The Guardians

Sanada Genichirou

Two enormous bronze eagles as large as hippogriffs swooped in from the towering raptures with surprising grace and landed nearly ten feet away. They did not attack, but they did not approach either. Their metal heads twitched with mechanical sounds like gears, and their detailed bronze wings glimmered with the light from their wands.

Sanada had never seen a living creature like it. He wasn't sure they were entirely alive at all.

"Humans?" one eagle said.

"Live humans?" the other said.

"Humans cannot talk if they are dead."

"Statues cannot talk."

"Then how are we talking?"

The bronze eagles looked at one another. They spoke with great emotion, sounding nearly human.

"This is quite the conundrum."

"I feel as though I should know the answer to this conundrum."

"Or should I know?"

"I do not know."

"You do not know the answer, or you do not know that I should know that which I do not?"

"I do not know that which I do not know."

"You do not know that which you do not know?"

"We do not know that which we do not know."

Yukimura, Sanada, and Yanagi shared a long look. They did not lower their wands and quickly looked back at the strange creatures. They were bronze statues, animated by some type of complex magic.

Sanada still wasn't sure if he would call them alive. He would call any other object that had been enchanted to move inanimate, but he had never seen enchanted objects with such a high level of intelligence (if you could call their ramblings intelligent).

The eagles turned their heads towards them, stretched out their necks, and said together, "Who are you?"

"My name is Yukimura."

"What are you?" the eagles asked.

Yukimura frowned and took a moment to think before answering, "A wizard."

"A student, a student!" one bird cried. "Mistress Rowena's students!"

"We are students at Hogwarts, but we are not your mistress' students," Yukimura said slowly with great caution. They did not know if the animated statues would attack them. "Rowena Ravenclaw died hundreds of years ago."

"Died?" the first eagle said.

"Are we dead?" the second eagle asked, looking at the first.

"If we are dead then how are we talking?"

"This is quite the conundrum."

"I feel as though I should know the answer to this conundrum."

"Not again," Sanada muttered. It was the same nonsensical argument they just had!

The eagles looked at them again. They asked, "Why are you here?"

With his free hand, Yanagi reached into his robes. "We found a scroll and followed it here—"

The second eagle jumped towards Yanagi, clearing the space between them with a single movement. The three flinched away, taking several steps back. The eagle followed them, its neck stretched out, head cocked curiously as it approached.

Alive or not, if they were threatening to attack, Sanada would defend himself and his friends—not that he could imagine Yukimura or Yanagi ever needing his help in a duel.

"Stay back!" Sanada shouted.

The eagle paused. "You are rude."

"Rude, rude, rude!" the other eagle shouted.

Was he really being insulted by statues? Sanada saw that Yukimura was smiling, the very last thing he felt like doing.

The three came to a halt. The eagle stood mere feet away. Yanagi nodded at Yukimura and Sanada, resolved, and pulled the scroll from his robes.

The eagle quickly snatched the scroll right from Yanagi's hand with its beak, making Yanagi gasp sharply in shock though he seemed unharmed, and leapt back to its duplicate. The eagle dropped the scroll onto the ground, gently unrolling it one of its wings.

"The scroll to Mistress Rowena's library."

"We are there."

"We are here?"

"We are here, and we are there."

"There is here, and here is there."

The eagles bowed their heads and spread their wings like a woman in curtsy. Their metal joints rang like a song. They said, "Welcome to Mistress Rowena's library, students of Hogwarts."

"I am Muninn, and I remember all that has happened."

"I am Huginn, and I conceive all that can happen.

Yukimura lowered his wand. Sanada and Yanagi quickly followed him, though Sanada did not drop his guard, and he was sure that Yukimura and Yanagi did not either.

"What are you?" Yanagi asked. "And what do you know about this place?"

Sanada didn't know why Yanagi was asking. He doubted they would ever get a straight answer from the neurotic statues.

