Achievement Unlocked!
This was it. The last year of the foundational classes; Class D. The year Hermione Mori, finally took the Rudimentary Obligatory Ordinance Test, or ROOT for short was the exam given to all 10-year olds at the end of their foundational year. The exam was created during the Sengoku era (1467-1615) when the country was in a near-constant state of civil war.
For many years, the witches and wizards were more commonly known as practisers of Onmyōdō, the onmyoji were sent to ward off evil spirits, keeping track of the calender and even divine the future. In those times magic was not seen as a fantasy and youkai were still able to roam the streets freely. In fact, the only ones able to be onmyoji were those appointed by the imperial government. Essentially, they were civil servants under the Bureau of Onmyō. During the Heian period (795 -1185), onmyoji had quite a lot of political clout, but when the imperial court fell into decline, their status as civil servants was lost. The most famous onmyoji who lived in the Heian period is Abe no Seimei who many non-magical folks believed was not fully human. So famous was he that upon his death a shrine was erected of him in Kyoto which still stands today.
During the warring (sengoku) era, students were not able to travel as easily to Mahoutokoro as at any point, they could be attacked by those in enemy ranks. Nowhere in Japan was safe, not for non-mages, not for youkai, and definitely not for those with magic. This was also interestingly, the point when the magical community had begun to truly separate their lives from the average citizens of japan. Having been caught in the crossfire, and with their status in the government now stripped from the magical community isolated themselves the best that they could from the rest of japan. The ROOT exam originated from the need to have more mages on the field to rescue and protect the magical people from being attacked and to bring them to Mahoutokoro as a safe haven from all the bloodshed. As such, the ROOT exam was used to gauge whether young students aged 10 had the capability to be sent out into a warzone. Nowadays, the exam is less of a necessity and serves its purpose to understand the strengths and weaknesses of students.
The subjects for the exam are as follows: Transfiguration; Charms; Potions; Herbology; History of Magic; Arithmancy; and one optional subject (which are Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies, Ghoul Studies, Alchemy, and Astrology.) Each optional subject has a further advanced level attached to it but students are able to take the other options from the list in their first year. Class D and Year 1 are designed to allow students to explore their options as well as to solidify their magical foundation. For example, unless a student took Astrology in Class D, they would not be able to take Divination. Similarly, if a student's Arithmancy skill was not up to par then they would not be able to take advanced Alchemy.
In Year 2, students will then choose 2 options from the list which unlike in Class D will include DADA, which will become compulsory from Year 1 to Year 3, Divination; Advanced Alchemy; Herbology – the Medicinal Arts; Care of Magical Creatures – A Practical Study; and other such courses. In Year 3, students will the undergo their OWL Exam for all of their core subjects including the two options taken in their 2nd year which will be carried over. The reasoning for taking their exams as this point unlike their foreign counterparts who take the exam in their 5th year is due to the fact that at this point, students would have been studying their core subjects for a total of 8 years, 3 years more than the international average. Further, extra classes are given to students who seem to be struggling in certain subjects.
Naturally, for those reasons 5th year will be the NEWT exams at which point Year 6 will be used as a specialisation year wherein applications for apprenticeships will be sent off for students who wish to attain a mastery or training begins for those who have already been offered internships and the like whilst studying any other optional subject they may wish to undertake for an extra NEWT, which they can take in 6th or 7th year. Basically, Mahoutokoro is a very specialised school where student interest and knowledge are the core of the school's belief.
Hermione was excited to be taking her first official exam. It was definitely stressful to think that her future career could be affected by the grades she attained in ROOT's but her father had done his best to help her whenever he could. Honestly, the only real struggle was what option to take for the young witch. She was interested in Ghoul Studies, but Alchemy seemed so attractive as well but when she thought about it Ancient Runes also had a lot of practical use. The little witch contemplated her options with a serious face. She had dragged out the book detailing each of the school's subject options to see how she should strategise her schooling as best as possible.
From across the table, Hideyoshi was drinking his tea slowly as he watched his daughter with amusement. "Hermione, its okay to just choose whatever is the most interesting to you, there is no need to think too hard about it."
