Yagyuu's Assistance

Yanagi Renji

Akiteru had not been joking when he said the books he had given Yukimura and Sanada could get them into trouble with the professors. They had had a hard time finding spells that were tamer and more suited to their level of skill, though many were far above a normal first year's capabilities, leading Yanagi to believe that Akiteru had more than enough confidence in his brother and Yukimura's skill as wizards.

Even though Yanagi knew the books were meant to teach you how to defend yourself in a life-or-death situation, some of the spells were absolutely horrible. Some involved conjuring chains that wrapped around your opponent's neck, while others involved creative uses of the Severing Charm they had learned in Charms class. The worst of them involved removing all of the bones in a person's body. Yanagi was glad Yukimura flicked past the pages with the most gruesome pictures.

"We'll work our way up to the more aggressive ones," Yukimura said in passing. Yanagi looked at Sanada, wondering if he had any idea what Yukimura considered aggressive. Judging by Sanada's shrug, Yanagi concluded that Sanada did not know either.

They managed to master three new spells before their classmates returned from break. The first spell made an opponent unable to stand without falling over while the second spell shot out a spider web, trapping the opponent's arms at their sides and preventing them from countering. The final spell created sparks from their wands that targeted their opponent, chasing them until they erupted with the force of a small canon. They practiced in one of the hidden study rooms in the Slytherin common room on mannequins that repaired themselves after being hit.

When everyone else returned to Hogwarts, classes began and they fell into their usual pattern. Everyone was eagerly anticipating the first Quidditch match of the New Year, Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff, which Gryffindor was expected to win. The match was on Valentine's Day, which was fast approaching.

"Professor Ryuzaki used to be on the Gryffindor team when she was a student," Marui said.

They were in the room behind the tapestry on the fifth floor waiting for their afternoon classes to start. Yanagi made last minute revisions on his Astronomy homework that was due later that night with Jackal while Marui, Yukimura, and Sanada talked Quidditch.

"What position did she play?" Yukimura asked.

"Probably Beater," Sanada said.

"Keeper, actually," Marui said. "She mentioned it when we had flying lessons with Hufflepuff. She started talking to Tezuka, who was second only to me, saying she heard about what happened during tryouts and how she couldn't believe Hufflepuffs would be so mean to a first year."

Tezuka had been hit by one of his makeshift teammates during tryouts after standing out too much. He had not made the house team. Yanagi doubted Professor Watanabe made the final decision and concluded that the captain had chosen not to put Tezuka on the team.

Sanada narrowed and fixed his gaze at Marui. "Tezuka is a good flyer. He's better than most first years. He wouldn't be worse than you."

Marui furrowed his eyebrows, off put by Sanada's sudden seriousness.

"No need to be so intense," Marui said, blowing a bubble that was a mix of yellow and purple. Like Yanagi, Jackal glanced up from his Astronomy homework to watch the situation. "And how would you know? You've never seen me fly."

Yukimura smiled easily and happily, and diffused the tense situation by saying, "I guess we're quite lucky Tezuka didn't make his house team."

"We would have won either way," Sanada said. "I would never lose to him."

"I heard he hurt himself," Jackal said, jumping into the conversation, not even pretending to pay attention to his homework anymore.

"I know he was hit by a Bludger," Yukimura said, "but I didn't think he had any serious injuries. Where did you hear that?"

"Kawamura and I were talking one night," Jackal said. "He's one of our roommates and he's friends with Tezuka, Fuji, Inui, Oishi, Kikumaru…"

"I know the group," Yukimura said.

Yanagi knew them as well. They were one of the few groups with students from every house. Tezuka and Kikumaru were in Hufflepuff, Fuji in Slytherin, Inui and Oishi in Ravenclaw, and Kawamura in Gryffindor.

"Kawamura just said Tezuka got hurt during tryouts," Jackal said, shrugging.

"He can still fly though," Marui said. "He did fine during flying lessons."

Yukimura and Sanada exchanged a look that was usually only shared between them and not extended to Yanagi.

That's why he was surprised when Yukimura and Sanada silently turned and looked at him. He was always surprised when they included him. He was their friend, but Yukimura and Sanada had a friendship all their own.

"Did you guys have any luck figuring out the riddle on that freaky scroll over break?" Marui asked.

"Unfortunately, no," Yanagi said.

They had read everything they could find on Rowena Ravenclaw and had come up with nothing, so they switched to reading about the history of the castle itself, hoping to discover where the twins stood tall, but had no luck with that either. They spent their remaining days in the common room practicing new spells and working off their frustration over the riddle.

