Matou Shinji and the Philosopher's Stone
A Harry Potter / Fate Stay Night Story
Disclaimer: Though I wish it were otherwise, I do not own or in any way, shape or form hold a legal or moral claim to elements of either the Nasuverse, the Potterverse, or other works I may reference in the course of this story.
Summary: Ladies of Eternity, magi of the past hiding in the present, with ancient, nigh unfathomable crafts at their command. That is the destiny of a Witch in the Moonlit world, with the female child of a witch bearing the destiny of inheriting the blood and history of their line without any exceptions, upon which the mother will expire, her task done. But this is a story of a Witch's son – a boy tossed aside by destiny – a boy determined to become someone special, with blood, sweat, and wand. This is the story of Shinji Matou, and his newfound path in the Wizarding World.
Chapter 23. Fleeting Halcyon Days
With the end of the winter holidays, classwork returned with a vengeance. It seemed that way to students at every school, as if professors could not abide the thought of students enjoying themselves or having much in the way of free time – not when there was knowledge to be crammed into empty heads, and little time to do it in.
For the older students especially, Ordinary Wizarding Levels (OWLs) and Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests (NEWTs), loomed large in the horizon, and whatever time they might have otherwise spent on recreation were usually shunted towards study – practical or otherwise.
Even the Stone Cutters – the Weasley Twins included – were no exception to this, given that their de facto leader had to take his OWLs, and that after the pre-holiday scenarios, there was a dawning awareness of how difficult it would be to fight Professor Quirrell if that was what it came down to. Now, by all means, the plan was to retrieve the Stone and turn it over to safe hands without encountering the man, but the fact of the matter was that any opportunity they had to claim the item was one Quirrell would share, given the requisite absence of Professor Dumbledore.
None of them thought he would be very pleased at the thought of several students trying to break into the Forbidden Corridor – especially if he caught them in the act. Presenting him with a fait accompli on the other hand, and giving him the Stone for safe keeping – or returning it to Nicolas Flamel – was a different matter altogether, as it would prove their intentions beyond a shadow of a doubt.
But to do that – to accomplish that – they would need to devote themselves to studying their Arts.
Hillard and the Weasleys, for example, had been using the Book of Spells for rather extensive training, spending what moments he had when he wasn't in class or on patrol running one scenario or another. Not that it was entirely for the good for the Stone Cutters, since the prefect thought of it as good review for his OWLs – Charms and Defense against the Dark Arts especially. Why, the book even demonstrated how to perform the Patronus Charm, one of the most difficult and powerful defensive charms known to wizardkind.
…not that Hillard was having an easy time, even with directions. At best, he managed to conjure a swirl of silver mist from his wand that would sometimes form up into a shield – an incorporeal Patronus – and that was when he really tried to focus.
He suspected that the memory he was using wasn't happy enough, but how to remedy that, he didn't know.
All he knew was that the charm had a long association with those fighting for lofty or noble causes – given that Patronuses were meant – as the name implied – to protect. Indeed, they could not be used for conquest or less than noble goals. This had been demonstrated quite graphically by Racizidian the Dark, the one wizard in history who had attempted to do so. Intending to conjure a Patronus to overwhelm an army of other Patronuses protecting a village from his depredations, he'd poured power through his wand and spoken Expecto Patronum...only for the magic to turn against him, with the Dark Wizard being swiftly devoured by maggots shooting from his wand.
The very fact that whether one could produce a Patronus was linked to both ability and intent was part of why those who could produce corporeal Patronuses were often elected to high office within the Wizengamot and Ministry of Magic, as being able to do so generally marked them as acting for the Good, and as superior wizards and witches.
This last was prized indeed, given that most wizards – even those employed by the Ministry of Magic – were far less competent.
Why, many couldn't manage even a basic Shield Charm, to say nothing of more complex spells.
The few who could tended to be snapped up by the Unspeakables, Hit Wizards, or Aurors – with those joining the last often considered candidates for high office if they performed well, due to the primacy of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement over all the others save the Department of Mysteries.