Hermione looked up at her father with a mock gasp, "how could I do that?" Clutching her chest she looked scandalised "take whatever I want? Who has so few interests to do that?"
Hideyoshi furrowed his eyebrows and smiled exasperatedly as she continued to look through the subject options. Suddenly she asked him "hey papa, what colour was your robe in Mahoutokoro again?"
Looking confused, Hideyoshi replied "black 'mione, you know that. You've seen my robe."
Shaking her head, the girl replied, "no, I mean what was your robe's colour when you were my age."
"Oh, hmm now what was it again" Hideyoshi queried aloud, and he held his chin in thought. "I think it was sort of purplish but it was more of a mix of red and blue."
Tilting her head to the side, Hermione looked at her own robe that was hanging on the drying rack outside, shining orange with bits of blue "but did you take Ghoul studies?" she asked.
Smiling awkwardly Hideyoshi shook his head in the negative, "ghoul studies was not for me. There was too much dealing with the dead for me but I did enjoy DADA in my later years."
Nodding, Hermione looked once more to her book and nodded her head, "ok, I've finally chosen. I'm going to pick this one" she said pointing to one of the subjects listed.
Leaning over the table, the older Mori's eyebrow quirked upwards "oh ho, now that's an interesting choice" he said as she smiled mischievously at him.
The start of the school year
As it turned out, Hermione did not take Ghoul studies. Instead she decided on Ancient Runes. The reasoning for this was due to the sheer flexibility that ancient runes afforded her. Not only would it help if she wanted to go into curse breaking but it also lent itself to a specialised set of classes unique to Mahoutokoro namely, Banishment and Binding, both of which fell under the umbrella of Sealing magic.
Luckily for Hermione, Sakura had also decided to take Ancient Runes as she was indifferent with most subjects that were not Care of Magical Creatures or Potions. Unfortunately, Sora had been lost to allure of Ghoul studies so the trio was once again separated for one class every week. Arashi, who finally began his 1st year, having successfully passed his exam with many Exceed Expectations (EE) and an Outstanding (O) in Alchemy and Arithmancy. This shocked the trio as they had only ever known Arashi as a hyper-active senpai, guess they really shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Further, Arashi was very helpful during the group's study sessions for exam preparation, which the trio were thankful for as it gave them more confidence for the upcoming exam. Apparently, said senpai was also trying for the Junior Quidditch team for those in Year 1 to Year 3.
On the other hand, Hermione was choosing to continue her Calligraphy classes but decided to cut back on Yabusame for the time being as she wanted to work on attaining her red belt in Karate. Sometimes for training (read: fun), Hermione would try to dodge strikes from Sakura's boken (wooden training sword). While the two 'sparred' often whilst Sora would read his book at one of the corners of the dojo. However, both felt bad for their friend and therefore cajoled him to join them to try judo. Safe to say, Sora took to dojo but still rejected the duo's 'sparring' invite.
During the weekends, the group would sometimes gather in one of three's home for extra study sessions as well as just to hang out. This weekend, Sora and Sakura were coming over to Hermione's house, which led to a lot of frantic cleaning by both Mori's who despite their need for organisation can be messy when busy.
"Hermione, quickly help me arrange the papers in my room while I do a deep clean of the toilets and bathroom" Hideyoshi cried out as he held a toilet brush in one hand and cleaning soap in another with a face mask protecting him from any possible nasties he may find.
"Dad! We can magic the bathroom and toilet clean, we need to work on the living room."
"You can't trust it magic all the time! True cleaning must be done with one's own hands."
Sighing deeply, Hermione turned the knob to the office's door and sighed even deeper as she came face to face with piles of paper, books and mechanical knick knacks. Pulling her sleeves up, Hermione got to work by sorting through each paper and separating them in order of subject. Many minutes later the shelf and tables were finally in order, when Hermione spotted a piece of paper left at her father's work table. Thinking that she missed something, the little witch picked up the piece of paper and began reading it.
