A suggestion on a Harry Potter story that could definitely catch your interest. Twist of Fate by FirePhoenix8. A delightful and intriguing mix of muggle history with the magical. It follows Harry and Tom Riddle.

And a thanks goes out to everyone who voted for your input. I was slightly surprised that so few people decided to vote. For those who did vote and put down more than one place, I added only your first entry, and thus we have an easy winner…

Update 12/30/18 – No major changes. Some corrections made in regards to the sound of the foreign language.

On the Wrong Side of Sanity

Chapter 12: Experiences

Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education;

in the elder, a part of experience.

-Francis Bacon

…

"Where will you be heading to?"

What a question! I could hardly decide which part of the world to go to, let alone which country or city. The choices that I had were all so overwhelming. I could go anywhere. Anywhere! Hell, there was an option to see Antarctica. That one nearly got me, but I certainly didn't have the things I would need to live in such extreme cold. I only knew a few different warming charms and aguamenti, so I soon discarded that one.

"Er…well…"

The woman smiled at me, a hint of amusement in her eyes, but she didn't say anything about my indecision.

"Well, which is the next one to leave?"

"That would be to Japan, sir," she replied.

It hadn't been a country that I had ever thought to visit. I hadn't even ever thought of anything outside of Europe before, except for maybe when I was really little. It would be so far from Britain, and that alone was quite appealing.

"Japan sounds good," I finally said.

"That will be 358 galleons, sir." Even though I was prepared for the price, it was still surprising to spend all that at once. I hadn't ever spent that amount at one time before. I handed over the required amount with help from the woman behind the desk and a handy Hundred Count spell she used to make things go faster. I was certainly glad for the charm on my money bag to keep it light, and the forethought to pull out as much money from Gringotts as I had. "The Portkey is scheduled to leave in thirty-seven minutes. Would you like to wait in our café?"

"Sure, that sounds good," I replied. Sitting in the café, I spent the remaining half-hour nursing a tea and daydreaming about the excitement of finally getting out of Britain. I was going to see all kinds of new things that I had never before imagined! When the time finally came to go to the departure point and prepare for the portkey, I was nearly jumping up and down in excitement. There were only two other wizards that were travelling with me to Japan, but neither seemed like the type who was interested in talking, which might have seemed a miracle considering who I was. The one man was carrying a briefcase while the other had a small travelling trunk. It felt odd to be travelling with nothing but a muggle backpack with a few shirts and a pair of pants, but I shrugged it off and grasped a corner of the book that was the portkey.

The trip itself was nothing less than intense. I had never done well with portkeys, and this one seemed to go on forever. We went around and around, seemingly spinning out of control with no end in sight. There was nothing below our feet to support us, but we just spun on. At one point, I was sure that I was going to get sick, but was able to hold it back. I was regretting the tea that I had only sipped at while I was waiting earlier. The portkey continued to spin the three of us around and around, and all I could see was bits of blue and white swirling around me in a dizzying array of color gradually getting darker.

The landing was jarring, and I barely kept my footing. It was an improvement compared to my previous experiences with Portkeys at least. After landing, I followed the two wizards that I had travelled with dizzily out of the courtyard and through the building. What I saw was amazing.

The first thing that caught my attention as I stepped out was that the sky was suddenly dark. It hadn't really registered with me back in the courtyard while I had been nearly sick with dizziness, but I had settled enough to take note now. The difference was startling in its abruptness. I had only just left London, where it was early afternoon. The change felt unreal. Next, I noticed my surroundings. The buildings around me were taller than any that I had ever seen before, covered in large glass windows and lights advertising many different things, some that were in English and others that I couldn't understand. There were people walking everywhere, even at whatever time of night it was. The sounds of the city filled my ears with bells, whistles, and talking that I couldn't comprehend. It was definitely the muggle part of the city, evidenced by the people dressed in muggle clothing and driving cars. I was grateful that I had dressed as a muggle before leaving on this trip, as it let me blend in rather well. Looking around some more, I felt as if I was so small in comparison. Everything was simply overwhelming and new to me. The crowds were larger than I had ever experienced before. Muggles greatly outnumbered wizards and witches, but I had never thought about the difference between countries. Even the London underground wasn't as crowded as this. I soon realized that I had been standing in one place just taking everything in for too long. The wizards that I had followed out were already lost in the crowd, and I had no idea of where I should be going. I decided to simply wing it and try to enjoy myself here, maybe just travel around and experience things, even if it was only in the muggle world. I at least had some muggle pounds with me to get food if I needed any.

