska screamed out as the Dragons and Turtles watched the Polish girl along with the other Tigers and Phoenix members getting caked in the mud as they pulled themselves along.
"Errrrr, speak for yourself Sanchez. If Harry and the boys want to stop me getting this stuff in my hair and all over me, then I'm all for it." June Chow said as the Turtle girls all laughed with her.
"I don't particularly want to have to drag myself through that either. What are you thinking, Harry?" Yoko asked Harry and the Dragons and Turtles started to gather around him.
"Well Master Kuzuko said that the posts count how many times we touch them right. So what I was wondering is whether they are magically charmed to recognise whether the right person has touched them or not."
"Let's find out." Emre said as he moved closer to Harry and touched the post that was meant to be Harry's. "Nothing happened as the ghostly floating zero hovering above the post remained unchanged.
"Crap," Emre said disappointed. Harry reached forwards and touched the post with his hand and the number changed to a one instantly.
"Ok so it's tuned to the correct person." Hero said before looking at Harry "Touch it again and see if it goes up." He instructed Harry who obliged and the number didn't change.
"I guess you have to touch either the post in the middle or the beam above us in order to have the count go me try something." He said making a movement with his arms so that the rest of the Dragons and Tigers could make some room for him.
"Incarcerous" Harry said loudly as he pointed his wand at the beam above his head and a thick dark rope shot out of his wand and wrapped itself around the beam above Harry's head.
The rope stayed connected with his wand as he concentrated on maintaining the spell. "Have any of you guys ever seen Tarzan?" Harry asked, getting confused looks from most of those around him other than Louis and Chinook.
"Ballsy Harry… very ballsy but I like your thinking. Although you're going to have to be bloody accurate," Chinook said, figuring out what Harry had in mind. "Plus you have to use one of the beams in between here and the middle post if you are going to swing over the mud and touch the post and have enough momentum to come back as well." The others looked between Harry and the middle post, now understanding what Harry intended to do.
"I wasn't planning on swinging out there. I'm able to do magic after all." Harry said with a grin firing his Ebony wand into his other hand and gave Chinook a wink as he took his second wand and cast a pulling charm at the post that was in the middle of the room that he was having to share with Tai Taylor of Tiger Clan.
Before anyone could say anything to Harry he went hurtling forwards as the invisible rope secured to the middle post retracted pulling him towards it. Harry put his foot out and planted it against the top edge of the post and the number three that was illuminated above the post turned to a four as soon as he touched it.
Grinning to himself, he focused his magic on the rope that he'd incarcerated with the wooden beam to start retracting back into his wand and shortened the rope so he didn't have excess rope that would lead to him being dragged through the mud because it was too long.
Harry thought he was like Spider-man as he went shooting towards the wooden beam and touched it with his foot as the rope shortened to a few feet. Suspended upside down he looked at the Dragons and Turtles arranged in a circle around his post watching him.
He allowed his magic to let the spell extend the rope again and dropped to the ground slowly. Harry managed to lower himself down onto the post and as he squeezed both feet onto the round top of the post to support his weight he saw the ghostly hologram one turn to two.
"So do it like that and you won't get muddy," Harry said grinning and looking up at his Clan mates who were all staring at him, some with their mouths slightly open.
"Buddha's balls, how did I never figure doing something like that out before" Tim said as he looked at Harry. He shook his head almost like clearing his thoughts as he then pointed to Harry's Ebony wand. "When did you get a second wand? And how did you manage to concentrate enough to cast with a second wand while maintaining concentration on the rope charm?"
"I didn't know you got a second wand. Was that what you were really doing at Kendo's?" Giovanni asked him, remembering seeing Harry and Hermione at Kendo's when he and Louis went to buy wand holsters.
"How long have you known you can dual cast?" Louis asked Harry, a little awestruck.
"About thirty seconds. That's the first time I've ever tried doing it and I'm surprised it went so well."
"Well it was properly impressive Harry. Only problem is that we don't all have two wands," Akiko pointed out.
"Well get creative. I mean you can still cast two incarcerous charms on the beams. Do one rope in the middle to swing across if you want but actually have the rope leave your wand and hold it in your hand. As long as you concentrate on the rope the whole time it won't go anywhere."
"Then just use the hook and pull spell to go to the post and then to pull us up to the beams" Hester concluded for him.
"That's right," Harry smiled at Hester and she returned a dazzling one back. "You lot are more magically talented than my classmates at Hogwarts. Just get creative and I reckon we can still get this done faster than the Tigers and Phoenix clan members" Harry said seeing them all stand a little more proudly at the compliment even if it wasn't completely true.
"That's right. Those who finish first can then help the others. Tim, why don't you use the hook and pull charm and go and stand up on that beam. I'll cast a rope and swing back and forth to the middle post and the one down here. Then you just use a summoning charm on me to help me get up to the beam and then I'll cast a cushioning charm on the post here so I don't drop onto it and then swing back out to the middle again."
"Why don't you bloody stand on a wooden beam twenty feet up and you use a summoning charm on me." Tim retorted to the amusement of the others.
"He's going to have to anyway numbnuts. You both need to touch your posts fifty times anyway so we've got to help each other out." Yoko said to Tim with a roll of her eyes.
"Hami is right. If we all pair up we can take turns in helping each other and then we can get it done quicker and most importantly all stay clean." Rosa said to everyone's agreement.
"Two wand boy here can sort himself out after that display and he doesn't need a partner," Gwen said, giving Harry a wink. "Although if you need a partner I'm happy to volunteer."
"Oh get a room Yakimoto." Riko said to Gwen but jokingly. "Right then let's get casting. Sunny, you can partner up with me."
"And we all know you'd love nothing more than Sunny to pull you Ray Ray so I guess you've got your wish." Rachel Yu said innocently before slapping her hands to her mouth. "Sorry Ray Ray, it just slipped out." Her pale cheeks colouring slightly, she was mortified for embarrassing her friend.
Thankfully Sunny and the Turtles had already turned away from the other Dragon boys and were giving them advice on alternatives if they didn't feel confident with summoning their partner back to them.
"You better watch out for a severing charm hitting your rope now Rach," Rosa said with a laugh.
"Oh ha bloody ha. Do you think he heard that?" Riko asked the Dragon girls and Harry who was still standing there.
"I don't think so, besides if you like him then just tell him. Sunny's a decent guy." Hester said kindly to her friend as they all started making their way to their positions.
Harry, happy to have motivated his two clans with an alternative suggestion to the mess they'd have to put themselves through, decided to not let the Tigers and Phoenix members know what they were up to.
Harry cancelled out his incarcerous spell and focusing with his Ebony wand cast a smoke screen spell that started spewing out the tip of his wand. He stopped pushing his magic into the spell when it got to the point where he couldn't see the sides or ends of the hall and grinning to himself he put the next stage of his plan into place.
Taking a deep breath and focusing his magic as he remembered the spell he'd used when they'd played the pranks on the Phoenix members and Harry cast a protego spell powerful enough to make a shield about eight feet square and that was as thick as glass.
Concentrating he used his Holly wand to cast another on next to it. He repeated the process about twelve times until he'd managed to create a wall of shield charms that was holding the smoke back and he cast them along the walkway so his clanmates could still see.
Using his magic he pushed the shield charms forwards with the smoke trapped on the far side and pushed the wall of shield charms towards the Tigers and Phoenix members along with the smoke trapped behind it. The Dragons and Turtles wasted no time in putting Harry's plan into action and their side of the hall was soon filled with students swinging out over the mud and muck to the posts in the middle of the duelling hall and up to the ceiling.
"Be as quick as you can. I'm not sure how long I'll be able to hold this for." Harry called out as the Turtles and Dragon's moved as quickly and as efficiently as they could.
"Come on Dragons quickly," Hester called out mid swing motivating her Clan. A barrage of pops and smacking noises could be heard hitting Harry's shield wall along with a loud rumbling boom. Harry assumed that it was Hermione making such a loud noise trying to break down Harry's shield.
"Come on Turtles quickly. The faster we finish the quicker we can help Harry… Go, Go, GO!" Hero called.