Dear Hideyoshi,
Thank you again for your last letter. I am happy to hear that your daughter is doing well. I see that you have been on more interesting adventures. I was surprised to read that you had encountered the kraken as any known sighting of them was many years ago. The waters of the Bermuda are unkind and I shall see what my contacts say about the undead merfolk. As you and I both know, merfolk tend to have their own magical process to turn their bodies into seafoam upon their death so the fact that there were so many dead bodies in that area where no known herds is worrying.
Regarding, your daughter if she has not experienced any sense of loss or emotional difficulty then it is best not to remind her about anything until the time is right. I understand that you may disagree on this but we both know that this is best choice until the time is right.
I shall pray to the nature spirits for Hermione's good health and studies, though I doubt she will need it for the latter. My granddaughter has also begun her schooling in Beauxbaton and she seems to be enjoying herself if her letters are any indication. Although there are times when she was at home where I would find her lost in thought as if she were charmed by something, not even my daughter would be able to break her out of the spell she cast upon herself. The only person would be my other granddaughter, Gabrielle who Fleur very much adores.
If I hear anything I shall send you an owl as soon as possible.
Amicalement,
Eleanor Delacour
Hermione stared at the piece of paper; eyebrows furrowed as she tried her best to translate the piece of paper before her. It had been a long time since Hermione spoke even a lick of French but she understood the gist of the letter and with that…shrugged and put it down. It wasn't her business, and it seemed to be one her dad's friends like Aunt Inessa and Uncle Ruslan.
Although, the name Delacour felt extremely familiar to the young witch. In fact, Hermione was a bit confused when an image of a white rabbit with a pink bow appeared in her mind. She wondered what it was about but a call from her father who was struggling with multiple mini-aguamenti vortexes that he was using to clean a particular stain on the floor distracted her as she placed the letter back on the desk without much thought.
Once the vortexes were under control, and the house was cleaned to Hideyoshi's satisfaction the parent-child duo went out for some ice-cream. The parlour in their little magical town had many wacky ice-creams from their blueberry burst flavour that would turn a person fully blue for a few minutes to their springy laffy taffy flavour that would turn the body of whoever ate it with ruberry. Hence, the few kids literally bouncing off the walls in the ice cream parlour when they entered. Hermione pitied the parents who looked on tiredly at their children from their seats at the back of the parlour.
"Do we need to buy any snacks for your friends for tomorrow?" Hideyoshi asked as he took bite out of his choco minty ice fresh ice cream scoop that sat in a small paper cup, blowing out the ice-cold steam that came out of his nose as he ate.
"Hmm, I don't know. We are running low on food so we need to visit the store anyway" Hermione replied, as she licked her fudgy duddy matcha ice-cream. The green tea and chocolate fudge combo were a delicious mix of refreshing and sweet, and was a great muscle relaxant even whilst turning the little witches screen light green.
"Speaking of groceries, what do you want to eat today 'mione" the older male asked.
At that question, Hermione's eyes gleamed and she looked up at her father "curry" she states simply causing the wizard to chuckle in amusement.
"Curry it is then."
The evening came and went, and Hermione was not sat in the living room with Sora and Sakura all of them concentrating on their textbooks. A few words were exchanged between the trio now and again but they were mostly silently with only the ticking of the clock keeping them company. "What happened to Arashi?" Sora asked out of the blue.
The girls looked up at him and then each other before shrugging, "I don't know. He just suddenly sent an owl to me two days ago saying he couldn't make it" Hermione replied.
"That's really weird, Arashi-senpai doesn't usually just cancel plans like that" noted Sakura.
Sora then piped in, "maybe he had some quidditch training or something."
"On a Sunday?" Hermione said with an eyebrow cocked up looking at the boy.
Sakura nodded her head, "she's right. Hermione was in Yabusame for many years whilst I was in kendo, we may have had trainings on Saturday before matches but never Sundays."
Sora frowned pushing up his glasses, "then I've got nothing. We'll just talk to him tomorrow to see what happened. It might have been a family thing so we shouldn't pry too much." The other two nodded in acknowledgement and continued their study session.
The next day
The trio quickly scoured the school looking for Arashi, "Hey! Arashi! Heeey" Hermione called out when they saw familiar red robes.