I started off choosing a random direction to walk in, realizing that I hadn't even asked what city the Portkey would be taking me to. I felt a little foolish, but wasn't too worried about it. It didn't exactly matter. Japan was Japan, regardless of the city. Walking along, I watched as people passed me walking in either direction at a quick pace. I was likely the slowest person walking along the sidewalk.

Seeing all of the people around me, something struck me as odd. It seemed like nearly everyone looked similar. It was immensely confusing to see. It looked like most people around me all had black hair, usually short. The girls that I saw also dressed so much differently than those in England. Even though the weather was rather chilly, a number of girls walking by me and giggling among themselves were wearing short skirts. The kind of skirts that Professor McGonagall would give a lecture about, I was sure.

As I eventually became bored with the tall buildings and masses of people surrounding me, I began looking for a place to stop at to get lunch, or perhaps a late dinner. I still didn't know what time it was here.

Or where, exactly, here was.

As I continued walking down the sidewalk, I finally started to encounter smaller buildings that looked like they might be restaurants. Finally, I stopped and entered one of them, looking forward to eating. As soon as I stepped in, I realized that this was not the place for me. The flap of cloth on the door prevented me from seeing that the inside looked more like a place to drink and smoke. In fact, so many people inside were smoking that the smell of it had hit me like a wall once I had opened the sliding door. Distractedly, I listened to the workers say something as I opened the door, but I couldn't understand and wasn't paying enough attention. I waved my hand in an attempt to get the smoke away and stepped back out into the sidewalk, slightly embarrassed for leaving just as the people inside had said something to me.

I continued walking down the street, looking for a place that was more like a fast-food restaurant. One place that was brightly colored finally caught my attention. While I couldn't understand the name of the place, which just looked like a bunch of lines that could almost be drawings (すき屋), it had pictures of food in the windows and so I hurried over to what had to be a restaurant. Walking around had increased my appetite quite a bit.

As I walked in, it seemed as if all of the workers looked up at me and said something that I couldn't understand again.

"Irasshiamase!"

"Irasshiamase!"

I smiled in return, but had no idea what they were trying to say to me. Maybe it was just a greeting?

One came over and began talking to me way too fast for me to even follow the sounds. She likely saw the confusion on my face, as she abruptly stopped and started again, but much slower.

"Nan nin desu ka? Hitori desu ka?"

I obviously couldn't understand the words, so I dipped into her mind in hopes of understanding that way. I could tell that the waitress felt slightly nervous, but also rushed to get it over with. Other than those general feelings, I wasn't able to get any more understanding from her mind. It was the first time that my ability had failed me, and without it, I had absolutely no idea how to proceed. The waitress repeated herself again, and I was able to feel her frustration with me. All I could do was shake my head and shrug. I just couldn't understand anything.

"Nihongo ga dekimasu ka? Amerika-jin desu ka?" she said. I finally couldn't bear standing in silence in front of so many people who were looking over in curiosity.

"I'm sorry, do you speak English?" I couldn't believe that I hadn't thought of this before coming here. Of course English wasn't the language here, it was Japanese. Which was bad for me, since I didn't understand one bit of it.

The woman smiled at me and stuck her hand out in a 'wait' gesture, and hurried away. I looked around the restaurant uncomfortably for a while, beginning to regret my decision to just get out of Great Britain. Thankfully, it didn't take long for someone else to come toward me.

As the new woman came up to me, she bowed. "I am sorry. You would like to sit?" I nodded, and was finally guided to a seat.