Wizarding society respected strength, no matter what that strength was used for – because most were not strong. That was why they jumped to hero worship, as they readily followed anyone who could protect them – or laid down their wands before someone they considered an enemy they could not beat.
That was simply the order of things.
One only had to look at how they had fallen over themselves offering Dumbledore many, many positions of leadership in the aftermath of his defeat of Grindelwald, or how they referred to Voldemort (even now) as the Dark Lord and as You-Know-Who, as if speaking his true name would conjure him forth.
Or as milder examples, why so many had simply fallen to the Death Eaters and why the Order of the Phoenix had even been necessary.
As a student of history, Hillard knew that Quirrell was right. While the man might well be a Dark Wizard, he was known for being brilliant in his own right.
Truly, there were two types of wizards: those who gained power – and those too weak to even try.
Hillard was determined to become one of the powerful – to lead instead of follow.
Like Percy Weasley, he had read Prefects who Gained Power, but he did not just want to work for the Ministry and hobnob his way to the top – he wanted to be recognized for his skill – to perhaps one day become Minister of Magic.
And while he was generally a good prefect, with his first priority being the welfare of the students of Hogwarts, he couldn't deny that there was a part of him that wanted more – a part of him that longed for recognition.
Not unlike the Weasley Twins, at that, given that much of their pranking was driven by a desire for attention that they simply didn't get in a family of so many children. Indeed, many of their antics – even their choreographed routines of pretending to be one another or finishing each other's sentences – could be taken as attempts to be noticed for who they were – to gain reputation and notoriety in their own right.
In that sense, Hillard sympathized with them, even though he was often kinder to their victims, as he'd been on the receiving end of their tender mercies before, in a series of incidents that he had no desire to speak of even now.
Still, they made useful – if difficult – opponents to practice against, with the two of them combining against him in duels, forcing him to be creative in order to stand a chance.
He was older and had a wider repertoire of spells, yes, but they were underhanded, devious, and well, there were two of them, so he couldn't defend against both at once with the standard Shield Charm. In some matches, he had to resort to using Protego Totalum, an area defense spell, to make sure they couldn't sneak up on him from behind.
Sometimes they ran scenarios together, making sure they could work as a team, with Hillard making sure to teach them the basic Shield and Stunning Charms.
Sometimes they rained curses and hexes upon his shields, testing his endurance and his ability to focus under pressure – with him returning the favor to make sure they had learned their charms well.
And sometimes, they dueled with one of the Twins under an invisibility cloak, the other out in the open, and Hillard under a Disillusionment Charm, practicing situational awareness and the speed of their draws. In those situations, it would be considered a win for the Twins if they managed to stun Hillard before he stunned one of them, a draw if he managed to stun one before he went down, and a loss if he managed to stun both of them – which to their chagrin had happened a number of times.
Harry and Shinji would join them for some of these more unorthodox training scenarios, and were usually put on a team of their own to simulate the chaos of battle.
Their role was to cast the Disarming Charm or otherwise try to incapacitate the others from stealth, attempts which were met with varying degrees of success, given that Hillard and the Twins had studied their scenarios and had a very healthy respect for the capabilities of their younger associates.
And as demonstrated by the number of times Shinji was rendered unconscious, the versatility of his Art didn't guarantee victory if he either wasn't given the opportunity to use it, or if his opponent was able to overpower him.
Hence the focus on stealth tactics, given that the Stone Cutters hoped to avoid the Defense Professor in their run for the Stone, and assumed that if they engaged him at all, it would be from stealth, as they stood no chance in an open confrontation.
Say what one might about honor and chivalry, discretion was often the better part of valor.
Unfortunately, both Hillard and the Twins had other duties that precluded them from spending every waking moment training, so often, Shinji and Harry had to fend for themselves.
While he might be a Stone Cutter and prankster, Hillard was still a prefect, with the responsibilities thereof, and there was only so much time he could devote to other hobbies and have Professor Flitwick – or his fellow prefects - turn a blind eye.