The boy turned to look over his shoulders, and the trio waved at him furiously but the boy ignored their waves and walked away. The rejection startled the trio as the oldest of their little group never acted that coldly to them before.
"Ok, what the heck was that about" Sora spoke the thoughts they all harboured.
"Maybe something really did happen with his family" Sakura said, face twisted in worry. After their debacle when they first began school, Sakura and Arashi had become much closer due to their laid-back personalities.
"Let's calm down first. We'll try talking to him again later" Hermione said simply as she patted Sora's shoulder to calm him down.
So, they did just that day after day, calling out to him, getting rejected, finding him, calling out to him, being ignored. At some point, it seemed like Arashi was avoiding the trio. They could not understand why he was acting like this.
"Maybe we should just give him some space, he clearly doesn't want to talk to us much less see us" Sakura sighed.
"I have to agree with Sakura here, maybe we shouldn't do anything."
Hermione shook her head, "no, something doesn't seem right. Arashi is the type of person who wear's his feelings on his sleeve. Even if he wants to hide how he's feeling he usually isn't very good at it. Plus have either of you noticed."
"Noticed what" Sora and Sakura asked confused.
Hermione face turn stern, "everything that he is doing is opposite."
"What?" Sora said having thoroughly lost the plot as it were.
Sakura eyes widened in realisation, "Oh you're right. That's so weird."
"Okay is somebody going to bring me up to speed about what exactly is opposite."
"His hairstyle" the witches replied.
"His hairstyle?" Sora echoed, and the two nodded their head in response. "Who cares about his hairstyle!"
Hermione shook her head and began the explanation, "Arashi is someone who is super meticulous. He likes thing in place at all times."
"Plus, he always spikes his fringe to the right but since a few days ago his hair has been spiked to the left" Sakura continues.
"Ok so?"
"So, I started to observe and noticed other things like how he has been wearing a white shirt instead of black like he usually does" the brown-haired witch stated.
"Oooh, or how he wore his robes tied rather than untied" Sakura continued.
"But most importantly" Hermione begins pausing for a moment as Sakura and Sora lean in slightly "he has been using his right hand instead of his left to cast spells."
The two gasped in surprise, it was unusual for a witch or wizard to use their non-dominant hand to cast spells because of how finnicky the gestures of each spell could be, which only meant one thing. The person who they have been calling out to was "not Arashi" the trio breathe out as one.
"Kami almighty, we need to do something. Tell the professors, find out where Arashi is" Sora rambled out.
"Who would believe us, it's not like any one else has noticed" Sakura replied sadly.
"Then we'll follow him. Wherever he goes, at some point he will surely lead us to the real Arashi" Hermione said seriously.
"But we don't know who is posing as him, plus they seem to have been doing a really good job of fooling everyone else" Sakura replied.
"Then we'll just have to make sure we don't get caught" the witch smirked; her two friends looked at each other in concern not liking the smirk at all.
As it turned out for the Japanese magic students, a little disillusionment charm and transfiguring one's appearance went a long way. Now Hermione stood, with straight black hair, pale white skin and a few centimetres taller. Sora, also had black hair instead of her normal light brown, but she had made it into a short bob and now stood a few centimetres shorter than she normally did. Sora on the other hand had it hardest for he was turned into…. "WHY AM I A GIRL!" he screamed with his now high-pitched voice.
"Oh come on Sora, it would be way too obvious if we had two girls and one guy even if we were disguised. We need to be as indistinguishable as possible."
"I think you look lovely Sora-chan" Sakura said whilst smiling sweetly at their glasses wearing friend.
"I do not like this, I do not like this at all" he continues complaining, "also, why is this skirt so short?! It's so drafty. How do girls wear this during winter!?"
Hermione shrugged as she looked at Sakura who was one of those said girls who wore knee high socks and said skirt during the winter term, whilst Hermione herself opted to wear slacks like the boys. "It builds character" Sakura stated without much more explanation.