Muninn answered, "Mistress Rowena was fading away. Her daughter was gone and she worried about those who sought to destroy her precious collection of knowledge or to misuse it for impure reasons. So she left a trail—"

Huginn cut in, "A scroll—"

"Her scroll—"

"The Eagle's Scroll—"

"To lead the brightest of students to this place." Muninn stretched out its wings as though it was gesturing to the entire library. The statue said, "Only those who pursue and value knowledge should have found this place."

"The place we guard."

Muninn nodded sagely. "We were conjured and enchanted by the mistress herself to guard her most sacred treasure. We have waited for students to find the scroll and seek out this place. We know every word on every page of every book. What do you wish to know?"

Huginn flapped its wings, the metal ringing. If statues could glare, Sanada imagined Huginn would be glaring at Muninn. Huginn said, "They can only ask about things that already know of. You cannot learn what you already know."

"Then what do you want to do?"

"Let us show them something."

Muninn nodded in agreement.

The eagles approached and, to Sanada's surprise, bowed their heads. The eagles wanted them to ride on their backs.

The creatures were certainly large enough and no doubt capable of it if Ravenclaw herself enchanted them, but Sanada still felt uneasy. He was used to a broomstick, and he didn't think an enchanted bronze eagle would be quite the same.

Yukimura, however, had no issues and climbed on top of the statue—Huginn, Sanada thought—stepping on its metal wing to hoist him up. He smiled and held out a hand for Sanada, who trusted Yukimura more than his own anxieties that told him flying on the back of a giant enchanted eagle was the dumbest thing he could do.

He took Yukimura's hand and climbed up onto the eagle, using its metal wing as a foothold as Yukimura had. The bronze metal of the creature was cold but dull and did not hurt to sit on, though it was far from the comfortable handle of his broomstick. He grasped the statue tightly with his legs.

Huginn raised its head and Yukimura wrapped his arms around its neck. Sanada looked to the side and saw that Yanagi had climbed onto Muninn's back and was holding on tightly, looking rather nervous.

Twelve-foot wings flapped on either side of Sanada, who had just enough time to grab onto Yukimura before they were soaring upwards. Yukimura laughed while Sanada fought the urge to scream. The statue's wings beat uncomfortably as they rose higher into the air, making Yukimura and Sanada bump into one another as the statue gained altitude.

Suddenly, they plummeted down, diving across and between the intersecting pathways; they leaned into the statue's back and descended into the depths of the library; the air blasted at their faces; the library seemed endless; Sanada thought for sure he would slip right off the statue's back.

They flew parallel to a crossroad, entering a floor, and Sanada knew the part he was dreading most was about to happen: landing. Yukimura and Sanada leaned back as the statue came to a sudden halt, its talons scratching against the stone floor but leaving no marks.

Huginn lowered its head and Yukimura dismounted, followed by Sanada, whose legs did not want to hold his weight. He somehow managed to stand.

Yukimura's hair had been blasted out of his face. He smiled widely, his eyes brimming with awe. "That was absolutely brilliant."

Sanada did not feel the same. "I think I'm going to be sick."

"You think or you are?" Huginn asked. "If you think, do not think. If you are, do not do it on the books!"

Moments later, Muninn landed next to them, and Yukimura and Sanada helped Yanagi to dismount. He stumbled on his feet for a moment then regained his balance. He was a mixture of Yukimura's excitement and Sanada's nausea.

"Where are we?" Yukimura asked.

"This level houses books on magic from the druids," Muninn said, walking between a long line of bookcases. "The books on this side of the floor have been translated from ancient runes by Mistress Rowena—the originals are elsewhere. Plenty on wandlore, seers, and nature magic here."

"Nature magic," Yukimura repeated, looking briefly at Sanada then again at the eagles. "Is there anything on Elemental Affinity?"

Sanada's heart skipped a beat. Could he learn about his skill here, when the Hogwarts Library had nothing?

"I will return," Muninn said before bounding off out of sight.

Yanagi pulled an arbitrary book off the shelf and sat on the ground, opening the old book with eager curiosity. Yukimura walked along the aisle, examining the books on the shelves. Sanada followed closely behind.

