Chapter 14
The end of the first term of school was coming up quickly for the students at Hogwarts. The sheet that went around to see who was staying and leaving over break had already made its rounds through each of the houses. Gohan knew he was definitely heading home, as were his friends who were just as excited as him to see their families and spend some time away from the castle. Not long after he signed his name on the list to confirm he was leaving Hogwarts for break, Gohan had received a note from Professor Longbottom requesting he join him for a quick meeting after the last class before exams.
The final class in Herbology turned out to be an informative review session for the first years' before their exam the following week. Gohan waited for the Slytherin and Gryffindor students he shared class with to make their way out of the Greenhouse towards lunch before he went to the front of the room to speak to his professor. The young boy knew that he and his professor had yet to have a resumption of their meeting from a few weeks ago, and Gohan had to wonder if now was the time. Professor Longbottom was busy organizing the plants he had pulled out for review during class that day when he looked up to see his wild haired student in front of the head workbench.
"Gohan, would you mind helping me move this planter to Greenhouse Five real fast. I'm afraid it's at the maturity stage where any spell used around it will cause its defence system to flare up and when that happens it will lose all its new growth." Professor Longbottom asked, hands already wrapped around one end of the planter.
"Sure, no problem professor." Gohan obliged his professor, thinking about how strange magical plants were and how they almost behaved like actual animals. Gohan gripped the opposite side of the planter from his professor, easily lifting it up, however the large pot must have been rather heavy for the older man because the swift ease in which the half-saiyan lifted it threw the man a bit off balance. Quickly regaining his balance, Professor Longbottom started to back out of the classroom towards the plants new destination. After settling the planter down in its new home, Gohan noticed his professor wipe his shining brow with the sleeve of his robes avoiding his earthy gloves still covered in dirt from the lesson.
"Thanks Gohan, I appreciate that, there's no way I could move that myself and the temperature in Greenhouse Three isn't really suitable for it in the long run." Neville explained, the taller man looked at Gohan still catching his breath, noticing his young student hadn't even broken a sweat. "I must really be getting out of shape." Gohan heard Neville mumble to himself while the older man quickly glanced down at the bit of middle age bulge that had formed on his midsection. The polite boy didn't respond knowing it was just another thing he overheard that normal students would not have.
"Ok, so anyway. I just wanted to check in on your travel plans to go back home." Neville leaned on the empty workbench beginning his explanation for their meeting, "The Headmistress and I were thinking perhaps a couple of Portkeys, one from Hogsmeade to the check in station then from there to your home, sort of how we did for Gin..er Mrs. Potter this summer." Professor Longbottom continued, clearly the plan was thought out before Gohan had even gotten there. However before his head of house could delve deeper into his explanation, Gohan thought to ease the situation with his own idea.
"Um Professor, if it would be okay. I uh, well, you know I have other means of getting home which would be a lot easier." Gohan explained.
"Oh yes, of course, of course," Professor Longbottom's gloved hand shot up to his forehead in realization leaving a smudge of dirt on his brow. After a pause of thought piecing his student's request together, he continued, "If you would prefer to contact your er, Mr. Piccolo to help you get home that should be acceptable as well. " Neville affirmed to his student.
After their last meeting together, the Herbology professor had spent a good amount of time trying to digest what he had learned about his student from East District. Neville had come to the conclusion that the former Guardian of Earth had used powers to transport him and his student to East District through flight. Hannah had reached the same conclusion when he relayed what had happened that afternoon during their long lunch at the Leaky Cauldron. However the herbology professor didn't want his wife to think he went completely insane, so he left out some details, such as Piccolo's unique appearance.
"Yes, yes that would be just fine, I won't have to worry about you getting home safe that way." Neville nodded with a distracted smile obviously still sorting through this new plan in his head. Gohan meanwhile was a little confused why his professor would want Piccolo to come get him but realised it must have something to do with the whole 'Adult Supervision' thing that wizards abided to with all the students of Hogwarts.
