Chapter 6 : Friendship as strong magic

Time at Hogwarts seemed to have stopped as Akira and Tatsuno were struggling to find a solution to get Matsuo out of his mess and especially out of Dumbledore's office where he was taken by Filch after he violently punched a Gryffindor student in the face.

But no matter what they decided to do, Akira knew that her days at Hogwarts were numbered. Even Dumbledore wouldn't be kind enough to let her stay when he learnt that she had hidden from him the presence of two muggles in the school. The fact that he had precisely told her that it was forbidden for her to reveal the existence of magic to her fellow ninjas wasn't helping either.

At this moment, she was wishing to be anywhere else in the castle, doing her own things like the other students, rather than hidden with Tatsuno behind an armour in front of Dumbledore's office while worrying about Matsuo's fate.

Her heart briefly stopped when movement of the circular staircase leading to the office occurred. Filch soon appeared in the hallway as he was coming back down the steps but without Matsuo. He was displaying an annoyed look that suggested that he didn't get the authorization from the Headmaster to inflict on Matsuo the atrocious punishments he had in mind for him, which was rather good news.

But the fact that Matsuo wasn't allowed to leave the office as well worried Akira and Tatsuno who couldn't bring themselves to let him face the Headmaster's reproaches alone.

"The way is clear. Let's go." Akira whispered to her teammate as the hallway became completely deserted after Filch left to find another student to punish.

They both emerged from behind the armour and took the stairs after giving the same password that Filch had used to access the office. They ran up until they reached the wooden door and stopped in front of it while straining their ears to listen to what was said behind it. But apart from whisperings inaudible to them, nothing reached them. This hardly surprised Akira as Dumbledore wasn't the type of person to raise his voice, even if the attitude of a student required it. However, it meant for Akira and Tatsuno that they had to enter to find out what fate was awaiting Matsuo.

"Go ahead. Knock on the door." Tatsuno encouraged her as he was unable to do it himself.

Akira did so after taking a deep breath and they heard Dumbledore give them the permission to come in with a cordial voice despite the circumstances.

With a shaking hand, Akira pushed the door open while fearing what was to come but she was surprised to find Matsuo sitting comfortably on his chair while eating a sherbet lemon as he didn't seem to be scarred about what Dumbledore would do with him. But the latter had his usual benevolent look so there was no reason to be afraid about anything contrary to what Akira thought.

"I had hoped that you would join us. Especially after Mr. Iyuka explained to me some of the events that happened to him until he ended up in my office." Dumbledore told the two newcomers in Japanese much to the surprise of Tatsuno as Akira and Matsuo were already aware that he knew this language.

"I didn't say anything compromising." Matsuo defended himself while his teammates were staring at him with a raised eyebrow. "I had to admit that I wasn't really a student, that my twin brother was in the school with me and that we knew Akira very vaguely but that was about it."

"I would say more than vaguely. Only a very strong friendship would have allowed two muggles to break into Hogwarts despite all the systems put in place to prevent it." Dumbledore replied while displaying a smile to Akira's disbelief as he was aware of the whole situation but didn't seem mad about it.

"It was only a chain of unfortunate events." Akira advised him as Dumbledore offered them chairs to sit next to their culprit friend. "I tried to hide the existence of this magic world the best I could but their curiosity pushed them to follow me until they found the school. They were already inside when I spotted them, otherwise I would have stopped them sooner."

"All these events are already familiar to me. I knew that two muggles had entered Hogwarts on the first day of school and from then on, I had kept an eye on you three." Dumbledore confessed to them as the three ninjas were shocked by the news.

"You know everything from the start ? Then why didn't you try to stop us sooner ?" Akira asked him in disbelief.

"Because in my opinion, that wasn't necessary. You were doing fine on your own to blend into the crowd and you weren't doing anything wrong, at least until that unfortunate incident that leads you to my office." Dumbledore added while glancing at Matsuo who looked worried.

"It was an accident. I never wanted to hit anybody but I lost my mind when that bully attacked a girl from my house." He said to justify himself.

"Love and friendship are the most powerful magic that exist in this world but also the most dreadful ones. As you pointed out, it can push someone to lose his mind and commit acts that he would never have done otherwise. Like joining a secret school of magic or knocking out a student who hasn't done any harm to you personally." Dumbledore told them in a serious tone as the twins lower their head towards the ground since they knew that their behaviour was unacceptable.

"After what just happened, are you going to punish Matsuo ? Or even erase the memory of both of them so that they'll forget everything they saw in this school ?" Akira asked the Headmaster as she knew too well that it was what awaited muggles that discovered anything about magic.

This last question threw a chill on Matsuo and Tatsuno who seemed reluctant to forget the last three months of their life which were full of events.

"No, I won't do that." Dumbledore replied to the greatest relief of the twins. "Just as your father was made aware of the world of magic, your friends also have the right to know where you spend most of your time when you're not at your village. I realize now that if they had known sooner, they wouldn't have broken inside the castle like they did."

"Your father was put into the confidence and not us, your dearest and only friends ?" Tatsuno whispered to Akira with a hint of jealousy in his voice.

