Chapter Two:
The warm water fell on her bushy chestnut hair, and down her slender body, washing the soap foam down the drain. When she felt refreshed enough, she turned off the shower and the water ceased to fall. Blindly she found a towel and proceeded to dry up her body, while with her other hand she grabbed her wand and spell her hair dry. It made her hair ever bushier than if she were to dry it up naturally, but she was in a hurry. Today was her first day at muggle private school and she didn't want to be late.
Hermione Granger, or Granger-Black if you were to use her official name, stepped outside of her bathroom and into her room wrapped into a towel. Vaguely she remembered when at first she couldn't get used to it; it was double the size of her old room at her old parent's house. The walls were covered with a pale green wallpaper, with little roses patterns spread here and there. It held the usual furniture made out of rich wood and wide windows which allowed the sunlight to come in. Her old room paled in comparison with this one. But that was the perks of living in an ancient Black house. She was used to it by now anyways; she had to be, since it had been six months since she came to Japan.
Over her canopy bed, was laid a yellowish gown with long sleeves and white cuffs and collar. She took a deep breath before she dressed herself. It was the official female uniform for the private school and the colour was hideous enough to give her a headache. Yellow definitely wasn't her colour.
While she did that, unconsciously her mind traveled to her first days in the land of cheery blossoms. They had been quite challenging and a bit distracting. Like she had expected, adapting to a new country wasn't easy, but she was prepared for it. She had wanted to learn, and forget for a while about all the reasons they had moved away from Britain.
Sirius, upon their arrival to Japan, didn't waste any time and started searching for the Ancestral Japanese Black House, which he found a week later. In that time, they stayed at the Nekozawa manor and Umehito became a good friend of them, going as far as calling him their sempai. The house, which wasn't in between two muggle buildings this time, was an actual manor settled on a high hill near the outskirts of the city. It was protected with many wards and even a Fidelius Charm, its secret keeper being the Black family barrister.
Fortunately, the house wasn't a dark as Grimmauld Place and didn't have elves head plaques hanging in the hallways. With the house came a very broad library (which Hermione had all but claimed to herself) and three helpful house elves, which were fairly different to Kreacher. The house was already decorated, and it had always been in a clean state thanks to Tawny, the oldest of the elves. Hermione had vouched for them and had a very long and heated argument with Sirius about freeing the three elves, but Sirius explained they couldn't get rid of them, since their magic were bound to the Manor. That, and the fact the elves started crying when she had presented a pair of socks to them.
The weeks after that, their time was dedicated to see sight and visit all the places Japan had to offer. While they teenagers played the roles of tourists all around Tokyo, Sirius was having many meetings with the CEO and the barristers of the Black Empire. It turned out, for all the blood purism the Blacks preached, they had several muggle business chains, as well for their magical businesses. For the first days, Sirius was stuck inside four walls, reading contracts after contracts, which added more fuel to the prankster's foul mood. Harry and she were always subjected to endless pranks when Sirius arrived tired and stressful from "work".
Japan was lovely, in Hermione's opinion, and had a broad magical history, even if they didn't have many Dark Lords or Wizarding Wars. But she couldn't help sometimes feel terribly homesick. She missed Britain, even after half a year after they left.
Hermione was brought back to the present when she heard a crash sound coming from downstairs. In a normal house, she would have probably found it rather odd and worrisome. But in that house, it wasn't so unusual. She did live with Sirius Black, one of the four Marauders and Harry Potter, who attracted far too much trouble for his own good. She just shook her head and fixed the ribbon around her collar, which it was nearly asphyxiating her.
When she was satisfied with her appearance, the girl grabbed her school satchel. Her wand was hidden inside her arm holster, almost dillusionated. After the incidents in Britain, she had made of a habit to always carry her wand around, no matter the circumstances.
As she walked down the staircase to the first floor of the manor, she could hear more clatter and bangs echoing on the walls. They were coming from the drawing room. She noticed there were broken vases spread on the carpet floor, and some of the paintings were ragged, not the mention the burn off spots on the walls. She groaned out loud, irritated.