Harry was desperately trying to hold back the barrage of spell fire from what he assumed was the angry Tigers and Phoenix members as they had been cocooned in the thick grey smoke, which would make them carrying out their own task from Master Kuzuko even more difficult as they wouldn't be able to see the post.
"And switch, Dragons" Sunny called as Harry went down to one knee pushing as much of the magic as he could into the shield wall. He assumed that half of them were done as they were switched and could only hope the Turtles were keeping pace with the Dragons.
After what felt like an age Hero and Hester called that they'd finished and that Harry could drop the spells. Harry, feeling knackered, allowed the spells to cancel as the smoke disappeared and the shield wall dissipated into nothing each of the Turtles and Dragons cast their own version of a shield charm creating an overlapping shield wall that absorbed the spell fire from the angry Tigers and Phoenix clan members who were all stood caked in mud and grime at the far end of the wall.
After a few minutes the spell fire stopped and the Dragon's and Turtles lowered their shield charms. "What the hell was that about? Do you not think it's hard enough getting this done without you pissing about Potter?" Miguel Fu shouted the length of the hall to Harry.
"Sorry Miguel.. I was just trying something but you carry on." Harry said dismissively and turned to ignore the Spanish boy who made a rude hand gesture at Harry as the Tigers and Phoenix members muttered to themselves about Harry making it harder.
Harry saw Hermione looking at him. She had mud all over her uniform and in her hair and the famous Hermione curls were back as there was so much moisture exposure to her hair it had fluffed up like it had been in her first year.
Harry smiled at her and tried not to laugh as he was surprised that Hermione being the smartest person he knew hadn't thought to try and find a way around having to drag themselves through the muck.
"Harry, you need to get yours done before Master Kuzuko comes back. I think the Tigers and Phoenix guys know something is up but they probably think we cheated somehow." Hero said to Harry.
"So what do you reckon? We let them see how stupid they were for not using their brains first as they watch me do it" Harry said to the Turtles and Dragons who were once again crowded around Harry. "Or should we stop them seeing me somehow and then let them keep wondering?"
"Can you do a disillusionment charm Harry?"
"I can yeah. Are you thinking of making myself invisible and doing it under the cover of that then?" Harry thought it was probably the best way. "I could do it but I'm not sure I'd be able to concentrate on that spell, the incarcerous and hook and pull spells at the same time."
"No worries let me sort out your disillusionment and you just do your thing with the other two" Hero said, motioning for the others to surround Harry and block him from view.
As Harry was blocked off from the other clans, Hero cast the disillusionment charm on him and they all stepped back and made way for Harry to operate without them getting in his way.
"Bloody brilliant idea he had." Sunny said grinning as he watched Stacey Wong and Lei Bi pull themselves out the mud to touch their post for the last time and start trying to cast cleaning charms on themselves to get rid of the mud and muck, which wasn't that quick to get off.
"He's pretty clever, our Harry, when he puts his mind to it. It's a pretty cunning plan isn't it and I can't wait to see him take credit for it when Master Kuzuko comes back. I reckon she'll go apeshit," Charlie commented to Sunny. They all grinned watching the numbers on Harry's post climb steadily as the rest of the Tigers and Phoenix members finished their last ten or so pulls through the mud.
"Hermione finished really quickly compared to the others, didn't she?" Rosa questioned, seeing the English witch at the other end of the hall was having a much more successful time of trying to clean herself off than her clanmates.
"Probably because of her power levels. Her spells really pack a punch after all." Hester said to the agreement of the others.
After another ten minutes the students had finished their punishment and Master Kuzuko came striding out of her office all smiles and almost with a strut in her step that quickly faltered as she saw Harry, the Dragons and Turtles all standing there looking spotless in their uniforms. Harry immediately watched her eyes draw to the post next to Harry and her eyebrow arched when she saw the number fifty displayed on it. Harry watched her move along the line looking at each post and the student stood next to it, her brow now furrowed and not looking too happy.
The Dragons and Turtles watched her make her way to the other end of the room after looking along the middle posts and seeing the one hundred displayed above each of the posts. The smile crept back onto her face as she schooled her features seeing the state of the Tigers and Phoenix Clan members and nodded to herself when she looked at them seeing them looking just as disgruntled as herself and staring daggers at the students on the opposite side of the room.
"So. It appears that Phoenix and Tiger carried out the punishment as required," She announced loudly to the room. "I would like an explanation from Dragon and Turtle how you managed to deceive the magical posts and not carry out the punishment."
Hero and Hester leant forward in their line and both took a step forward as their Clan's leaders. "Pardon me Master Kuzuko but both Turtle and Dragon Clan carried out your instruction to touch the posts with our hands and feet the required number of times." Hero said to the scoffs of those at the opposite end of the hall.
"It's unjust of you to accuse ourselves or the Turtles of deception Master Kuzuko as we did as instructed." Hester said, backing Hero up and trying to keep the smile off her lips. "Or are you confident that we students can somehow dupe magic that has been in this school for hundreds of years." She tilted her head as if studying her Dueling Master.
"How pray tell then Miss Steiggson are all of your uniforms spotless when Tiger and Phoenix are both filthy?" Master Kuzuko asked, trying to think how they had done it.
"Ingenuity Master Kuzuko," Hester replied with a bow.
"Ingenuity. Ingenuity my arse! You cheated and clearly did something when Harry was creating that smoke screen," Ling Au called out from Tiger Clan.
"Smokescreen?" Master Kuzuko asked.
Ling and the rest of the Tigers explained that Harry had created a smoke screen that made it really difficult to complete the task as they couldn't see the posts to cast the hook and pull charm accurately.
"At first we thought it was just joking around and we tried to banish the smoke but we couldn't get rid of it. So we had to fire some spells at Potter to try and get him to cut it out but that lot all cast shield charms, so we couldn't get a hit on Potter to cancel off the spell" Cadogen Ryan argued, his hair plastered to his head thick with mud.
"Mr Potter? Is this true?" Master Kuzuko asked Harry.
"Yes Master Kuzuko I cast a large amount of smoke then multiple shield charms overlapping to form a wall of shields and then pushed the wall to put the smoke covering their section so that we could all operate without the smoke in our way." Harry said with a shrug of his shoulders.
"The smoke was purely accidental though Master Kuzuko. Honestly Harry you're going to have to get that wand looked at mate." Hero said loudly, talking quickly before Master Kuzuko could ask him why he had created the smoke in the first place.
"How did you manage to cast enough shield charms to cover the whole width of the hall if you had a misfiring wand Harry?" Stacey Wong called out from across the hall.
"I managed to cast them with my other wand Stacey." Harry said looking at the beautiful Chinese girl who rather than looking immaculately groomed like normal had smears of mud all over her uniform.
"Other wand?" Trixie Popowitz asked. "You saying you've got a magic cock Potter?" she called out to the laughter of most of the people in the room.
"That's enough Miss Popowitz." Master Kuzuko said loudly, cutting off the laughter. "Either way I'm not accepting "ingenuity" as an acceptable answer as to how you managed to carry out the task without ending up looking like your other classmates."
"Well Harry came up with a plan to avoid getting covered in that stuff and it's not our fault if the other Clans took you literally at your word and did exactly as you instructed," Hero offered as an explanation.
"Absolutely. We still carried out the task as it was assigned but thanks to Harry's suggestion we did it without getting covered in mud and god knows what else is in there," Hester added while pointing at the untouched muddy ground between them and the middle posts.
"Well yourself and Mr. Takahiro can show me how you managed to accomplish the task I assigned you."
"If you insist," Hester responded, raising her chin proudly. "Hero, do you want to go on top or on the bottom?" Hester asked before rolling her eyes at the wolf whistles and teasing of the Turtles and Dragons. Harry joined in giving Hero a wink as the usually confident and collected boy looked a little abashed.
"I'll go up top, let's show them all how the Head Boy and Girl can get this done with a little flair." Hero said, giving Hester a grin. Hero pointed his wand at the beam above his head and cast the hook and pull charm on the beam that caused him to shoot up quickly and his spell was so powerful that Hero shot up past the beam. He turned mid air and landed gracefully on the top of it before casting a rope charm on the beam and allowing the rope to extend all the way to Hester on the ground.