Later, the trio were following the Arashi look alike as they pretended to casually chat with each other about nothing when they noticed him slipping past the crowd and disappearing around a corner. The trio quickly scampered over and saw the last bits of the wooden floor set back into place.
"This must be where Arashi is hidden" Sora stated.
"Definitely, but the question is how do we get reopen the passage way" Hermione replied looking around.
Sakura shrugged, as the two discussed with each other the types of runes or magic that may be the lock mechanism for the entrance. Knowing that she would probably not be very helpful unless it had something to do with magical creatures, herbology or potions, Sakura walked up towards the walls and leaned against it. Expecting to feel the hard surface of the wall, Sakura yelped as the wall began to move backwards gaining the attention of the two bookworms.
"Sakura!" the cried out as they helped their friend up who was now slumped on the floor. Before anything else could be done, a soft rumble sounded and the floor opened up.
The blue and orange robed students looked at their friend, jaw dropped in surprised to which she smiled awkwardly in response. "Now I just feel stupid" Hermione mumbled out as Sora agreed.
Sakura ignoring their grumbles, casted a lumos and charged on ahead, "come on your two, we have a friend to find."
Sighing the two nodded and casted their own lumos and walked in a triangular shape. Sakura stood in the front whilst Hermione stood at the back left and Sora on the back right. This way both would be able to cover their friends' side and back in case anything attacked. Another rumble sounded and the entrance closed, "well that's not good" Sora muttered.
"We'll have to worry about that later, if we don't get caught we can sneak out when the imposter gets out later" the disguised Hermione stated.
"How about we leave a marker just in case" Sakura said, having remembered a childhood story of hers about a breadcrumb trail. "You know just in case something happens."
"Aaaand now we're jinxed" Sora sighed, his shoulders falling in resignation.
"She's right though, I'll cast a hikaku at the base of the wall on my side as we go along to show arrows of which way we took" Hermione added casting said spell with great efficiency. The name of the spell is derived from the Japanese work hi meaning fire and kaku meaning to write. As such, the spell created an almost laser like effect as it plastered a small arrow into the rock wall showing them going straight.
The passage was cold and dark but surprisingly not damp. "Ugh, I wish I wasn't using a skirt, its cold in here" Sora whined.
"You know, you can just transfigure the skirt into trousers, right?" Hermione said casting a short glance to their friend before checking her surroundings once more.
"I…" the sole boy quickly transfigured the skirt and sighed in happiness. "Warmth, pure warmth oh how I've missed you."
Sakura giggled at her friend's dramatics "it's not that bad" she said gesturing to her own skirt.
"I do not have your strength" the wizard replied solemnly.
Suddenly Hermione shushed them, "I hear something" she said as they both looked up to see some sort of light shining at the end. "Quickly, this way" she said before pulling the two behind closer to the wall as they shimmied forward.
Looking around the corner, she saw a room filled with objects covered in cloth. In the middle of the room was the Arashi imposter facing an object, the cloth flipped up. He looked as if he were talking to the object, but the room was not lit well enough for Hermione to confirm her suspicions. "…. stay here…can't go….mirror….others" could only be heard. Soon the fake Arashi flipped down the cloth and walked out of the room, presumably back to the entrance.
"Hermione, we have to go or else we'll never get out" Sora said, shaking Hermione out of her stupor. The witch looked between the object covered by the fake Arashi and back to where the had just come from and nodded. They would have a chance to come back now that they knew where to go, and the three quickly followed the fake Arashi out, having already expelled their lumos.
The fake Arashi used his wand and tapped on certain stones on right wall before exiting out and before the entrance could close, the three ducked out. Luckily, the imposter was already gone. The group sighed in relief and looked at each other. "Let's go back to my place, we're done here" Hermione declared.
Back in the Mori household
Hermione sat on her bed next to Sakura whilst Sora took a seat on the ground, resting his body on her bookshelf. "So, I guess we can 100% confirm that Arashi is not Arashi" Sakura ventured out.
"The passageway was definitely suspicious, I've never read about it in any books on Mahoutokoro before except the ones used as war bunkers" Hermione revealed.
Sora pushed up his glasses, "I wonder whether Headmaster Yakumo knows anything about it."
