Chapter 15

Gohan awoke to a consistent tapping on his window just after sunrise a week into his break away from Hogwarts. Blinking away the bleariness of his tired eyes, Gohan was greeted by a familiar owl staring back into the boy's dark eyes. The Potter Family owl was a very proud looking brown barn owl named Hootie, who Albus said was affectionately named by a four year old Lily. Despite the young boys' surprise in seeing his friend's owl in a place other than their breakfast table at Hogwarts, the fact that he was carrying not one but two packages was exciting.

Gohan was thrilled to be receiving mail from someone besides his mother or teachers so he eagerly unattached two parcels from the preening owl. Gohan knew Hootie had to be tired from his long journey so he offered him a treat and a perch on the tree outside the window that his own owl Hermes had quickly favored when he had come home. Gohan was still hanging out the window when another owl came to perch on the windowsill patiently waiting for the boy's attention. Pulling himself back inside, Gohan noticed the small snowy white owl also held a small package which he quickly removed from the animal. However unlike the Potter's owl who was currently tucked away on the branch, this owl once relieved of its package, merely hoped back out the window and took off into the clear blue sky. Gohan shrugged, figuring that the animal knew its own limits and looked down at the package in his hand realizing he recognized Scorpius' neat but tiny handwriting on the outside of the envelope. Grinning in excitement down at his friends' packages, Gohan decided to open Al's letter first since it was the first to arrive.

Hi Gohan!

Happy Christmas, I hope I'm the first person to officially tell you that EVER! I still can't believe you've missed out on presents for like forever. Hope you've not lost your hearing from the crying baby yet (Lily was the worst baby ever!) See ya later!

Albus

P.S. Mum and Dad said to tell you and your Mum hello.

P.P.S. Rose is sending something along as well, she said it wouldn't be as weird if she sent it along with mine but honestly I think it's weirder. Sorry about my cousin, I didn't choose to be related to her.

Gohan chuckled at the ending of the letter but it explained why the owl was carrying two things. He also had to laugh thinking it was lucky that he had opened Al's letter before Scorpius'. Gohan decided to open the parcel that the note from Al was attached to, inside was an box of assorted flavors of Chocolate Frogs which made the half-saiyan's stomach grumble in excitement. Gohan was filled with gratitude at his friends' thoughtfulness to send him a Christmas present even though he knew nothing about the holiday himself . Looking at the slightly larger box which came with Al's owl, Gohan knew that it must be from Rose which surprised him. He wouldn't consider Rose and him to be close friends, at least not like his friendships with Albus and Scorpius, but his curiosity about what the girl would be sending him quickly won out, and he opened the note attached to the front side of the box.

Gohan,

Here's a teaser for a new line of joke products my Dad and Uncle are putting out in their store soon. He wanted me to get some feedback from anyone I knew and I saw Al was sending you an owl so I piggybacked on. Please if you can fill out the attached checklist about the products and send it back, or just give it back to me after holidays, it would really make my Dad's day. (it might also be part of my Christmas present for him, so thanks in advance haha) I didn't want to make a big deal of it at school, because then everyone will be asking for free product, so if you wouldn't mind not mentioning it to anyone besides myself or Al, that would be great. Thanks Son!

Happy Christmas,

Rose

Gohan incredibly curious as to what could be in a prototype wizard joke box tore open the side of the brown paper wrapping. Sure enough after opening the cardboard box the checklist Rose mentioned was the first thing to greet him, followed by small individually wrapped packages in various gaudy colors. Reading the descriptions for the various products, Gohan realized he could easily get some entertainment out of using these on Krillin and his other friends as well as perhaps entertaining Trunks and maybe his brother. Later that week Bulma was throwing a belated baby shower/welcome home party for his mom and him, so he knew he would have the best opportunity to test out the products for Rose then.