Hester grabbed the rope giving Hero a playful curtsey before asking the dragons and Turtles to clear a space as she ran forwards holding the rope and at the same time cast a hook and pull charm on the post in the middle of the floor and gracefully swooped towards it looking as graceful and refined as a ballerina.
As she approached the post, Harry watched Hester gracefully push off from the post. Hero cast a summoning charm on her and Hester pirouetted like a spinning top in the air, omitting a series of sparks from her wand. She looked like a beautiful blonde Catherine wheel as she was lowered and without missing a beat stepped on the top of the post in front of the Dragons.
Hero without missing a beat then used his wand and summoned her up to the beam, which she tapped lightly with her wand before Hero lowered her gracefully back down to the post, which Hester landed on and let go of the rope before stepping off and landing lightly next to it with a curtsy.
She stepped to the side seamlessly just as Hero came down the rope to land lightly at her side. Harry and the Dragon's, along with the Turtles all started clapping, grinning at Master Kuzuko.
"So we did it just like that, Master Kuzuko. No cheating or anything, we just carried out your instructions in our own way." Hero grinned and bowed slowly to the Duelling Master who looked at him, Hester and Harry for a full minute clearly mulling over how to respond.
"Ten points for Dragon and ten Points for Turtle Clan for carrying out the punishment as required and using your magic to keep you from a foul situation. Mr. Potter, take twenty points for your chosen clan for helping your clan mates and using your "ingenuity"," Master Kuzuko tried not to smile as the Dragons and Turtles cheered and congratulated each other and Harry. "Which clan is getting the points Mr. Potter?"
"Turtle, Master Kuzuko, they'll get all my Dueling class points this year."
"Looks like we're getting a lot of points in Dueling class this year guys," Po Lee said to the agreement of the Turtles.
"This hardly seems fair, Master Kuzuko. We did as instructed as well but we weren't given Clan Points for carrying out what you wanted us to do, the way you wanted to do it." Trixie Popowitz argued.
"Very true Miss Popowitz you did. So five points to Tiger and Phoenix Clan for carrying out their punishment accordingly. Now do I need to remind everyone else again that if anything like the graffiti that happened to my Dueling Hall happens again that this punishment will be a walk in a park," she said before turning to the Dragon and Turtle Clans and smiling slyly before adding "and next time my instructions will be given very clearly and precisely and carried out to the letter." She said, causing the Dragons and Turtles to grin.
"So Tigers and Phoenix if you would like to go clean yourselves up outside the Dragons and Turtles and I will continue our lesson until you return." Master Kuzuko said as the Phoenix and Tiger members gladly trundled out leaving a trail of muddy footprints along the edges of the mats as none of the students wanted to incur the wrath of the Dueling Master by getting mud on the mats as the floor slowly started closing to the Dueling Hall's original state.
Hermione cast a glance back at Harry and he couldn't help thinking that even with mud streaked all over her and on her cheeks and in her hair that Hermione looked good. He gave her a wink that caused her to smile in return as she disappeared out the doorway outside. Harry also found his eyes drifting to Stacey Wong who was at the back of the students with her friend Lei Bei. The mud covered her skirt to look like it was a sprayed on mini skirt and he and the others were treated to how amazing her bum looked.
"Right then Turtles, Dragons!" Master Kuzuko shouted out, grabbing the male students' attention from the fleeing backside of Stacey Wong and they all turned their attention back to their Dueling Master.
"How are you all feeling? Magically tired or exhausted after your clever way of navigating your punishment?"
The Dragons and Turtles looked amongst themselves and given that they'd worked in pairs bar Harry, were all feeling alright. "We're feeling pretty good," Sunny Hichiro replied to Master Kuzuko, who then smiled evilly.
"Excellent then you can all do laps around the inside of the hall as a warm up until your classmates return and I expect at least all of you to have completed ten by the time they return." Master Kuzuko announced to the collective groans of the students who, being led off by Hero, started doing laps around the hall at a reasonably quick pace. Normally ten laps wouldn't be so bad given how messy the Tigers and Phoenix had gotten but with the aid of magic Harry knew it wouldn't take them long to get cleaned up.
They all started doing laps and it was soon clear which of the students weren't starting members of the Quidditch teams as a gap started to form between the starters and the rest. Harry was jogging along with Hester and Sunny and had caught up to just behind Hero and Tim when Master Kuzuko called him to her in the middle of the hall on his seventh lap.
Slightly out of breath Harry came to a stop in front of Master Kuzuko and bowed to her, which she returned. "An impressive use of dual casting with your new wand Mr. Potter." She said with a small smile. "Given how well you did, I'm assuming that you've been practicing your dual casting. Has Miss Granger been doing the same?"
He could see that she was being true to her word that inside school they were back to being Master Kuzuko, Mr. Potter and Miss Granger as opposed to Satomi, Harry and Hermione.
"Actually that's the first time I've tried doing dual casting in any sort of real situation. I'll be honest I've been a bit lax with it since I got my wand. I've been so busy with other stuff," Harry replied honestly. The door to the hall slid open and Harry wasn't surprised to see Hermione, Mio and Li enter first looking immaculate and mud free. Harry noticed the smile on Mio and Li's face seeing the others running laps as they whispered to Hermione.
"Well that's even more impressive but I would advise you to start practicing. Being able to cast with two wands at the same time will benefit you in a great number of your subjects," Master Kuzuko explained to Harry, seeing him thinking about what other subjects he could use two wands to his benefit.
"Defence obviously but I see from your uniform that you are making quite rapid progress with Ancient Runes since you started the subject." She said as Harry nodded. "Now I'm not an expert but I know my final year of Runes was made a lot easier when I was able to use two wands to construct runes clusters and unlocking mechanisms and other things. I'm sure Master Yamagoshi would be happy to discuss it more with you if you disclose you were able to dual cast with your wands as would Master Zuki in Healing Class." Giving him a knowing look as the penny dropped.
"Plus Transfiguration, Charms and Defence would potentially benefit." He said thinking about the practical applications and how he might be able to increase the level of detail or speed of which he could do things. "I was wanting to keep the dual casting things secret in dueling really but it was the quickest solution I could think of." He got a nod from Master Kuzuko.
"Well it was very impressive for your first attempt and you've clearly got a natural ability to concentrate better than most of your classmates. Forming a shield wall on your own and holding it as well as moving it forwards to push the smoke screen onto the other clans takes a real level of skill and power."Harry blushed at the compliment.
"Well I got the idea for the smoke screen from you after you told us about how you were interviewed here," Harry said, causing her to grin at him.
"Well maybe I need to keep some secrets from you as I don't want to give you any more ideas on how to figure out ways of escaping punishment," Master Kuzuko said, giving him a grin.
"I didn't do anything to the Dueling Hall and neither did Hermione, so we should technically have been excluded from the punishment as you know we couldn't have been involved." Harry pointed out with a grin of his own. "Don't think Hermione won't get you back for making her get completely caked in mud and Godric knows what else is under the Dueling Hall."
Master Kuzuko clearly hadn't thought of that point, "Oh crap she's going to make me do something ghastly next time we go to the bazaar, isn't she?" Master Kuzuko looked over towards Hermione who was looking at the two of them and Master Kuzuko gulped, Hermione didn't look impressed. Harry and Master Kuzuko couldn't tell who she was unimpressed with however. Master Kuzuko for making her carry out a punishment even though she knew Hermione had nothing to do with and worse had actually helped clear it up, or Harry who had used his brains to avoid getting covered in sludge and muck.
"I'd say so. I'll suggest that she take you scroll and book shopping as a way of revenge." Harry said grinning and giving Hermione a wink. She gave him a tight little smile and then turned to the Tigers and started discussing something with Mio and Li.
"That doesn't sound so bad." Master Kuzuko wondered why Harry would say that like it was something to be worried about.
"Well you wait until you see Hermione in a book shop. Just remember to have a big breakfast next time you come with us to the Bazaar." Harry said with a chuckle as he made his way back to the Dragons.
