Privet Rossia

"In the snowy seaside region of the Sakha Republic lays a small village, its population no more than a few hundred people… Or so the muggles believed. The truth could be found within the turbulent weather and sub degree temperatures, hidden in a blizzard so harsh no man or machine could hope to get a clear view of anything more than a few feet in front of them. This is where the elusive Koldovstoretz also known as the Palace of Witchcraft in English could be located. Russia's one and only school of magic, said to have started a hundred or so years prior to Hogwarts founding. However, it only formally created a school and curriculum a bit after it's English counterpart due to some political difficulties.

Examples of this was the general disdain many muggles had for magic in Russia, which far preceded the witch hysteria that occurred within many Catholic and Protestant countries. It was common for an individual found guilty of witchcraft or sorcery during this time to be burned at the stake or tested with the "ordeal of cold water" also known as judicium aquae frigidae. This was most frequently used during the seventeenth-century witchcraft trials in Muscovy, wherein a person would be found innocent if they sunk into the cold depths of a lake or some other large body of water. This understandably caused many witches and wizards of Russian origin to immigrate to countries such as Romania, Poland, Kazakhstan and many more.

However, those wizard's and witches born within the great motherland who wished to stay found ways to hide their existence, cultivating their magic allowing them to embrace the nature around them. You will find that each country and school has its own unique flare of magic that separates them from the others. And this is the reason why we shall be going visiting this place first" Hideyoshi says as he closes the book he holds in his right hand as he takes of his glasses with his left, and looks at Hermione who is bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Wow! I didn't know the schools were that different. What about Mahoutokoro?" Hermione asks curiously as she tilts her head to the right in question.

Smiling at his cute little daughter/student, Hideyoshi replies "Well the other students around the world start going to magic school at 11, Mahoutokoro is the only school in the world that begins teaching at 7. That is why you can only start boarding at 11."

"Waaah ! Mahoutokoro is so cool," Hermione states vibrating in excitement. She then furrows her eyebrows as a question pops into her mind "but but papa how do the other kids learn magic before they go to school?"

Hideyoshi looks downwards to the little witch and pets her head as he explains "Well, just like how I teach you interesting charms and spells, their parents would be responsible for teaching them anything they wish. But because of how dangerous it is for young kids to use wands all the time, Mahoutokoro has a rule that wands must be taken care of by parents/guardians until the student reaches 11. After all, we don't want someone catching on fire by accident, right."

Nodding her head, the young girl replies with an enthusiastic "Ooooh !" the little girl then rushes up the stairs as quickly as her tiny little legs could go.

"Hermi, where are you going?" Hideyoshi calls out after his adopted daughter.

"You said we're going to visit that place. So, I hafta to bwing all my toys and books wi~f me daddy," she lisps out having lost one of her front teeth two weeks ago after falling face first off the couch onto the floor when she had fallen asleep whilst reading a book.

Chuckling at the brunette's behaviour, Hideyoshi looks upwards at where Hermione is standing on the landing "Hermi, papastill has some documents that need to be sent and details to confirm before we can go there. Also, you can't take all your toys and books."

Hermione pouts at the declaration "Awww, but why ~" she whines out cutely.

"Well, when we come back you won't have anything to read, if you read it all whilst were gone. Plus, there will be a lot of new things to see and learn so you won't have time to play with all your toys."

"Fine" Hermione says as she crosses her arms in front of her "but I want to bring my bwoom with me."

Hideyoshi nods his head in acceptance "Ok, you can bring your toy broom, but only 2 books" he bargains with the little girl.

"4 books" Hermione replies with four of her fingers raised in emphasis.

"3 and no more" the Japanese man retorts with a tone of finality.

"Deal" Hermione squeals out happily.

"Pleasure doing business with you" Hideyoshi replies with a grin, leaving Hermione confused. "It's a saying that people reply to when they bargain with a person and usually are satisfied with what they were able to get" he explains to her patiently.

Hermione nods her head in understanding and files the sentence away into her memory box in her brain.