After sitting and being handed a menu, the waitress pointed out a button at the end of the table.

"If you are ready, press the button." While she had an accent that I had never actually heard before, it was wonderful to see that there where people here that could speak English. The woman quickly bowed again and walked away, leaving me to look at the menu.

I glanced down at the menu with hesitation, afraid that I wouldn't be able to read anything. However, I soon relaxed. While it was in Japanese, there were also pictures all over the menu that I could look at so that I knew what I was ordering. There were mostly pictures of bowls filled with noodles and plates covered in rice and brown sauce. It took a while for me to realize that it was curry. My Aunt used to cook curry every once in a while, mostly when she was busy with other things and didn't want to cook something that required a lot of attention to keep from burning or getting dry. My Aunt never liked eating it, but Dudley had always loved it.

After taking a brief glance at other pictures of fish and rice, I decided on the safe bet: curry. The price of it, however, made me worry. It was 540円. What did the symbol mean? I pushed the button, hoping that the waitress would be able to answer my question. A loud bell sounded throughout the restaurant, which surprised me, but nobody else looked up from their tables, so I assumed it was normal.

The woman from before soon hurried over to my table. "You are ready?"

I shook my head and pointed to the price on the menu. "What is this?" I asked.

"It is Curry," she answered, obviously not understanding my confusion.

"I mean, what is this?" I pointed to the (円) symbol, blocking out the picture of the curry. The woman finally smiled at me in understanding.

"It is yen. Curry is…five hundred…forty yen," she responded, pausing to make sure that she was saying it correctly. "You are from America?"

I shook my head in response to her question. "I'm from England. I don't have any yen with me," I said with a sinking feeling.

"You do not have yen?" she asked to make sure she understood. I shook my head, feeling even worse. How could I get food if I had no money to pay?

The excitement of getting out of England was beginning to wear off quite quickly with the difficulties that I was facing. My waitress walked away and began speaking to someone through a doorway. I couldn't understand any of it, but she was speaking very quickly. It took a minute or two before she returned to me with a cup and handed it to me.

"It is tea," she said with a small smile. "It is..muriou. It is free."

The warm cup felt great in my hand, and it was partially satisfying to drink, although it didn't erase my hunger. I showed the waitress the money that I had with me, but she wouldn't take it.

"You need yen," she said when I showed it to her. "I have the break soon. Tokyo Station is close." With that, the waitress walked away to attend to another table. I looked around and realized that there weren't many customers in the restaurant at this time. It took no longer than five minutes before the waitress came back.

"We will go to Tokyo Station," she informed me with a smile, encouraging me to get up in order to follow her.

We exited the restaurant and turned to the left, walking until the intersection, where we turned left again. Once there, she pointed straight ahead and said "Tokyo Station is ahead."

It took a little bit of walking, but I was soon able to see the long building lit up by many street lights. There were still a number of people walking around the area, even though the sun had long set. There were many Taxis parked in front of the place in one long line, waiting for customers to approach them. The Japanese woman leading me began to walk faster.

"The Station will close soon. We must hurry."

I followed quickly after her, praying to make it in time. It was nearly a ten minute walk at quite a quick pace all the way through the station, weaving between the many people going about their business. When we finally made it, it was only ten minutes until 10:30, which was when the exchange would close. I breathed a sigh of relief as I approached the counter to exchange my money.

All I had to do was give them all of the muggle money that I had, which amounted to 20 pounds, and they gave me almost 3,400 yen. The yen looked so different from the money that I was used to using, and it was odd to think of carrying such a large number around, even though it wasn't actually worth what it sounded.

I profusely thanked the woman who had guided me as she left to return to work, or wherever she was headed. The first thing that I did with the money that I had was buy a couple of sandwiches from a convenience store called Family Mart. They had some really odd choices, but I stuck with ham sandwiches and milk. The entire experience left me tired, but I still had no place to stay, so I headed back outside. It was on my way out that I finally saw something out of the ordinary. One person seemed to simply appear out of a sign that, according to the picture on it, must have meant 'stop' or something similar. The apparent words on it '立ち入り禁止' meant nothing to me.