The rest of the lesson Master Kuzuko spent discussing and showing the class different battle formations that were particularly good from the students' homework. Hester, Hero, Hermione, Harry, Mio, Li, Stacey Wong and Lei Bei of Phoenix along with Eddie Chung got special praise and earned Clan points for their formations.
After this, Master Kuzuko sat them all down in a circle around her and started talking to them all about transfiguration battle magic and conjuring magic that are used in conjunction with striking spells during battles and explained a bit more about how that fits the syllabus for the rest of the year.
She explained that by the end of the year that she wanted each member of the class to be able to use some elemental battle magic as well and everyone, bar Turtle Clan, looked enthusiastic about this.
Harry met Hero's eye and they shared a knowing look between them after finding various books on water elemental magic in the Turtle's Nest and Harry had agreed with Hero that the next time Harry was staying at Turtle Island they'd show the rest of their Turtle classmates what they had discovered. Harry and Hero had been itching to show the rest of the Turtles, the Turtle's Nest but Harry had made Hero promise not to do so until he returned to Turtle Island.
If Harry was honest, finding The Turtle's Nest was possibly the most exciting and best thing that had happened since he and Hermione ended up in separate clans. He was really happy that he was going to be able to help generations of future Turtle students learn water affinity magic. He couldn't help grinning and felt a little giddy that he was making a mark of his own on Mahoutokoro.
As the lesson finished, Master Kuzuko asked for a show of hands for people who wanted to take the extra lessons offered in dueling and Harry was surprised at the number of people that raised their hands saying that they would attend the additional classes, which would be ran in the free period after their potions double the following Thursday.
As they were walking out Charlie Chung and Sunny came up either side of Harry talking about the lesson and what Master Kuzuko had said at the end of class. "So you feeling confident about the extra dueling lessons Harry?"
"Sure. I like dueling class and it's one of my strong subjects," Harry replied with a shrug.
"No shit," Charlie said from his other side. "Ever done any hand to hand combat before?" he asked Harry who shook his head.
"No, not really although I've been beaten up plenty of times before." Harry said to them, noticing Charlie and Sunny look at each other. "My cousin and his mates used to pick on me quite a bit before I started Hogwarts, they were NOMAs and just didn't like me very much."
"Well I'm sure after Master Kuzuko gets through with us this year you'll be able to go back to your cousin and maybe dole out some punishment of your own," Charlie said with a grin.
"Yeah… Maybe" Harry said as they all started making their way to the Dragon's Lair for lunch.
0815hrs Monday 5th September, Courtyard of The Panama Palace Hotel
"Oh merlin I'm running so late and I'm not even sure I'm going to have time to eat anything this morning and Kendo is going to no doubt have me doing tree care for most of the morning," Penelope groused, sitting down quickly at the table looking a little frazzled and put her rolled up pouch containing her wand crafting tools on the table with a loud clunk. "Why did you let me sleep in so late?" she asked the two witches already seated at the table while she tried to catch the eye of one of the staff at the hotel.
Narcissa and Fleur were both sitting at the table, Narcissa was reading the morning issue of the Rising Sun holding a cup of tea to her hand. The old habits die hard with Narcissa and the British people's fondness for tea, although she had at least tried to take on board the local culture by having Japanese tea with her breakfast since she'd been in Japan.
Fleur was sitting and working out some figures on a piece of parchment, taking delicate bites out of a pastry and Penelope saw a cup and pot of coffee in front of her. Penelope and Narcissa had suggested Fleur take tea with her breakfast but had been put down firmly by the French witch that coffee was the best drink to start her day with.
Penelope saw to her annoyance that both witches looked impeccably dressed, with their hair and make up looking fabulous as always. Penelope, on the other hand, had quickly pulled her hair back into a ponytail that rested just between her shoulder blades and applied only a small amount of makeup so that she didn't look so tired.
"It es not my fault that you didn't wake up when called Penny. I knocked on your bedroom door twice this morning when I was getting ready to come downstairs," Fleur answered without looking up from her figures and Penelope could see she was trying to concentrate.
"Well you mustn't have knocked very loudly because I didn't hear you." Penelope said, flagging down a waitress that was passing. "I'm terribly sorry but I'm in a bit of a rush and would like to order some breakfast."
The witch smiled and replied, "Your companions have already ordered for you madam." A silver tray with some cups and saucers and a pot of tea and coffee glided up alongside the woman smoothly. "Could I offer you a hot drink to start your day?" Indicating the tray.
"Oh tea would be lovely thank you." Penelope smiled at the waitress and her teacup and saucer floated onto her placing setting before her. With a flick of the waitresses wand the teapot moved across and started pouring her tea before settling onto the table between herself and Narcissa and a small milk jug and sugar bowl sat next to it.
The milk jug and pot of tea in front of Narcissa glided off the table back onto the tray as the witch glided off around the other tables. "Thanks for ordering my breakfast" she said to the two other witches.
Narcissa lowered the newspaper and looked at her young friend, "Well I thought it a good idea to order your breakfast. We assumed you'd be running late after I met with Fleur in your room. I saw Fleur try to rouse you from your slumber without success and when I knocked on the door and called through the door for you to get up, I distinctly heard you tell me to 'bugger off' and then I assume the thump on the door was you throwing a pillow at me."
Unlike themselves Narcissa and Fleur both knew Penelope wasn't a morning person and this wasn't the first time that Penelope had been the last to join them at the breakfast table.
"Did I?" Penelope queried not really remembering hearing either of them knocking on this morning. "Sorry. I'm just…" she started to say as Narcissa and Fleur simultaneously responded "not a morning person," with a light laugh.
"We know Penny and no offence was taken. I've ordered you some of that French Toast you love so much with some sausages," Narcissa replied.
Penelope smiled sheepishly, "Thanks Cissy. I think I'd be lost without you two these days. It's like having two sisters looking after me."
Fleur looked up and gave a little smile at the comment before going back to her figures. "Yes, just like having a little sister here. It helps me not miss Gabrielle as much."
Penelope pulled a face, "You do realise I'm a year older than you Fleur," she teased.
"Yes and not able to set an alarm clock." Fleur teased back, to Narcissa's amusement.
"It's strange for me as it is like having my two sisters back at times. Bella was always like you Penelope, loving her sleep and not wanting to get up and needing to be organised. Andi was like Fleur, always first up and ready to start the day before myself or Bella had even gotten out of bed." She said thinking back to better times as she was growing up.
"Do you miss them?" Penelope asked Narcissa cautiously. She didn't want to upset her older friend given how Bellatrix Black had turned out.
Narcissa put the paper down and Penelope noticed that the front page had a story about their fight with the Jade Dragon and the Japanese National Quidditch team in it.
She looked up to see Narcissa had a sad sort of smile on her face, "Yes I do really. Being here like this with you and Fleur reminds me of them both so much at times. Bella obviously you know how she turned out and I lost her really once she married Rudolphus Lestrange. She was never the same truly after that. He helped in her corruption to follow the Dark Lord. The Lestrange family were amongst his most loyal supporters." Narcissa took a slow sip of her tea to give her time to reflect momentarily and decided that she didn't want to talk about Bellatrix and the part of her life around Voldemort.
"Andi I have really missed. I lost her through my family's prejudices when she married Ted Tonks. She'd written to me over the years several times and I really wanted to write back to her especially after my parents and relatives had died but I didn't want to put her or her family at risk knowing that Lucius wanted to throw the Malfoy families' lot in with the Dark Lord." She said as she saw out of the corner of her eye Fleur's quill had stopped moving and she was listening intently as well as she looked up and met the French witch's eye.
"Well now that Voldemort is no more then you can try and rebuild bridges with your sister can you not?" Fleur asked, putting her quill down.
"Yes I can," Narcissa happily replied feeling a warm feeling in her stomach about the truth in that. "Harry has said that he wants me to rebuild my relationship with Andromeda and also my great nephew and his godson Teddy. He wants to start rebuilding the Black family again and this is a great place to start. He also wants me to start work on sorting out the Black family home."
"So you've got some house renovations to plan and complete when you return to England?" Penelope asked, getting a nod from Narcissa.