Yanagi was beginning to wonder if the lost library was in Hogwarts Castle at all, or if once again, they were missing the obvious.

The days leading up to Valentine's Day and the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match were cold, gloomy, and misty. The snow had stopped and was replaced with rain, leaving the grounds damp and wet, their shoes squelching in the mud as they walked. Fog rolled across the hills in thick blankets, making it nearly impossible to walk to the greenhouses for Herbology without someone lighting their wand.

Older students were making plans for the Hogsmeade trip, which was being held after the Quidditch match on Saturday. Marui excitedly explained how he convinced a fifth year in his house to buy him sweets.

"I'm getting Chocoballs, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, and Jelly Slugs. I just have to give him ten extra sickles!" Marui said with a large smile. "And I just picked up some extra money last weekend when I beat Shishido at gobstones—first years were having a tournament in the common room and I kicked major arse."

"He's not exaggerating for once," Jackal said. "Surprisingly."

The day before Valentine's Day, as Yanagi, Yukimura, and Sanada were headed to breakfast with plans to study for their Herbology exam before class (they had to differentiate between different types of poisonous plants in Greenhouse Five), when Akiteru stopped them at the common room exit.

Despite how much Yukimura and Sanada talked about him, Yanagi did not know much about Sanada Akiteru. He had a striking resemblance to his younger brother, but smiled more and did not seem so easily flustered. He had friends in every house; even the pure-bloods were friendly with him, though he did not seem to be overly enthusiastic to return their attention.

Yanagi, Yukimura, and Sanada stopped in front of the common room exit where the prefect stood.

"I need to check your bags," Akiteru said.

Yukimura frowned and asked, "Why?"

"In case anyone is stupid enough to drop a love potion into someone's tea."

"We're first years," Sanada said with a blank face, his voice filled with confusion.

"Just because you don't acknowledge the fairer sex doesn't mean other people can't, Gen," Akiteru said with a teasing grin that had his brother blushing.

"Does that mean you're seeing someone?" Yukimura asked in jest.

Akiteru cleared his throat, causing Yukimura to raise his eyebrows and Sanada's eyes to widen. In an obvious ploy to change the topic, Akiteru said, "Saito is being cautious this year and told us prefects to check everyone, even first years. You guys may not care about love just yet, but you may be used as potion mules by the older students."

Yukimura hummed curiously, and then handed over his bag. "You sound as though this has happened before."

While searching briefly through Yukimura's bag, as if he knew Yukimura could commit no wrong, Akiteru said, "We have a girl who's part Veela in our house and people are always trying to pull something over on her. Last year, someone tried to put a love potion in her tea and, well, no one can prove it was her because when they found the guy a week later in the Forbidden Forest, he had no memory of what happened."

Yanagi smiled, wondering if Akiteru was kidding, but quickly realized that he was not. He stopped smiling.

"Veela?" Yukimura said. "You don't mean Kirihara, do you?"

Akiteru nodded. "I guess you would know her, Seiichi, since your parents taught you all about the pure-blood families."

"I wouldn't call her a pure-blood," Yukimura said, slowly, almost cautiously. Yanagi listened carefully; Yukimura did not often talk about other pure-bloods. "The fact that they have Veela blood has alienated them. They aren't technically full-fledged pure-bloods anymore. The family has lost all its power and status since then."

"That would explain why she's got such a nasty personality—I would too if all the pure-bloods in Slytherin were out for my neck."

"Nasty personality?" Sanada asked.

"She's a hardcore blood purist," Akiteru said simply. Yukimura and Sanada nodded stiffly while Yanagi did not grasp the gravity of what Akiteru just said. "She's called me a blood-traitor more times than I can count, and last year, Reyna kicked her out of Dueling Club for calling Tokugawa a mud-blood."

At the mention of the word mud-blood, Sanada glanced at Yanagi, who nearly sighed in exasperation. Sanada was easier to read than a mirror. If the idea of a muggle-born in Slytherin weren't so preposterous, everyone would have discovered the secret of his birth ages ago. However, since coming to Hogwarts, Yanagi only knew of a handful of other muggle-born Slytherins, none of which were treated kindly by all of their pure-blood housemates.

The fact that racist and bigoted people existed did not surprise Yanagi. It was the same in the muggle world, after all. What bothered him was the number of Slytherins that sat by and watched it happened. The majority of Slytherins did not call others mud-bloods, or blood-traitors, but they did not stop the few who did. It was taboo to use the word mud-blood, but it also felt as though calling out someone for using it was just as odd and looked down upon.

