*Disclaimer*

A.N.: Here is the next chapter of KnH. Enjoy.

So I understand that in the canon, Hogwarts only serves British students so I eliminated my original idea of making Kagami and Himuro speak English, as they came from America, and have the others speak some unknown official language on some unknown country. Instead everyone lives in Britain, somewhere (not telling you where). It's a Japanese style community? Main point: they were all born in Britain.

Also, they do not live in Japan because the school serving that country is called Mahoutokoro (literally Magical Place). The reason Kagami and Himuro are going to Hogwarts instead of Salem Witches Institute, located in New England, America is because they were born in Britain. "In Britain, the ability to use magic is automatic grounds for admittance to wizarding school. There is a magical quill that writes down the name of those that are born with magical capabilities. Eleven years after a child's name is entered into the book, a letter is sent to the child's home to explain that they have been accepted into Hogwarts. The homes of Muggle-born wizards receive an envoy to explain the situation." (source: Harry Potter wiki)

Wandlore's in the end of chapter. Read it! I worked hard choosing their wands!

The official details say that Takao's eyes are blue, despite the PSP game and colored pages. So I'm going with that.

xxx

He was so nervous! What if the other kids didn't like him!? What if he was just seen as a common delinquent, as he had previously, and no one would listen!? What if they laughed at his second-hand clothes?! Why couldn't he have chosen a school back in America!? And where the hell was Tatsuya-ni-chan?!

"Taiga?"

"… what?"

"Is there something wrong with that pillar that you seen so intend in destroying by glaring at it?" The voluptuous blonde woman asked the red haired boy muttering to himself.

"… just nervous." He mumbled dejected and being promptly smacked in the head with a fist.

"Stop acting so meekly! You'll end up in Hufflepuff at this rate!"

Rubbing his new bump the boy turned to the woman. "That's mean Alex-nessan. There's nothing wrong with Hufflepuff."

"Of course not! That's not what I mean…" Alexandra Garcia sighed as they moved through the crowded station. "What stupid thoughts are going through that empty head of yours?"

Lots of thoughts were. Taiga sighed as well. Where to start? Things didn't seem to be going very well for him in the last times. First his father's sudden inspiration that led them in to America, where he knew no one and everyone presumed he was a delinquent due to his gruff appearance. Then his mother's disease and death, and his father crashing down because of it. Then the debts and all the problems that came with it. And now here he was, returning years later, to a country where he now knew no one, again, and all his possessions were second-hand and old.

His father wasn't a bad man but he was skeptical and not approving of magic, preferring to be on a need to know basis with everything related. His mother had given up everything for him, even her wand. She had left him a small fund for his school expenses but he ended up enchanting it for Muggle currency to try and keep some roof over their heads as his father was incapable of maintaining a job ever since he had lost his wife.

So when, the prior month he had received a letter from Hogwarts School, he had first wondered if he should ask for transference to Salem Witches Institute so he could minimize his expenses. But his desire to see Tatsuya-ni and Alex telling he was stupid if he refused such a chance, led him to make his mind and return to his home country. Ah, Alex was one of their neighbors and she was also a witch that had left for America when she was young. After his mother was gone she had helped them tremendously and now even more as she offered to pay for his school needs as a loan. And Tatsuya-ni, Himuro Tatsuya, was yet another wizard he had met in America and who he considered his brother. He had, the year before, received his own letter to Hogwarts and returned home with his family. They had frequently written to each other and Himuro had spoken enthusiastically about Taiga's arrival the next year so he could show him the ropes. Those letters had become more and more infrequent but he had thought that ni-san was busy with school work. He decided to go with that one.

"Lots of things. Like… what happened with ni-san? Why did he only made up excuses? I'm stupid but I can tell when he's lying." He pouted.

The blonde frowned looking quite displeased with the topic. Sure enough, as soon as they had set foot in England, Kagami had tried to contact his brother because he hopped he would give him some roof and help him buy his school material. Thankfully Alex had gone with him to make sure he would be fine. Every single time Tatsuya had tried to postpone any plans, and the little money they had, because Alex sometimes had even less pocket money than they did, was reduced to a handful of Galleons because they were both forced to stay abroad with living expenses. In the end, he didn't even had the money for his own wand.