"Yes, but I've got some house shopping to do here, before I leave for France and England as well." Narcissa said before picking her tea up.
"What do you mean ouse shopping?" Fleur asked her.
"I'd have thought that it would be self explanatory," Narcissa teased.
"So you're planning to live in Japan permanently?" Fleur asked Narcissa.
"No the house isn't for me, it's for Harry." Narcissa replied, seeing the surprise on Fleur's face. She'd clearly not been told by Harry that he wanted a house here.
"But why would he want a house here when he's at school?" Penelope asked on Fleur's behalf.
"For us," Narcissa replied with an added shrug.
"What do you mean for us?" Penelope fired back her brow creasing.
"Well Harry said that he didn't see the point in us staying at hotels if we didn't want to and that he didn't mind getting another house in Japan that we could all stay in and that it would save us all spending money on a hotel and that we could all live there rent free," Narcissa explained.
"That's very nice of him but I've got an expense account with my job so it's no trouble paying for a hotel." Fleur said and noticed Penelope sort of shrink back at the mention of paying for the room. Fleur was effectively letting Penelope live in her room at Gringotts or Harry's expense at the moment because Penelope wasn't earning that much at Olivander's/Kendo's since she was still an apprentice.
"I know that, and this isn't charity. Harry just thought that it would increase his property portfolio, would give us somewhere to live while we're in Japan, and have a more normal sort of lifestyle and would save us all some money. It would be connected to the floo network so we could still floo or apparate here and can always stay at a hotel in the Bazaar if we want to see him and Hermione on the weekends and they aren't allowed to go to the house" Narcissa explained.
"Well I'm not going to say no obviously. It would be a massive saving for me and I'm a little bit worried about getting Fleur in trouble with Gringotts if they find out I'm staying in the room as well," Penelope said honestly.
"I've told you don't worry about that. I wonder why Arry never mentioned this to me this weekend?" Fleur thought to herself out loud.
"Well he did say to try and keep it as a surprise to you two so act surprised when he tells you," Narcissa said, chuckling to herself.
"So you were talking about France?" Penelope asked Narcissa as the waitress returned with a house elf carrying a large silver tray with a selection of different breakfast food on it. French Toast and sausages was placed in front of Penelope who thanked the waitress and started attacking it with gusto and checking her wrist watch for the time, seeing she had about twenty minutes to make the five minute journey to Kendo's wand shop.
Fleur had a bowl of chopped fruit and some crepes put down in front of her along with some different compotes in little glass jars and she started tucking in. Narcissa had a boiled egg and some buttered toast put in front of her along with two slices of bacon on a separate plate. As the waitress left with the house elf, Narcissa picked up her teaspoon and with deft efficiency loped the top of her egg off before fishing the top part out and popping it into her mouth.
They ate for a couple of moments as Narcissa replied to Penelope. "I'm off to Place Cachee in Montmartre on Friday morning and will be returning on the thirteenth which is the following Thursday, so I'll be gone for six nights."
"Well I guess you'll have an interesting time then around Paris, Fleur always says the shopping there is top notch. Have you been before?" Penelope asked.
"I don't think I'll have time but I guess it depends on what Camille and I discover about this book publishing and official Harry Potter fan club issue and how much we can find out about it and how quickly, I suppose. I have been to Paris before, though yes, plenty of times and it's got a lovely feel to the city and the shopping is delightful as is the food." Narcissa pointed out as Penelope nodded.
"I've never been, but Fleur said that she's going to take me when she returns to see her family most likely next summer."
Fleur smiled, "Oui, my parents and Gabrielle would be delighted to meet you and I'd love to show you my homeland more Penny. I think you'd like it and enjoy your time there." Fleur said before steeling herself to break some more news to Penny that she wasn't sure how her new friend was going to take it.
"I also received word from Hayley Sloop," Fleur said as Penelope looked a little confused as she didn't recognise the name, so Fleur clarified. "She's Arry's solicitor and she has said that she needed to speak with me so I will be having to go back to England for a time later this week as well"
Penelope's fork suddenly clattered on her plate with a piece of French toast still speared on the prongs, "You're going back to England as mean so I'm going to be here all on my own?" She asked as Fleur and Narcissa looked at her a little uncomfortably.
"I'm sorry Penny, but it's my job. They zay and I go… They have things they want me to do and I want to prove to Arry and Ermione that zhey were right to put their faith in me as I want to elp them." Fleur said, reaching across the table and placing her hand on Penny's wrist. "It will most likely only be a few days and then I will be back. I've asked to come back to Japan as soon as possible and I'm sure you will be fine."
"But what am I going to do with my free time without you?" Penelope asked, picking up her fork again.
"Explore the Bazaar some more or maybe go into muggle Tokyo and have a look around there and see the sites. I believe that muggle Tokyo is meant to be quite the spectacle," Narcissa suggested.
"Oui that would be good to see non-magique Tokyo and maybe if you explore a little you could take me and Narcissa on our return and you can show us around a little bit." Fleur said liking the idea and seeing Penelope perk up a little more. She knew that Penelope loved showing and explaining new things to them as she was constantly telling them both the things she was learning about wandlore and wand making as well as magical agriculture.
"Yes I suppose that would be good. Plus Hermione is going to be coming to the bazaar again this weekend and maybe she won't mind me tagging along with her classmates if I get really bored." Penelope said thoughtfully before checking her watch again, "Oh shoot, I've got to run or I'm going to be late for work." This caused Fleur and Narcissa to laugh as Penelope managed to finish her breakfast in three rapid fire and heavily loaded forkfuls and while she was chewing, and in a very rare showing of bad table manners managed to finish most of her tea in one swallow to help wash the remnants of her food down.
She then turned tail giving them a wave and got four steps away from the table before spinning on her heel and approaching the table looking sheepish "Gonna need this," she blushed. Narcissa and Fleur gave a light laugh as Penelope scooped up her wand crafting tools and bade them another goodbye.
"I feel bad leaving her on her own. I know we are all friends but I can't help but feel maternal around you both sometimes." Narcissa said before going back to her breakfast.
"I know you do and even though you are our friend we still look up to you, you know?" She continued, "So what is your plan for the day?"
"I'm going to see Amy and Yuki Yushiro, they are going to point me in the direction of a magical estate manager, so that I can get a list of properties to go and visit them to see if any meet Harry's requirements. I got an owl from Amy this morning. She was in the office early starting on things for Harry, so they are both eager at least." Narcissa replied before asking, "How about you, what have you got on?"
"Well I've got to go to Gringotts shortly, so we can walk that way together if you like." Fleur suggested. Narcissa agreed that was a good idea. They both quickly finished their breakfast and Narcissa put her handbag over her shoulder and Fleur put her documents away into a grey leather excompta case and drew her wand along the zip locking it securely. She then reached under the table and slid the case into a slim leather satchel that had a shoulder strap and stood up.
"How do you always manage to find accessories to match your outfits so well?" Narcissa asked as she too rose from her seat.
"Ard work and endless searching," Fleur jested. "I do not know. I tend to buy something that I like and then I seem to have a good memory for remembering the colours and patterns of the thing I bought and then if I see an outfit that matches, I buy it. I'm French so looking good and dressing well is important to us as a people, magical or not," she said with a shrug. They both stepped out of the hotel courtyard onto the street and started making their way towards the Emperor's Road. They turned and headed off towards Gringotts and the turn for First Avenue. As they walked, they linked arms out of habit and both of them got their own number of hello's and waves from shop owners as they passed. The two witches were starting to get recognised by some of the places they frequented.
"It really is a lovely place, the Bazaar, with all the individual looking shops and the size of it," Narcissa voiced absentmindedly,
"Oui I agree, Diagon Alley looks so small and cramped in comparison and lots of people in England don't even know about Horizont Alley or Carkitt Market and always steer clear of Knockturn Alley because of ets reputation," Fleur said as they walked along.
"Yes it's a shame as there are some very good and important businesses on Knockturn Alley and it's just a few shops and the people that hang around there that make the reputation what it is," Narcissa said as she thought about how Fleur was right.
"It doesn't help that it's so dark down there either with the upper floor of the buildings hanging out over the street," Fleur said, giving an involuntary shiver at the memory of the first time she went down there out of curiosity.
