Disclaimer: I am poor. If I owned either CCS or Harry Potter, I would be rich. Obviously, that isn't happening.
At breakfast, Sakura sat between Cecilia and Tomoyo at the Hufflepuff table. She was happy to see that among all the strange foods on the table there were some familiar choices as well.
"Yeah, the Hogwarts house-elves are pretty good at having something for everyone. They get pretty upset if they think they're not feeding everyone enough." Cecilia said in response to Sakura and Tomoyo's pleased comments.
Kero didn't bother saying anything but simply dived into the food with a squeal of delight; an embarrassed Sakura had to pull him off one of the plates. She gave him a small plate on the edge of the table and determinedly didn't give him everything he asked for. Other students around the table were fascinated by the interaction.
"He can talk! Wow, I wish my pet could do that!"
"What is it?"
"That's so cool. I've only got my brother's old cat."
Sakura was kept busy through breakfast, trying to explain Kero. He was more than happy to accept the attention, preening and bragging in between bites. Sakura wasn't sure what to say about Clow and the cards, and she didn't want to sound like she was bragging, so she just said that he was a magical being made by a powerful sorcerer and that the Ministry had said it was ok for her to bring him. She struggled with trying to give a coherent explanation, because she stumble and search for certain English terms. She knew the language fairly well, but her ability was still limited, especially so early in the morning.
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Dinner had been mostly filled with small talk. The children told Sonomi some of their adventures capturing the cards and then they filled each other in on some of the things that had happened since they last saw each other. No mention was made of Hogwarts—nobody felt quite ready to talk about. Before they left to their separate hotels, they agreed to meet the next day to continue exploring London.
The next morning, they had breakfast in their suite. They were going to spend the day with the other children before Li and Meiling left to have dinner with distant family on the West side of London, while Sakura and the Daidoujis had tickets to the Phantom of the Opera at a theatre near Picadilly.
They met the Chinese cousins outside the Tower Hill tube station. Across the road, they could see the great castle framed against the sky. Sakura was awed and surprised. She had always assumed that the Tower of London would be a tall, freestanding tower like the one from the Western fairytale Rapunzel. This stone castle was not what she had pictured at all. A steep grassy hill that dipped down and then up again around the castle—the moat, she realized—separated them from the castle as they walked alongside one wall toward the entrance.
Sonomi and Li went to the counters to buy the tickets for the group while the girls ducked into a little shop. Sonomi had offered to pay for all of the tickets, but Li had insisted on paying for his own and Meiling's. Sakura found a guidebook about the Tower in Japanese and bought it, though she wondered if she should get one in English instead, to help her work on her language skills. Meiling bought a little bear dressed up in a costume that seemed to be associated with the Tower. Li and Sonomi found them clustered around the jewelry case in the front. Reluctantly, the girls agreed to leave and they crossed the bridge over the moat.
They had made it to the Tower just in time for one of the tour groups–lead by a man wearing a costume very similar to Meiling's bear. The tour was in English and Sakura was glad she had gotten her book in Japanese. It was a little hard to follow everything the man was saying and it was nice to be able to read some of the history more easily.
They passed by Traitor's Gate and followed the guide up stairs, through rooms, around the various towers, listening to his many stories about the famous castle. In the Bloody Tower, Sakura felt like crying over the two Princes who had mysteriously vanished in the fifteenth century. It was a very sad story, and Sakura felt sorry for the two boys but she wasn't sure why it was affecting her so much. Something about the place itself was simply overwhelmingly sad.
As they left the tower, a flicker of movement caught eye. Turning around, she caught a glimpse of two boys standing in the back of the room, watching the group with solemn faces. The older boy met her eyes and nodded in acknowledgement. Startled, Meiling glanced toward her friends and then back to the corner where the boys had been standing–but they were gone. She shuddered and hurried after the group. She was just glad that Sakura hadn't seen the ghosts.