Akiteru finished searching Yukimura's bag then took Sanada's and finally Yanagi's. It wasn't until Yanagi had handed over his bag did he realize that he would have to explain the scroll.

He wondered if he could pass it off as homework, or extra work from Professor Kurobe. Would Yukimura be able to come up with a better lie? He was much better at thinking on his feet than Yanagi, who seemed to panic and lose his ability to think logically in unfamiliar or overwhelming situations.

He worried for nothing. After a brief search, Akiteru handed back Yanagi's bag and ushered forward the next group of students behind them.

In the corridor, Yanagi found the courage to ask something that been on his mind since Quidditch tryouts. Their teammates had made several cruel, vague remarks about Sanada's brother and family. Even before then, when Yukimura had introduced Sanada on the train, he had told Yanagi that Sanada was a pure-blood and to ignore what everyone else said.

"Sanada," Yanagi said cautiously, "why would your brother be called a blood-traitor?"

"My family isn't pure-blood, but we are old magic," Sanada said, looking concentrated but not ashamed. "We have the same social status and wealth as the remaining pure-blood families, but not the title. Some people call us blood-traitors because my ancestors have sided with muggle-borns, or married half-bloods or even muggles."

That would explain the remarks made about Sanada at Quidditch practice, and why Sanada's name was not on the list of households on the tapestry of pure-blood families that hid the room on the fifth floor.

"It explains quite a bit, doesn't it?" Yukimura said, as if he could read Yanagi's mind, though Yanagi knew that was not true; Yukimura merely had a gift for reading people's body language and deducing what they were thinking.

"You can ask anything you want about my family," Sanada said, looking at Yanagi. "I don't mind."

Yanagi nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."

They hurried to breakfast and sat at the Slytherin table with Fuji, Oshitari, and Niou.

"Why aren't any of you studying?" Yukimura asked as he filled a plate with fruit, eggs, ham, and toast. "We have an exam in Herbology today, don't we?"

"We do," Fuji assured. "I already knew all about poisonous plants before we were taught in class."

Niou gave Fuji a sideways glance, but continue to eat without saying anything.

"Mukahi cornered me after Charms the other day and forced me to study with him," Oshitari said, sighing heavily. "He is hopeless at Herbology."

"Niou, why aren't you studying?" Yukimura asked.

Surprisingly, Niou gave a short answer between bites of eggs, "Studied with Yagyuu."

Yukimura seemed to glow with pride and success, no doubt for getting Niou to talk, which was no easy task.

Yanagi opened his copy of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi for a bit of last minute studying while spooning oatmeal into his mouth and listening to the others talk. Quidditch, classes, and Valentine's Day were the main topics, with a fair bit of complaining about their History of Magic Essay that was due at the end of the week.

The first year Slytherins left the Great Hall together and met up with the first year Hufflepuffs on their way to the greenhouses.

Yanagi and Sanada sat next to their partner. The Hufflepuff squeaked when they arrived, moving her books as close to her as possible, as though she feared they would hex her if she got in their way.

Sanada frowned at her reaction to their arrival. Yanagi smiled politely at her and she returned it before quickly looking at the desk.

Professor Vega came into the greenhouse (today his long gray beard had bits of lavender and several full rosebuds) and put a pot on each of their desks, one per a group. Yanagi immediately recognized their colorful plant as hellebore.

Professor Vega was still handing out plants when he said, "You have twenty minutes to identify your plant and write a short essay on its properties—most notably whether or not it makes a delicious tea, or a deadly poison. Your time has already begun."

Though the school was not covered in over the top, garish decorations, several of their classes were affected by the upcoming holiday.

They learned the basics of love potions in Potions, and were assigned twelve inches on Ashwinder eggs and another eight on Moonstone to be due after the weekend.

"But the Quidditch match is this weekend!" someone said. "Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff!"

"The match is one portion of one day of your weekend," Professor Kurobe said, his voice firm and eyes narrow. He was obviously not swayed. "Eighteen inches is not the end of the world. Now, someone wake up Akutagawa, and hurry along to your next class."

Yukimura complained that his hand was going to fall off once he was done with his essays, though Yanagi assured him that was impossible and he would help him with his references.

"Could you help me too?" Sanada asked. "I lost points on the last assignment for not doing my footnotes properly."

Yanagi smiled and nodded. "I'm happy to help when it comes to Potions."

