It was October, and Jamie was already enjoying his new role as Moody's assistant. True, he had to do the homework that involved spell practice and had to help grade hundreds of papers...but the benefit far outweighed the downsides.
For example, Moody would tell him more about James and Lily from during the war before he was born.
Of course Jamie did get some amusing pictures while Moody watched with a gaping jaw as they practiced their usual show for Halloween.
"What in blazes is all that about?" he asked. Each of the eight dancers were in full costume to get used to the weight.
"Every year since Jamie joined, we do a show on Halloween. This year we're doing it to annoy Dumbledore who will probably do a half-assed one for the foreign students," explained Paul. He was the one helping with the costumes.
"Jamie is the club president for a reason," said Flitwick.
"That reminds me... Luna has managed to set up the Music and Communication club, and she needs a teacher to sponsor it," said Jamie.
"I'll talk to her later," promised Flitwick. The majority of the new club would be to help coordinate between the other subsections who knew what really went on in the Otaku club.
It was the fourth meeting that they had a surprise visitor...one who Jamie didn't mention was coming. He was once again dressed as Itachi.
"YES, I AM THAT AWESOME!" cried an insane woman who had appeared with cherry blossom petals and smoke. Behind her was a large piece of cloth announcing her to the world. She was dressed exactly like Anko Mitarashi, complete with her hair up.
"'The goddess of humor and super awesomeness, Sakura Hikari?' really?" said Jamie amused.
Behind him the other Otaku took a second to process her abrupt entrance, before they bowed to her sheer awesomeness.
Their founder had arrived!
It took Flitwick a few minutes for his heart rate to go down to process what just happened.
"Jamie, is this the surprise guest you mentioned earlier?" he asked.
"Grandpa invited her to the base, and she said that all the signs were pointing to a new war against Voldemort, so she asked if she could visit," said Jamie with a shrug.
"Suddenly her move back to England makes more sense..." said Flitwick. The girl may have been one of his ravens, but she was a Hufflepuff at heart. She would never leave her fellow Otaku hanging.
"Of course I moved back! I would never leave my Otaku to fend for themselves when I could team up with Cissy and annoy Lucy!" said Sakura offended.
"Cissy? Lucy?" said Paul.
"Narcissa Black and Lucius Malfoy. You should hear how she talks about our resident annoyance Draco," replied Jamie amused.
"Who wants to see me piss off the Malfoys in full view of the school?" she called out.
Nearly every hand went up.
Sakura appeared with great fan fare dressed as Lina Inverse with her hair dyed blood red. Unlike Lina, her considerable bust was barely being held back.
Jamie and several other Otaku felt she should have gone with a Naga the White Serpent costume, or that of Celphiel, if only for the shock value of Naga's rather rather racy outfit.
They were outvoted by the girls and Sakura, who acted more like Lina than Naga anyway.
She had wanted to go in as Sakura Kinimoto from Cardcaptors, but her personality didn't mesh properly with the timid brunette.
"YOU!" shrieked Draco.
"You got a problem blondie?" snarked 'Lina'.
"You're that insane bitch who convinced my mother to leave my father!" snarled Draco.
Narcissa had taken Anne's advice to ditch the Malfoy family, as it was clear that their blood was weak compared to the Blacks. So she got a divorce and left Draco to his father, stating that she didn't want to 'infect the Black bloodline further with such a weak heir'.
Lucius had started spitting nails after that announcement.
It was a calculated insult to the Malfoy name, one that would have resulted in a blood feud had they not been married. Unsurprisingly, it was also a valid excuse for a witch to divorce her pure blood husband from the old days.
One that the goblins reinforced.
Besides, Narcissa had done her duty as a pure blood and provided the Malfoy clan an heir. She wasn't bound to do a damn thing afterwords, and she had grown tired of Lucius' shadow.
It was little wonder she chose to side with Sakura Hikari, who had always been kind to her and treated her like an equal.
Still, Draco would have had his mother to rely on had she not reappeared and convinced the woman to leave the Malfoys behind.
"Ms. Hikari, for what reason did you return?" asked Dumbledore patiently.
She was a brilliant, if often misunderstood witch. However even Dumbledore admitted she was almost as insane as the Lovegood clan.
(Sakura is a regular subscriber to the Quibbler.)
"I got a request from the current club president, so I decided to drop by," she said cheekily.
There was little question what club she meant, her name was well known as the Otaku Club founder to the teachers.