Gohan turned to the last small parcel wrapped in elegant emerald wrapping paper. Compared to the haphazardly crumpled wrap job of Al's box of chocolates as well as the plain brown parchment which held Rose's box, Scorpius' package seemed downright fancy already. Gohan opened the envelope which was sealed with a thick red wax M monogram seal. Gohan knew Scorpius came from an upper class family but it was funny to see his laid back and often goofy friend's tiny handwriting adorn the face of the fancy piece of parchment.

Dear Gohan,

Happy Christmas to you and your family! I know you probably don't celebrate obviously, but know that we're thinking of you while you're off galavanting back home!

Sincerely your friend,

Scorpius

P.S. I know you're really an Eagle in Lion's clothing so I thought you'd like this book! See you after break!

Gohan grinned at the postscript of his friends letter, Scorpius having grown up with the stereotypes of all the houses had a hard time believing that his Gryffindor friend was not only as good at studying as him, but maybe liked books even more. The youngest Malfoy had grown up with stories about lazy dumb Gryffindor's and had been glad that if he was going to buck tradition by not being sorted into Slytherin, he at least got the House that his parents respected the next best. Scorpius had admitted to Gohan that he was at first wary of telling his parents, mostly his father, that he was friends with a Gryffindor. He eventually gave in during a letter sometime in October in which he received no fanfare but also surprisingly little to no criticism either. From everything that Scorpius had told Gohan about his father, Gohan couldn't help but draw parallels to Vegeta. Both men were proud of their family lineage and didn't seem to care much for the ordinary people around them. Gohan could only hope for Trunks' sake that Vegeta turned out like Mr. Malfoy and became a reluctant but very doting father to his son.

In contrast, Mr. Potter sounded a lot more like his own dad. The stories of their lives were larger than life, but the difference between Mr. Potter and his dad was that after defeating the bad guy, the famous wizard was able to settle into an ordinary family life. Gohan had finally gotten through the books about the wizarding world he had bought back in Diagon Alley so he knew all about what his friends' father had done during the last wizard war. Looking back at meeting Mr. Potter that first time, Gohan would never have guessed that the man had faced so much hardship and death as a kid. Having seen the huge amount of books and gossip revolving around Harry Potter in the wizarding world, Gohan was even more glad that the world hadn't found out about his defeat of Cell. He couldn't even begin to imagine having books being written about him and his family and was even more pleased that Mr. Satan had taken the credit because a man like that seemed to actually enjoy the attention.

Shaking himself out of analyzing his friends' own odd families, Gohan carefully unwrapped the pristine green wrapping paper which revealed an astronomy book called The Story of the Stars from Scorpius. Despite Scorpius' warning of a scholarly book, the short novel was filled with fun stories about how the wizard constellations got their names. Scorpius knew that Gohan was good at astronomy but was struggling with remembering to use the wizard names in class. Gohan would end up having a lot of fun over break reading those stories aloud to a sometimes sleeping, sometimes screaming Goten, they reminded him of the tales his dad used to tell him about his various adventures when he was little.

Gohan was broken out of his thoughts by the sound of his stomach groaning in hunger. Looking at the time, the half-saiyan realized that his mom should be getting breakfast ready by now, opening up his mail had quickly passed the early hours of the morning. Throwing on some clothes lying near the foot of his bed, Gohan made his way to the kitchen eager to get some breakfast in his rumbling stomach. Rounding the corner of the still quiet house, Gohan was greeted by the scent of food followed by the sight of his mom at the stove. Near the kitchen table sat the familiar sight of the small crib, inside lay an unusually quiet wild haired baby Goten. Sensing another presence in the kitchen, Chi Chi turned to her eldest son bringing the chopsticks she was using to flip the omelettes up to her lips indicating for Gohan to be quiet gesturing to the crib.

Chi Chi had informed her son shortly after his arrival home that Goten was much more fussy than he had been as a baby and had rarely slept through the night so far in his young life. Therefore the rare moments when the baby was sleeping were heaven sent for the woman, and she tried to make them last as long as possible. Gohan nodded at his mom and took a seat quietly at the table chancing a look at the sleeping lump. Goten had grown a bunch from that first day he visited, gone was the fragile wrinkly baby and a squirming month old had filled in his place. Despite Goten's tiny physical body, the pre-teen learned that babies required a lot more work and attention than he would have originally thought and was glad that his Grandpa Ox had stayed with them to help him mom out.