"I think if you met at my office after I escort the rest of the students down to Hogsmeade before you depart that would be ideal." Neville nodded, the Deputy Headmaster knew it would be much less of a hassle then getting portkeys regulated which was always a tiny nightmare, so this solution was taking a great weight off of his work schedule.
"Ok, sure thank you sir." Gohan nodded, glad that he wouldn't have to travel by Portkey. It might look like his dad's instant transmission but the awkward feeling and nausea he remembered from that first time were not fun. Gohan was sure he could convince Piccolo to drop by and get him. After all, everyone was departing on Saturday which was their usual training day, so perhaps they could just do some training before Gohan headed home that day. Deciding he would just discuss with Piccolo when they met up for training tomorrow, Gohan felt relieved that he could travel home his normal way.
"I'm glad that's sorted. Well have a nice weekend Gohan, remember to get rest before exams!" Professor Longbottom reminded his young student. Both feeling good about their plan, Gohan thanked his professor before he left the greenhouse and went straight to the castle to catch the end of lunch.
Exam week seemed to fly by for the students, for the First Years, there were only written exams, no practicals which made studying much less nerve wracking for the young scholars. Gohan stepped out of his Charms exam on Friday afternoon and felt the pressure of the first term of the school year ease off his shoulders with the completion of his last exam. After spending the last few months practicing to control his magic power, Gohan was getting passing marks in his spell work for the first time all year. That combined with the fact that he'd always done well in his research and essays, the young scholar was content to say he would be bringing good marks back home to his mother.
Dinner that night was filled with much higher spirits around the student population. Being done with exams had lifted the mood of the entire Great Hall. Gohan was delighting in the going away feast that night surrounded by talk with his friends while the boys sat at the Ravenclaw table that night.
"What are you getting your parents for Christmas?" Scorpius asked Albus, the two boys were finished with their dinner while Gohan was still working his way through his fourth helping.
"Ugh, I have no clue, my go to option being Quidditch books and chocolate frogs have already been claimed by my stupid brother. What are you getting your parents?" Al asked back looking forworn as he rubbed his head making his already messy hair worse.
The boys had learned that however messy Al's hair got it was no competition to Gohan's natural crazy. Gohan's hair had grown out a bunch in the last few months into what the other boys had started to tease him as his 'mullet'. Little did they know, the young warrior had sported much longer hair in the past, but those styles didn't seem popular in the wizarding world where boys mostly seemed to wear their hair short and neat. Wizards obviously weren't very familiar with Saiyan hair and Gohan could only imagine their reactions if they met his dad or Vegeta, the young boys hair was downright tame compared to theirs. Nevertheless Gohan figured he would have his mom cut it when he got home if only to not add kindling to the ongoing rumors about the wild kid from East District.
"I'm thinking of getting my dad a new chess board I saw in Diagon Alley before school started...and my mother I was thinking an antique brooch that I saw her eyeing up this summer." Scorpius replied.
"Ughh you're so perfectly pretentious it's nauseating Scorp." Albus laughed poking fun at his blond friend.
"It's not my fault I pay attention to my parents interests Al." Scorpius shot back in defense.
"Ok, well how about you Gohan, what're you getting your Mom and Grandpa?" Albus turned his attention towards the other boy clearly hoping that Gohan had some ideas he could steal.
"Ummm, uh, so the thing is…" Gohan rubbed the back of his neck face turning bright red. "What's um Christmas?" Gohan mumbled out averting his eyes down to his now empty dinner plate clearly embarrassed by not knowing what such an apparently popular wizard tradition was.
He had heard all the students talking excitedly about it the last few weeks of school, and had seen the decorated trees around the castle, but Gohan had yet to figure out why all the wizards were so excited. Now it seemed that presents were also involved not just decorations which further confused the young half-saiyan. Gohan chanced a look back up at his friends, both of the other boys wore identical wide eyed expressions.
"You don't know what Christmas is?" Albus asked flabbergasted, receiving a tiny shake of the head from Gohan. "Wow, I thought for sure, no I know Muggles celebrate Christmas too…" Albus reasoned aloud to himself.