Sakura started to feel better as soon as the group was away from the creepy tower. In fact, she started to feel a little hungry. Looking over the map, Tomoyo pointed out a small shop and refreshment area at the base of the White Tower, the center of the castle. They got some tea and snacks and sat at one of the small tables. The small area was carved into the side of a hill, near where the tower ravens lived. A few of the large birds were lounging on the grass, watching the tourists eating with predatory eyes.
There was something strange about the Tower; a kind of tickling sensation that ran down the back of Sakura's neck and into her chest. She hadn't really noticed it during the tour, being distracted by the guide's dramatic stories. A couple of times she had felt something, but she had dismissed it as chills from some of the more bloodcurdling tales. The Tower had a lot of unpleasant history.
But now, sitting quietly near the grass while the others chatted over a snack, the strange feeling strengthened. A pressure all around her, as if the long and powerful history of the Tower had soaked into the very stones and was radiating out. Sakura looked carefully over her friends' faces, wondering if they felt it too.
Tomoyo and Meiling were chatting happily together. Tomoyo looked content, nodding graciously at Meiling's dramatics over something that had happened over the summer. Sonomi was talking to someone on her cell phone, speaking rapidly and gesturing wildly. Sakura thought it had something to do with her company.
Sakura turned to look at Li. He had been her companion through the adventures with the Clow Cards and later as she turned them into Sakura Cards. He had fought beside her and helped her–he had even won a few of the cards himself through his own strength and power. Surely if this was something magic and not just her imagination, he would feel it.
He was looking back at her, his gaze sharp and knowing. Unlike the few other times she had caught him watching her, he didn't blush and look away. Instead, he nodded sharply, all business and seriousness. There was something magic going on. Sakura reached up to grab her Key, then hesitated and bit her lip.
This wasn't a Card to be captured nor a test by Clow Reed. She didn't know what was going on or what she should do. She wasn't even sure if she should do anything–maybe this magic was supposed to be in the Tower of London. As she tried to decide what to do, she realized that the table had fallen silent. Sonomi had walked away to an empty corner, arguing with someone over the phone. Tomoyo and Meiling were watching their cousins with puzzled and slightly worried expressions.
"What is wrong Sakura-chan?" Tomoyo asked quietly. "Do you feel something?"
Sakura nodded, her hand clasped over the small pendant that was her Key in concealed form. "There's something here, but I'm not sure what."
Meiling rolled her eyes. "There would be. Alright, use that Key-thingy to send everyone to sleep so we can find out what's going on."
Li frowned and Tomoyo shook her head. "Sakura-chan can't do that Meiling-chan. People are coming in and out of the castle too much. Sakura-chan would have to send the whole city to sleep or else people would notice."
"Well then, what do we do?" Meiling's nose wrinkled in frustration.
"Come up onto the grass." The voice was rough and scratchy, like a rusty hinge grating against a metal door. The four children glanced around wildly, trying to find who it had come from.
With a loud whump and a swirl of dust, a large black shape landed on the wall near their table. One of the Tower's famous ravens had appeared suddenly. It cocked its head, the murderous looking breaking pointing to the side as it watched them from one beady eye.
Sakura blinked and looked over at her friends. Tomoyo and Meiling looked a little startled and Li had fallen into a defensive stance. His hand was twitching toward the pendant he kept his sword transformed in. Sakura hoped he didn't pull it out or she might have to use the Sleep Card in spite of all the problems it would cause.
She turned back to the raven. It couldn't have–could it? She looked around again but there was no one else near. "Um . . . did you just say something, Raven-san?" She asked nervously.
The raven tilted its head again, then gave a rasping cough. Sakura deflated a bit; of course it hadn't–"Yes. Now come onto the grass." Her mouth fell open and she blinked again as it started to hop away up the hill.
Tomoyo pulled her camera out of the small purse attached to her wrist and set it up for filming. Li had fallen out of his defensive stance, but was keeping his hand near his sword. And Meiling–well, Meiling was stomping up to the wall with a determined look in her eyes. Putting her hands down on the stones in preparation for climbing up onto the grass, she turned around to glare at the others. "Well, are you coming?"
