Chance Meeting at the Ink Pot
by Healer Teddylonglong
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
COMPLETELY AU! Partly OOC!
It is my story, and I intend to write it the way I want it. If you don't like it, don't read it.
Reviews are very welcome, as they inspire my muse.
"I'm sorry. It's just so sad. I know Minerva and Poppy only returned to Hogwarts this afternoon, but I'm already missing them," Sirius sobbed. "I wrote that I wished that there were no dark wizards anymore, so that friends can always be together. I think my Dad misses them too."
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Sirius," Mami said softly, gently pulling him into a light hug. "I'm glad that they already promised to come back during the summer holidays next year."
"Yeah, that's true," Sirius replied, and his expression lightened a bit. "Thank you, Professor."
"You're welcome, child. Good night." Mami tucked Sirius and Kenji in, kissed Kenji on the forehead and finally left the room to check on the girls, glad that she had decided to visit her own children's rooms last.
At Hogwarts, Headmaster's Office...
"Ah Minerva and Poppy, how good that you're back," Dumbledore said, offering lemon drops. "There is still no sign of Harry Potter."
Minerva and Poppy exchanged a glance of absolute annoyance, causing the Headmaster to let out a long sigh. "Yes, I know that you're angry at me; however, I need you to believe that I had my reasons for placing Harry with his relatives. Anyway, you know him better than anyone else. You watched over him for several years if I'm informed correctly. Don't you have any idea where he could have been gone? Does he have any friends? Muggle friends? Wizards?"
Minerva rolled her eyes. "Harry had no friends. He spent his life alone in his cupboard if he wasn't doing chores or being chased by his cousin and his cousin's friends. His uncle already tried to kill him at Christmas. What makes you so sure that the boy is still alive?"
Dumbledore chuckled and pointed to one of his small glass devices on his desk. "He is alive, and he is not in danger. That I know. However, I don't know where he is. We still have three years until he is supposed to begin Hogwarts, but as you know three years is a short time, and it is important that we find him before he falls into wrong hands."
The two witches let out simultaneous snorts. "Why is it that you're so concerned about Harry after years of neglect?" Poppy asked in disbelief.
The Headmaster sighed as he slowly unwrapped a lemon drop. "We need Harry because of the prophecy, and now with Severus gone..."
"That's your own fault as well," Minerva interrupted him sternly. "The reason why Severus left you was Harry Potter too, wasn't it? Don't tell me you're trying to destroy everyone's life because of such a stupid thing as a prophecy. I don't believe in the prophecy, and Sybill is a fraud anyway. Apart from that, if it's Harry's fate to get rid of Voldemort, then he will, independently of what you or I do here and now."
"Exactly," Poppy agreed.
"We'll speak about it at a different time," Dumbledore replied tiredly. "At four o'clock we're going to have a staff meeting. I'll see you there."
At the Mirai School...
Severus smiled as his wiz2wiz parchment alerted him to a new message. It was from Minerva.
'Severus,
Albus is going nuts. He won't speak about anything but Harry Potter. And that only because of some stupid prophecy. I don't get it. I wished we'd just stayed in Japan with you and Sirius. I don't want to wake up Sirius, so I won't write to him now, but if you see him in the morning, give him a hug from me. He really is a sweet child. You can be very proud of your son. I'm glad you found such a warm, new nest to settle in. Take care of yourself!
Minerva'
Severus sighed. 'A pity that Minerva is so old,' he thought, before a small voice at the back of his mind scolded him, 'What are you implying? She has been your teacher during your own Hogwarts time, you pervert.' He sighed again as he took his quill and began to compose a reply.
'Minerva,
You absolutely must keep this to yourself, but I overheard the prophecy he is speaking of. It says that the Dark Lord and Harry have to fight against each other, and one has to defeat the other. I don't remember the exact wording. It was Sybill's key to the Divination post at Hogwarts.