"Remember he's from East District Al, they obviously don't have the same holidays as we do." Scorpius rolled his eyes at his green-eyed friend still a tiny bit bitter at the boy for his comments from earlier.
"So...you don't have Father Christmas?...no presents or decorations?…no crackers, no pudding, no Christmas trees?!" Albus listed off in growing hysteria earning him no recognition from his wild haired friend.
"Easy there Al, stop looking like Gohan blew up your Christmas tree." Scorpius scolded the wizard born boy's obvious dismay before turning towards his other dark haired friend. "Look Gohan, it's really not that life changing, tons of people around the world don't celebrate Christmas either." Scorpius explained easing Gohan's worried expression. The blond quickly glanced towards Albus again who still looked like he was on the edge of a meltdown, realizing he wasn't getting any help from him explained further.
"Basically it's a holiday that was originally a religious tradition that has since been commercialized by corporations so that parents have to buy their spoiled kids like Albus here lots of presents on December 25th every year." Scorpius explained receiving a dirty look in return from his green-eyed friend who had finally stopped his mini freak out probably finally realizing Gohan not knowing what Christmas was didn't actually affect him in the least.
"Oh ok, I think I get it. So it's like everyone has a birthday party on the same day of the year?" Gohan nodded finally understanding what all the fuss was about. The school was full of kids so obviously getting another birthday party with presents would be very exciting. To Gohan's surprise both Albus and Scorpius started cracking up at this.
"Oh man Gohan, that's actually exactly what it is!" Albus smiled slapping his hand on the half-saiyans back, Scorpius laughing as well, the tension between the two boys erased. The trio continued joking around while finishing off their desserts before departing to get in their last minute packing done before leaving tomorrow morning.
Gohan said his goodbyes to Albus and Scorpius during breakfast before the two boys made their way back to their respective dorm rooms to gather the rest of their belongings before leaving with the rest of the students to Hogsmeade. Having some extra time on his hands since he was already finished packing, the capsule case tucked safely inside of his pants pocket, Gohan decided to make his way up to the owlery to send a letter home with Hermes. After much deliberation, Gohan realized he definitely wanted his owl to come home with him over the break. However unlike his clothes and books, owls definitely didn't belong in capsules. Knowing it wouldn't be practical to fly with Hermes, even at his slowest speeds the young warrior still outpaced most birds, he decided the easiest option would be to send Hermes home to meet him when he got there. On his way back down from the tower, Gohan was surprised when he rounded a corner near the Transfiguration corridor and saw a pair of students.
"Oh, hey, you're that kid I almost ran over at the beginning of the year, Gohan right?" The pretty red haired girl exclaimed. Her light blue eyes lighting up in recognition. Behind her stood a boy who looked younger than her but still older than Gohan, he shared the same light eyes as the girl but had messy brown hair which fell over his forehead as opposed to his sister's neatly combed locks.
"That's right, you're from that other school uhh…." Gohan rubbed the back of his head in thought, he did vaguely recall their run in near the owlery at the beginning of the school year, but for the life of him Gohan couldn't remember the odd name of the school nor the girls name. Thankfully Gohan's rudeness didn't seem to bother the older girl.
"Yep Ava from Ilvermorny, I always have to tell people," so she had noticed Gohan's forgetfulness, the young boy's face grew hot in embarrassment. "Oh and this is my little brother Evan." Ava explained. Gohan greeted the other boy politely hoping he could somehow make up for his rudeness of forgetting Ava's name.
"Are you guys going down to Hogsmeade to catch the train home, everyone's leaving soon?" Gohan asked, aware that he was one of the few kids hanging around the school not rushing to finish packing up for break. During breakfast he told Albus and Scorpius that he had a different mode of transportation home, they must have assumed it was either one of those Portkey things or floo powder Gohan guessed, but either way they didn't question him much.
"Oh we're not going home. Professor Mutatío is our host dad when we're here so we're staying with him over break." Ava smiled but Gohan couldn't help but contort his face in shock.
"What...Professor Mutatío?" Gohan stammered out not believing that the stern spiteful professor would volunteer to take care of children.
