"Alright, let's try this."
"Blimey, Blaze, no! There's no way I'm doing this," Konata whined, her cheeks red from both the heat of her bedroom (her air conditioning malfunctioned) and embarrassment.
"When you and Shiro are saying your vows, you'll be glad we did this," Blaze countered.
"V-vows?" Konata shrieked, blushing even further (if at all possible).
Blaze grinned, pulling her blonde hair into a messy bun. "Now then. If we had Polyjuice Potion, this'd be so much easier… Oh well, you can use your imagination, right?"
"No. I can't."
"Do you want to look like a total fool when you tell Shiro how you feel?" Blaze pressed her hands against her own cheeks. "Sh-Shiro, hi there, how was your summer? Mine was good, oh by the way, I love you, you know," she said in mockery of Konata's voice.
Since her face couldn't possibly get any redder, Konata's eyes watered, knowing that was exactly how she most likely would've gone about confession. "O-okay… So, let's pretend you're Shiro-" Konata was interrupted by a knocking at her door. Her mom, a woman with ginger hair and loving hazel eyes, opened the door a crack.
"Sorry to interrupt, but you girls got a letter. It's from your friend Shiro, I believe."
With a devious smile, Blaze stood and took the letter. "Wouldn't it be so ironic if this was a love letter, Konata?"
"Oh, Shiro'd never confess that way… Th-though it might be easier, it'll be really difficult to tell him in person," Konata murmured. Her mom blinked, a huge grin melting into her face.
"You have a crush on him, do you? Oh, that's so sweet!" she cried.
"My little Konata is forbidden from crushing on ANYONE until she's graduated," a gruff voice called from the hallway.
"Oh shush, Daddy!" Konata called irritably.
"Konata, look at this!" Blaze held up the letter, which she'd opened up already. Konata leaned over and read it:
Dear Konata & Blaze,
Satoshi has gone to the Quidditch World Cup with his friend Jeffrey and his cousins Catherin and Caitlyn- I bet he'll end up making out with one of them before he comes home- so a relative of my mum's took his absence as an opportunity to visit me and Sakura. I know our homes are far apart, but I could instruct you to use the Floo Powder system- "I know how to use that," Blaze indicated excitedly. –and you two could come over tomorrow. It's not that I want you girls to suffer along with me or anything, Sakura and I just want to see you and, well, we sort of want to escape our relatives for a bit. We could also swing by Diagon Alley together. Send an owl with your answer.
Sincerely yours,
Shiro Ueda
"Well, Mum? Are we allowed to go?" Konata asked eagerly. Her father's face popped into the doorway.
"You? Go to a BOY'S house for more than a day? Not in a million years you don't!" he growled.
"But he has a little sister, Daddy! We'll probably stay in her room for the night, just please, please let us go!" Konata pleaded.
Mr. Verdent sighed angrily. "I don't like this one bit, but fine. If he asks you to go somewhere with him alone, you come home straight away."
"Daddy…"
"If you two do anything suspicious, his parents will be receiving every part of my mind."
"You'll certainly have a job with that one, Shiro's parents are dead," Konata muttered.
Any aggravation seeped out of Mr. Verdent's expression and was replaced with a blank, sympathetic stare. "O-oh… Who cares for him and his sister, then?" he asked hesitantly. Konata was silent. She hadn't quite thought about that before. She never brought it up either, afraid that it would upset Shiro.
"I… I don't know, actually," she finally responded.
"Well, er, send us a letter when you get there… Be good, now," Mr. Verdent told her quietly. Konata nodded, giving her dad a hug.
"You're making it sound like we're leaving in 5 minutes, Daddy. Blaze, can you send Shiro our reply? And then you'll have to show me that Floo Powder thing…"
Blaze nodded, getting to her feet and retrieving a quill and parchment. Xalia ruffled her feathers in her cage, aware she'd be given a job soon.
After Konata's parents departed, the two girls opened a small package that Jakkin had dropped after the letter (the bird was currently perched atop Xalia's cage, grooming his feathers). It contained a cup filled with a white powder, as well as a small slip of parchment with Shiro's address written on it neatly.
"Ah, this is the Floo Powder. Excellent." Blaze exclaimed. "Think your parents will be willing to light a fire in the summer?"
Konata titled her head curiously. "A fire? What do we need a fire for?"
Blaze explained that the Floo Powder system heavily involved fireplaces. You threw some of the white powder into the flames, clearly called out your destination, and you were transported to the fireplace at the given address. "The fire becomes heatless when you throw the Floo Powder into it. Completely safe," Blaze said quickly, seeing the look of alarm that flashed across Konata's face.