"He might but we can't know for sure. I think we better let him know, he'll know what to do. I'll tell my dad as well; he might have something in his research" the brunette said.
"I can ask my brother whether he knows anything about secret passageways" Sakura added, her brother being many years above them would likely know more then they did about secret entrances littering the castle.
Sora nodded his head, "I'll go to the library and see whether there is any other information I can find about mysterious happenings in the school."
The three agreed to compile their findings later, and Hermione bid them goodbye as they flew home on their assigned storm pestrel. Walking up to her father's office, Hermione knocked lightly before entering "dad?" she called out.
The lone body in the room flinched in surprised and turned around, "'mione!" Hideyoshi cried out in. "What's the matter, have Sora and Sakura already gone home?"
Hermione looked at her dad, forehead scrunched up in nervousness "dad, something happened. I need your help."
Hideyoshi put down his quill and gestured towards a chair close to him, "ok, tell me what happened" he said giving her his undivided attention. Hermione sat down and began telling him everything that happened with Arashi.
Three days later
The trio gathered in the headmaster's office together with Hideyoshi who now stood beside Headmaster Yakumo. Hideyoshi helped his daughter inform the old man of the situation and a plan was formed between the group. The headmaster began, "I have sent out some people to search the area carefully as you have explained to us without arousing the suspicion of whoever is posing as young Mr Toko."
Hideyoshi having read the report given to the headmaster continued "accordingly, there is indeed a passageway in that area. A scan of the area by a curse specialist found that although the objects were not cursed there was a malevolent miasma surrounding the objects. However, when one of the members of the group uncovered the clothed object they promptly disappeared, the only thing left was the uncovered object which they found to be a mirror."
"A mirror, that's what the other Arashi was saying" Hermione stated, her brain buzzing with possibilities.
Frowning Hideyoshi continued with the report, "a few hours later the disappeared individually reappeared as if nothing had happened to him. However, members of the team noted similar differences as you've described with the other Mr Toko."
The headmaster spoke calmly as he stroked his beard, "I have since, relocated that person and they are under observation by a small team"
"What can we do about the mirrors then" Sakura asked, her hands fidgeting with her robe in anxiously.
"We will be entering the passage again later with the same team sent out by the headmaster, can the three of you help us identify which mirror the imposter was talking to" Hideyoshi queried.
The three consented and later found themselves once again at the entrance to the passageway with a team of black robed people wearing masks with animal, god and mythical monsters surrounding them. Hideyoshi stood tall and daunting in the front of the group as he ordered them in an almost militaristic way, something Hermione rarely saw her father do to others. The black clad group were efficient in carrying out their orders, and they were soon once again in the same room as before.
Two of the group members were left at the entranceway to keep watch, three members of the group stood at the entrance way of the room and another was with Hideyoshi, sticking papers filled with complicated runes around the object that they had seen the imposter talk to, "it is done, nothing will happen once you make contact" said the oni-masked agent.
Hermione looked at the object nervously and then to Hideyoshi "Papa."
Hideyoshi gave his daughter an encouraging smile and pat on the back whispering into her ear "don't worry 'mione, this is the headmaster's secret forces. They are experts in their field, if they say nothing will happen then you can trust them." Unknown to her Hideyoshi already had his wand at the ready to attack if anything did occur.
Sora and Sakura held each other's hand as they watched Hermione step closer to the mirror. The little Mori breathed in shakily and she closed her eyes before flipping the cloth up. A beat of silence rang in the room as everyone held their breath. Having felt nothing Hermione peeked out of one eye to look into the mirror, "uuum, nothings happening."
However, just as she said those words, her image in the mirror began to change and, in the mirror, where her image stood was not Arashi looking desperately at her. "Arashi !" she screamed.
Everyone in the room turned to the image, the masked agents held out their wands at the ready watching the image in the mirror. Sakura and Sora ran up to the mirror to see their friend, whose hands were not pressed to the glass. Hideyoshi looked to the oni-masked agent who shook their head, indicating that there was no foul play at work. "Sakura, Hermione, Sora !" Arashi cried out banging his hands on the glass.