Sirius seems to miss you greatly. Mami Abe told me that he was crying earlier, until she told him that you were going to come back next summer.
Don't let the old coot get to you. The current situation is a result of his own meddling!
Severus'
本屋さんでの偶然の出会い
Fortunately, Sirius did not have much time to miss the older witches, because school began again in the morning, and now that his Japanese class was over he had to fully attend the first year classes along with test preparations, homework and reports and became extremely busy. Nevertheless, he enjoyed himself very much. He especially liked Quidditch and Hippolo, which the first years learned in their Sports class.
"Quidditch and Hippolo are the same, only that Hippolo is played riding on hippogriffs," the Sports teacher explained to the class. "Both sports are relatively new and adopted from the British magical world, since we have neither ball games played in the air nor mystic animals like hippogriffs in Japan. However, since former students of our school participated in the Quidditch world cup last year, several other magical schools all over the country began introducing Quidditch and Hippolo from this school year onwards."
'This is so cool,' Sirius thought as he whispered to the hippogriff, on which he was riding, "Look, there is the Snitch. Let's go and catch it."
Sirius soon became known as the best Seeker the school had ever seen, and he became good friends with the hippogriff he always rode after trying out a few hippogriffs from the herd and deciding that they could play together as a unit. It was a bit smaller than the others, and the animal caretaker told him that he was the youngest and was called Taiyo. "You're the best, Taiyo-kun," Sirius whispered softly into the hippogriff's ear as he gently stroked the animal's large head.
Upon hearing how much fun Sirius had playing Quidditch, Severus told his colleagues about the Quidditch House tournament at Hogwarts, and the Headmaster decided to think about the matter.
"Our school is too small and due to the different separation, which is by classes and not Houses, it would be difficult to set up a similar tournament," he finally said. "However, we can set up two teams, a red team (Akagumi) and a white team (Shirogumi), and have them play against each other."
On a sunny Saturday morning, the Headmaster motioned for everyone to head out onto the grounds right after breakfast. He announced the Sports teacher as the Head of the red team and Severus as the Head of the white team and asked the students, who would like to play Hippolo, to join a team.
Sirius quickly stood behind his father, who gave him an encouraging smile. After a few minutes, each team held ten members, and the two heads of the teams decided to keep the three students that were more than the seven members they needed for each team as reserve players. Sirius was the only first year, who had joined one of the teams, but as sad as he felt about the matter, the prospect of playing Hippolo on a team and having three matches against the red team each school year was just too exciting to dwell on the matter, especially as everyone was allowed to decide on a hippogriff to play on and he was able to sign up to use Taiyo for every practice and match.
"Now, we're going to have the first match tomorrow morning," Headmaster Abe announced, causing the teams to panic.
"Very well then, let's begin with our first practice right away," Severus decided quickly and asked each of his team members, which position they wanted to play.
The students quickly decided on their positions, and although Sirius had politely kept back, knowing that he was the youngest and had to wait for the older students to decide, there seemed to be a silent agreement to reserve the Seeker position for him. Everyone had seen him catch the Snitch often enough to know that he was the best Seeker a team could wish for.
On Saturday morning, right before the match, the Abes distributed white and red helmets to the players, and the first years handed out red and white ribbons to the spectators, who then gathered on the red and on the white side of the Quidditch pit. To Sirius' delight, he noticed that all the first years were sitting in the first row of the spectator seats on the white side. 'Well, I'm the only first year to play,' he thought, feeling very happy for his classmates' support.
Professor Ito refereed the match and set the Snitch free with a flick of his laser wand, before he allowed the hippogriffs to take into the air. "Let's fight together, Taiyo-kun," Sirius whispered to the animal as they flew above the others, searching the sky for the golden Snitch. 'Maybe I should try to become an Animagus and change into a hippogriff in order to be able to understand what he tells me,' he mused as Taiyo suddenly made a quick move to the left to avoid a Bludger. 'Oops, that was quick,' Sirius thought, feeling his stomach churn, just as he spotted the Snitch near the goal posts on the red team side.