Being back home on Mount Pazou with his small family had been a welcome breather from the constant hustle and bustle of the castle. Despite the slight change of routine from the normal schedule of life at home, not much had changed. Even though Gohan was truly delighted to finally have a sibling, he hated himself to admit it, but for the most part Goten was kind of boring. If the littlest half-saiyan wasn't sleeping he was either eating or crying. Gohan knew he shouldn't have had such high expectations for his newborn baby brother, such as immediately playing outside with him, but he was still disappointed by how admittedly uninformed his imagination was.

Gohan and his mom quietly ate breakfast together before the young boy excused himself back to his room to work on the schoolwork that he had been putting off so far that break. The young scholar spent most of the morning finishing the homework his mom wanted to check later that day. After putting the finishing touches on his Calculus set, Gohan set down his pen and glanced out the window at the cloudless blue sky. It was still before noon and Gohan knew he didn't want to stay cooped up in the house all day. With a plan starting to formulate in his mind he made his way to the living room where he knew his mother would be.

"Mom can I bring Goten out to visit Piccolo today?" Gohan asked his mother hoping to show off Goten to his mentor. After the fiasco of his birth, Piccolo hadn't actually seen the baby (at least up close, Gohan had a feeling that Piccolo was still keeping watch over the Son family from a distance) Gohan's hopes were unfortunately quickly squashed.

"Gohan I just got Goten down for his nap then he's going to need feeding, sorry son but not today." Chi Chi explained with a tired smile.

"Okay..." Gohan sighed in understanding. "Um, well can I still go visit Piccolo? All my homework is done." Gohan asked hoping he could get out of tiptoeing around the house since Goten was sleeping.

"Sure Gohan, just be home before dinner." Chi Chi allowed, excited at the prospect of a quiet house to herself, at least until Goten woke up. Gohan grinned at his mom in thanks before retreating back to his room to put on his Gi before leaving the house.

Having no reason not to fly at full speed, Gohan arrived at the Lookout in record time excited to see his mentor for their weekly training. Even though he wasn't currently at school, Gohan figured that Piccolo would appreciate his student sticking to their routine so when the half-saiyan touched down on the pristine white tiles with no one in sight he was surprised. Before Gohan wandered too far from their usual meeting spot in search of his friend, Dende scurried his way out to greet the young saiyan.

"Gohan, so good to see you my friend." Dende greeted him warmly. "I'm afraid that Piccolo is unavailable right now." The small green guardian explained proactively.

"Oh, okay." Gohan said trying not to show his disappointment, none of his plans were working out despite the exciting start to his day.

"Piccolo is doing some meditation in the Yunzabit Highlands and asked to not be disturbed until he returns." Dende paused looking up at Gohan. "If you don't mind Gohan, would you join Mr. Popo and I before you leave." Dende shyly asked the other boy.

"Uh yeah, of course Dende." Gohan smiled and followed Dende towards the veranda where he saw Mr. Popo preparing a small table with tea and snacks. "Were you guys expecting me?" Gohan laughed when the small Guardians' light green face tinged red.

"Sorry Gohan, we knew you'd probably come up here soon, and there's something I think you'd like to see." Gohan took the seat Mr. Popo held out for him. Dende held out an envelope, which looked vaguely familiar to the young boy. "Please read this Gohan, it was from your professor at school, but I don't see a problem with sharing it with you." Gohan took the already opened envelope and pulled out the carefully folded letter inside.

Dear Guardian,

First, I would like to apologise, I know that this letter is highly inappropriate in nature, and that I am using my position at Hogwarts and my knowledge of my student Gohan Son and his connections to gain access to you. I have no right to demand your attention but I feel that this is a matter which concerns both of our worlds and I have no desire to hold back information which could be vital later on for either of us.