Sanada could hear Huginn talking to Yanagi from further away.

"Are you also a wizard named Yukimura?"

"I'm Yanagi."

"A Yanagi named Yukimura, or a wizard named Yanagi?"

"A wizard named Yanagi."

Yukimura stopped at the end of the aisle and looked around. "This place is amazing, isn't it, Genichirou? Think of everything we could learn here. Who knows what kinds of spells have been lost over time, or what branches of magic we could revive? We could bring about a golden age for witches and wizards around the world. No one could stop us if we had this much knowledge."

Yukimura's endless ambition never failed to awe Sanada. When they were children, Yukimura always talked about of bringing honor back to the Yukimura family, of resurrecting his family's lost pride. They were older now, though not by much, and Yukimura set his eyes to different things, but his ambition and drive was the same.

Whether it was teaching a muggle-born like Yanagi to fly within a week, or becoming captain by third year and winning straight Quidditch House Cups, or leading the world into a golden age, Yukimura would want to do it and he could.

If Yukimura wanted to take over the world, he could do it, and Sanada would follow him.

But he had to become stronger if he wanted to stay by Yukimura's side.

"I wonder Muninn is back with any books yet," Yukimura said. He smiled at Sanada with ease, as if he hadn't just talked about being unstoppable.

Huginn had created a small pile of books around Yanagi, who was eagerly skimming each book as fast as he could.

"I never want to leave," Yanagi said, eyes glued to his books.

Yukimura laughed softly. "I don't think you'd be able to pass your classes that way."

"True," Yanagi conceded. "And if I were expelled for failing, I wouldn't be able to return here."

They heard the scraping of metal against stone and turned to look down the aisle. Muninn came around the corner with a book held gently between its beak. Balanced on its outstretched bronze wings were several more books. Yukimura and Sanada took all the books off the statue and made their own pile separate from Yanagi's.

"These books explain Elemental Affinity, though the ability is referenced directly or indirectly in at least two hundred and seventy four more books," Muninn said.

"How many books are in the library?" Yanagi asked curiously.

"Incalculable," Muninn said.

"How so?" Yukimura asked.

"All books that enter Hogwarts' grounds are duplicated here," Huginn said. "Mistress Rowena left an inexhaustible supply of blank tomes to be filled with all knowledge to come!"

Sanada looked down at the thick tome in his hands titled Magical Properties of the Essential Elements. He could learn about his Elemental Affinity, and Yanagi could fill his endless curiosity, and Yukimura could find what he needed to accomplish his goals.

Suddenly, all those traps that Ravenclaw set up made sense; this was a treasure worth preserving.

Ravenclaw must have been incredibly strong to conjure and enchant two statues and have them still be functional hundreds of years later. Or semi-functional, judging from the statues' scattered mental states.

How long would it take them to reach that level of skill?

The books Muninn had brought had everything he needed to know about his Elemental Affinity. The book he was reading described how each element could be manipulated, including spells and techniques, while Yukimura's included a list of previous wizards with Elemental Affinity.

"Merlin had Elemental Affinity, too, Genichirou," Yukimura said happily. He looked up from his book at Yanagi. "What are you reading?"

"Wandlore," Yanagi said. "Wands are more than channels that amplify a wizard's magical abilities. It's a very complex branch of magic…"

Sanada said, "This book says Elemental Affinity is the ability to channel elemental-based magic through your body. That must be what Professor Vega meant when he told me I would be able control the elements without a wand."

"I love magic," Yukimura said with a wide, sincere smile.

They read and read, losing themselves in the pages. Muninn and Huginn were more than willing to help, or talk, though Sanada only understood half of the nonsensical conversations between the statues.

"What time is it?" Yukimura asked suddenly. Sanada looked up from his book—he had not even thought of how long it had been since they left their common room for the Astronomy Tower.

Yanagi pulled up his sleeve to look at a tiny clock he had strapped to his wrist. "Quarter to five."