"Agreed, it makes all the little alcoves down there very dark. Maybe now that Harry knows he owns the land it's built on he will be able to clean it up and make it a more attractive shopping destination," Narcissa said giving Fleur a playful bump of the hip that sent the French witch flying off course towards a puddle on the street before Narcissa's arm gripped her tightly pulling her back against her side.
It was a game that she, Fleur, and Penelope had started playing whenever they were out in the Bazaar and meant that they had all learnt to be on their guard near puddles as much as possible.
Penelope was the best at the game though, the first time she'd got Narcissa the older witch had been sent spinning and fell onto her bum in a puddle. She'd eventually ended up laughing after seeing the amusing side of it and a quick wave of the wand was enough for Narcissa's outfit to look pristine again.
Fleur had fared even worse with her first unsuspecting hip bump. Penelope had sent Fleur stumbling into a pair of wizards who were old enough to be Fleur's father and had only been too happy to rescue Fleur from falling onto the ground and catching her.
Both of the men had then tried to impress Fleur by talking about the business they owned and how they'd love for her to come and pay them a visit. Fleur had come back to a laughing Narcissa and Penelope promising revenge on her blonde haired friend.
"Don't you start doing this when Penny isn't here. Et is bad enough that she does it all ze time. It means I've always got to be prepared to be sent flying again," She groused playfully. "Honestly I thought you said you felt like you were having to mother us at times and then you picked up on Penny's silly game," She added with a dramatic sigh and shake of her head.
"You're just mad because you're rubbish at it," Narcissa joked back. "You swing your hip out too much before you strike so it's a dead give away," Narcissa laughed. Fleur scrunched up her face and said that she didn't.
They reached the corner turning into First Avenue with the glowing white walls of Gringotts on their left and the shops to their right with the towering Chin Chin's Casino on the opposite side of the road to them.
"So do you know what time you will be back tonight?" Fleur asked as they came to a stop on the corner of the street next to a lamppost.
"Well it depends on how many properties I see and then I'll hopefully have more to see tomorrow as well but I'm hoping to be back for about five o'clock at the latest and then I'll have to prepare for my trip to France on Wednesday and get supplies".
"Are you positive you don't mind me borrowing your trunk while I'm away? You're going to be in England the same time I'm away and it's your trunk. I can always get a hotel in France."
"Non, it is not a problem, Cissa. You don't know where you are going to end up in France as you might not just be staying in Paris depending on how your investigations goes." Fleur said airily. "I, on ze other hand, will be staying in England and around Diagon Alley but Arry has already offered to let me stay at Grimmauld Place, The Raven's Nest or Potter Manor if I wanted to."
"Well honestly, I really appreciate it and I promise to make sure I bring you some things back from Bonaparte's Bakery. I have to try their madeleines for myself."
Flear let out a squeal of excitement, "Merci Cissa. That would make my week if you could do so and I'll make sure that I write to you to let you know when I will be back in Japan." The two witches gave each other a quick hug as Fleur checked her watch and saw that she really needed to get to Gringotts so as not to leave the Goblins waiting.
Narcissa went to Yushiro and Yushiro and after waiting a few moments after announcing herself to the receptionist, Amy came out of her office before Narcissa had a chance to sit down.
"Good Morning Narcissa and thank you for coming in this morning." Amy greeted, taking Narcissa's outstretched hand and shaking it politely. "Would you like a drink or anything or should we get straight to it?"
Narcissa couldn't help getting caught up in Amy's energetic approach, "Well… I suppose we can get to it if you think the estate agents will be open by now." Yuki's office door opened and she stepped out with a goblin. Yuki greeted her and introduced Hermione's Japanese account manager, Sato, and informed Amy that she was having to step out of the office for a few hours because they needed to finalise Hermione's investment in The Witches' Secret and had some other documents for Kayleigh Quang to sign to finalise the deal.
"You're both up and at it very early." Narcissa said impressed as the door behind her opened and a witch and a wizard entered looking a little sheepish, upon spotting Amy and Yuki in the reception area.
"Sorry Amy, Yuki. The baby wouldn't settle with my mum so we are running a little late as a result. We'll make up the time through our lunch hour," the Asian woman stated. She was in her mid-thirties and looked tired. This apology was followed up by the man who apologised as well and both bowed to Amy and Yuki and apologised as they passed the group and pushed the office door open to disappear into the back.
"Yui, I've left some documents on your desk that I need filing with Gringotts and the Ministry by this afternoon at the very latest." Amy called out to the woman who nodded her understanding. "I hope Asahi will be coming to visit us here soon."
"Yes Amy, no problem I'll get them sorted today and are you sure after what happened last time?" Yui asked, stopping at the door as her partner went into the back office and out of sight.
"Yes it was only a bit of upchuck and I managed to get it cleaned out of my jacket," Amy replied kindly.
"Ok great thanks, I'll leave you to your business." Yui said with a warm smile and disappeared into the back office.
"They've an adorable little boy named Asahi and he threw up on me when I was holding him. He's so cute... really chubby cheeks." Amy said by way of explanation to Narcissa who nodded her understanding and smiled.
"As for being up early. Well we managed to secure two very important clients over the weekend and wanted to show that they had made a good decision hiring us so we came in early and got cracking on things and asked a few employees to come in a little early as well," Yuki explained to Narcissa.
"Well I'm sure these new clients will be very happy to hear that you're both all over this for them," Narcissa said with a smile.
"Well they are paying for a full service and we are on retainer now so we're at their beck and call," Amy said bowing to Narcissa with a grin. "Anyway Yuki, I'm taking Narcissa to see someone at Bewitching Properties & Magical Mansions to get a list of houses for Lord Potter and will probably spend some time seeing a couple with Narcissa this morning but I'll be back after lunch and we can go over those ideas we had about coping with some of the plans Lord Potter and Lady Granger were suggesting over the weekend."
"Alright but bring me something back to eat. I'm going to be with Sato most of the morning sorting things for Lady Granger, so I might not get a chance to grab a bite." Yuki answered her sister who said that would be fine and opened the door for Narcissa and let her go outside first.
"No worries Sis, I'll grab something before I head back. See you later." Amy said with a wave letting the door close behind her. "Right then shall we get going then Narcissa?" she asked the older witch who nodded and Amy started leading them down First Avenue towards Second Avenue.
"So why are you and Yuki calling Harry and Hermione Lord Potter and Lady Granger?" she asked Amy as they set off along the street which was starting to get busier with street vendors setting up stalls and shops opening up, along with other pedestrians setting off on their business for the day.
"Well we're happy to call Harry and Hermione by their names when we see them outside of the office but in a work environment we want the staff speaking about them by their titles as we want to keep an air of professionalism." Amy explained as she stepped off the pavement and onto the cobblestone street.
"Ah I see. So what can you tell me about the estate agents we are going to?"
"Well they deal in all sorts of properties for people starting on the housing market and people like Harry who have the means to get something more expensive. Has he said what sort of thing he's looking for?" Amy asked Narcissa as they made their way along and waved silently at the odd shop owner putting their shutters up or unlocking their doors.
"Well he's wanting to have a base in Asia. He wants to go to the Quidditch World Cup and said that ideally if he can get there by floo-ing to a station to get the Asian Express instead of having to use a portkey, especially an international portkey, then he would prefer to do that," Narcissa explained.
"What about using various apparition sites? I know it can make you feel a bit sick but there are potions to combat that," Amy asked.
"I suggested that but when he asked me about them I was honest and said the potions are foul tasting," Narcissa said with a shrug.
"True they are disgusting and I find the after taste lasts for ages." Amy added thinking about the times she'd had to take them when she was younger.
"Indeed. Plus Harry's got plenty of gold and I don't think it's a bad move investing in property around the world. Especially as he's already got properties in Greece and Germany through the Black and Potter family holdings. Staying in hotels is nice but sometimes having home comforts and privacy is nice," Narcissa explained before adjusting her hand bag on her shoulder.