As for the Weasleys, they had the misfortune to suffer under the cruel hand of Captain Oliver Wood of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. The Scottish Keeper was known to be a harsh taskmaster at the best of times, and had become harsher still after the Gryffindor-Slytherin match had made his team a laughingstock.
Even Lee Jordan, the student commentator who was known for his pro-Gryffindor bias, hadn't been able to find anything redeeming in that match, save the fact that the Twins had brought down the Slytherin captain with their Bludgers, prompting the other team to bring the match mercifully to an end.
And though some protested such actions, they were simply part of the Quidditch experience. Wood himself had taken a Bludger to the head two minutes into his first game, only to wake up a week later in the hospital wing. Besides, as the Twins were quick to point out, Slytherin had started it by trying to take the Gryffindor Seeker – Katie Bell – out of action.
To be perfectly fair to the girl, she was decent in the role – and had been the best candidate among those who had tried out - but she far preferred being a Chaser and scoring goals to Seeking, and the near miss in her first match, with the entire school watching, had unnerved her.
Wood had told her – like he had everyone else – about his first tête-à-tête with a Bludger, and as a result, after one had grazed the back of her head, she'd spent more time watching the Beaters and the Bludgers than watching for the Golden Snitch.
But while Wood understood this intellectually, the boy was still crushed by the severity of the loss, especially as he had been the Keeper, but had been outplayed by Slytherin's Chasers. So, after the temporary reprieve of the winter holidays, he had been merciless to his team, with practices sometimes three – or four – days a week.
There was no give in the man, and he thought that maybe – maybe if they pulled off a grand victory against Hufflepuff, Gryffindor might stand a chance of finally attaining the House Cup. But the sort of win Wood sought didn't come every day. It required the team to work together like a well-oiled machine, as if each player was part of a far greater organism, perfectly coordinating their efforts and exertions towards one grand, unified purpose.
Such a thing generally needed enormous amounts of discipline, training, and dedication – or of course, a quick dose of Felix Felicis, though use of the latter was hardly fair and had been banned from all competitive events (except potion-making tournaments) for good reason.
But Matou Shinji and Harry Potter had not been idle in the absence of their fellows, and in what little time they had outside of class, they had continued to work on what they were best at.
Shinji had continued to work on his ofuda, managing to construct some arrays, with Harry testing how effective they were in duels, how effective they could be at blocking spells, and what strategies could be used if the enemy did use something like Incendio against them – or the full body flame ability that the Weasleys had cursed him with once, using a runic circle written in invisible ink.
And while the Book of Spells did cover the Flame-Freezing Charm, it had also been marked as fairly sophisticated magic that the Matou boy didn't think he was up to learning yet, so he'd been forced to improvise.
His search hadn't been entirely fruitless either, as he'd found a couple of techniques that showed some promise.
When used in an array with other ofuda, the warding type would burn off first before fire touched the others, allowing the spell one wanted to use to get closer.
And of course, there was always filling offensive ofuda to the brim with prana and launching them with the expectation that the enemy would counter, resulting in an explosion of heat and light that would disorient an enemy.
Flashbangs didn't need to hit to be effective, after all, and once disoriented, an enemy would be much easier to disable.
Or so he hoped, though he knew his ofuda wouldn't penetrate a Shield Charm, unless he released enough of them at once to briefly collapse one with sheer concussive force (since they were much less resilient against physical damage as opposed to magical attacks). If he did that, then he could certainly use another to follow up on the opening that had been made.
…provided that his opponent wasn't quick enough to stop it.
Not that Shinji had any standard to measure against, except what he'd seen from Flitwick and Quirrell during the exhibition duel. Despite what he allowed other students to think, he couldn't cast non-verbal conventional spells, and while his skill with basic ofuda offset this to a degree, his limited repertoire made him predictable.
Frankly, the main benefits of non-verbal casting wasn't as much increased speed – though it did grant that – as much as unpredictability. Without a verbal warning of what kind of magic one was about to perform, an opponent would have less time to react, and no clear indication of how to respond.
Something which, sadly, wasn't the case when one saw strips of paper streaming from an opponent's sleeves.