Just before the little girl takes off again, Hideyoshi tells her "we have about 3 weeks before we need to pack and leave. Why don't you get you keikogi, and we can practice some of your kata's. And if you do well I might teach you a new technique."

"Hai! (yes)" Hermione says before rushing to get changed, excited at the prospect of learning a new move.

Hideyoshi didn't have the heart to remind Hermione not to run in the house when he saw how happy she looked to learn something new, so he let it go and will remind her about it later at dinner time. He then makes his way calmly up the stairs to change into his own uniform.

A few minutes later, the duo can be found outside, both in their karate-gi and Hideyoshi watching Hermione perform her kata's with a critical eye. Observing the young girl's movements and correcting where appropriate. Hideyoshi had begun teaching Hermione martial arts a month or so before her birthday. He felt that she should have a way to protect herself in case using magic wasn't an option. For example, if she were in front of a group of muggles and was being threatened, or in a place where magic was restricted.

Speaking of said girl, she was kicking, spinning and punching swiftly and powerfully, making sure that each stance was as perfect as possible. She always bears in mind the words that her papa always tells her, 'In this life there are some mistakes you can make, and some you should never make. Tread carefully and take risks where necessary." So, she continues as he watches her, both mostly silent but both comfortable enough in each other's company to revel in the silence.

As Hermione slows down to a stop, stretching to loosen her muscles more, Hideyoshi does a split to prepare his muscles for the new technique he would teach his pupil/daughter. He gets up and turns toward her "I will teach you a higher-level technique, it is the first of the advanced strikes usually taught only to graded belts. Hence, why the kata's you have been learning emphasise hip rotation."

He then performs a kick to demonstrate the technique, leaving Hermione awed. He then continues his explanation "this is generally taught at the blue belt level, so I might be stretching it a bit. Nonetheless, it is an excellent move and one that you will find to be quite helpful. It is called Ushiro mawashi or in English spinning rear push kick. Like its name this is a ninjutsu kick that uses the momentum of the rotating body to increase the speed of a back kick to surprise opponents."

Slightly confused Hermione asks "w-what's memetheme, and rota….rotion?"

Blinking Hideyoshi then hits his fist lightly upon his open palm in realisation "Oh momentum means when I do this motion" he says showing the spinning motion from the earlier demonstration "my leg becomes faster, because it's going all the way around rather than if I were to do a normal upwards kick like in your kata's."

Hermione frowns and repeats the word correctly this time "Momentum" she mumbles causing Hideyoshi to chuckle, knowing that his explanation hasn't quite hit home understanding wise.

Thinking for a bit, Hideyoshi looks around and spots some of Hermione's blocks on the floor of their living room through the open sliding door, and gestures to them catching Hermione's attention. "You know how you put one block on top of another, we say your building a tower or a castle" he asks, getting a nod in reply. "Momentum is like building something but instead of building a tower or a castle, I am building speed. So the further round I go the more blocks I have so my kick becomes faster."

Finally having an idea of what her father is saying, Hermione smiles up at him encouragingly, to which Hideyoshi smiles back brightly. He then spins his finger to show a circle explaining that a rotation is when someone or something is moving around a centre. So, in relations to the kick the centripetal axis would be his leg that's planted to the ground. Though this explanation took slightly less time than explaining momentum it was easily as long to explain the word in simpler terms to the 3/4-year-old.

Hermione's eyes widen in shock but she was eager to learn, and stood up and went into the same stance Hideyoshi started in, legs apart and bent. The (at the moment) teacher, pushes Hermione feet further apart using his right foot, and got into the position. "You want to have a strong stance, because you will be using your leg power to strengthen your strike" he explains to the toddler.

Hermione nods with a small "ok" and copies the older male as they slowly go through the movements each kick being more powerful than the last. Their lesson continues peacefully, and soon the sun begins to set as they both got ready for dinner. Another day well-spent for the researcher and his studious active child.

Three weeks later….