The whole school observed in amazement as Sirius and Taiyo went into a huge dive only to pull up in time for Sirius to catch the Snitch that was hiding behind the goal.
Professor Ito shot another laser beam into the air and announced, "The white team wins 190:50. Congratulations, white team!"
Professor Abe placed a Sonorus charm on himself, before he announced for everyone to hear, "Dear players, thank you so much for an entertaining Hippolo match. Let's head to the Planetarium to have a victory party for the white team."
本屋さんでの偶然の出会い
The next huge event was the twins' birthday on the third of February. "Tomorrow is our birthday. Let's have a party at midnight tomorrow night," Kazumi suggested excitedly, when the four friends were sitting together in the boy's room, doing their homework.
'Oh no; I have to play Hippolo on Saturday morning,' Sirius thought but didn't voice his thoughts so as not to spoil the fun for the others.
"Wait a moment," Kenji said thoughtfully. "On the day after tomorrow, the Hippolo match is going to take place and Sirius has to play. If we're going to have a midnight party, we should have it tonight instead."
Sirius threw his friend a grateful look, and everyone agreed readily.
"It might be better tonight anyway. Tomorrow, there would be a chance that Mum would suspect us of planning something," Kazumi chuckled. "I'll go and speak with the house-elves," she announced and hurriedly left the room.
"Where are we going to hold the party, and are you going to invite our whole class?" Mandy queried, glancing at Kenji.
"Do you think we could do it outside? A picnic next to the lake would be so cool," Sirius threw in hesitantly.
"You're the best," Kenji said happily. "That's a super idea. All right then, let's go and tell everyone. We'll meet here in our room at midnight."
Giggling and chuckling, the three first years visited their classmates in the other rooms and told everyone about the planned nocturnal adventure. During the rest of the evening, the children could not concentrate on their homework anymore, and Sirius was glad when curfew began so he could go to bed. 'If I sleep, midnight will be there much sooner,' he thought as he stretched out on his bed, suddenly feeling very excited and fully awake.
"Sirius, are you feeling all right?" Professor Abe asked in concern, apparently noticing that something was off with the child.
"Yes Professor, I'm fine," Sirius replied softly, trying hard not to giggle, and threw his roommate a grateful look when he decided to intervene.
"Everything is all right, Mum. We just had a very funny evening. Kazumi is just unbelievable," Kenji explained, causing his mother to look at the boys in relief and finally leave the room.
"Thank you," Sirius said gratefully. "I hope your mother won't come back tonight." With that he anxiously lit the torch next to his bed and reached for his quill and the wiz2wiz parchment on his night table. He was so excited that he did not only tell Minerva and Poppy about the planned midnight event, but also his father, completely forgetting about the fact that he was a teacher and perhaps should not be informed about an event that clearly broke the school rules.
However, his father returned a most understanding message.
'Sirius,
I will send Cicero to you with a phial. Give each of your classmates one teaspoon of the liquid after your feast and take one yourself. It's a stomach calming potion and will prevent you from feeling sick in the morning due to eating during the night. Have fun and take care, son!
Dad'
Sirius smiled. He had just finished reading when Cicero appeared, handing him a small phial along with a tea-spoon.
"Master Severus sent me to give you this. You need to give everyone one spoonful, and the spoon is self-cleaning. You can use it for everyone."
"A self-cleaning spoon?" Kenji asked in surprise. "That's cool."
"It is," Sirius chuckled. "Thank you so much, Cicero, and please tell Dad thanks from me."
At exactly midnight, the first years gathered in Kenji's and Sirius' room. Kazumi brought a small basket.
"Is that all?" Kenji asked in surprise.
"Well, the elves told me to only open it where we want to have our picnic. Apparently, it becomes larger when you open it," Kazumi replied, frowning.