Against those, there was a simple defense – and Quirrell, it seemed, knew this – given how Harry's scenario had prominently featured using ofuda for attack and defense.
He hoped that the new additions to his arsenal – the arrays he had crafted – would be enough if it came down to it, but he didn't know for sure if this was the case. Harry, thankfully, had volunteered to lend him his Invisibility Cloak if and when the raid on the Stone ever occurred, so at least Shinji would have the advantage of starting concealed.
That would have to be enough, because if it wasn't…
Well, Shinji didn't want to think about that.
Still, as endless rain replaced the snow upon the ground, Shinji found himself pensive. He and the other Stone Cutters had talked over the plan – something that they still weren't entirely happy with with, given how little they knew about the defenses protecting the Stone.
And they realized something else as well.
If Dumbledore was gone and classes weren't still in session, they had to find some way of keeping Professor Quirrell from going after the Stone either before they did, or while they were attempting to retrieve the artifact, as the last thing they wanted was to be struggling against any traps, only to be ambushed.
Alas, the options they had to distract the man were not the most promising.
The Weasley Twins had advanced the notion of asking Peeves for a distraction, seeing as he had helped in the encounter with the troll and did like positive attention.
Hillard had suggested that he could go to the Defense Professor and ask about some advanced material from the Book of Spells, given that he did have the excuse of OWLs at the end of the year, and that he genuinely did want to learn how to cast a Patronus.
A corporeal Patronus if possible, though he didn't think he'd be able to pull that off before his exams.
And Shinji…well, he hadn't suggested anything out loud, but he wondered if Hermione would be willing to ask Professor Quirrell some detailed questions for review and revision, since she was something of a perfectionist.
None of them even considered trying to ambush Quirrell, as they considered that an exercise in futility. And what would their excuse be if some other teacher came upon them in the midst of trying to bring down the Dark Wizard?
They would have none, and assaulting a Professor carried very heavy penalties indeed.
So they would have to try and avoid him, or delay him, as best they could, as they had no guarantee of safety down below. While the walls and grounds of Hogwarts were guarded by many ancient spells and charms to ensure the bodily and mental safety of those who dwell within them, but somehow, the Stone Cutters were not convinced that the Forbidden Corridor and what it concealed had the same protections, given Dumbledore's warning about painful death.
They assumed the first defense – the Cerberus – was already compromised by Quirrell, or would be, given Hagrid's tendency to talk about what he wasn't supposed to.
Quirrell's defense, they thought might be a Troll of some kind, but had no idea what. Perhaps a Security Troll or some such, something well trained enough that the Defense Professor could order it to stand aside.
They rather thought Snape's might involve Potions of some sort (surprise, surprise), but not what it might be. There were plenty of ways that subtle science could be used as an obstacle. Perhaps, as had been the case in George's scenario, they would have to choose a potion to drink before passing through a trial of flames. Perhaps a challenger might have be forced to choose between colorless, odorless toxins, in which case, the trap might be that one would have needed to take a bezoar or antidote ahead of time if one didn't want to die. Perhaps Snape, the sinister man that he was, had prepared something else instead – an enchanted container filled with some mysterious potion that induced fear, delirium, and weakness, with the Stone hidden at its bottom.
Perhaps he would even have worked together with another professor to ensure one could not just reach through the potion, and that it could not be vanished, parted, scooped up, siphoned away, Transfigured, Charmed, or otherwise made to change its nature in any way – so that the only way to the Stone was drinking all of it.
Of all the Professors at Hogwarts, none struck them as being more cruel and sadistic than Professor Snape, after all.
But well, if that was the last defense, they'd simply retreat, as such a defense would undoubtedly be enough to keep the Philosopher's Stone safe…so long as the Defense Professor didn't use the Imperius Curse to force someone to drink the potion for him.
…which he might very well do to one of them if he caught them, now that they thought about it.
Such was just another layer of risk complication to this whole enterprise, which had sounded so simple when Sokaris had first proposed it.