"I guess so, I haven't been abroad in years. Well since my parents were alive really. With raising Yoko since she was baby and having to run the practice, we've not been able to get away for more than a week at a time really. Sometimes Yoko and Yuki had gone away for a week and I stayed home overseeing work and keeping things ticking along, and then I'd go and spend the second week away and Yuki would switch out." Amy explained with a shrug.
"So the three of you haven't been able to take a holiday away together for a while then?" Narcissa asked curious about the two twins' relationship to their adopted daughter.
"Not since Yoko was about eight and started wanting her independence a little more and insisted that she wasn't a baby." Amy smiled recalling the first time Yoko had said that to them.
"I have to say Amy, I've a lot of admiration for yourself and Yuki, adopting a baby girl when you were so young yourself," Narcissa said sincerely. "It can't have been easy raising a child, juggling work and giving up on your own social lives. I know I had a massive adjustment with my own child and a wealthy husband but that enabled me not to work, so I don't know how you both coped."
"Firstly thanks, although a lot of people I'm sure would have done the same thing."
"No they wouldn't Amy," Narcissa disagreed and looked at the younger witch who blushed at the compliment.
"Well Yoko is just an absolute dream even as a child. It's scary to think that she's coming of age this year and I'd love for you to meet her one weekend when she comes to the Bazaar. If we can get her to peel away from her friends for an afternoon that is. I'd imagine her friend Akiko would come along as well as they are practically joined at the hip." Amy said as they turned the corner into Second Avenue.
"I'd really like that. To meet Yoko, I mean. Harry seems to like her, he said that she really helped him out when that article came out the other week questioning whether he and Hermione were in Japan to battle the Jade Dragon." Narcissa said as she followed Amy's lead turning the corner.
"Did she? She never mentioned that in her last letter. She didn't really mention much of anything about anything in her last letter except how fit she thought Harry was and how she really liked him a lot." Amy said before coming to a sudden stop. "Oh buddha's butt crack please don't tell Harry that. She'll kill me if she thinks that I ruined any chance of Harry maybe liking her in the future." She added thinking how she'd never hear the end of it if Harry heard that.
Narcissa laughed, "I won't say anything but from the sounds of things she's got a lot of competition for Harry's affection if what I've heard from him and Hermione is anything to go by."
"Yeah Yoko said that the girls at school are going crazy trying to catch his eye and she wanted some advice on a game that the N.E.W.T students play in their final year." Amy said laughing to herself.
"What game?" Narcissa asked, thinking that Harry and Hermione hadn't mentioned any game to her.
"Truth or Dare. Have you played it?" Amy questioned as they set off again.
"No. I can't say I have," Narcissa said shaking her head, having not played the game but remembers hearing some muggleborn Hufflepuffs mention it in her early Hogwarts years when she was listening into their conversation in Potions.
Amy explained briefly how truth or dare worked and let slip a couple of scenarios and dares that happened when she was playing it.
"And the school allows this to happen?" Narcissa asked, shocked and thinking that there was no way that would have been allowed at Hogwarts.
"Yeah... It's part of the tradition there now and traditions are very important at Mahoutokoro," Amy explained. "Granted, they probably don't think that things get as erm… adult in nature as they do but it depends on the person playing really. I've already told Yoko that if she gets pregnant or does something that will get her expelled, that I'll hex her boobs to her cheeks for the world to see." She added as she spotted the estate agents.
"Do you think that she'd go that far for a game?" Narcissa asked appalled at the thought of students having sex but then cast her mind back to her final years at Hogwarts and the goings on that happened.
"Maybe with the right boy. She's not stupid though and Yuki and I have stressed to her not to do anything she isn't comfortable with or that she can always come to us for advice." Amy said as they came to a stop outside the estate agents.
It was different from the buildings on either side of it. It was a two-storey Japanese town house with a flared out roof in grey slate tiles at the top and a grey slate tile second roof like canopy coming off a balcony running around the first storey of the building.
This doubled up as a useful canopy to protect anyone looking through the two windows flanking the dark wooden door in case of rain. The exterior walls were a beige colour without a single blemish or chip on the smooth walls. It looked professional and traditionally Japanese in design, which Narcissa assumed she would be seeing a lot of that day.
Above the door in a lit up sign was the company name and a silver flower symbol flanking the wording.
"I think you better have a chat with Harry about it though. Yoko isn't the only witch that fancies him and you know what boys are like," Amy said with a knowing smile. "Especially good looking, rich and famous ones who can legally have at least four wives in their future," She added with a light laugh.
"I don't think Harry wants his life any more complicated than it normally is," Narcissa replied honestly. "But knowing that this game is going on, I might have a talk with him about it. I'd hate for someone to try and do something to him." She remembered what Harry had said about Lucy and thought now might be a good time to talk to Amy about it from a legal perspective.
"Honey trapping you mean?" Amy asked while looking into the shop window, seeing the magical signs with self-painting images of magical houses and dwellings and seeing a very interesting advertisement for a property that seemed to be some sort of magical cave that began to sketch itself with only a golden shiny coloured parchment in the window.
"Yes, for example." Narcissa said seriously. "I think you and I would be wise to have a chat about it and what would happen if someone tried that with him." She added thoughtfully as she watched Amy stand up straight.
Amy turned to Narcissa and the normal smile on her face was gone as she looked all business. Amy moved her bag across her front and tapped the outside with her wand and a metallic click could be heard before she pulled the flap of the bag backwards and reached into the bag up to her elbow and emerged with what looked like a book about an inch thick, but had an almost cardboard like cover on it instead of being bound in leather.
"Here is a summary of various different recorded incidents through the last century in Japan, recorded punishments, legal rights of both parties in a number of different scenarios and ways Harry and Hermione might be at risk." Amy handed the book to Narcissa who took it from her and read the cover.
Embossed in a dark burgundy ink it read: Summary and synopsis of risks to Lord or Ladyships by Yushiro & Yushiro.
"Yourself and Amy have written this?" Narcissa asked as she started turning through the pages of parchment, finding that everything had been hand written and there were notes scribbled in the columns referring to other pages where certain underlined passages, paragraphs and sentences had been underlined or highlighted.
"Yes well when we got Yoko's first letter home telling us about Harry and Hermione being at Mahoutokoro, Yuki felt it would be prudent to do some research on them both and we found out about Harry and Hermione inheriting various family titles this year."
"As you'll know, being from a magical background, being heads of multiple houses is a big deal and there are only so many incidences of this happening throughout the world over the last few centuries." Amy explained as Narcissa listening still flicking through the book and impressed by the level of research into various incidences, the act itself, how the perpetrator was apprehended, the trials, punishments and outcomes of the various incidents that the Yushiro's had carried out even before they got the opportunity to know that Harry and Hermione were wanting legal representation in Japan.
"Then when we saw it announced in the newspaper and when we were approached by Fleur and yourself to have the opportunity to gain Harry and Hermione as a client we knew that our time wasn't wasted," Amy explained to an impressed Narcissa.
"This," she said tapping the book with her finger, "was something we were holding back in case you decided to use another firm. We recognised that line theft or honey trapping for example could be a real problem for them both. Neither of them grew up in the magical world and even though Harry knew who he was, from the conversations I've had with him and Fleur he didn't really know anything about his family's magical background or have his parents around to explain all of these potential dangers to him."
Narcissa who could tell that Amy was genuine in what she was saying, "But still Amy it's a lot of work to have done knowing you may not get paid for this but I know both Harry and Hermione will be really happy that you've provided this. Especially Harry as you've even put different charms, enchantments and potions and how to identify all these things or counter them as well." Narcissa's eyes bulged a little seeing the list was quite extensive and detailed and the girls had written counters to most of the things in the margins next to the paragraphs.
"Well we really wanted their business so it's not been time wasted," Amy said, happy to see that Narcissa appreciated their work.
"Well colour me impressed and I can't imagine that they won't be either. Do you mind if I keep this or make a copy?" she asked while opening her own handbag to put the book into.
"Absolutely it's theirs so if you would prefer to send it to them yourself that's totally fine by us." Amy answered, closing her bag and putting it back to her side with her hand resting on the strap. "So? Ready to go house hunting?"