Tomoyo smiled and started over, as Li shrugged and moved toward the wall as well. "Wait!" Sakura said and pulled two Cards out of her pocket. She always kept them with her now, just in case. Unlocking her Key into the Staff form, she used Illusion and Shield to create a bubble around the four children. Nobody would be able to see them or get too close to them while the Cards' power held.
Li nodded at her and she smiled, relieved to have done the right thing. Then, worried, she turned to Tomoyo. "Tomoyo-chan, will your mother notice we've gone?"
Tomoyo glanced over at Sonomi, still absorbed in her conversation. She shook her head, "Mother is talking to Fujiwara-san; he is very difficult to talk to. I'm sure we have enough time."
Sakura nodded and then followed the others to the wall. She started to climb it when a hand was thrust into her vision. Li was offering to help her up; he was also blushing and refusing to look at her. She smiled and used his hand to pull herself up. "Thank you Li-kun."
Once they were all on the hill, they started moving toward the waiting raven. The bird coughed impatiently as it hopped from foot to foot. As they approached it, they slowed, walking cautiously. None of the children wanted to be in reach of the deadly beak if the raven decided to attack them. Suddenly, with various thumps and rusty sounding chokes and coughs, more ravens appeared, forming a circle around the group.
The children huddled, facing out at the large birds. The feeling of strange magic increased–Sakura felt shivers running down her spine and she gripped her Key tighter, furiously running through the Cards in her mind–what would work best?
"The great wolf roams the land and hatred ravages the earth, for the sin of the wolf is distrust." The raspy voice ran through her head like nails on a chalkboard; it seemed to come from the bird in front of Meiling. Sakura shuddered and edged back, pressing into the comforting warmth of her friends.
"It is a sin born of the gods. In their fear and doubt, they broke the wolf's trust and his hatred has grown since." A different voice, even harsher, spoke from in front of Tomoyo.
"Life ends and death begins in the circle. Ash and Elm must travel to the under world and the ever moment when past, present, and future converge upon the well. Elemental joining to bring a new world." The raven hopped closer to Li, turning its head this way and that to watch the boy out of both eyes.
"Ware the warnings, dreamer. Life cedes that others might bring it again. Valkyries, daughters of Odin, Sword and Shield, protect those left behind, guarding and guiding to join death that they might emerge from under the World Ash into a new place, a new life." With an earsplitting screech, the largest bird leapt into the sky and disappeared. The others echoed it, then hopped off across the grass.
Sakura blinked, then slowly relaxed. She turned around to face her friends, hoping they might have understood what had just happened. She was disappointed to find that they all had similar confused expressions on their faces.
"Well, it's obviously a prophecy. Why do those things always have to be so weird and hard to understand? Stupid birds!" Meiling glared across the grounds, searching for one of the vanished ravens.
Li shook his head. "That's the way prophecy always works."
"Well it's still stupid!" Meiling turned her glare on her cousin. He shrugged and closed his eyes; Sakura could feel his magic spread across the grounds. Gripping the key against her chest, she also concentrated her magic, trying to see if she felt anything else. The strange magic that had accompanied the ravens seemed to have faded, a small residue lingering only very quietly in the background.
The children clambered back down the hill and the wall and into the small courtyard where Tomoyo's mother was waiting. As the girl had predicted, Sonomi was still busy with her phone call and hadn't seemed to notice the disappearance of the small group.
Sakura recalled Shield and Illusion and slipped the cards back into her purse.
She wondered if they should tell Sonomi what had happened. She was so used to keeping her activities as the Card Mistress a secret, but this was different. Sonomi already knew about the Cards and she was more used to the magic of this country anyway. It would probably be better to tell her, Sakura thought. She explained this to the others.
Meiling and Li were against it. The raven hadn't approached the children until the woman had been occupied elsewhere. Maybe she wasn't supposed to hear the prophecy. They felt that the four should try to figure out what it meant before they told anyone else.
"Does that mean I can't ask Kero about it?" Sakura asked.