"I think I know what is wrong." Alex carefully guided him through the nine and ten platforms arriving in front of the red engine. The red-haired boy looked up expectantly. "I talked to Tatsuya a couple of times too… Remember which house he entered?"

"Slytherin… but we shouldn't…"

"Believe prejudice… Yes. But I think… that there must have been some sort of bullying in there. He didn't feel like the same last time we talked. It felt like he was trying to be someone he was not."

He was surprised. Never had he felt such a thing from their letters. "But I though Slytherin took care of their own!" He protested as he finished loading his trunk into the back of the train, besides a raven haired boy that was beaming like the sun.

"Even inside Houses there are people that do not fit in completely. Maybe he was unlucky and got involved with people he shouldn't. But what I'm trying to say is… don't be too disappointed if you too end up meeting. He may be different but you'll make new friends and live your life and maybe Tatsuya will realize what he's losing by ignoring you!" She smiled and winked at him as they walked back to the passenger carriages.

It sucked what happened to Tatsuya. But he would change that.

Feeling much better with a new objective he smiled back. "And if he doesn't, I'll kick his butt and set him straight!"

"That's the spirit!" Alex cheered.

Kagami was about to hop into the carriage when he suddenly turned again. "Are you sure it's okay for me to have this?" He waved Alex's wand.

She smiled sadly. "It's not like I'll be using it…"

"Maybe someday someone will discover a cure! Then you're going to want your wand!" He frowned at her attitude. Honestly, after all that talk about being meek.

"We'll see about that… Oh! Before I forget! Here…" She handed him a few Sickles. "For the tea trolley!"

"What! Ne-san! This is too much! How will you return home!? I need you to keep an eye on my father!"

"Don't insult my intelligence! I had those on the side especially for this occasion! You eat too much Tiger! But rest assured that you'll never starve at Hogwarts! Now go and buy snacks like your life depends on it!" She cheered and gave him a big smooch before waving at him. "Bye, bye Tiger! Write me when you get selected! If you're a Gryffindor I promise to buy you a Quidditch broomstick!"

"Alex! Gross!" He scrubbed his mouth with the back of his sleeve. "And I don't need one!" He looked around making sure no one had seen her gross act and quickly jumped on the train and poked his head outside the window to wave her goodbye.

Soon the train started moving and her waving figure grew smaller. As he was heading back inside her voice resounded loudly. "TAIGA! IF YOU NEED… WRITE ME! I'LL COME AND GET YOU! DON'T FORGET!" But before he could reply, the train took a turn and she disappeared.

xxx

Midorima was feeling slightly miserable today as he gazed the disappearing London behind them. And Cancers had such a good ranking. What a waste.

Since that day Akashi had decided he wanted them to be in Slytherin, and Kuroko had told him in secret that he wished to disrespect that… order?... he had been unable to focus on anything else. Wandering thoughts with 'what if's plagued him at night. He supposed he respected, and envied, Kuroko's guts.

On the other hand, his discomfort was also caused by his current situation. The small compartment Akashi had insisted they shared was definitely too small for this many people. And because Kise had decided it would be a great idea, they had dressed their cloaks already and he was cooking under it. AND because it was way too nosy in there for him to be able to read his monthly Oha Asa edition book. His dancing cactus that was his lucky item didn't seem to be working very well. He watched silently as his companions increased the noise level.

Satsuki was sitting facing him as she stroked her pink Pygmy Puff, a shrunken Puffskein from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, which she had bought as a pet, instead of the kneazle she had liked so much at the Magical Menagerie; something for which he was grateful considering he couldn't handle cats or anything that looked like one. The thing wasn't really that noisy but once in a while it would let out a cute sound that made Satsuki squeak with joy.