"We've been gone for hours," Sanada said, panicked.

Yanagi looked at the eagles. "Can we take books with us when we leave?"

Muninn nodded.

"Ah," Yukimura said suddenly. "But how do we come back here once we leave? I would rather not fall from the Astronomy Tower again…"

Sanada wasn't eager to try that again either. They had nearly died. If Yukimura had not pulled him over and levitated them both, he would be dead right now.

"Mistress Rowena thought of that," Huginn said. "You have it, do you not?"

"I do. Your hand," Muninn said. The eagle pecked at its wing with his beak, picked something out, and dropped it into Yukimura's outstretched hand. It was an old, heavy bronze key. "Mistress Rowena designed this. It opens a passage to the library. If you put it in any door and open the door, you will enter the library. It will change shape to fit whichever door you wish as long as it's inside the castle."

"A magical skeleton key," Yanagi said.

"Is it a key?" Huginn asked.

"It is," Muninn said.

"A key unlocks, it does not open."

"A skeleton opener?"

"That's barbaric."

"What's barbaric?"

"The key."

"I thought it wasn't a key."

Yukimura put the key in his pocket. Loudly, to get the eagles' attention and stop their argument, he said, "Thank you. Could you show us how to leave?"

"It would be our pleasure," the eagles said together. They lowered their heads for them to climb onto their backs.

They each took two or three books and, with some difficulty, mounted the statues' backs. They rose up, up, up, back to the level they had started on. The eagles took them to a plain wooden door different from the one they had entered through.

"This exit leads to your library," Muninn said, dipping down to let them dismount.

"Thank you," Yanagi said.

"We were created for the benefit of Hogwarts students," Huginn said. "It is our pleasure to finally fulfill our duty."

"You have the key?" Sanada asked.

Yukimura nodded.

"Then we should go," Yanagi said.

Yukimura opened the door. The door swung outward and they stepped through. They turned to look at where they had exited from and saw a bookcase swinging back into place, scrapping heavily across the wooden floor. The bookcase slid back into place with a thump. There was no visible crease or hinge, and Sanada doubted the door opened both ways.

Yanagi lit his wand, illuminating the dark space they had entered. They were still surrounded by bookcases, but the architecture and old wooden floors were more familiar to Sanada. They were in the Hogwarts library, but not in a part that Sanada had ever seen before.

"This must be the Restricted Section," Yanagi said.

Footsteps approached from around the corner and a lit wand appeared, growing closer. They shifted their books to one arm and drew their wands with their free hands.

"What now?" Sanada groaned.

The approaching figure lowered their wand, allowing them to see their face.

"What are you three doing here?" Akiteru asked. His voice was deep and serious. It was his prefect voice, not the easy-going voice he used around Yukimura and Sanada.

Yukimura smiled and lied easily, like he already had an excuse made up, "We fell asleep in the library. I think all of the other patrols missed us. We just woke up."

"That's no excuse for being in the Restricted Section. It's dangerous here."

Dangerous? Sanada thought. Akiteru gave them books with horrible spells that would make even some seventh years squirm uncomfortably. Their first night at Hogwarts, Akiteru gave them illegal maps that could land them in several weeks of detention.

Akiteru did not believe that danger should stop you from doing something.

Something wasn't right. This wasn't like his brother.

Sanada moved his wand and saw that Akiteru wasn't wearing his prefect badge. Akiteru would never forget his prefect badge.

Sanada suddenly remembered their first night at Hogwarts. Yukimura and he had been on their way to meet Akiteru in the common room when they saw someone who looked exactly like his brother but did not acknowledge them. The lookalike hadn't been wearing a prefect badge either. Sanada had forgotten about it because the real Akiteru had brushed it off. They never learned what had happened that night.

"You're not Akiteru," Sanada said, narrowing his eyes and aiming his wand at the imposter's chest. His own chest puffed with anger and his shoulders tensed as he prepared to attack. He hated the idea of someone imitating his old brother. "Who are you?"