"Arashi-senpai what happened to you?!" Sakura asked as she placed her hand carefully on the mirror.
"I don't know, I was going about my day when I tripped and hit the wall leading into this passageway. I decided to explore the areas but I couldn't reopen the entrance. I thought maybe there was another way out, but then I got to this room. I flipped over one of the cloths and next thing I knew I ended up here" he said gesturing to behind him. "Another me was where you guys are and I've been stuck ever since."
"My daughter said you spoke to the imposter before, did they say what they wanted" Hideyoshi cut in face hardening as Arashi explained the situation.
Unfortunately, Arashi shook his head in the negative "they just said that they were finally free and they can now roam without being shackled."
Hideyoshi's frown deepened. Hermione turned to the older Mori "dad, can we take him out of here."
The wizard shook his head, "I'm sorry Mr Toko but for now I must ask you to stay here. We don't know whatever has stolen your face from you but we cannot let them know we are on to them. At the moment, we know that you and one other has been lost to the mirror."
Arashi looks distraught but seeing the younger three with tears in their eyes, he knew he had to act strong for them. "It's ok sir, I know you'll all find a way to get me out of here. I'll try to not let the imposter find out about anything and relay any information that I can."
Nodding, Hideyoshi gestured his head to the mirror and another agent, this one with a wolf mask, attached a small device behind the mirror. "The device attached to your mirror is a communication device directly linked to the headmaster. Whatever the imposter says will be relayed to the headmaster immediately. Similarly, you will be able to converse with the headmaster whenever which should ease your worries a bit whilst you are stuck in there."
Arashi sighed in relief. It was lonely being stuck in the mirror, it was a dark void filled with shattered glass and faint images. "Wait did you say there was someone else stuck in a mirror?!"
The agents nodded in confirmation, their emotions covered by the mask but clearly one or two of them were tense, worried something had happened to their comrade. "I think I can get to them, which mirror are they in" he asked excitedly.
Hideyoshi looked at the agents who looked back and pointed at the object in the far right of the room. Nodding his head, Arashi walked away from the glass pane of the mirror into the void of nothingness, soon his voice could be heard in the far-right corner of the room. "Seimei's beard ! I was right" a cry of joy sounded out in the room.
The agents quickly dashed across the room before a resounding "HALT" stopped them from touching the object covered cloth. Hideyoshi crossed his arms and looked severely at the group, "do not simply touch those objects under the sealer has weeded out any possible miasma. You should know this."
The loud voice shocked the younger three students, Hermione most of all. Her father never shouted like this and it scared her a bit. Hideyoshi then gestured for the sealer to place the sealing runes around the object and his face softened. Smiling at the youngest three in comfort first, then looking at the agents around them "I know you are eager to speak to your friend but we must be wary. We are still in enemy territory."
The black robed agents straightened their posture and bowed to Hideyoshi in apology, they then patiently waited for the sealer to give out the all-clear before throwing the cloth off the object. Before them was Arashi standing next to another black robed person wearing a swallow bird mask. "Swallow, you're okay" said the mouse masked agent.
"Yeah, I was knocked out by whatever happened and when I woke up I was in here" the bird masked agent replied. "I tried to blast my way out but nothing worked, I even tried some curse breaking spells but it didn't do any damage."
"Well at least I'm not alone anymore" Arashi said from where he stood next to the agent.
"We will get you out of there" said the oni masked sealer resolutely as the others nodded in agreement. They chatted lightly for a few more moments before placing another device on the mirror the agent was in and left the secret hideaway.
The group dispersed after giving their report to the headmaster. "Papa, what are we going to do" Hermione asked, holding on to her father's hand in comfort.
"We will research what we can about this mirror trapping object and I'll make a few calls to some of my friends here in japan. No doubt one of them should know something about this."
Hermione nodded her head and was sent to her room to rest once they arrived home. Hideyoshi on the other hand, quickly began making some calls. "Moshi moshi, you've reached the Department of Mysteries how may I help you."
"Hello, please patch we through to your department head. Tell them that Mantis is on the line."