In Charms, they learned to produce paper hearts from the tips of their wands. Half the class ended up with paper cuts, and at some point the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins began firing sprays of red and pink hearts at each other until the room was covered in several inches of colorful paper. Professor Watanabe cleaned up the mess at the end of class with a flick of his wand and gave them all chocolate hearts.

"I bet he got these from the kitchens," Mukahi muttered to Oshitari. "The Great Hall has mountains of these things." Mukahi took a bite of his chocolate anyways.

"I never want to see another heart again," Sanada said as they left the classroom.

Yukimura asked, "Does that mean I can have your chocolate, Genichirou?"

Sanada blushed. "I already ate it."

Yanagi and Yukimura laughed softly.

They agreed to spend their break before their next class in the courtyard reading all of the books they had received for Christmas. So far, Yanagi hadn't made so much as a dent in his stack, since they had spent most of break reading the defense books from Akiteru. Yanagi had several muggle novels courtesy of his parents and sister, and he was eager to read books from the world he grew up in.

It had been weeks since he had read anything that was solely related to muggles, and it was not for lack of trying. He searched the library from top to bottom for muggle books, hoping to keep up with his muggle studies likes math and English, but he had found nothing. Anything written by a muggle was stored in the Restricted Section, according to Miss Hanamura, and anything about muggles was horribly inaccurate.

They found a dry, relatively warm spot under the sun in the main courtyard and sat down, pulling out their books and beginning to read. Yanagi had hardly made it through three pages when Yagyuu and Niou approached them.

"Do you mind if we sit here?" Yagyuu asked politely. "Akutagawa couldn't solve the riddle and fell asleep in front of the entrance to Ravenclaw Tower so no one can get in. We're waiting for Atobe or someone else to wake him up."

Yukimura looked at Niou, silently asking why he was here with Yagyuu if he wasn't in Ravenclaw. Niou sighed and said, "I'm just bored." Niou gave Yukimura a level look, as if daring him to question his answer. Yukimura didn't.

Yanagi looked at Yagyuu and asked, "Are you saying Ravenclaws need to solve riddles to get into their common room?"

Yagyuu nodded. "Yes. An eagle asks us and refuses to let us in unless we can answer it. It's quite annoying, honestly. Akutagawa is constantly asleep outside the common room, Konjiki hugs you if you help him, and I've heard rumors that Shiraishi sneaks Chitose into the Hufflepuff dorms when Chitose can't solve it…"

Yanagi glanced at Yukimura, whose eyes seemed to widen, and Yanagi knew that Yukimura understood his line of thinking. If Ravenclaws had to solve a riddle every time they wanted into the common room, they had to be fairly well versed in solving them.

"Do you think you could help us with a riddle?" Yukimura asked.

Yagyuu adjusted his glasses. "I suppose I could look at it."

Instead of showing Yagyuu and Niou the scroll, Yukimura took out a spare bit of parchment and a quill and wrote the riddle from memory. He handed over the paper to Yagyuu, who frowned in concentration.

She is cold and he is hot.
She lives in darkness and he lives in light.
Speak of her then speak of him at the place where the twins stand tall,
And thou shalt unlock the path to knowledge of all.

"The first two lines could mean any number of things by themselves," Yagyuu said, "but the third line about the twins gives away the answer. 'She' is the moon and 'he' is the sun—they're often depicted as brother and sister, often twins, in different cultures."

Yukimura looked at Yanagi and Sanada. "Do you think speaking of her then speaking of him means casting sunlight and moonlight?"

Yanagi nodded eagerly. "Yes, I think so. We learned the spell for sunlight in Herbology."

"Lumos Solem," Yukimura said. "And I know moonlight, Lumos Lunae."

"But where do the twins stand tall?" Sanada asked.

They looked at Yagyuu, who handed back the paper to Yukimura and said, "Sorry, I have no idea what that is referring to. I wish I could help more."

"No, thank you," Yukimura said. "You've been very helpful."

Yanagi nodded in agreement.

Yagyuu set his bag on the ground and sat down. Niou did the same, pulling out a thick book titled The Body Transfigured and a sugar quill. For as many sweets as Niou ate, Yanagi thought the boy would get along better with Marui, who had an equally bad sweet tooth.

It was difficult for Yanagi to go back to reading The Complete Magical Herbalist when all he could think of was the third line of the riddle. They were so close to solving it, and though his mind was racing with possibilities, none of them fit. It had to be somewhere on grounds, somewhere within the castle…