"I think I know," Yukimura said, approaching Akiteru's lookalike. He did the opposite of Sanada and lowered his wand, smiling at the doppelganger.

"Seiichi, what are you—"

"I know it's you," Yukimura said, "Niou."

Akiteru grinned wickedly like Sanada had never seen. Akiteru would never be capable of making that kind of devious grin.

"How'd you know?" the imposter asked.

"I saw you change in the common room on Halloween," Yukimura said. "You're a Metamorphmagus, aren't you? You can change your physical appearance at will."

In the blink of an eye, the person in front of them changed. Akiteru shrunk nearly a full foot. His skin paled, his hair lengthened and turned stark white, his eyes changed from brown to blue, and a small mole appeared on his chin. It was no longer Akiteru that stood in front of them but Niou.

"That would explain why you're always reading books on human transfiguration," Yanagi said. He lowered his wand like Yukimura.

Niou was dwarfed by his robes, which hung off his skinny body and puddle at his arms and legs. He looked like a child that had tried on his parent's clothes. Those were not the robes given to a first year.

"You stole Akiteru's robes the first night we were here," Sanada said angrily. "That's why we saw you—you were coming back from Akiteru's room!"

"Why Akiteru?" Yukimura asked curiously.

Niou shrugged.

"You should tell us, or we'll tell Akiteru," Yukimura said.

"That's childish," Niou said, glaring.

Yukimura tilted his head, his smile anything but childish. "I think it's smart. Akiteru may give us detention, but all the prefects will know there's a Metamorphmagus at school. It wouldn't be as easy for you to get past the other prefects."

Niou locked his jaw, grounding his teeth together. Knowing he was trapped, he said, "I thought looking like a prefect might have its uses. He introduced himself when he came into my compartment on the train and told me to change. It was easy enough to steal a pair of his robes when everyone was moving in. I may be able to change my appearance, but transfiguring these robes is harder than you'd think."

"How'd you find his room?" Sanada demanded.

"Even upperclassmen have name plaques on their doors," Niou said, bored. "It wasn't like it was hard."

Yukimura smiled darkly. "You're very clever."

"Not that clever if you caught me," Niou muttered.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone," Yukimura said. "Neither will Genichirou or Yanagi."

"I don't have any choice but to trust you, do I?" Niou asked.

"No."

Though Yukimura and Yanagi had lowered their wands, Sanada's wand was still pointed at Niou's chest. "Don't impersonate my brother ever again," he spat angrily.

"You shouldn't," Yukimura advised. "If their mother found out, no one would find your body." Yukimura smiled sincerely despite having just threatened Niou with death.

If Niou was disturbed, he didn't let it show.

Yukimura looked at Sanada and Yanagi. "Let's go," he said.

Sanada nodded obediently. The three walked past Niou, who made no move to follow them.

They made it down to the dungeons and to the common room without running into any ghosts, or prefects, or Peeves. They entered the empty common room and hurried back to their dorm, locking the door shut behind them. They clutched their books to their chests, breathing heavily after moving so quickly.

"I think I'm going to lie down until breakfast," Sanada said. He set his books on Elemental Affinity on the chest at the end of his bed.

"That's a good idea," Yanagi said, moving towards his bed.

Exhaustion hit him hard. He fell face first onto his bed, his legs hanging off the edge, and did not have the energy to pull himself towards his pillows.

He could see Yukimura crawl into the center of his bed and heard Yanagi get onto his. Sanada felt as though he had drunk an entire cauldron of Sleeping Draught, and though his physical body was exhausted, his mind was racing with thoughts of their adventure.

When they were falling from the Astronomy Tower, had Yukimura given up his own safety to protect him? Yukimura could have held himself up without worry—he would have been safe—but Yukimura chose to pull Sanada over and levitate the both of them. He had put his own life in danger to protect Sanada. Why would Yukimura bother saving his life if it put his own in danger?

He saw Yukimura tug his blankets up over his body. Now wasn't the time to ask. For now, all he could do was copy his friends and sleep.