Two luggage bags obviously charmed to be bigger than it looked stood at the front door of the Mori/Granger household. Hermione was sitting down on the floor carefully putting on a pair of thick, sturdy boots. Hideyoshi who was already dressed was going through his checklist of quils, clothes, and any other necessary items they may need for the trip. The port-key he had was perched on the porch right outside their doorstep and it would take them to the closest city to the school. From there they would check into their accommodation, a magical inn that had a floo so they could go in and out of the school.

The dark-haired man, happy that everything was in order, looked up just as Hermione finished lacing up her boots. "Did you remember to double knot it tightly like I showed you?"

"YES !" Hermione replies happily as she raises one foot of the ground to show him that they were double knotted.

"Oooh subarashi (wonderful)" Hideyoshi replies clapping his hands exuberantly. "Seeing as we have everything packed and ready to go, I believe it is time we head out." He then proceeds to shrink the bags and place them in his zip up pockets of his coat and lifts Hermione off the grounds to securely hold her in his arms.

"Now hold on to tight this teapot handle, ok" Hideyoshi tells the toddler as he grips the whole pot tightly from the base "And let's gooooo ~~" His voice echoes as they both touch the object at the same time.

A few moments later

A swirl plunges down from the sky, its spinning descent slows as the duo's feet touch the ground, both slightly disoriented. "Woooah, everything is so spinny" Hermione says as she sways side to side on the verge of collapse.

Hideyoshi shakes his head to re-align his sight, as he watches Hermione drop down in a puff of snow. Placing a warming charm on them, Hideyoshi grabs hold of Hermione's hand and leads them out of the woods towards their accommodation. The young girl being seemingly dragged by the man gazes in awe at her surroundings. Hideyoshi was thankful that they had arrived on one of the rare sunny day's Russia experiences during the late autumn/early winter months. He knew how devastating it was for anyone magical or not to be caught in a blizzard, especially, if they weren't familiar with the area.

Twenty or so minutes later, father and daughter enter a warm inn, much bigger than one would guess simply observing the wooden building from the outside. "Papa" Hermione calls out softly as she pulls on his hand for attention.

"Hai, what's the matter?"

"There's a lot of bad storms here, rightdaddy" she asks, to which Hideyoshi nods and motions her to continue. "Well, when we read the three little pigs, didn't the wooden house get broken by the wolf's big breath? How come this place doesn't break too?"

Smiling at her forethought Hideyoshi smiles and replies "To be honest, I'm not too sure Hermione. I've never been to this part of Russia where the climate was quite this….extreme."

"Oh" Hermione says, slightly disappointed.

"But, I think we can ask the inn owner whilst we check in, okay" he tells her with a smile, and she smiles back whilst pulling him towards the check in.

"Zdravstvuyte, chem ya mogu vam pomoch? (Hello, how may I help you?)" asks a slightly hefty but tall man. His green eyes shone in curiosity at the two strangers.

"Oh, right. Kanzen'na rikai" Hideyoshi says whilst waving his hand in the air to cast a spell to help them understand the language and vice versa. "Hello, I have a room booked under the name Mori."

Looking down at a huge book in front of him, the inn owner searches the page up and down and flip to the next page before a small smile blooms on his face and he looks back up to the duo. "Ah yes, one room with two single bed." He turns around and gets two keys for them.

"Your room is number 12. Breakfast is from 7.30am to 11am; lunch from 12pm – 4pm; dinner 7pm-10pm. We also have elves on call if you need anything for each room. Your elf is called Abram, just call his name and he will appear before you. Please sign here and here" he says pointing at two lines on the first and second page.

Once Hideyoshi had signed the papers, the man passes the keys to him "My name is Yegor, if you need anything else, please do come and see me here at the front desk."

Hermione looked at the big man and excitedly ask " 'scuse me? How come this big house doesn't fall?"

Yegor looked downward at Hermione, his eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. Laughing softly at the girls' question, Hideyoshi pets her head in an attempt to calm Hermione down and explain "What she means to ask is how do you keep the structure of the house so stable considering the harsh blizzard and strong winds that this area seems to experience."