"SIRIUS ORION BLACK AND HARRY JAMES POTTER!" She yelled at the top of her lungs.
Almost instantly, the clatter died down. She heard the shuffling of feet coming from the room and two hushed voices.
"Do you think we're in trouble?" A deep voice spoke.
"It's Neenie, Padfoot; what do you expect?" Another voice replied, this time a little higher than you would expect from a teenager boy. Hermione made up her mind and entered the drawing room.
To say that the drawing room was utterly damage was an understatement. Hermione could barely recognize the place they use to practice dueling. She looked at the two males she unfortunately had to live with. Both were wearing sheepishly grins and staring at the floor.
"Can you tell me what the hell were you both doing?" She spat angrily.
"Um, dueling?" the green eyed male, namely her adopted brother said. The adult beside them grinned a little more widely.
"I can see that Harry," She replied quirking an eyebrow. "Did you have to destroy the room in the process? And why did you feel the need to duel minutes before we leave for school?"
"We didn't destroy it!" Sirius exclaimed. "Not completely," He winced as he gazed at Hermione's glare.
"And we were just burning up energy for today!" Harry added, smirking.
The only female of the house, that is, if you don't count the house elf, took a deep breath to calm herself down. Then, with a loud voice, she called:
"Tawny!"
A loud pop was heard next and standing right next to her, a small elf stood with large brown eyes and wearing a pristine pillow cover with the Black crest engraved on it. Tawny was the oldest of the three elves, and by default, the leader. The elderly creature looked up to Hermione with a big smile.
"Good morning, Mistress Hermione miss! What can Tawny do for you, miss?" the elf said eargely.
Hermione blushed a bit before answering. "Tawny, how many times do I have to tell you to not call me mistress? Hermione will suffice." The bushy haired girl heard sniggers behind her, but she ignored them for the moment. "I need your help Tawny. These two… ugh! These two made a disaster of the drawing room, as you can see."
Tawny looked around and her large eyes widened even more. She scowled at Sirius and Harry. "Master Black, Master Harry! What have you done?!" Without waiting for a reply, the elf started snapping her fingers, fixing and cleaning the room with her magic.
"Thank you, Tawny," Hermione smiled. She shifted her gaze at Harry, who stood straight once he realized Hermione was staring at him. "Where's your uniform?"
"Upstairs," The green-eyed boy replied. Harry was only dressed in his pajamas bottoms and a white t-shirt, the same with Sirius.
"Then what are you waiting for? Do you want to be late for you first day at Ouran?"
"Maybe"
Hermione gave a heated glare and Harry ran out of the room, before Hermione's eyes could burn him up.
"Good morning, kiddo," Sirius approached her and gave her a one-armed hug. "Sorry 'bout this." He pointed at the mess the house elf was currently working on. "You see a bit eager today. Excited much?"
"Very," Hermione giggled when Sirius tickled at her sides. They both walked towards the kitchen, where they waited for Harry to arrive. Hermione sighed; Harry should really show a bit more of interest for their new school, even if it is a muggle one.
In the past six months, Harry and her were assigned to magical tutors since Sirius didn't want them to fail on their magical education, but didn't want to send them away at a boarding school. They studied, even though they still had months for their NEWTs (or the equivalent of seventh year exams in Japan) to look forward to. Given their OWLs, they allowed to only study those subjects which they had excelled (Harry had wanted to drop Potions, but Hermione didn't let him).
Hermione, of course, continued with all her classes with the same dedication she did at Hogwarts. She also included other subjects to her schedule, like Warding and Healing. Harry had decided to take Professional Dueling, hence the little spar earlier. From late-November to mid-January, they focused on their magical subjects, and neither of them had thought about muggle subjects before. That is, until one afternoon when Sirius returned from his daily work, annoyed and mumbling swear words under his breath.
Apparently, Sirius had met one of his business associates from the Black Corporation that day. A man called Ootori Yoshio.
Normally, Sirius would pay no mind to the words of those who he worked with. He was a Lord, Lord Black no less, and with that came the usual arrogance from pure bloods, even if Sirius did try to hide it. But that day he was fuming angrily from whatever Ootori Sr. had told him. Hermione eventually got the details, in a very explosive manner.