The first years quietly left the building by a side entrance and made themselves comfortable on the grass next to the lake. Kazumi carefully opened the basket, causing a huge table with enough delicacies to feed the whole school to emerge from the basket. Everyone looked at the food in awe.
"Wait a moment," Mandy said and cast a Silencing spell around the group. "All right. No one will be able to hear us," she explained contentedly, and everyone began to sing the birthday song for the twins.
"Why do we sing an English song?" Sirius asked in surprise.
"Because we normally don't do birthday parties in Japan," one of his Japanese classmates explained. "If we do, we normally use this song."
The children tried to eat a little from everything, but it was just too much, and the self-refilling cups of pumpkin juice were extremely convenient.
Suddenly, Kazumi said, "I'm full. Shall we take a swim in the lake?"
"We don't have any swimming gear with us," her brother objected, causing her to giggle.
"There is not so much you have to hide, and I've seen you before and have told all the other girls about it. Come on now. If we go in here, everyone can come, even if you can't swim, because it's not deep."
With that, everyone laughed and quickly took off their pyjamas, following the girl into the lake. 'Thank Merlin for the silencing charm,' Sirius mused as he joined the others in a huge water fight.
Too soon, the party was over. Everyone felt full and tired, and Sirius quickly gave his classmates a spoonful of his father's potion, before the children quietly returned to the school.
"Don't we have to clean up?" Sirius asked Kazumi, who was walking next to him, but she tiredly shook her head.
"The house-elves promised me to come and clean up later on. Good night, Sirius. Sleep well."
"Night Kazumi." Sirius fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
In the morning, all the first years missed breakfast, and most of them appeared to their first morning class missing one sock, wearing two different shoes or with their robes inside out. Thankfully, they had neither Charms with Professor Abe nor Potions with Severus on that Friday, and the other teachers did not comment on the class' strange attire and apparent sleepiness.
In the afternoon, Sirius noticed that he had caught a cold. 'Well, no wonder; it was very cold in the lake last night,' he thought, pondering if he should go to his father and ask for a potion. However, the Dursleys had taught him for many years not to bother anyone when he was sick, and Sirius decided that they were probably right and he shouldn't be such a baby and run to his father whenever something was wrong. Instead, he went to bed right after dinner, telling Kenji that he wanted to catch up on sleep in order to be fit for the Hippolo match in the morning.
However, Mami found it strange that Sirius was already asleep when she came to check on the children at curfew and, keeping in mind that all of her colleagues, who had taught the first years that day, had complained about her class, she sat on the edge of Kenji's bed and exchanged a few words with her son, who finally grudgingly told her about the party.
"Very well; thank you for telling me, Kenji," his mother said. "I'm still surprised that Sirius is the only one, who is already asleep." She returned to his side and cast a few diagnostic spells on him.
"He wanted to be fit for the Hippolo match in the morning," Kenji explained, causing Mami to throw him a thoughtful look.
"Oh right; well in this case I'm going to ask Severus for a potion instead of taking him to the hospital room. If my spell was accurate, he has caught a cold." She quickly sent a laser message to Severus, who stepped into the room and waved his wand over his son a few minutes later.
"He should be all right by the morning," Severus said, spelling a Pepperup potion into Sirius' system.
"Thank you, Severus. Kenji, tell Sirius to stay in bed until I come and check on him in the morning," his mother instructed him firmly, before she left the room together with Severus.
However, when Kenji woke up on the bright and sunny Saturday morning, he noticed in shock that he had overslept. Breakfast was already over, and Sirius was gone. He hurriedly dressed and headed down to the Quidditch pitch, where the last Hippolo match of the school year had just begun a few minutes earlier. Unfortunately, he arrived just in time to observe how Taiyo made a quick movement to evade a Bludger and Sirius, who seemed to have been inattentive for an instant, lost his grip on the hippogriff and tumbled downwards.
tbc...
Thank you so much for your kind reviews!