"And what request was that?"
"He wanted some help creating a new club for music and broadcast enthusiasts like Mr. Jordan over in the Lion's corner," she said calmly.
"I was aware of a new club about to be formed, but not of it's purpose. What, exactly, would you do to help this new club?"
"Make it possible for all students to enjoy a student-run radio that can be heard even in the halls between classes," said Sakura flatly.
"Student-run radio?" asked Sprout.
"I have in my possession a spell that would allow magical speakers to play acceptable music and broadcasts throughout the halls for all the students to hear. As I recall, there was an issue of a troll in the castle three years ago? A broadcast club would have been able to get the attention of any wayward students and direct them to safe locations promptly. Not to mention it would keep the teachers from being tired after a Sonorus charm."
McGonagall winced at the jibe, because during the incident with the Chamber her throat had been sore for hours because of the charm.
"I suppose it wouldn't do any harm to add these...speakers...to the school. They will be maintained by the students of course?" asked Dumbledore.
"I will leave all notes on how to create and repair them with this new club, and the Otaku club so they can add charms to them."
"I don't suppose you would be against joining us for dinner that you so elaborately interrupted?" said Flitwick with a smile.
"And deny my fellow Ravenclaws a chance to talk to an alumni who became a successful author? Perish the thought!" she beamed at him.
And with those words, she was promptly swamped by her fellow ravens for details.
Sakura managed to get the speaker system set up just before the groups from the foreign schools showed up. Naturally Flitwick invited her to watch them arrive.
Dumbledore could already tell the woman planned to return next year...possibly as the new DADA teacher as Moody had said loudly he was only here for this year.
Jamie heard the horses before he saw them. They were close enough to the lake that the sound of their whinnies carried over the water.
Most gasped at the pegasi (which was what Sakura said they were, as it was the plural form of pegasus) brought the carriages down.
Once the girls came out, most of the boys were holding back their drool. Jamie, ever the gentleman, immediately went over to the first shivering girl and offered his cloak. She took it gratefully as did the other girls when several of the Otaku followed his lead. They returned the cloaks later once they had retrieved their own the next day.
The Bulgarians were next to arrive, and once again Jamie was the first to note their arrival. Everyone gasped as the lake began to drop down (like a toilet would when flushed, Sakura snidely remarked) and a ship began to appear.
Like the French girls, the Bulgarians were quick to enter the castle as their outfits weren't built for what they considered to be a mild temperature compared to their school.
Once all the students were in, Flitwick noticed how gleeful Sakura seemed as she had been party to the Otaku's usual Halloween show's practice. She even had a magically-run video camera to capture the event.
Durmstrang went first, followed by Beauxbatons. Then came the surprise the Otaku had in store for the entire school, narrowly beating Dumbledore to the punch.
*Sparks flew after Beauxbatons did their performance. Fred and George 'mysteriously' vanished mere seconds after, as a low hum filled the air. That hum quickly became a beat as music filled the air.
Students in the know started joining the beat, making it irresistible to everyone. Jamie's flash mob had begun.
"Hey, hey everybody! We have something to say!" sang the most unusual group of students. There was one of each house, both boy and girl. The girls wore their house colors on their skirts proudly and had the tails of the house animal on their backside. The boys were the same, only instead of pants they wore kilts. McGonagall looked amused by that.
"We may seem as different, as the Night is from Day. But you look a little deeper, and you will see! That I'm just like you and you're just like me! Yeah!"
Both groups converged on the opposite end of the hall so everyone could see them properly. Now their full costume could be seen. The Ravenclaw singers had beak and wings. The Slytherins had hoodies that were pulled up and had extended fangs and snake-like eyes. The Gryffindors were a lion and lioness respectively. And the Hufflepuffs had whiskers and buckteeth. And their feet looked like claws and talons. The Slytherins just wore snake skin boots.
All eight students were paired with their rival house and gender. A Gryffindor boy and Slytherin girl, a Hufflepuff boy and Ravenclaw girl. This was a deliberate move orchestrated by the leader of the group, Jamie.
He wanted to show house unity to everyone, even if it was just for one night.
Plus it would show up Dumbledore and a give a united front to the rival schools.
"Hey, hey everybody! We're here to shout! That the magic of friendship is what it's all about! Yeah, we thought we were different as the Night is from the Day. Until magic helped us see another way!"