The operator replied with a simple "at once sir" and he was quickly transferred.
"Hello. Spider we have an issue."
The call was left relatively unknown to Hermione but within 48 hours, Hideyoshi had obtained the information he needed and a department agent ready for his call. Once again, the trio and Hideyoshi found themselves in the headmaster's office. "I see" said headmaster Yakumo, "a mirror demon. Wonders truly never cease" he chuckled.
"These demons take the face of whoever looks into their mirror and essentially take over their lives, their goal is to overrun the world until a group on onmyoji locked them away in their mirror habitat. The seal must have weakened after so many years" Hideyoshi explained to the group.
"Did your friend say anything about getting Arashi back out?" Hermione asked.
Hideyoshi smiled, "yes, victims of the mirror demon will be freed if we can get the demon back into their mirror. This will then create an opened portal allowing us to pull the real Arashi out."
"But how will we get the demons to get back in" Sora noted, "surely they won't go back in willingly."
"You're right, which is why we must trick them."
Sakura tilted her head in question, "how are we going to do that?"
Hideyoshi smirked, and it was at this point Sakura and Sora knew where exactly Hermione got her troublemaking personality from. "Now that, you leave up to old Mori here."
The stage was set, both demons were lured to the hidden passageway, unaware of the others presence. A strong disillusionment charm was casted on both demon's unknown to either of them. Once they entered the room, their view fractured and their surrounding darkened to an exact copy of the world Arashi and the bird masked agent described. "What?! What is this!" the Arashi imposter screeched. "NO! I HAVE ESCAPED, HOW COULD I BE HERE AGAIN!"
A similar scene was occurring with the bird masked imposter as it too squawked about the injustice of being trapped. "FILTHY HUMANS, WHAT DID THEY DO TO ME! I'LL KILL THEM! I'LL KILL THEM ALL." The oni masked sealer along with an adult counterpart wearing a raijin face mask sat at the sides, runes shining around them unbeknownst to the demons.
Hideyoshi then casted an image of the mirror with Arashi and the bird masked agent pretending to peer in. So desperate they were to get out that the demons did not realise that they were in fact running straight into their prisons. When they passed the mirror, the oni and raijin agent immediately reached in and grabbed the real Arashi and agent. Placing a seal atop the mirror.
Electricity crackled around the mirror and the human skin of the demons faded. The illusion faded and demons roared in anger finding out that they have been tricked. Their mirrors were quickly covered and a patronus was sent out by the raijin agent to the department of mysteries asking for help to transport the mirrors to safer and more secured place.
The swallow bird agent and Arashi were sent to the medical room, and the parlay with the mirror demons ended. Hermione visited both the agent and Arashi when they were staying in the medical, thanking the agent for their help and hugging Arashi, relieved to see her friend back.
The later months were filled with quiet stress as the ROOT exams came and went. Hermione scored O's in all subjects much to her delight, Sora scored all O's except in Transfigurations where he scored an EE and Sakura scored the best in their grade for Potions and Herbology with EE's for the rest of her subjects.
Their foundational years had officially ended, and they were now on the road to adulthood. The five core subjects from 1st year on were Charms, Transfigurations, Herbology, Potions and DADA. Hermione having already decided to take Alchemy next year, Sakura had decided on Care of Magical Creatures whilst Sora had decided on Astrology. Again this was surprising for the two girls of the group but the young wizard simply shrugged and stated "if it was good enough for Abe no Seimei, its good enough for me."
Although, Hermione supposed she did notice a lot more purple in her friends' robe now than it did at the end of the year. Sakura's robe was as green as can be whilst Hermione's had become more brown than its usual bright orange as of late.
She supposed that the next year would be filled with more surprises but for now she looked forward to the summer once again. If what was being hinted by her father was any indication, it seemed like they would setting their sights to the west once more, or rather the north west. Well, the young Mori always did want to visit the US she supposed.
Yooooo, guys can you believe another chapter is already up and its 7k works ! Are you excited fleurmione fans because we are at the half way point, only a few more chapters till we see Fleur. Leave your comments for this story because we are about to hit the US of A.