"Oh, what a bloody mess," Konata sighed the next day. She and Blaze had each packed a suitcase and, after rapidly receiving a confirmation letter from Shiro, went through with the Floo Powder the next day. The girls now found themselves on their bottoms in a fireplace located inside a home they'd never seen before, covered from head to foot in ash.
"Master Shiro! Shiro's friends have done the comings!" a squeaky voice called. Konata scrambled to her feet, smiling at the sight of Shiro's house elf. Blaze stood too, though much more gracefully, grinning as well.
Their smiles widened when Shiro swung open a door to their left and bolted into the room. This was the first time the girls had ever seen him wearing something besides Hogwarts robes; today he sported jeans, a sky blue t-shirt that said Hollister in white letters, and nothing on his feet. "Konata! Blaze! I'm so glad you could make it, wait here a moment, I'll get towels so you two can clean up…" And as quickly as he had appeared, he vanished.
Konata never really put much thought into what Shiro's home would look like. The living room floor was masked by a rather dirty, tannish carpet. Curtains the colors of the Hogwarts houses were draped over each window in the room: green, blue, and red over the wall windows, yellow over the door's. There was a large, pale sofa on the opposite wall; beside it was a floor lamp and a bookshelf, while in front of it was a coffee table.
A shelf hung above the fireplace, displaying 7 pictures: the one in the middle showed Mr. Ueda looking rather handsome in a tuxedo, staring affectionately into the eyes of a pregnant Mrs. Ueda, who wore a gorgeous white wedding dress. Since this was the wizarding world, the picture moved: the couple blinked, and began to lean in for a kiss. Before their lips met, however, the picture flashed to a much more recent image of Mrs. Ueda hugging onto her smiling husband's arm.
The picture was bordered on both sides by pictures of newborn babies. The babies on the left flashed out to display recent pictures of Satoko, Sana, and Sakura; the ones on the right changed to Sakito, Shiro, and Satoshi.
Shiro emerged from the room he'd disappeared into, carrying two towels with Mischief on his heels. Following the girls' gazes, he smiled softly. "Those pictures are enchanted to change image every few seconds. On our birthdays every year, we'd take a new picture, but the first image is always of the day we were born. Speaking of birthdays… I appreciate the package of Fizzing Whizbees you sent me. I still have some left over."
"It was nothing. Glad you liked them," the girls responded simultaneously, graciously taking the outstretched towels.
"What a lovely home you have here," Konata commented, stepping out of the fireplace.
"Thanks. You are too."
"What? I didn't quite hear you."
Shiro blushed slightly. "Huh? Oh, I just said thank you." Blaze, who had rather acute hearing, smirked, but deemed it best to keep silent.
"Shiro? Are those girls here?" The door opened a second time, and a middle-aged woman joined them in the room. Her blouse and skirt looked to be worth a fortune; her golden-brown hair was pulled up into a tight, neat bun; though she was quite lovely, her beaded spectacles made her look at least 5 years older, and she gave off a terribly intimidating vibe. The sight of her had an effect of making someone immediately self conscious.
"Yes, Aunt Miriam. This is Konata, and this is Blaze," Shiro I indicated. Konata could tell straight off Shiro really wished this woman would go back to wherever she came from.
Miriam peered skeptically at the girls from over her glasses. She gave a small, disapproving noise from the back of her throat. "The blonde… She's a wild one. Trouble. The kind of girl that belongs in a reformatory school. The brunette… She's the type that's afraid of her own shadow. Quite a pathetic girl, really."
Shiro glared at her. "Don't you DARE talk about my best friends that way! You can shut up right now," he growled.
Though her demeanor remained the same, fury burst in Miriam's eyes. "Don't YOU dare tell your aunt to shut up, mister! Your brother is already turning out to be exactly like your disgusting father… If I have any say about it, which I most certainly do, you and your sister will end up NOTHING like him."
For a brief, terrifying moment, Shiro's eyes flashed red. "My father was not disgusting! He was an amazing man, and he loved his family with everything he had! And you do not have any say about my life, you're not my legal guardian." At that, Shiro grabbed Blaze and Konata by the wrists and shot through the door through which he'd entered, almost trampling his cat. They passed through a kitchen, which looked like a modern day Muggle kitchen, and then went out a screen door to the backyard. Shiro didn't stop running until the trio reached the forest. There, he sat at the foot of a colossal tree, and motioned for the girls to do the same.
"I'm really, REALLY sorry you had to see that…" he murmured, staring at his lap.
"It's fine," Konata assured him, sitting cross-legged at his side. Blaze found a seat on the ground in front of them.
"I would've snapped too. That lady's got some nerve…"
Shiro sighed petulantly. "Nearly all of my mum's family does. Want to hear some family history, or should we talk about something else?"
