"So you're going to show the kids how to set up a speaker system in the school?" asked Charlie.
"Yeah. I know the basics, but this gives them some practical experience. Jamie-kun, is it ready yet?" she yelled out.
"Almost Sakura-sama!" he shouted back.
Charlie and the other vets found it highly amusing to watch Jamie's first crush act out. The fact this 'Sakura' was willing to humor him only made it funnier.
There was a slight blare of the sound, before there was nothing.
"Right...time to test the music," said Sakura. She whipped out a CD that had belonged to her grandfather who had gotten her hooked on the group.
She selected track eight, and the music started to play.
"Well how do you do young Willie MacBride
Do you mind if I sit here down by your graveside
And rest for a while in the warm summer sun
I've been working all day and I'm nearly done
I see by your gravestone you were only nineteen
When you joined the great fallen of 1916
I hope you died well, and I hope you died clean
Young Willie MacBride, was it slow and obscene
Did they beat the drum slowly, did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the dead march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest
Did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind
In some fateful heart, is your memory enshrined
Although you died back in 1916
In that fateful heart, are you forever nineteen
Or are you a stranger without even a name
Enclosed in forever behind a glass frame
In an old photograph, torn and battered and stained
And faded to yellow in a brown leather frame
Did they beat the drum slowly, did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the dead march when they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest
The sun now it shines on the green fields of France
There's a warm summer breeze, it makes the red poppies dance
And look how the sun shines from under the clouds
There's no gas, no gunfire, no barbed wire, no guns firing now
But here in this graveyard is still no man's land
The countless white crosses stand mute in the sand
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man
To a whole generation that were butchered and damned
Did they beat the drum slowly, did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the dead march when they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest
Now young Willie MacBride, I can't help but wonder why
Do all those who lie here know why they died
Did they believe when they answered the call
Did they really believe that this war would end wars
Well the sorrows, the suffering, the glory, the pain
The killing and dying was all done in vain
Young Willie MacBride, it all happened again
And again, and again, and again, and again
Did they beat the drum slowly, did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the dead march when they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest"
(From the Irish Tenors CD Ellis Island, track 8. I thought it was rather fitting, don't you?)
Sakura was rather surprised to see a few of the vets actually crying after hearing the song.
"Who was that singing?" asked Charlie. He was one of the many who were misty eyed after that fitting tribute to a fallen soldier.
"Irish Tenors. My gramps got me hooked on the trio, and I listen to it occasionally. I even know some of the words by heart, even if I don't know the meaning of the Irish words in track nine."
Jamie somehow managed to convince Sakura to come visit them in the Chamber of Secrets to say hi to the Otaku club. Considering she was the one who created it, she agreed.
A few weeks after Sakura's appearance, he got an invitation from the twins to a Quidditch game. As it turned out, Sakura had one in the same area, so they decided to sit next to each other.
Besides, Jamie was bringing a camera so he could properly record Lucius's expression when he saw Sakura in the same area he was in.
"AH! Smell that country air! Nothing like it!" said Sakura pleased. Because of her Irish roots, they were sticking close to the Irish area instead of the Bulgarian.
Well, that and according to her they might look the other way if she slipped the underage kids a little beer.
Sakura was wearing a green shirt with a shamrock bearing Ireland's colors saying "Irish and Proud!" and a simple pair of blue jeans.
The second she graduated she ditched the robes and hat and went completely muggle outside of cosplay.
Jamie was wearing an Akatsuki cloak and was currently looking like a younger Itachi Uchiha, complete with nail polish, necklace and a pair of colored contact that gave him a fake Sharingan. Sakura couldn't stop cackling at the looks on people's faces when they saw the red eyes staring back at them dispassionately.
He was an instant hit with his fellow Otaku, who immediately started quoting Naruto to Sakura's immense amusement. After the third time she ducked behind a tree and came out looking like Anko Mitarashi, because she was better at being crazy than trying to act like Konan.
Besides, the only one that suited Itachi was Kisame, and she wasn't turning blue just for a joke. Finally they came to the spot Sakura had reserved a week ahead. She immediately set her CD player down on the grass while Jamie went to work on the tents. Unlike the rest of the wizards, hers was set to silence almost anything.