"Yep, he said he has a little cottage in Hogsmeade we'll probably stay at most of the time to get out of the castle for a bit. Should be fun!" Evan spoke for the first time. Despite their odd accents Gohan knew they were all still speaking the same language despite how hard a time he was having believing it.
"Um, ok." Even the kind-hearted boy was having a hard time pretending to be happy for the older student's apparent joy in getting to stay with the only teacher who seemed to actively loathe him. Ava and Evan's grinning faces continued to fill the wild haired boy with confusion and a slight bit of foreboding dread. Gohan shook his head, he shouldn't be thinking poor thoughts about his Professor's intentions. Besides, despite not really seeming to like the boy much and grade him unfairly, Gohan's mind added in, Mutatío hadn't actually done anything bad. However logical the young scholar was being, Gohan knew he couldn't keep up the act much longer and decided to excuse himself.
"I better go and finish getting ready, uh have a nice break." Gohan told the two siblings trying his best to force a small smile while knowing he wouldn't be able to say anything nice about Mutatío if he didn't leave soon.
"Thanks Gohan, you too!" Replied Ava with a smile before she took her shorter brother's arm and dragged him along the corridor in the opposite direction of Gohan's path. Gohan watched the siblings recede down the opposite corridor, Ava and Evan, the dark haired boy repeated to himself to try and remember, not eager to repeat that awkward experience again.
Checking his watch after leaving the two siblings, Gohan decided that he'd killed enough time he could just wait a bit for Professor Longbottom at his office until he returned from his duties. Gohan leisurely made his way down to the Greenhouses as planned, briefly detouring to walk out to the lake's edge to admire the scenery of the castle. Everything at Hogwarts was so different than what he was used to at home, but being out in nature always helped to quell the wild spirit deep inside the boy that Gohan knew he would never be able to completely tame.
As he finally drew near to Professor Longbottom's office, Gohan slowed down when he heard voices emerge from the already open office door. Gohan knew it would be rude to eavesdrop but he really had nowhere else to go, Piccolo would be showing up at the forest soon and he didn't want to leave before telling his Head of House. Gohan's superior hearing made it impossible to ignore the conversation, especially since the voices coming from inside were raised, it was almost as if they were standing right next to the young half-saiyan.
"…the only files released were handpicked for the public. The Department of Mysteries finally secured the unredacted documents."
"It still doesn't give me enough evidence to make such a rash decision, I'm sorry."
"There were hundreds of letters sent from Nurmengard to ED over decades Minerva, hundreds."
"And no evidence that he was the one corresponding."
"Grindelwald died in 1998, the correspondence continued for another five years until the prison was officially shut down. The warden was his father, all letters went through him."
"I'm sorry Neville, I can't with good conscience make a decision with so little concrete evidence. I know you're worried, but if I were to make such a biased claim as Headmistress, we would be right back to where we were twenty years ago sorting through the mess of the war. Not everyone follows in their parents footsteps."
There was a long pause in the conversation in which Gohan briefly thought of making his entrance, but before the young boy made a move, he heard the lilt of Headmistress McGonagall continue.
"I know you lost just as much as everyone in the war Neville, I'm not trying to belittle your concerns. Give me concrete evidence not just conjecture and then we can go from there."
There was another long pause but Gohan didn't dare move.
"Alright. Yes, I understand, I have a meeting with Dennis later this week, if he gives me the right documentation rest assured I will be bringing it to your attention."
Gohan heard his Head of House conclude, and before he knew it Headmistress McGonagall was striding out of the door of the Greenhouse. Gohan had remained a good twenty yards away to keep the illusion of privacy, despite the fact he had heard every word of the conversation.
"Good morning Mr. Son, heading home?" Professor McGonagall asked the young student. Gohan rubbed the back of his neck while trying to act normal knowing that his Headmistress wouldn't be pleased to be spied upon by students.
"Uh, yes ma'am, just meeting with Professor Longbottom to let him know." Gohan explained, he did actually have a good reason for being there after all. The stern face of the older woman broke into a small upturn of her lip at the nervous young boy.