Very recently I have come into knowledge of information which has been kept secret for decades in a highly secured prison in our Central NorthWest District. Our highly secretive Department of Mysteries inside of the Ministry of Magic has obtained the records of letters and correspondence from a man that was incarcerated for war crimes nearly a century ago. This man Gellert Grindelwald was convicted of numerous crimes against wizard and muggle kind including civil rights abuses, corruption, governmental interference as well as mass murder. He was kept in Nurmengard prison since 1945 until his own murder during the last Wizard War in 1998.

Having the knowledge that such a terrible and powerful wizard had correspondence while he was alive in prison was incredibly concerning to us. However, what was even more concerning was learning that the majority of the correspondence was to a Doctor G from East District. The Warden's mailroom records from the prison do not specify what was contained in those letters only when and to whom the letters were sent and received. We are hoping to find out more information about these letters soon, but the most concerning aspect was that the records of correspondence between the prison and the Doctor G continued another five years after Grindelwald was murdered until the prison was officially shut down.

As I know you are acutely aware, contact between the Districts has been highly regulated for centuries, so having neither our own Ministry nor the Central NorthWest District Ministry of Magic from whom we obtained these records from, have any prior knowledge of these exchanges raises many concerns. Knowing the terrible nature of the wizard Grindelwald we cannot tread lightly on this information.

I know that there is not a lot of concrete information about the case yet, but if any of what I have written can be of use to you and the protection of your world I hope I have done my duty by sharing it. I have never put much thought into fate, but I cannot help but believe that the renewed acquaintance between our worlds through Mr. Son was somehow meant to be. Thank you for allowing me to write this letter and if a continued correspondence with more information may be allowed I would be honored to forward along any information I receive.

Respectfully yours,

Professor Neville Longbottom

Deputy Headmaster, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Gohan looked up after reading the letter gently folding the pages back inside of the envelope before handing it to the young guardian. Gohan's mind was buzzing, the letter was very unexpected in and of itself but its contents were what were most interesting to the young boy. Catching Dende's eye he could tell that his thoughts were on the contents of the letter as well.

"So…" Gohan began speaking wondering if Dende and Mr. Popo had come to the same conclusion which had settled in the dark recesses of the boy's mind. "You don't think it's him do you?" Gohan asked not eager to let the cat out of the bag.

"I felt you were owed the opportunity to read this Gohan, especially with your history concerning this Doctor G." Dende quietly explained catching eye contact with the young warrior. Gohan shuffled in his seat glancing around at anything and everything besides the two other beings seated around him. Gohan settled down closing his eyes and taking a deep breath to regain control of his spinning mind. Sharply exhaling the puff of air and reopening his eyes Gohan calmly spoke.

"Okay so Doctor Gero, huh. A wizard war criminal would be buddies with a crazy mad scientist." Dende nodded at Gohan's assessment of the situation. "But Gero's dead now too, so do we just tell Professor Longbottom that?" Gohan asked the young guardian.

"I was planning on drafting out my own letter back to your professor expressing that information. But…" Dende paused looking at his friend, "I couldn't help but be reminded of that odd fortune that involved you Gohan." Gohan's mind reeled back to the prophecy that Mrs. Potter had shared with him and his mother that day almost half a year ago. Looking back at Dende in thought Gohan nodded along to tell him he knew what he was talking about. "Perhaps this goes deeper than two evil men writing to one another." Dende concluded unsure what else there was to say. He had discussed the letter with both Mr. Popo and Piccolo hoping to receive insight from both of their vast amounts of years and experience, but the lack of true information had brought them all to a standstill.

"I just want you to be careful when you go back to your school Gohan, obviously you are not the only one operating in the wizarding world that has a connection to this one. Mr. Popo has given me a short rundown of the history of The Split, and although such connections are very unlikely, they are possible." Dende had looked towards the genie who had thus far in the conversation remained silent. With a nod from the guardian, Mr. Popo spoke up.