Nodding in understanding, holding his hand out to grip his chin, with a small proud grin the blonde replies "Why, it is a simple reinforcement magic of course."

"Reinforcement?" Hermione repeats, head tilting to the right in confusion.

"That means making something stronger" Hideyoshi quickly answers the girls silent question.

Yegor nods at the definition "indeed, my family used to be blacksmiths many generations ago, and were well versed in reinforcement magic. Back then it was easy to find a job making reinforced weapons or good, but fewer people could channel their magic to keep the reinforcement going because of the creation of wands."

He then bends down over the counter and speaks quieter, Hideyoshi bending down a bit to listen "Magic became easier to handle because channeling magic through wands didn't take as much training. But between you and me, people who use wands aren't as strong as does who do not" he finishes with a cheeky grin, as he straightens himself once more.

"Woooah ~" Hermione exclaims, her eyes shining at the new information attained. Hideyoshi was just as surprised, he knew that using a wand was more of a Western European/American venture but didn't know that one could channel magic through other means. He filed that information away for later use and thanked Yegor before he and Hermione headed to their rooms upstairs.

Night fell and Hermione is found snuggled up in her bed, snoring lightly whilst Hideyoshi uses the rooms' floo to call a friend of his. "Hello, are you there?" Hideyoshi calls out softly.

"MORI! HOW ARE YOU !" a platinum blonde haired woman with grey eyes appear in the floo fire image.

"SHHHH!" Hideyoshi says whilst pointing towards the room door separating the small living room from the bedroom "my daughter is sleeping."

"DAUGHTER?! When did you get married, and why was I not invited !" the woman exclaims dramatically with a hand over her heart.

"Inessa, really?! If you must know I didn't get married to anyone" Hideyoshi replies exasperated.

"You had a child out of wedlock! I thought I raised you better than that" Inessa replies as she fake cries.

"NO! I adopted her okay" Hideyoshi says finally.

"Oh…." Inessa says blinking once then twice "well why didn't you tell me about her earlier then?"

Sighing, Hideyoshi sits down cross legged as he leans on a bean bag behind him "I found her just after her parents were killed. She need time to adjust to me and our life before I could introduce her to anyone else. Heck, she only has met Yamamoto-sensei a month ago."

Folding her arms, Inessa closes her eyes and nods "I can understand that, but you could have written to me about her."

"And have you storming into my house demanding to see her, I think not" he deadpans.

Huffing at his reply, she grumbles something about no trust, and that she wasn't like that. Hideyoshi then tells her "by the way I'm calling since I'm in the Sakha Republic right now, we're staying at an inn called Kovka (Smithery) if you want to come visit. We'll be here for a while and were planning to visit Koldovstorez."

"Alright" she replies excitedly, a big grin stretching on her face "let me just get packed up and I'll be ready to go."

"Wait, what do you mean packed up?" Hideyoshi asks confused.

"Come one Mori, I haven't seen you in a few years. Of course I'll stay with you and your daughter whilst in my country" Inessa replies like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"But what about your job" Hideyoshi sputters out in shock.

"Bah, they will survive without me. Besides I have lots of holiday time that's been waiting to be used" she says flippantly as she levitates clothes into a suitcase. "Anyway, I'll be there by tomorrow morning. See you soon. Da svidahnia (goodbye)."

And just like that the image fades away, and Hideyoshi is left staring into the fireplace, mouth slightly ajar. 'Should have known she would do something like this' he thinks to himself, as he stands up and makes his way to bed.

The next day..

The weather had done a complete 180 degree turn, as the researcher and his daughter slept. Like mother nature had foresaw some great chaos nearing the village, took a great big dump via blizzard and made like a tree and leaf (leafed? Leaft? You get the point.) And he knew…Hideyoshi knew…it was because SHE was to arrive at any moment. Hermione, the sweet innocent child that she was, simply sat on the window ledge seat as she stared out into the frozen tundra.