Besides her, Aomine and Kise were loudly arguing about Quidditch, with some threats in the mixture, and nothing else could be said about it. Across from them, on Midorima's bench, Atsushi was stuffing himself with great amounts of noisy candy and sweets. It was enough to make him nauseous. Akashi was calmly sitting in between them and looked somewhat contemplative while petting his yellowish snake. Of course he would go all out with a Slytherin look. The creature was intently looking at the pink ball of fluff, certainly waiting for a chance to eat it.

And Kuroko. He had forgotten about Kuroko. "I'm going out or a bit." Kuroko announced making his presence known.

Seijūrō regarded him thoughtfully. "And where are you going?"

"Up front. I'm going to try and see the engine." The blue haired boy answered stoically but behind him numerous stars of excitement could be seen.

"Fine then. But return afterwards."

The boy nodded and left. For some reason Shintarō had the feeling that he wouldn't return.

When one of Murasakibara's cakes hit him in the face, he decided he had had enough. If Kuroko could leave so could he! "Akashi, I'm going to look for a quiet carriage so I can read. I'll return before we arrive-nanodayo." Yet he did not stood up. He should have stood. That would have made him look more decided.

For a moment he thought he saw conflict in the red-head's eye, but lasted only a second. "Very well. Don't forget to return."

Not really believing he had gotten away with that, the green haired boy silently thanked him and quickly left.

xxx

Kuroko was disappointed and happy at the same time. He was happy because the cockpit was the coolest thing he had ever seen! But he was sad, because the pilot had refused to let him in and he had used his powers of invisibility to sneak in. He was disappointed with himself for abusing his capabilities.

He was now pondering what to do to kill time. He certainly did not wish to return to Akashi and he wasn't planning to. He was walking down the corridor when he sighted a boy walking in his direction, his arms filled to the brim with a least a dozen exemplars of every snack in the tea trolley. Curious, he decided to follow him when he passed, oblivious to his presence. The red-head entered an empty compartment and dutifully laid his catch on the bench besides him. Kuroko just took a seat and watched him eat candy bars and chocolate frogs at a speed he had only associated with Atsushi before.

Once or twice a boy or a girl would enter the room, but after looking at the boy they would inevitably turn tail and leave without a word. This happened a few times before the oblivious boy laid his half eaten pumpkin pastry aside and sighed dejectedly.

"Have you done something to make them scared of you?" He decided to ask at last. He was expecting the guy to be surprised by his sudden appearance, but he hadn't expected for him to choke on whatever it was he still had in his mouth and start coughing, clearly suffocating. Quickly pulling his wand he used one of the spells Midorima had taught him. "Anapneo!" And the other's airway was cleared.

Coughing in relief the other finally faced him as he was finally taking notice of him. "What the hell! Where did you come from?! Who are you?"

"I'm Kuroko Tetsuya. Nice to meet you." The invisible boy greeted and bowed.

As if a button was pushed, the other's anger disappeared and he quickly bowed back. "Likewise. I'm Kagami Taiga." Realizing what he was doing Taiga quickly straightened himself up and glared at him. Or maybe he was studying him. His face was hard to read. "Do you… want a tart?" The red haired boy offered, his face still mad looking but with a new looking blush upon his cheeks. Yep, he just had weird facial expressions.

"Thank you." He accepted politely. As he nibbled delicately on his treacle tart Kagami returned his attention to the other pastries. "So… what did you do to scare the other children?"

That was clearly a frown. "Nothing. People just don't like me. They say I'm scary looking."

Maybe if he smiled a bit more he would look better. "Your eyebrows are funny looking, though."

The boy looked at him as if he had suddenly grown a second head then a whole new level of fierce look came. "You bastard! You lookin' for a fight?!"

This guy was fun.

xxx

Midorima had been happily reading his book on a blissfully empty compartment, when his peace was interrupted. The nuisance, in the shape of a raven haired boy, quite literally jumped him.