Still, they had a bone to pick with the Defense Professor, given the events which had brought them all together, and since Harry was grimly resolved to stop the Dark Wizard from stealing the Stone one way or another – with or without them – they figured it might as well be with them, as it wouldn't do for the Boy-Who-Lived to become the Boy-Who-Died-in-Vain.
Shinji agreed that it was possible that Quirrell was working for Lord Voldemort, as he couldn't think of another patron the Dark Wizard might have.
If he was Dark, at least.
Thinking back, it was disconcerting how all they really had to go on was Sokaris' word, the suspicious circumstances, and the fact a Troll had entered Hogwarts, when by all rights, the Defense Professor should have been able to stop it, and his apparent knowledge that Harry was a Parselmouth.
At least he knew Sokaris' desire to keep the Philosopher's Stone from falling into the wrong hands – or worse, from being destroyed - was genuine. In one of the few unguarded moments she'd shown him, her concern for the artifact had been vehement, and her anger at the thought of the Stone being destroyed – that it was being used in a trap at all – had been palpable.
After this was all over, he would have to make an effort to find out more about the girl he owed a debt to, since there were a few things that didn't add up.
'Like her knowledge of Potions, though she did study from the Book of Potions before she gave it to Granger.'
He didn't think that was it though, since she'd displayed ability at the craft at the very beginning of the year, before she would have ever gotten a chance to open that book. Perhaps her family was simply talented in Potions? She was an heiress of an old family, an admission backed by the Chimera scale core of her wand…
If her family had once gone to Hogwarts, it might also explain how she knew of the Room of Hidden Things when others didn't. She'd never mentioned how she found it, and he didn't think she was the type of person to simply wander aimlessly.
She lived a very purpose-driven life.
Almost as single-minded as a magus, though if she was using witchcraft, she couldn't be one. After all, based on his working theory, one needed to be human to have magic circuits, while a magic core spoke of inhuman influence. The only way one could possibly use both was if one happened to be a Dead Apostle or something else that had once been human, and frankly, the thought was so ridiculous as to be absurd.
Sokaris was a good person, despite her coldness to most people, and her intolerance for idiocy.
Shinji sighed, thinking the stress must be getting to him if he was having these kinds of thoughts already.
It was just…there was so much to do. Ofuda to make, spells to revise, dueling techniques to master, books to read.
As of yet, he hadn't even finished sorting through the Room of Hidden Things for what he wanted, which was why he hadn't shared the treasure's whereabouts with anyone else quite yet. The moment he let one of the other Stone Cutters know about it was the moment when that treasure – his and Sokaris' treasure – would become their treasure.
And while he could certainly see the merits of their organization having funding that wasn't tied to the school budget, he wanted to finish picking out what he wanted first.
He was about to work on making more ofuda once again when, with a pop, a steaming mug of creamy hot chocolate laden with toasted marshmallows appeared on his desk.
Huh.
He'd almost forgotten it was Valentine's Day. But the only person who would think to send him something from the kitchens was…Sokaris?
Had he told her about his country's traditions? He supposed he must have.
It was hard to remember after a long week of classes and extracurricular study, when they'd been so focused on the matter of the coming…well, heist, was the only way to put it.
Still, he wasn't about to turn down a drink that smelled so deliciously chocolate-y, so he picked up the mug and sipped.
The warmth hit him, relaxed him, flowed through him, with each warm sip tasting of rich, dark chocolate mixed with notes of caramelized, vanilla-scented marshmallows. It wasn't overpowering at all, but creamy, with a foamy layer of melted marshmallowy goodness accented by the larger marshmallow bites.
And of course, there was a note, which just like the girl herself, was simple and to the point.
Matou,
Come to the Common Room. I believe Granger has a present for you.
Sokaris.
Well, he supposed he might as well take a break, seeing as his mind had begun to wander, and the common room was just a corridor away. No sense in wasting good cocoa though, he thought, so he took the mug with him, continuing to nurse it as he made his way outside.