The little brunette watches as the ice pelts down crashing into the endless white, cold sea. A black shadow appears in the horizon, the shape getting clearer as it approached the inn, Hermione stares at the black human like mass as it breezes through the piles of snow with ease. Then with an echoing 'BANG' the inns' door flies open and shuts, and there standing in all her glory was Inessa Fedorov, the representative for Russia for the International Confederation of Wizards. A woman of only 50 but looked 35, and no, she was not veela even though her beauty may say otherwise.

"Mori! How are you doing moy droog (my friend)" she says boisterously as she strides over to the younger male and bends down slightly to give him a hug. Her 180cm compared to Hideyoshi's 177cm height seemed to be emphasised in that moment, as her Hermione toddles her way over and hugs Hideyoshi's leg as she stares upwards at the woman.

Inessa feeling something bump around her upper leg area looks down, her greys eyes meeting hazel brown. She blinks and her brain connects the dots as she positively squeals giving anyone within an arm's length of her a slight case of deafness. "Oh you're are so cute!" she says crouching down to Hermione's height, and she raises her hand as a sign to shake hands "My name is Inessa Fedorov, what is your name Zayka (bunny)?"

Releasing her father's leg, Hermione steps into view, and grips her trousers in nervousness as she bravely replies, "My name is Hermione (Granger) Mori, hajimeshite (how do you do/nice to meet you.)"

"Aww you're such a sweet little thing, can I hug you" she asks warmly, lowering her hand.

Hermione looks upwards towards Hideyoshi, asking for reassurance of safety. Hideyoshi smiles and nods his head as confirmation, and Hermione takes another step forwards and twines her arms around Inessa's neck. Inessa hugs back tightly, a wide smile spread across her face, as she carefully lifts the girl into her arms and stands back up, careful not to frighten the toddler.

The blonde pulls away a bit to look at Hermione's face, whose eyes still looked a bit wary. The woman did not take offence to that, she had heard about the girls' past just last night and understood her hesitance. "You and I are going to be such good friends, I'll teach you so many great things that only a Russian witch could such as myself could."

"Well, technically we are here for research purposes with regards to magical properties of the landscape and spell-crafting…" Hideyoshi says but his words only fall on to deaf ears as Inessa takes Hermione with her towards her own room at the inn, which just so happened to be room 20 the one opposite the Mori duo. Hideyoshi sighs and merely follows the two silently, hearing Yegor chuckle softly as her departs.

It tooks two days for the blizzard to clear, and in that time Hideyoshi had finalised their allowance into Koldovstoretz whilst Hermione and Inessa were growing closer. Inessa having never married due to her slightly wild nature felt motherly affection towards the little girl with a big mind.

She taught Hermione some easy spells like the ever popular Wigardium Leviosa (using her wands or Hideyoshi's for obvious reasons) and even some gymnastics, though martial arts like Systema would have to wait until she was older since firearms were involved. She also introduced the girls to some popular magi (muggle) classical music like Ruslan and Lyudmila, Overture by Mikhail Glinka's.

She told the girl as they both listened to the song, Hideyoshi enjoying it with them whilst laying against the couch from the floor "magic is like music. It is beautiful, raw and needs to flow naturally from your inner core. The world around you is connected in many ways beyond human comprehension. Therefore, magic involving the environment needs to be felt on a deeper level, rooting yourself to the environment around you asking for it to bend to your will not forcing it. Always remember that, okay."

Although the words were aimed towards the young girl, Hideyoshi had listened enraptured. The few times Inessa was as serious as this were few and far between, but he always knew the woman was wiser than she let on. Through her, he had learnt many things, Hideyoshi felt blessed to call her a friend, even more so with her adoration for his daughter. He smiled, closed his eyes and allowed the music to wash over him, in the company of his daughter and dear friend.

When morning rolled around, the sun once again shining high in the sky, give some semblance of warmth to the cold but enchanting snow lands, the trio can be seen appearing just outside the gates of a castle. The mostly red building with multi-coloured rounded tops forming the roof of its many towers looked like a Russian church, that is if Russian churches were so huge they covered half a mountain. The snow doing a good job in keeping the castle looking more white than colourful.