I strolled over toward a wall to wait around and watch the sign to see if it happened again, and I wasn't disappointed. Two or three minutes later, I saw someone exit the sign again. After seeing that, I walked up to the sign to see if I could enter. Nothing happened when I leaned against the sign, so I hid my wand in my sleeve and tried pressing the wand at various points of the sign. Nothing was working, and I really just wanted to find a place to rest. Finding a place to sleep in the muggle part of Japan wouldn't work, especially since I was only left with less than the equivalent to 20 pounds.

The next person to exit the sign was a woman with long black hair and small, thin glasses perched on her nose. The serious look on her face didn't exactly scream 'welcome', but I was becoming desperate. I stepped up to her, hoping that she understood English.

"Excuse me. I can't seem to find the way in. Could you help me?" The woman looked at me with her sharp eyes, and then spoke in a kinder, softer voice than I had expected.

"I am sorry, my English.. Amari dekimasen ne. chotto matte kudasai ne?" With that, she raised her right hand up to just above her shoulder and started whispering something. Her left hand went to her throat and then her ear and, just a tap later, she smiled at me again.

"What were you saying, young man?" she asked me.

I couldn't help but stare at her in surprise. Not only was her English now perfect, with only an accent, but she had used whatever spell with no wand that I could see at all. The woman's continued attention spurred me to ask what I had wanted to before.

"I..er..I'm not quite familiar with the area. How do I enter the…the magical area?" I finally asked.

"Ah! I understand. I am sorry, this is the exit only. The entrance is beside the restrooms, through the other sign." Instead of simply pointing out the area, the witch began to lead me to the correct place. I brushed my leg against something small while walking next to the woman, but when I looked, whatever it had been was nowhere in sight. Probably a child wandering to far from his mother. I trotted to catch back up.

"Here it is! This is the sign that you walk through. Try to remember that, and good luck!" she finally said, bowing once before heading back the way she had come.

"Thank you so much!" I exclaimed before she could get too far away. It struck me for a moment that I had never even asked her name, but it was far too late now, and I was too excited at the prospect of finally seeing the magical side of Japan. With that thought, I glanced around to make sure no one was looking, and then I stepped through.

…

…

…

Question:

Do you have any guesses about how the woman used magic?

Notes:

Remember, before you start sending flames about how Harry didn't plan well, didn't have the right money, and didn't even know the language or anything to help him translate it: Harry didn't exactly plan anything. He jumped at the chance to travel without thinking things through. It was all a mistake, with only the intent to experience something new. He is a near-child, rebelling against unfairness without true purpose. He is meant to learn from this experience, not to begin his independence knowing exactly what to do and how to plan things well. He hasn't exactly shown an ability to plan well in early canon, so why would he now? He's had no real chance to grow and gain experience with these types of things while depending on others like Hermione.

I must admit, the hardest part of writing this chapter was the Japanese woman's conversation in English. Nearly all Japanese high school students learn English, but not all can speak it. Some never even try. Others might speak next to perfectly, with only a few mistakes here and there. However, it always seemed like a majority, even in Tokyo where English is more common due to international travel, would only use certain sentence structures even if their level of proficiency was quite high. Our polite greetings and questions in English (would you like…?, Is there anything I can get you?, etc.) were very rare. Also, writing Japanese in roman letters is something that I generally dislike, but it would certainly not make much sense if I wrote the Japanese that Harry was hearing in Japanese letters. Since I'm writing from his perception, he would only hear the sounds, while they wouldn't make sense; they would still just be sounds to him.

The problem is that, in some ways it is very difficult to write the sounds using roman letters, and there are different ways of doing it that actually require an explanation of Japanese sound in order to be understood. Only writing would be in Japanese letters. So, Harry would see signs such as 'あぶない！この中に入ってはいけません。' But if someone were to say it, he would hear "abunai! Kono naka ni haitte wa ikemasen."