"Now Gohan, you may know but I have been the attendant to the Guardian of the Earth for centuries, even since before The Split. I can tell you the legend about how this all came to be." Asked the genie, receiving an affirmative nod from the half-saiyan wizard.

"Long ago in another Age there was a fierce war between two combating kingdoms Azuma and Nishi. Azuma wished for peace and harmony among the kingdoms while Nishi only wished to control all the powers of the world.

Azuma prevailed in the battle, and because of the very different ideologies between the kingdoms, he separated his kingdom from the Nishi. Azuma was a very powerful wizard and created a ward that made it impossible to cross between the lands.

There was much discontent throughout both kingdoms for not only was the land separated, but friends and families were as well. The Old King's son, a powerful wizard in his own right with the help of the Earth's Guardian decided to cast a memory charm over the Earth erasing the existence of the other half from all of humanities memory. A small tribe of Magical users in Nishi were able to resist the spell but the rest of the Earth continued on without any knowledge of their past history with the Azuma.

The Earth's Guardian had been granted the right to allow individual passage between the two worlds since that day. However only magic users from Azuma are able to pass from Azuma to Nishi or Nishi to Azuma unassisted. The wards between Nishi and Azuma make it impossible for the ancient Nishi to pass into Azuma without invitation.

Some may call it a blessing and a curse for Nishi, all of the threats that have come to Earth have bypassed the ancient spell of Azuma and left their land peaceful, but the inherent evils present in their own world have also been continued in their own bubble."

Mr. Popo concluded his story while Gohan remained quiet, thoughtfully thinking about the tale he had just heard.

"Thank you Mr. Popo for recounting your memories once again." Dende said.

"Yes of course. Again, I am sorry I am not able to tell you more, my own memories of this time were tied to the Guardian's from that time. The powerful magic they created limited my abilities in ways I cannot even explain."

"Do not worry Mr. Popo, it is more than any other living creature on this planet knows, and for that I am deeply grateful." Dende thanked the genie while turning his expression towards his friend.

"Do not worry too much about this legacy of the past Gohan. I know it seems daunting which is why I was reluctant to have Mr. Popo share it with you until now, I am still learning how to be a good guardian for not only the Earth but also for you my friend." Dende released a sad smile towards Gohan.

"No thank you Dende, and thank you Mr. Popo. I'm just...just trying to think what all of this means." Gohan pulled his right hand roughly through his hair relaying his frustration.

"All it means is that you are special young Gohan, you are one of the few who can traverse this entire beautiful world and for that alone many would be envious. Do not fret, the full extent of The Split is known only to those on The Lookout right now, it has been centuries for the wizards in the other world, and what once was fact has long since turned into myth and legend." Mr. Popo wisely explained. Gohan nodded his head letting all of the new information soak through his brain. Mr. Popo nodded back before getting up to clear the tea and china from the table leaving Dende and Gohan alone.

"I'm sorry I didn't inform you of this all sooner Gohan, but I was hoping you wouldn't have to bear another burden again so soon." Dende said placing a small hand on his friend's in support.

"No, it's okay Dende, it's just so crazy, I feel like no matter what I do, my life is always complicated." Gohan replied, lifting his eyes in a small smile at the young guardian giving his friend's hand a small squeeze before standing up from the cushy seat. "I'm glad I know now...thanks Dende." Gohan paused looking towards the sun descending in the clear sky. "I better get back home to help out my mom with Goten now though. I'll see you next week, tell Piccolo hi for me."

"Of course, and don't worry Gohan, I plan to maintain a correspondence with your professor so if I get any more information about their involvement with Doctor Gero, I will let you know." Dende smiled following the other boy towards the edge of the lookout.

"Thanks Dende!" Gohan waved heading back home to his small family. He was glad that he still had another week of break left to mull over everything he had learned at the Lookout today.

Thanks so much for reading! Sorry this chapter took a little longer, I'm out of town for work and haven't been able to do much writing. The next chapter might be a little tardy for this reason as well, so apologies in advance. Anyway, let me know what you think about it all so far! :)