"He accused me of being an irresponsible guardian!" Sirius had cried that evening. "Just because I told him you guys didn't go to school! Of course, he didn't say it outright in my face, but he hinted at it and even my barrister seemed appalled with me! Me!"
Hermione had snorted at that. "But Sirius, you're a wonderful guardian!" she had told him to ease him a bit.
"So, I was forced to tell him that I was currently searching for a school for you guys. You know, acting all worried about your education and all,"
"You say that as if you aren't really concerned with our education," Harry had muttered.
"And he told he could recommend a good school for you! He said it was the best school in all Japan and how had all his children studied at the place, and before I knew it, I had an appointment with the chairman of said school! Merlin, that man is infuriating! And Tanaka says we can't cut off business with him no matter how much I want to… Isn't it sad?!" Sirius had whined before banging his head on the table.
"But Sirius," She had said. "We haven't been to muggle school for five years! We're way far behind!"
"Besides, didn't you want us to stay here? I think we have enough homework for a while," Harry added, grimacing.
"Yeah, I know…" Sirius sighed, then he pouted. "I'm not a bad guardian, right? I'm cool; any kid would want me as their guardian, right?" Both teenagers had rolled their eyes at the Animagus insecurities but had answered positively. Not that Sirius was a bad guardian; he just wasn't the ideal parental figure. He was more of an older brother or the funny uncle every family haves.
"Did he told you the name of the academy?" Hermione asked, ever the avid learner.
"Something Ou... Ouroun or something..." Sirius whined again.
"It's Ouran, Sirius," The bushy-haired girl corrected. "That's where Umehito-sempai goes and haves his Black Magic club."
Harry, meanwhile, he was shaking his head. "I don't want to return to muggle school. You can just get us muggle tutors and that's it."
"That's also a possibility," Sirius perked up. "He just made me feel real awful about it, and now I'm wondering if keeping you guys here is any good. I mean, I haven't seen you guys making any friends or anything, and we're here to have a start a new chapter in our lives."
"That's very poetic, Sirius, but really, you shouldn't listen to what that man says," Harry had said exasperatedly. "We're better off like this; if aren't going to a magical school, why should we go to a muggle one? Don't let it get to you," Harry had smiled over at the animagus and Sirius had smiled back.
Back then, Hermione had wondered why Harry was so averse to assisting Ouran Academy, but forgot about quickly.
Given that Ootori had even offered to accompany Sirius to visit the chairman, Sirius just couldn't wave out his escape from the meeting. To Harry and Hermione's surprise, Sirius had actually liked the school and the whole educational system.
"It's pink!" The animagus had almost squealed. "You'll have your classes determined to your year, and you have to join a club as an extracurricular activity. But aside from that, it seems the perfect place to waste money and time!"
Harry laughed at that and Hermione just frowned, loathing the idea of wasting time in a school.
"But of course," Sirius had continued with a playful glint in his eyes. "If you guys are so set in not going muggle, I'll just get you those muggle tutors."
Hermione was all for it; she missed the type of environment she had at Hogwarts, and a school was a school, no matter if magical or no-magical. She still had many opportunities to learn. Something in her face must have shown her feelings towards the idea, because Harry just groaned in defeat and agreed to attend Ouran.
At the end of January, they had started their quick tutoring, even dropping a few magical subjects for the moment. Hermione as always, passed all her quizzes, but Harry didn't have the same luck. He was pants at math and anything number related, though, he was quite adept at languages and surprisingly enough, history. (Maybe because it wasn't taught by a ghost). Both had to take entrance exams, to update their muggle school records. The only unfortunate occurrence was, since Hermione was a year older than Harry, she was to go a year above him. Harry hadn't been really happy about this.
Speaking of certain green-eyed male, Harry arrived to the kitchen a minute before Sirius was to drag him downstairs.
"I'm ready, Neenie," He announced. The male Ouran uniform, even after tailored, was still too big for Harry. The boy continued to be thin and small, even after all the nutriment potions he was forced to drink by the healers.
"Well, if everybody is set, let's go!" Sirius announced.