"Have a Happy Christmas Mr. Son, and a safe flight."
"Thanks, you too Professor!" Gohan responded back before what his Headmistress said dawned on the young boy turning him a nice dark shade of red. McGonagall cracked a larger smile watching the young boy squirm with a twinkle of amusement in her eye before continuing on her way back up to the castle. Gohan proceeded to walk into the building his Headmistress had just vacated to see his Herbology professor standing while sorting paperwork on his desk.
"Ah Mr. Son, all set to go?" Neville asked his young student after looking up to see the young boy just inside the doorway.
"Yeah, Piccolo wanted me to meet him at the edge of the forest to not draw as much attention as last time." Gohan told his Professor, a part of him hoping the older man would just let him go alone, but the young scholar knew that was unlikely.
"Sure, sure, hold on let me grab my cloak." Neville replied before turning towards the coat rack which was situated behind his desk. "I fortunately got relieved of my Hogsmeade duties this morning but I'm just as behind as ever, I'm afraid." Gohan watched as his professor sorted through the papers on his desk one last time before pulling what looked to be an envelope from the pile and tucking it into the pocket of his robe. Gohan proceeded to follow his Head of House out of the greenhouses up the hill towards the forest.
"Um I told him to meet near Hagrid's cabin." Gohan indicated when he realized that the edge of the forest was a large location. The young boy knew that it wouldn't matter where they actually went because Piccolo would be able to find them no matter what. Checking his watch Gohan sighed in relief that they were just on time to meet up with his mentor. After everything Piccolo had done for Gohan the last few months, including everything with the birth of his little brother, Gohan didn't want to put his friend out any more than he already was. Before the two had reached the edge of the woods, Neville stopped for a moment to look down at his young student.
"Before you go Gohan, I just wanted to tell you I'm very proud of you for your improvement on your spell casting." Neville smiled at the wild haired boy, Gohan's own lips turned up in a smile surprised to hear such praise from his professor.
"Thanks Professor." Gohan said not knowing what else he could say but Neville simply nodded his head before continuing towards the forest. Gohan felt Piccolo's presence along the tree line before he saw his mentor and led the way the last few yards towards his mentor.
"Hey kid." Piccolo simply said before turning towards the other presence. "Wizard."
"Hi Piccolo, thanks for coming." Gohan greeted his mentor with a smile, "By the way this is Professor Longbottom my herbology professor and Head of House." Gohan properly introduced his two teachers after realizing they had skipped pleasantries during their last awkward encounter. Piccolo nodded at the shorter man while Neville offered up a warm smile realizing that the tall green man wasn't about to offer up his hand for a shake.
"Ready to go Gohan?" Piccolo asked receiving a nod from the boy. Before the warriors could leave Neville spoke.
"Mr. Piccolo, er, I'd like to give you this." Neville reached into his robe pulling out the sealed envelope Gohan saw him grab before their departure. This earned the wizard an inquisitive look from Piccolo, while Gohan stood puzzled glancing between the two.
"I realize you are no longer Guardian of East District but if I could ask you to relay that letter onto the proper person I would be very grateful sir." Neville explained still holding out the envelope. To the wizard's apparent surprise Piccolo accepted the letter and tucked it into one of the many folds of his cape with a nod towards the wizard. Neville gave a polite nod in thanks before turning towards his wild haired student.
"Gohan I will meet you here at three on your return back to school, okay?" Receiving a nod from his student Neville smiled, "Safe travels and have a Happy Christmas Gohan!"
"You too Professor!" Gohan responded with his own smile and wave before leaping into the air to follow the already departing Piccolo. Gohan watched his professor retreat back to the Greenhouses before turning back around to catch up to his first teacher.
"Hey Piccolo, up for a little training before I head home?" Gohan asked his mentor receiving a small smile from the green man.
"Sure kid." Piccolo nodded before the duo made their way to start celebrating the first day of Gohan's Christmas break, not that that meant anything to the hybrid and alien.
Thanks so much for reading, please let me know what you think so far!