"Absolutely. Lead on Amy and maybe as a little thanks for this I'll treat you, Yuki, and your staff to lunch." Narcissa said, getting a grin from Amy as the latter opened the door to the shop with the sound of a windchime announcing their arrival to the shop's staff.
Narcissa followed Amy inside and looked around the estate agents. She closed the door behind her and saw that the windows looking out onto the street where they'd seen the magical parchment illustrating properties for sale were no longer there and assumed it was some sort of disillusionment charm in place to allow the staff to look out the window at anyone window shopping.
As Narcissa turned to look at the room properly, she was surprised to see that instead of the room being square it was actually circular. The walls were wooden panelled and broken up with the occasional piece of artwork, vases, or ornaments on pedestals.
Immediately in front of her was a reception desk with a large golden plaque with the company name on it and a young witch in her late teens wearing a black kimono with an embossed silver flower design on the chest of the kimono on the right hand side that matched the one on the sign above the front door.
Directly behind her the receptionist was a strange looking three tier circular settees that looked a bit like three traditional Japanese straw hats of gradually smaller sizes stacked on top of each other. To the sides of the room were two desks facing towards each other across the central settee's, which Narcissa assumed was so that the witch and wizards working at those desks could keep an eye on their customers while waiting.
To the far side of the desks and towards the back, well where the corners would be, there were two openings with stairs heading up and along the back wall was a row of about twelve wooden filing cabinets stacked floor to ceiling. Narcissa was just wondering whether the staff levitated themselves up to put stuff in the filing cabinets or whether there was some other magical method used, as Amy went and stopped at the reception desk and the receptionist bowed to Amy, who returned it.
"Good Morning and welcome to Bewitching Properties & Magical Mansions, how can I help you this morning?" The young witch greeted, smiling pleasantly.
"Good Morning, I'm Miss Yushiro and I've a meeting with Mrs. Xiang," Amy politely replied as the young witch nodded and opened a large binder in front of her, guiding her finger down the column.
"Erm my apologies Miss Yushiro, but I can't see an appointment in the appointment book, but let me double check it wasn't entered on the wrong date." The young witch said with a knowing smile. She handled all the appointments and knew she hadn't heard of an appointment for the witch in front of her.
"Maybe it's booked under Ms. Black?" Amy pondered thinking maybe they'd booked it under Narcissa's name instead because she technically was the client.
"Ummmm no." the witch shook her head scanning the columns and flipped the pages forwards and back. "I can't see anything. Can you remember who you booked the appointment with?"
"Yes I received a note from Mrs. Xiang this morning confirming she could see us today." Amy replied, reaching into her pocket for the note that she'd received from the estate agent and placing it on the counter in front of the witch.
After looking it over for a moment the receptionist stated, "I guess Mrs. Xiang mustn't have sent notification of your appointment. Not a problem. Please take a seat on those seats over there and I'll send a message up to her right away." The witch indicated the sofas behind her and Narcissa and Amy made their way around the reception desk and both perched themselves on the outermost bench.
The witch behind the reception desk tapped on a brass coloured box that neither Amy or Narcissa had seen on the other side of the desk and a short traditional radio microphone came out of an opening in the box. A red and green light came on it and the receptionist spoke quietly into it, before rapping her wand on the mic and it went back inside its box.
A minute or so later a very meticulously dressed female estate agent came down the steps facing towards where Narcissa and Amy were seated and the two witches looked up at the lady coming towards them, she looked to be in her sixties and introduced herself with a bow and informed them her name was Chiyo Haneul Xiang.
Amy and Narcissa stood and returned the bow, "This is Narcissa Black who is a family member of Lord Potter-Black-Peverell-Ravenclaw and has been entrusted to speak on his behalf regarding a potential purchase of a property if something suitable is available." Amy said, introducing Narcissa who held her hand out.
Chiyo didn't miss a beat and bowed again and shook Narcissa's hand. "My pleasure to meet you Ms. Black and I hope that I will be able to show you something you think Lord Potter-Black-Peverell-Ravenclaw might like." She said with a kind smile and turned to Amy. "I thought when I received your owl this morning Amy that you had finally decided to move in with a nice wizard and settle down."
Amy stepped forwards and gave her a hug, "No not yet Chiyo, but Yuki, Yoko and I are still happy living in my family's old home." Amy replied with what Narcissa detected was a momentary flicker of regret or something else touching Amy's eyes. "Chiyo has been my family's estate manager for a long time and is more of a family friend really."
"Oh" Narcissa said, understanding the hug and familiarity between the pair now. "Well then it's a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Xiang."
"Chiyo please, Mrs. Xiang makes me feel old," The estate agent replied.
"Then call me Narcissa or Cissa if it pleases you," She said, seeing the older witch smile at her.
"So what is it that you think the young Lord is looking for property wise? Something big enough to host all his wives that he will have in the future? Something smaller and closer to the Bazaar, something with a view or on a seafront or near a lake perhaps?" she asked Narcissa who didn't know exactly but thought that she would know when she saw it.
"Chiyo, maybe if you show Narcissa some of the places you've got available it might help narrow down the search a little?" Amy helpfully suggested.
"Of course no problem. Do either of you want some refreshments or a drink?" she asked as they both declined. "No problem. Katsumi dear, I'm going to be using the map room so would you please go and get me a carry case and maybe….Oh I don't know, say nine phials please?" She called to the young girl who nodded and set off for the stairs opposite where Chiyo had emerged from.
"Phials?" Narcissa whispered to Amy quietly, unsure what they'd want phials for.
Amy leaned in as Chiyo moved towards the filing cabinets along the back wall and took her wand from some hidden pocket in her robes and began a series of complicated wand movements sending three different spells at the filing cabinets.
"Well some will be anti-apparition potions and some might be for putting memories in so that you can keep a memory of the place to show Harry. They rent pensieves here to their more exclusive clients so that if for example a couple couldn't see a property at the same time they can show their partner or spouse the memory." Amy explained. "My parents used to have quite a lot of clients throughout the years who used the firm to help with property purchases and that's how we became so close to Chiyo. She was starting out pretty much when my parents took over the family business and they kind of helped her grow a little bit with the clients they brought here."
"That, Amy Yushiro, is an understatement of monstrous proportions." Chiyo said without looking back as she continued casting spells.
"Alright, they helped Chiyo become the Bazaar's number one estate agent." Amy said, blushing a little.
"Better." Chiyo said, dropping her wand and turning with a smile. "Shall we?" she asked as the filing cabinet wall behind her started to have the different drawers start moving around and sliding around like some giant rubix cube before the two innermost rows suddenly started moving forwards and to the side revealing an archway leading into a dark room.
Narcissa looked at Amy as Chiyo turned on her heel and walked confidently into the dark room disappearing from sight. "After you," Amy grinned knowing what to expect as she followed Narcissa after Chiyo.
Narcissa followed Chiyo between the filing cabinets and through the archway that had some words written around the edge in a language she couldn't decipher. She found herself holding her breath as she entered the room and noticed the drop in temperature. It was cooler there but not so much that it would cause you to shiver.
As she felt Amy step behind her, she heard the metallic thud of what sounded like a heavy metallic door close with a thrumming clank behind her. Narcissa felt herself growing nervous in the complete darkness and was starting to worry that she might fall over as the darkness of the room felt like it was almost swirling around her.
"Welcome Narcissa... To the Map Room," Chiyo dramatically announced as a slow green and blue light slowly started to rise causing Narcissa to gasp.
AN – A little separate note from my story and hope you all had a good christmas
A Boxing Day Poo.
You sit upon the toilet with everything prepared, you're feeling quite excited, but a little bloody scared!
The huge amount of Christmas nosh has turned into a log, and the fateful time has come, to flush it down the bog!
But first you must expel the beast and so you start to strain, your bite down on a piece of wood to take away the pain.
But oh my god, it's bloody huge, it's like you're giving birth! You sweat and push and swear and shake and strain for all you're worth.
And then that magic moment comes, that fills your soul with cheer, a turd the size of King Kong's arm emerges from your rear.
And like a bomb it hits the pan thus lightening your mood, and making room inside your guts for lots more Christmas food!
Have a great Christmas
Craggle