"Family history is fine," Konata and Blaze agreed.
Shiro leaned back against the tree, folding his arms behind his head. "Well, there's a tradition on my mum's side of the family that involves having 6 children. Usually, though, only one of those 6 carries on that tradition. My mum was the one who chose to, since she loves kids and four of her five other siblings think children are nasty, obnoxious little creatures. The only one who doesn't is my Aunt Renee- I really wish SHE was here instead of my Aunt Miriam. Aunt Miriam is the oldest of them all, and she has this horrid husband that I'm pretty positive she married only for the money. The second oldest are my twin uncles, who I know basically nothing about. My mum doesn't want me to, says they're revolting people. Then there's my Aunt Renee, who's only a year older than my mum and exactly like she was. Her husband- my Uncle Keith- is among the best men I've ever met. They have two sons: Kenneth, who's 8, and Robert, who's 10. They had a daughter who would've been my age, but she died at birth.
"The youngest is my Uncle Harold: wickedest man I've ever met. He's… in Azkaban right now. Killed his wife and her 5 year old daughter. I've only seen him once, but he left me with bruises that lasted for years," he concluded solemnly.
"Oh my… gosh…" Konata whispered.
"I thought MY family was screwed up, but… You definitely take the case," Blaze muttered. Shiro gave a small nod.
"Shiro… Can I ask something?" Konata murmured.
"Of course you may."
Konata shifted uncomfortable. "You said your aunt isn't your legal guardian… So, I was wondering- my dad asked too… Who IS your legal guardian?"
Shiro gave a small smile. "Ah. You see, there's a couple that lived down the road whose home was destroyed in the… incident. They were very close to my parents; very nice people. Their kids are grown, and since they had no place to live, some papers were sorted and now they live with us. They're out shopping now, they'll be home soon," Shiro explained. Konata and Blaze nodded, feeling a bit more at ease that the Ueda kids weren't supporting themselves.
Something moved in the hedges nearby. Shiro glanced over his shoulder at it, and smiled."There's no need to hide. Come here, buddy boy." Two round, hazel eyes were staring at the trio through a bush. Hesitantly, the raggedy creature which the eyes belonged to stepped into view.
"Opey did not want to interrupt kind Master's discussings, it is just… Opey remembers sweet girls!" He sheepishly hopped over to them. "Pretty Ms. Blaze! Lovely Ms. Konata! Opey is having the honors to be seeing you again!" He bowed his head clumsily, his ears flapping. With a squeal, Konata bent over and scooped the elf into her arms.
"Oh, you are just the most adorable thing ever!" she cried, snuggling him close to her chest. Opey pulled his ears over his face.
"Opey is flattered! Opey thanks pleasant girl!" Konata giggled and hugged him even tighter.
"You're going to make the poor thing's eyes pop out!" Blaze laughed. Konata laughed too, but loosened her grip significantly.
"Oi! Konata, Blaze!" called the voice of Sakura Ueda. She trotted into view, smiling broadly. Like Shiro, this was the first time the girls had seen her wearing something other than Hogwarts robes. At the moment, she wore a denim skirt and a purple off-the-shoulders shirt.
"It's nice to see you," Blaze and Konata agreed, standing. Though Blaze saw much more of Sakura, being in her House, Konata still got to know her since she tended to hang out with the trio during breaks.
"I'm so glad you girls came! My aunt doesn't let me leave the house, and apparently it's wrong to have friends over if you're under 13. The woman's made living here Hell."
"Watch your language, Saki," Shiro warned her.
"Sorry, Shishi."
Shiro blushed; Konata hid her grin behind her hand; Blaze made an amused noise that sounded like she'd started choking on air but quickly stopped. "Shishi? Seriously?" Blaze remarked.
"I don't like being called that," Shiro mumbled. Sakura laughed and started chatting enthusiastically with Blaze and Konata.
The four of them headed off to Diagon Alley after eating breakfast on August thirtieth. The items on their supply list were all to be expected, except for the addition of the words "Dress robes." They weren't, however, on Sakura's list.
"What could those be for?" Konata wondered aloud, beginning to decipher what color dress would go best with her eyes.
"There's been word about a special event taking place at Hogwarts this year… It's a secret, though. Don't have a clue what it is," Shiro replied, scanning over what he'd already purchased and crossing them off his list.
"First year we nearly get killed by giant spiders, second year the school is terrorized by a basilisk, third year we have a werewolf for a teacher, and this year we have some fancy dinner party? Oh, WONDERFUL," Blaze muttered.
"At least at a dinner party we'd have a pretty good feeling that we'll live to our next year," Konata countered.
Blaze grinned. "Konata. This is Hogwarts we're talking about. There's NEVER a guarantee we'll live until next year."