"However, you should follow a very important rule." Dumbledore added while speaking a little louder to make sure that the twins were listening. "Under no circumstances you should talk about what you see or hear in this castle to anyone. As you might have experienced during your short stay, magic is a phenomenon that muggles have trouble to understand and which can be frightening for them. So for their safety but also for the one of the wizarding community, it's better to keep the world of magic hide."

"That's feasible. Especially since we really want to keep our memory intact." Matsuo replied immediately before Dumbledore changed his mind about this.

"Who would believe us anyway since we don't have any proof of its existence ?" Tatsuno pointed out.

"But you have one. Right into your pocket." Dumbledore advised him.

At this announcement, Tatsuno reached into his pocket and pulled out the Snitch he had been keeping on him since the first Quidditch match. He looked at it briefly then squeezed it a little tighter in his hand as he didn't want to part with it.

"You can keep it." Dumbledore added as if he was reading in his mind. "But it shouldn't be shown to anyone."

"Of course." Tatsuno replied before putting his treasure back in his pocket before it flew away.

"I think that you understood the importance of keeping this world a secret. Now I have a question for you regarding your presence in the castle. Knowing that you're not registered as students in Hogwarts and therefore can't stay during the whole school year, do you want to go home immediately or stay a bit longer ?" Dumbledore asked them while taking the three ninjas off guard.

"We… have the choice ? I thought we'd be kicked out of the school the second we were found out." Tatsuno stated as his brother was thinking the same.

"You can leave without waiting but only if you wish. Because I doubt that all three of you want to be separated abruptly after finally finding out about the secret that your friend had been keeping from you since more than two years. You have the right to catch up." Dumbledore told them while addressing a smile to Akira.

"It's really tempting but it's not reasonable for them to stay." Akira intervened as she didn't want the twins to stay longer at Hogwarts than necessary for their own safety and the one of the students. "What will other people say if they find out that they're muggles ? They won't be as comprehensive as you."

"I can take care of this eventuality." Dumbledore offered without hesitation. "But to prevent it, they can continue to impersonate two exchange students from the Japanese wizarding school with their own culture, as I heard you did so far with quite success."

"There's a school like Hogwarts in Japan ? Why wasn't I registered there rather than in England where I have to travel thousands of kilometers to come and study each year ?" Akira asked him sharply after spending more than two years traveling back and forth between Hogwarts and her home country.

"Because your destiny was at Hogwarts." Dumbledore replied in an enigmatic way. "But that's not the case with these two young people. Therefore, I can give them the possibility of leaving immediately or staying until Christmas to take part to the Feast since I think you missed the Halloween one."

"Wow. You really know everything that happened to us. That's a bit scary." Matsuo told him sheepishly.

Dumbledore didn't answer. Instead, he got up to take behind him a bag that was lying on one of his numerous shelves. He sat down again and opened it to reveal its content to the three ninjas. It was a greyish, glittering, ash-like powder and upon seeing it, Akira had an idea of what it was as she had heard of it many times without ever seeing it in real.

Intrigued, Matsuo reached a hand to take it but Akira instinctively grabbed his arm to stop him, much to the latter's astonishment.

"It's dangerous ?" He asked her while quickly withdrawing his hand.

"No, it's just Floo Powder. But it's the quickest way you'd have to get home right away." Akira revealed to them as she wasn't sure if she really wanted to let her best friends leave Hogwarts after all.

"Looks like ashes." Tatsuno commented as he took the bag to see it closely.

"Ashes that are worth several Sickles. That's not a fortune but it's more than nothing." Dumbledore pointed out playfully even if Tatsuno couldn't understand his joke as he didn't know anything about the money used in the magic world.

"Thanks for the offer but we'll pass." Tatsuno replied while putting the bag on the desk. "If we have the possibility to stay, I will since this school is rather cool once you're familiar with it."

"I'm glad to hear that you like Hogwarts Mr. Iyuka." Dumbledore told him teasingly.

"I mean it. I won't leave that place until I learn how to fly on one of your broomsticks. It's a once in a lifetime experience so I won't miss it." Tatsuno said while rubbing his hands impatiently.

"No, you're not doing that. That's too dangerous." Akira replied as she was concerned about the safety of the twins since they could be really reckless.

But they didn't listen to her. They began to chat among themselves to enumerate all the things they wanted to do in this wizarding school before leaving it forever.

"Don't worry. I'll keep an eye on them so that no more accidents happen." Akira advised the Headmaster to reassure him.

"I expected no less." Dumbledore added before giving her a wink.

Since the twins were lost in their discussion and Dumbledore had nothing more to tell them, Akira dragged her friends out of the office. But only once they got their pockets full of sherbet lemon as Matsuo asked if they could take "one or two" of them since he really liked this sweet, much to the annoyance of Akira who thought that it wasn't a request to address to the Headmaster.


Hello dear readers,

In the first place, I intended to erase the memory of the twins - cruel, isn't it ? - since it was what awaited muggles that discover the wizarding world but after some reflection, I decided to let them know what Akira was doing when she wasn't at Konoha with them.

Since Dumbledore is now their ally to cover their presence at Hogwarts, our three ninjas will have the possibility to enjoy winter with it's ice and snow. All of this before Christmas which they'll be able to spend together. The next chapter will also be published around that date to put you in the mood of the celebration.