Li and Meiling traded glances, then shook their heads. "Cerberus is your magical guardian so it should be alright to tell him." Li explained. "But other than him and Yue, I don't think we should tell anyone else yet. The ravens only told us—there's probably a reason for that."
Sakura bit her lip and started to protest. Just then, Sonomi finished her business and came over, apologizing for taking so long. Sakura turned to Tomoyo, unsure what to do, and the taller girl smiled at her before assuring her mother that they had been fine. The children would keep their secret, for now.
The group finished their tour and had a small lunch at a nearby pub before heading into central London to do some shopping. They picked up some small souvenirs to send back with Sonomi as presents for their friends and family. Sakura picked a number of tins of biscuits, as well as some strangely flavored crisps, to send to Yukito. She found a book on British archaeology for her father. She was hesitating over a present for Touya when Sonomi herded them to the check out counter. It was time for the business woman's meeting and she wanted to get the group settled in the tea room at Harrods before she went.
Of course, she wasn't leaving them there alone. One of the Daidouji family bodyguards would be around, but the stoic women were always careful to stay in the background. Effectively, the children would be on their own for a few hours in the large department store.
In the tea room, they ordered a number of small treats to tide them over until dinner. They talked quietly about some of the things that had happened in their lives since the Lis had last been in Japan. Finally, Sakura managed to work up the nerve to ask the question she had been wondering ever since they had met the cousins in the Ministry.
"Meiling-chan, I thought you didn't have any magic?" She remembered that very well. Meiling had seemed to resent Sakura's magic when they first met, unhappy that she couldn't help her cousin capture the Cards.
"Well," Meiling looked around the room, then leaned over the table, speaking quietly. Tomoyo and Sakura leaned in as well, their eyes bright with curiosity. "I didn't. A few months ago, I was walking in Hong Kong when I ran into this foreigner. He was really big and grim-looking. And I noticed that he only had one hand."
Sakura gasped. Meiling wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Yeah, really disgusting, right? Anyway I was going to apologize to him when he grabbed this sword out of nowhere. He attacked me so I had to fight back. I'm really good of course," Sakura, remembering Meiling's performance with the Fight Card, nodded. "But he was really good too. So we fought for a while, up and down the street. Then he stopped moving and started laughing. I got really mad at first. He said something about how I would do and then he lunged at me with the sword. It went right through me; I thought I was going to die. When I looked up, he was gone and I was all alone on a street in Hong Kong."
"When she returned home, we could all feel the magic in her." Li leaned in. "No one is entirely sure who the stranger was, but the elders have looked through her magic very carefully. When we received the letter from Hogwarts, it was decided that it was all right for us to go."
"They think maybe we'll find something up here. Because the guy was a foreigner or something. Mostly I think they don't know what to do with me." Meiling added.
The four of them continued talking until Sonomi returned, when they split up for dinner. As Sakura curled up into bed that night, she couldn't help but think about the ravens and the strange man who had sparked magic in Meiling. They were such strange stories.
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After breakfast, the schedules were handed out. The classes were separated by House, with some classes involving one House and some including two. Most of their combined classes were with the Ravenclaws, although they did have Herbology with the Gryffindors. Sakura was happy that they had a class with Li and Meiling. It seemed like the separated tables and common rooms would make it hard to spend much time with the two otherwise. She wondered why they didn't share any classes with the Slytherins but she shrugged it aside. Maybe next year they would.
As well as the normal classes, the Asian students were also taking an extra class twice a week on language comprehension and European customs to help them adapt. This class was listed as being taught by the Muggle Studies teacher, Maorui Li. Sakura wondered if she was any relation to the Li cousins. Meiling had once tried to tell her how large the Li family was, but Sakura had blanked out when they got to the second cousins twice removed.
Sakura wasn't sure if Kero could come to her classes with her. The teachers might . She wasn't sure it was a good idea to leave him alone though. Without video games or TV to distract him, the small being was capable of far too much mischief. She resolved to ask her teachers if he could sit in on at least some of classes. Giving him something to pay attention to might keep him out of some trouble. She hoped.