About the only sound that would come clear through the spell was the sound of a real scream. She had serious difficulty sleeping with too much light and sound.
And since she had set the tent to have a partition in it, she could split it with Jamie and not offend Charlie. She wasn't a cradle robber, despite all the joking the boys did back at base.
"So how are you going to break the ice with our 'neighbors'?" asked Jamie.
"Easy. Hand over the CD player for a minute."
Jamie dutifully handed it over and she popped in a by-now familiar CD. She immediately cycled through the tracks to number 16, which happened to be a classic Irish song called 'Danny Boy'.
And with that, people started to congregate near their tent and share food while singing along to the music.
"I'll admit, that was ingenious. Using music to score free food and beer," said Jamie impressed.
"Call me lazy if you want, but I am not cooking food when I can easily bum it off others who are more than happy to share for a bit of free music," said Sakura with a smirk.
"And the fact the beer is free?"
"We're Irish. Drinking beer is mandatory, even if I rarely drink to begin with. Here's a tip about most wizards...they're idiots," said Sakura.
Seeing her bum free food off unsuspecting witches and wizards without their notice, Jamie had to agree. They didn't even realize what she was doing even after she left their areas.
It did explain why she hadn't really packed any food.
"So how much longer until the game starts?" asked Jamie.
"About four more hours. Go explore Jamie, I'll stay here."
"Are you kidding me? Have you seen this mosh pit?" asked Jamie with a single raised eyebrow.
Sakura snickered. She tossed him a red jewel that was on a necklace. It was clearly a cosplay item, one from a very popular series called Fate/Stay Night.
"Just say 'Home' and the jewel will take you straight back to the tent. It's spelled with a auto-find function that locates anything that was spelled alongside it, which in this case happens to be my Tohsaka and Archer costumes."
Jamie nodded and left to get some water. He had a small camera in his pocket and he got quite a few amusing pictures of the looks on people's faces when they saw his fake sharingan eyes. Best of all no one recognized him outside fellow Otaku, who stopped him a few times to talk.
Once he had two buckets of water, he said "Home."
The jewel lit up and levitated. He followed the direction it pointed in and found himself back at the tent in ten minutes.
"Impressive. Now, do you know how the jewel was able to work like that?"
"No idea. The best thing I can think of is that the magic in the jewel called to the costumes," admitted Jamie.
"Correct. That effect is known as sympathetic magic. When two magical spells resonate or merge, it's known as sympathetic magic. A good example would be the jewel and the costumes. One of the harder to find examples of this is something called 'Priori Incantatum', in which two wands with wood from the same tree or cores from the same source connect. The end result is that the wizard or witch who overpowers the other can force the 'losing' wand to reveal all the spells they had cast for as long as the 'winner' can maintain the connection. I've heard rumors that anyone killed by the Killing Curse comes back as a pale shade during this effect."
Jamie listened with rapt attention. Aside from the random things Sakura did on base, she also taught him about magic and gave him clues for his pet projects.
As they chatted, they snacked on food pilfered from other camps. Eventually there was an hour before the big game, so Sakura had an amusing idea. Since she had gotten tired of people stumbling when they saw Jamie's red eyes (not to mention they were getting rather tired from the contacts) then they would go to the stadium in matching costumes.
Specifically that of Rin Tohsaka and her servant Archer/Counter Guardian EMIYA.
Just to be safe, Jamie was going to keep the jewel around his wrist hidden under the right arm sleeve. That way if they were separated he could find her again.
She had spelled both costumes and jewel at the same time, so she could find where she put them by using even one item.
They switched costumes (Sakura charmed his glasses so they were still on his face, but were all but invisible) and headed towards the stadium. Sakura looked surprisingly comfortable with the twin ponytails.
Seeing the dropped jaws of wizards at the short skirt that went along with the outfit and her considerable bust...(Jamie quickly changed his line of thought lest he got into trouble with his idol) well it was little wonder several men tripped over themselves on the way there.
Seeing the scandalized looks of the women only made her chuckle with dark humor.
Narcissa Malfoy ne Black hated Quidditch. She couldn't stand the sport and always made her husband pay dearly for dragging her to the damn stadium every bloody year for the World Cup.
But this year she at least got to enjoy her revenge a little earlier than normal, in the form of a woman her 'husband' absolutely loathed because of how thoroughly she had humiliated him during the last war.