"Hey, there! Are you all alone? What are you reading? What's with that cactus? Wow! It's dancing! What's your name? I'm Takao Kazunari, happy to meet you! Do you have any friends here? Are you excited to go to Hogwarts?! I'm excited!" Then he turned very serious and quickly leveled their faces. "Be my friend. I want to be friends with you."

He must have looked like he had just seen a ghost. "… what?"

The other straightened himself up and breathed in, hopefully trying to lower his crazy caffeine speed. "I'm Takao Kazunari! I want to be friends with you! What's your name?" He smiled brightly, very differently from Akashi, and Midorima noticed he was missing a tooth. Not that weird since he himself also had some that were moving.

"Why do you want to be friends with someone you know nothing about?" This guy was probably one of those that wanted to be close to celebrities. How tasteless. "I'm Midorima Shintarō." And now he was going to pretend he hadn't recognized him, get all friendly and try to have him introducing him to someone famous.

"Shintarō… Shin-chan then! What are you reading, Shin-chan?" Takao beamed and scooped close to peer over the edge of the book.

How could anyone be so rude!? "What's with that friendly nickname?! I don't remember telling you we were friends! How rude can you get?! And don't you know who I am?! Incidentally, this is the monthly version of Oha Asa."

Genuine surprise filled those cerulean eyes before a spark of understanding flicked. They were so unlike Akashi's, so honest and filled with warmth, not really the color of the sky but the silvery blue from the arctic oceans; already he was drowning. "Are you famous? I didn't know if you were… I saw all of those reporters at the station but wasn't really sure!" He laughed as if someone had just explained him a joke. Sheepishly he scratched his head. "Sorry about my lack of knowledge. I'm muggleborn, you see… Not really up to date with wizard news… Also, what the hell is Oha Asa?" He plopped down on the bench besides Midorima and hugged his arm giving him something akin to puppy eyes but with a small mischievous smile. "Shin-chan must think that I'm a bad person. I really want to be Shi-chan's friend! I think you're very interesting! Shin-chan even has a dancing cactus!"

There was just no ignoring the blue eyes was there… And he was just way to touchy-feeling! "Humph! You're very rude! You seem understanding of it enough though." He opened the page of the zodiac compatibilities. "Tell me your sign. If we're incompatible then there's no point on trying to be friends."

"Oh! It's a horoscope! Then, I'm a Scorpio! Are we compatible, Shin-chan? And also, my uncle's also a muggleborn wizard so my family's been aware for awhile." Takao smiled and waited, albeit still strangling his arm.

Well danmmit!

Shintaro made a show of looking for the ratings but he really didn't need to. He had always wanted to meet a Scorpio. Oha Asa's compatibility ratings were always high between Cancers and Scorpio. Hell, he even had seen it go 101%, even though he was sure it must have been a typo. Ah, once more: Today's couple Scorpio/Cancer's rating is 95%. Lucky! Today you may find understanding on each other as well as that missing link! Well danmmit, danmmit! Oha Asa turned on him.

"So...? Are we a match?"

"… I suppose it won't harm if we try." He really didn't want to admit he was excited about it. Takao was really not the type of person he liked to hang with, but that list of people was really small anyways. It was hard to believe this person could be in synchrony with him. Discreetly he looked up Scorpio's luck ratings for the day. Damn! First place!

"Ah, Shin-chan's a tsundere! How cute!" The raven boy giggled. "Let's get to meet each other! So, Shin-chan… Which House do you want to go to?"

"I'm going to Slytherin." He really did not want to talk about that.

The other looked at him funny, though. "Shin-chan… that's not what I asked. I want to know where you want to go."

"Like I said…"

"But Shin-chan doesn't look like he wants to be Slytherin."

Oh. This was starting to feel like a déjà vu. "… I-i… I…"

"Can I see your wand?" Takao cut his shuttering.

Man, why couldn't he just say what he wanted! "Why?"

"I'm going to be a wandmaker when I grow up! I want to see yours! It's Ollivander's! I can tell!" He outstretched his hands looking quite excited; and he had thought he couldn't possibly get any more. How mistaken he had been.