All the pairs danced down the tables, it was clear that the original idea for this flash mob was working. Everyone was enjoying the show, even the Slytherins!
"So get up! Get down! If you're gonna come around! We can work together helping Hogwarts win the cup! So get up, get down! Cause it's gonna make a sound! If we work together helping Hogwarts win the cup!"
The girls split off from the boys and started singing solo.
"Hey, hey hands up now! We're sending a message to the crowd! Hands wave up, then come down! We party together all around!"
The girls spun in a circle at the last word as the boys picked it up.
The Gryffindor boy started, then Ravenclaw, Slytherin and ending with Hufflepuff.
"Courage!"
"Intelligence!"
"Cunning!"
"And Loyalty!"
The group all started to sing together again as they picked up the song again.
"Magic helped us each to see all that we can be!"
They danced down the tables in groups, clapping along to the beat while they were singing.
"So get up, get down! If you're gonna come around! We can work together helping Hogwarts win the cup! So get up, get down! Cause it's gonna make a sound! If we work together helping Hogwarts win the cup!"
Now select pairs started to sing. It was clear why they were chosen, they had the best voices of the group.
"We're going to be ourselves no matter what we do! And if we're different then we want you to be true to you! If you follow us, and we'll put your differences aside. We'll stick together and start working on that school pride!"
"Jump up, make a sound! Stomp you feet, turn around! Start now, make a change! Gonna come around! Jump up! Make a sound! Stomp your feet, turn around! Hogwarts School help us win the cup!"
Now all the students were joining in on the last chorus and dancing.
"Jump up, make a sound! Stomp you feet, turn around! Start now, make a change! Gonna come around! Jump up! Make a sound! Stomp your feet, turn around! Hogwarts School help us win the cup!"
When fireworks went off, everyone looked up to see a red and gold lion, a bronze and blue raven, a green and silver snake and a yellow and brown badger explode in the night sky. As glitter rained down from above, the singers all lined up against the great hall doors.
Everyone cheered them, as it was the best show of school unity Hogwarts had given in many years.
Jamie stood before the group and said clearly (he had a sonorous charm on his throat so he could be heard clearly) "The Drama and Otaku clubs hope you enjoyed our little surprise! We would like to welcome Beauxbatons and Durmstrang to our humble school and hope that we call all enjoy this tournament!"
Everyone cheered as they all took a bow. Sakura gave him a thumbs up for the performance.
They took their seats still in costume, though they removed their hoods first.
Fluer looked for her favorite pudding, and spotted it on the Gryffindor table next to an appalling boy with no manners. Jamie noted her distress, and sent a certain Cerberus pup to get the pudding for her. The twins put it on the middle head, and the two others supported it. Seeing Fluer's surprise, Jamie explained.
"My original pet happened to get the groundskeeper's Cerberus 'Fluffy' pregnant in my first year, and he gave me one of the pups. I chose the runt because it would have died otherwise. Meet Tsume, Kiba and Toboe."
He gently guided Fluer's hand to Tsume's head, and she gasped with pleasant surprise.
"I thought a Cerberus was massive?"
"Like I said, they were the runt of the litter and it takes three years for the runts to reach full size. Fluffy was almost half grown when Hagrid got her, and she took up almost an entire room."
"How is he so tame?"
"I know people who train dogs... the real trick was training them all at the same time. I mostly have them bring me things that my German Shepard Scruffy can't. You should see the training dummies I set them on when I train them in attack commands."
"You trained your dogs to attack?!" she said in shock.
"Have you never seen a police dog attack a criminal? I put them through the same military training that the government uses for drug-sniffing dogs. Part of that is attack commands, and they are trained well enough to never harm a human without confirming with their 'Alpha' which is me or their trainer, first. The rest is pack mentality."
"You can see the other dogs in the morning. Jamie and Neville run with Hagrid and his dog Fang every morning to keep them in shape," said Cedric.
Fluer was curious to see what sort of man this Jamie was, as that show had been better than anything their school and the Bulgarians had done by far.
* I have had this scene written soon after seeing Equestria Girls, and had to wait for fourth year before I could use it. This song is an altered version of the one done by the Mane Six to help Twilight Sparkle win back her crown from Sunset Shimmer, and I couldn't get the scene out of my head. I recommend looking up the original on Youtube, because it's worth watching! The song title is 'Helping Twilight Sparkle Win the Crown' or 'Equestria Girls song'.