The door opens and waiting for them was a big gruff man, his white beard clean cut surrounding the scowl on his face. He stood at 6 foot 3 inches (190cm), and seemed to tower over the trio. Hermione who is not too fond of stranger cowered at the stern looking man whose arms were crossed over his chest as he who looked down at them. To her he looked like a giant out of her fairy tale books but….hairier?

Inessa grins and steps forward smacking the man's arm "Privet, why so moody hmm."

Grunting the man replies in a heavy Russian accent "Privet Inessa, I see you are as …excitable as ever."

Turning around, Inessa lifts her hand to introduce the man in front of them "this man is Ruslan Batishchev, the vice-principal of Koldovstoretz."

"Greeting, my name is Hideyoshi Mori, please feel free to call me Hideyoshi." He then puts his hand behind him and move a bit out of the way so Hermione could be seen by the huge man "this is my daughter, Hermione."

"Please, feel free to call me Ruslan as well" he replies as he looks downwards towards the young girl "the both of you" he emphasises gruffly.

Giggling Inessa chimes in "don't let his tough man exterior fool you. Ruslan and I were as thick as thieves back when we were in school despite him being two years older than I."

Hideyoshi nods, whilst Hermione continues to look at Ruslan in a mix of fear and intrigue.

Grunting Ruslan begins to walk further into the castle as the castle doors close automatically. He notices young Hermione looking around in awe and curiosity "if you are wondering where the students are, they've just started classes, so you won't be seeing them till at least noon"

"Ooooh, that's right, I was wondering about that as well considering the storm the past two days. I assume the wards were up so the students continued as normal" Inessa notes casually. Ruslan nods and continues to walk as Inessa takes up the job to explain about the architecture and history of the school.

They then hear noises coming from outside the window next to them. The group stop to see a class of third years, using their wands and concentrating on the ground in front of them. Nothing happens for a while and suddenly, a scream of joy could be heard "I did it! I did it!" The student seems to almost vibrate in excitement as she points to the ground in front of her.

Hermione from her perch in Inessa's arm squints her eyes to see some sort of tiny thing coming out from the ground. Hideyoshi breaks the silence and states "that can't be merely herbology."

A cheeky smiles graces Inessa's lips as she hugs Hermione closer leaning her head atop the toddlers "you are correct in your assumption, my dear Mori. That is what we call "Magiya prirody, also known as nature magic. A compulsory course taken from third year onwards here in Koldovstoretz."

The researcher furrows his eyebrows in confusion but his eyes widen in realisation when Hermione pulls onto Hideyoshi's sleeve and asks curiously, "Papa, is this is that music magic thing."

Looking at Hermione Inessa laughs boisterously and lifts the girl up before hugging her tightly "its' exactly the music magic thing my dear, sweet girl."

"So, this is what you've meant all this time" Hideyoshi says as he holds his chin in a thinking pose, his mind whirring.

A cough breaks the Japanese mans' thoughts as Ruslan finally speaks once more "indeed, I have been asked by Inessa to allow you to join the classes for nature magic, in return she has promised to be a guest lecturer for defence against the dark arts, alternative to magic defence." Inessa nods in affirmation as the bearded man continues "We shall then proceed to individually train both you and your daughter in this magic."

"Wait, wait, wait. Hermione is joining the training?"

"Indeed, myself, Rusland and any other teacher willing shall also help with Hermione in her studies, magic or otherwise whilst you are here."

"But, its' illegal. She's only three !" Hideyoshi sputters out. Hermione for her part looked ecstatic as she always does when allowed to learn something new, especially since it was something she wasn't going learn until she was older. She may be a bookworm but a goody two shoes she was not. Innocent but mischievous, a dangerous combo.

Ruslan and Inessa look at each other before they both shrugged and replied, "We're Russian, we do things our way here." Before they dragged father and daughter further into the castle with plans of having them relocate from the inn to a room in the castle, one right next to the Inessa's and near the vice-principal's quarters.