"Aren't you supposed to get reading for work?" Hermione reminded. "Tanaka said you had to arrive early today,"
Sirius pouted. "But as your guardian, I'm entitled to drive you guys to your first day of school! My motorbike is waiting for us outside!"
"Siri, I'm perfectly capable of Apparating Harry and me to school." Hermione had no desire to arrive to her first day at Ouran in an old motorbike for the sole reason that she didn't want a headache so early in the morning.
One quick look at Harry and Sirius's face told her she was going to, rather she liked it or not.
~oOo~
Once Ohtori Kyoya, third son of the Head of the Ohtori Hospitals, Ohtori Yoshio, was satisfied with his appearance and had everything ready for his first day as a second year student at Ouran High School, he walked out of his room and went to find the dining room, where he was sure to find his father and his brothers.
As he entered the dinner room, he flicked up his glasses over the bridge of nose and bowed to his family, with an additional "good morning" to his father. He took seat to the right side of the Ohtori patriarch, and commenced to feast in his breakfast, a combination of pancakes, scrabble eggs and his morning coffee.
What occurred from that point on was no more than minimal chitchat between the brothers. Kyoya's mind continued to wander to Tamaki and the opening of their club. A year had passed since they had established the Host club and things have flourished from then. The club was very popular between the ladies of Ouran Academy. For Kyoya it meant more profits and funds for their activities, so he was satisfied. Tamaki was already talking about a Spring Ball for late-April or around early-May. If the "King" wanted to have all the paraphernalia they usually have for every ball, he will have to—
"Kyoya," His father interrupted his muse.
"Yes, sir?"
"I have gathered that there's to be a new transfer student in your class this year, as well as a certain first year. They are both related to Lord Black, an acquaintance of mine. They are both from Britain, so I wish for you to give them a fair welcome and to give them assistance if they so need it."
Foreigners, lovely, Kyoya thought sarcastically, thinking about the last time he was ordered to befriend someone who wasn't familiar with Japan. But if they were related to Lord Black, the man who had cause an uproar in the balance of the most successful businesses in the country, he knew better than to waste the opportunity.
"I believe they are called Granger-Black Hermione and Potter-Black Harry," His father continued.
Granger and Potter? He had never heard of those surnames before. Why would they carry those names before "Black"? Were they adopted? "Yes, sir. I'll be welcoming towards Granger-san and Potter-san." He replied to his father.
Once he finished with his breakfast, he bid farewell to his brothers and father, and allowed Tachibana to guide him toward the limousine. He felt his phone vibrating, and to his annoyance, it was a text message for Tamaki. He asked him where he was and when he was to arrive. Kyoya replied hastily as he sat on the leather seats inside the car. Once they left behind the Ohtori Estate, Kyoya took out his laptop and just like he did with Tamaki two years ago before befriending the blond, he infiltrated the school's online records and searched for the applications of one Potter Harry and one Granger Hermione.
As he read through the files, he came to a surprise, not that he expressed his astonishment on his face.
Except for the transcription scrip, birth certificates, and fairly recent physical exams, there wasn't anything at all on the two mysterious transfer students. Both Granger and Potter had taken entrance exams on March, and they were certified by a tutor. Granger had the highest marks, almost surpassing his own marks on his entrance exam. Potter had done fairly good, but not as nearly as his sister. He found Granger's and Potter's records from elementary school, but once both children became eleven, it was like they had disappeared from the face of the earth. Until half a year ago, when they arrived to Japan.
Granger Hermione was to be in his same classroom, 2-A, while Potter was to go to 1-A, the same classroom as the twins. He was fairly certain he would get acquainted with the girl in no time, maybe he could convince her to visit the Host club too. And if he got friendly with Granger, he could become friendly with Potter as well.
He suppressed a scoff. It was too easy.
When Ohtori Kyoya arrived to the front gates of the school, he wore a cold smirk on his lips.
A/N: Thank you all those who reviewed, favorite and followed.
I'm going to include both anime and manga timeline in this story, so if you find something that didn't happen in the anime, it's because it happened in the manga and vice versa. The host will come next chapter to play, isn't that exciting?
Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
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