Hermione Granger was nervous, though perhaps she had a right to be, given the fact that she was holding a wrapped box of handmade chocolate truffles. It had been more than a little embarrassing asking Prefect Clearwater to get her some chocolate, condensed milk, vanilla, and sea salt from Hogsmeade during her last visit, since the older girl had smiled knowingly, saying she was sure Matou would enjoy them.
Blushing, she'd insisted that Clearwater had the wrong idea – that she'd just read that it was customary in Japan for girls to give chocolates to boys they associated with on Valentine's Day, and it wasn't like she had any special feelings for the boy.
Penelope had simply smiled and nodded, thinking that young love could be so very cute, and had gotten her the ingredients she asked for.
Which had led to the next hurdle – convincing Zygmunt Budge, the egotistical potioneer whose spirit possessed the Book of Potions – to let her use his Hopping Cauldron to well…cook with.
He'd sputtered and wailed and shouted, utterly furious that she would use his supplies for…chocolate making, especially as he couldn't taste any, instead of for the noble art of Potion-making.
She wouldn't have turned to him if she had a choice, but it wasn't like she could use the kitchens of Hogwarts for her own personal benefit, and so had swallowed her pride, almost begging the man to let her cook, since she had no other options. And…he'd grudgingly allowed it, as he knew what a stifling place Hogwarts could be for a creative and brilliant mind – even if she wasn't the sort of genius he liked to work with.
…and truth be told he'd used the cauldron to cook soups and stews himself, so it wasn't like he had much room to argue on those grounds. Besides, young people had rather undignified foibles to work out, and far better that he let his student make chocolate than resort to something crude like Love Potions.
The core had been a melted mix of semi-sweet and bittersweet chocolates, with a can of condensed milk and a hint of vanilla added for flavor, stirred and folded until all the chocolate and milk had come together in a mix with a marshmallow texture.
From there, Zygmunt Budge had shown a bit more enthusiasm, with his shade chilling the mix – which would become the core of the truffles, and conjuring a second (more conventional) cauldron for her to melt the milk chocolate wafers she intended to use as a coating.
She'd used the Levitation Charm to drop the truffles, one by one, into the melted chocolate and had spooned more chocolate over the top to make sure the truffles were all coated, before retrieving the truffle with a fork and sprinkling a little sea salt on each.
The result, like everything else the great potioneer had a hand in now, was quite decent by any standard, and superb for a first attempt: the sea-salt truffles had a deep, rich chocolate flavor, and almost melted in one's mouth for a short of pure, western decadence in every bite.
She knew – she'd tried one.
She only hoped Matou would like them too.
And here he was now, emerging from his study room with…a mug of hot chocolate?
Hermione blinked, feeling that sudden tightness in her chest. Why…why did seeing him with other chocolate make her feel so flustered.
"Hello Hermione." He smiled at her, noticing the package in her hand. "Sokaris said you have something for me?"
Sokaris.
The brunette swallowed, a terrible sense of certainty filling her as her eyes darted to the steaming mug in his hands.
Sokaris had given him chocolate too.
Were they…was she…
No. No. She wouldn't think about it.
"T-these are for you," she said, stepping forward and thrusting the package out at him. "I…I made you some chocolate. Since its tradition in your homeland."
Shinji stepped forward and took the package, unwrapping it to see chocolate truffles, with a fresh just made scent.
"You…made these, for me?" he asked, his voice a little hoarse. The boy was honestly a little touched that she would take the time to look up his country's traditions, especially when they were friends – but not particularly great friends. "Thank you."
Even so, it was…nice to get even giri-choco, what were called obligation chocolates in Japan, given to friends and close associates on Valentine's Day, as opposed the honmei-choco or sweetheart chocolates given to a loved one.
"I just thought you would be missing your home, since you spent Christmas at the castle." Hermione said, looking anywhere but at Matou's softly smiling face. "It's not…as if there's any special meaning to them."
"Thank you," Shinji repeated, as he popped one of the morsels into his mouth and shivered in pleasure. "Its…good."
He took one and offered it to her, only to be rewarded by a fierce blush.
Such would be one of the last good memories Matou Shinji had of his first year of Hogwarts, before everything came to a head – and went disastrously wrong.