Mariah 'Sakura Hikari' was back in England. And the look on Lucius' face was priceless.
Especially with how she managed to shove her son Draco's face into her considerable bust. Narcissa snorted in amusement at the embarrassment on Draco's face.
"You haven't changed a bit Anne," said Narcissa.
"Cissy! Still putting up with Lucy?" smirked Sakura.
"Unfortunately. Who's your little tag-along?" asked Narcissa with amusement.
"Cissy, meet Jamie Potter. Jamie, meet my favorite female Black, Narcissa."
"It's Malfoy now," Narcissa reminded her.
"Does it have to be Malfoy? You were more fun as a Black," said Sakura innocently.
"Oddly enough, I happen to agree with that," said Narcissa dryly.
"Shall I keep you from dying of absolute boredom while the boys watch this silly little game?"
"And watch my husband turn into a human tomato from repressed rage? Absolutely!" said Narcissa with glee. At the very least she wouldn't be bored to tears.
The only time Sakura paused in their quiet discussion was to bet with the Weasly twins, who had offered Jamie tickets only to learn he had already accepted someone else's offer.
They, like Jamie and Sakura, were dressed up. Specifically as the Hitachin twins from Ouran High School Host Club. The fact they could pull off the same act those twins played in the series was a bonus.
She mostly did it because Bagman had a nasty habit of reneging on his debts, and wouldn't hesitate to steal from such a nice pair of boys like Fred and George.
Besides, she offered them five to one odds. They weren't about to pass up on that!
Jamie was still half-asleep when Sakura came into his 'area' of the tent and shook him awake.
"What time is it?"
"Almost one. Looks like Lucy and his friends didn't appreciate Bulgaria winning, so they're inciting a riot. Now, I happen to have some tranquilizer darts and I know you always pack your grandpa's sniper rifle with you in your expandable bag as a precaution, so here's my question... Care for some moving target practice?"
"What grade are the tranqs?" asked Jamie, all sleep leaving his eyes.
"Strong enough to knock them out cold for several hours, with a mild hangover. Death Eaters are cowards, they won't think to help their downed friends if they can escape themselves," said Sakura.
"Can we get to a high ground?"
"I can do you one better. I have a flying carpet."
"Didn't those go out of style?" asked Jamie, switching to his Roy costume out of habit, as the borrowed Archer costume was a bit too big for him to aim properly.
"More comfortable than a broom, and easier to spell with a notice-me-not charm. Besides, do you have any idea how hard it is to get comfortable riding a broom?"
"Let's go," said Jamie.
Sakura followed his lead without a word, and they took to the air on her carpet which had sat so innocently near the front of the door.
After all, since they went out of style decades ago in favor of brooms, most wizards wouldn't think to check the carpet for magic aside from a few to keep it pristine.
It made a very amusing defense with a single activating word.
And unlike most magicals, she knew what a gun was and how to use it. The only issue being that she couldn't aim a pistol worth a damn.
Which was why she had a sniper rifle instead. So much easier to aim.
They took to the sky, and both scowled when they saw the muggles in the air.
"Jamie, how angry would your grandfather be if I handed you some live rounds to shoot their kneecaps with?" she asked with a growl.
"Depends... are these men criminals or are they drunken idiots who are hurting others for no reason," he replied.
"Do you know what is required for a Dark Mark, let alone the whole kit and caboodle?"
"No."
"Good, keep it that way. Let's just say that they were all marked, and that I'll accept full blame. Remember to aim to incapacitate, not kill," said Sakura.
"Yes ma'am!"
Jamie set up his rifle and used the scope to aim at the knees of the fools holding the campground manager and his family up in the air. Sakura had her wand out to catch them.
Five shots later, and a quick mobicorpus spell on the muggles, and the Death Eaters were in too much pain to consider apparating away.
Jamie took careful aim with his tranqs and started shooting. Sakura only had twenty doses...and only five Death Eaters got away before someone was stupid enough to set off Voldemort's calling card in the sky. They later learned Ron Weasly had his wand stolen during the game.
Once they packed up the tent and managed to keep the Aurors from learning who shot the Death Eaters, they left immediately for the base.
Charlie was up waiting for both of them waiting for a debriefing from the two.