Nevertheless, he did hand it over. Takao took it with a professional flip, Wow!, and carefully observed it, looking the most serious but also the happiest he had seen him. He rotated the reddish wood a couple of times, flicked the wand in the air and carefully tried to bend it. In the end, with another flourish he presented it back to its owner. He was beaming like he had just discovered Midorima's deepest secrets.

"Redwood, ten and half inches, slightly springy and unicorn hair core. Lucky Shin-chan! Redwood it's said to bring good fortune!"

He took it reverently. He knew that wandlore was a difficult art and really shouldn't be taking him seriously but he felt giddy about it. Good luck was on his side! Even without knowing it was by his side he was now very happy to think that luck was still following him! It really was what he wanted!

"So Shin-chan… Once more. Which House do you want to enter?"

"Ravenclaw." Ah. That came out easily after all! Takao seemed to be bouncing in his seat waiting for something. He supposed it was delicate to ask him back, right? "What about Takao? You should also show me your wand, and tell me what House you want to get in to." Ah. That came out rudely, didn't it?

The other chuckled at his attempts on socializing. "No, Shin-chan! Call me Kazunari! We're friends, remember?"

"Ka-Takao..."

He thought it was rude that Takao started laughing. He really wasn't used to this!

"Shin-chan's such a tsundere! So cute!"

"Shut up! Go die, nanodayo!"

"Gosh! That's even cuter!" He squealed in a way that reminded him of Kise, but less annoying. When he finally calmed down he took his own wand in hand, which Midorima noted, was longer than his. "Then… I'm Takao Kazunari, and I'm muggleborn but I've always known about the wizarding world! I'll be a wandmaker when I grow up! I don't care which House I'm in! I just want to know where I'll fit! And don't worry Shin-chan, even if you're a Slytherin and me a Gryffindor, or vice-versa, I'll still like you no matter what! Let's be friends forever! Also, my wand is Dogwood, twelve and half inches, supple and has a phoenix feather core. It's a wand for tricksters and jokesters!" He was slightly out of breath when he finished his tirade.

Shintarō stoically clapped when he did. It was the same principle of rewarding an animal when they did good. Being around this guy was going to be as calming as a train wreck, he was sure.

"Ah! Shin-chan don't make fun of me!" Takao pouted but laughed at his tsundere antics in the end.

Meanwhile, the train slowly got closer and closer to his destination.

xxx

A.N.: Man! That was long! Longest in the whole fic I bet!

Okay… 'Cause I want to make you obsessed wandlore fanatics like me… here are some facts (the whole thing will be in my profile page).

Long wands tend to suit those with big personalities, of a more spacious and dramatic style of magic.

Neater wands favor elegant and refined spell-casting.

Particularly short wands will choose wizards whose character lacks something.

Please do notice that Takao's wand is longer than Midorima's. Also, the longest recorded wand was Hagrid's with 16 inches. But he was a giant.

And here are the complete wandlore for those two wands (please note that the personality traits are referent to the wood; cores are yet another study):

Takao Kazunari – Dogwood, twelve and half inches, supple and phoenix feather core. Quirky and mischievous; playful nature that scope for excitement and fun. Capable of outstanding spells under difficult conditions. Interesting foible of many dogwood wands is that they refuse to perform non-verbal spells and they are often rather noisy. Dogwood is one of Garrick Ollivander's personal favorites, as he always found that matching a dogwood wand with its ideal owner was always entertaining (due to the wood's playful nature). (A wand for explosions and bangs, I figured was suited for my little Kazunari)

Midorima Shintarō – Redwood, ten and half inches, slightly springy and unicorn hair core. Reputation for bringing good fortune to its owner. "The combination of such a witch or wizard with a redwood wand is always intriguing, and I generally expect to hear of exciting exploits when I send this special pairing out from my workshop."Ollivander. (A wood that brings good luck! I just had to give it to Midorima! There was a wand for those who are obsessed but as soon as I discovered this I just couldn't help it!)

Next chapter's A.N. will have some insight on cores.