A/N: Again, forgive me for any misspelled/missing words!
Chapter Five:
That Sunday morning, Harry dearly wished he was dead.
He hissed loudly and covered his face with the pillows when the sunlight flashed through the windows and fell on his face. He had one hell of a headache and his body felt extremely sore. The hangover was eating him alive, dramatically speaking, and he couldn't remember what he did last night to deserve such pain.
A vision of Sirius dancing and groping a woman who wasn't a woman by biological standards flashed through his eyes and Harry decided he didn't want to remember anyways.
Sirius was going to have the most painful death possible. And if that didn't work out, Harry would definitely extract his revenge, one way or another.
"Good morning, Harry" An awfully cheery voice spoke to him and he groaned loudly when it boomed inside his head.
"Master, are you in pain?" Gaius hissed from somewhere near his right and Harry groaned again.
"Yeah, don't speak okay?" Harry hissed back and buried himself under the covers.
"Do I want to know what you guys did last night?" The same cheery voice spoke again, and now that he was more awake, he recognized it as Hermione.
"He took me to a gay bar!" Harry whined helplessly.
"Yeah, I don't want to know." Hemione concluded. "I knew I shouldn't have left you guys alone. Sirius practically threw me out of his room when I went to check on him."
Harry just grunted in agreement, realizing Sirius' actions sounded very appealing to do right now.
"Too bad, don't you think? I thought on giving you a hangover potion, but if neither of you are going to take it, I'll just throw it away."
"No wait!" Harry threw the covers off him, hissing again when the sunlight hit his skin. "Give it to me."
"Then you better wake up and take a shower, Harry James, you smell dreadful." Hermione complained and waved away the awful scent that attacked her nostrils.
"Do I have to?" Harry whined. "My head hurts!"
"Yeah, you have too. You have dueling lessons after lunch and it's almost eleven in the morning. I think you slept in long enough."
"Fine," Harry agreed reluctantly, but knowing that Hermione was right. He sat down and tried to ignore the fogginess in his brain and took with trembling hands the small potions vial Hermione handed him. He swallowed it all in one gulp, ignoring the terrible after taste. After a few seconds, the pain started to diminish and he felt slightly better.
He looked at his best friend and sister with sleepy eyes. She just eyed him sternly and with her hands on her hips, her wild curls back on full force. He couldn't believe that she was up with so much energy.
"To the shower, Harry," She pointed at a door across the room.
"Aren't you going to tell me how you night went?" He asked instead. At this, Hermione blinked.
"Do you really want to know?"
"I trust you to keep the unpleasant and awful details behind," He gave her his most dashing grin, a copy of Sirius's crooked grin.
"There aren't any awful details to tell. It was a very nice evening to be honest. Certainly more sophisticated than the Yule Ball at Hogwarts, but pretty much the same. Only, there wasn't any suspecting Death Eaters and Rita Skeeter to watch out for."
"That's a relief," Harry chuckled.
"Yeah, possibly the most interesting part of the night was when Fujioka kissed a girl that was dancing with her fiancé. I pity her."
"What? Is Fujioka that bad of a kisser or did the guy gave her a hard time about it?"
Hermione shook her head. "Oh, I'm not talking about Kanako-san, I'm talking about Haruhi. I overhead the third year host members talking about how it was her first kiss. And I thought I had seen him dressed up in a pink gown a few minutes ealier. Either Haruhi is a girl dressing up as a male, or it's the other way around. And Haruhi seems too feminine to me and Tamaki-san doesn't strike me as one to be obsessed over a guy like that."
"Stop, stop, please." Harry lifted up his hand, as if he could stop physically her words. "Are you telling me Haruhi is a girl?"
"Yeah, didn't you notice?"
"Of course I didn't notice!" He shouted. Hermione just chuckle.
"Well, she is. Oh, and I found out something else!" Hermione ignored the pout coming from the black haired teen and continued. "Remember Phineas Black?"
Harry furrowed his brows. "The late headmaster, Sirius ancestor?
"No, that was Phineas Nigellus Black, the first. The Phineas I'm talking about was the one who was disowned. Phineas Black II was a supporter of Muggle Rights, therefore, he was blasted off the family tree back at Grimmauld Place."
"Ah, what about him?" Harry stood up. He was still wearing the shirt and jeans from last night which smelled terrible and were dirtied in alcohol and sweat. He seriously couldn't believe how Padfoot had convinced him to go through the events of last night.
"Has Remus said when he was coming on a visit?"
Hermione giggled at Harry's comment. "We do need Professor Lupin, don't we? He seems to be the only one who can keep Padfoot in his place."
Remus Lupin was one of the few contacts they still had back in Britain. The man was hired by Sirius to become the Black regent when Sirius left the country and he was in charge of Sirius's dealings and business as Lord Black at the Ministry. Last thing they knew, Remus was trying to use Sirius's seat at the Wizengamot to repeal the anti-werewolf legislation, made by the toad woman.
Harry subconsciously caressed the back of his right hand, where fainting markings made their presence.
"So, as I was saying," Hermione cleared her throat professionally. "It's quite possible that there was another reason why Phineas was blasted off the tree. He was the one who started the muggle businesses in Japan."
"Oh, how do you know that?" Harry said as he walked towards the bathroom.
"Well," Here, Hermione blushed unexpectedly. "When I was dancing with Ootori, he started asking me questions about the Black family. And you know I can't speak well of them since they are all distasteful against me. So, he told me that his great-great grandfather, a man called Tomohiro Ootori, was friends with Phineas Black. I bet that Phineas is the same Phineas from the Black family tree. Ootori and him seemed to have been great friends and it was thanks to the Blacks that the Ootoris are such important figures of society today."
Harry listened to all this with rapid attention. "No wonder Sirius is always in meetings with Ootori Yoshio. You know, that guy that bothers him a lot."
"Those are the worse afternoons; when Sirius comes back from work after a meeting with the Ootori Head. He must want to establish again the connection Tomohiro had in the past." Hermione said thoughtfully. "Well, no matter. Go take a shower and make sure to wear your dueling robes."
"Can't we just cancel the lesson?" Harry whined again.
"You want to win the championship or what?" Hermione rebuked and walked out Harry's room without a second glance and Harry just stared after, reluctantly admitting she was right.
After a long hot shower to ease the soreness of his body, Harry dressed in his red and black robes; his dueling robes he was gifted with last Christmas by his godfather. He refused to fix his hair; it was a lost cause anyways.
He left his room and when he passed by his godfather's room he could hear the man snoring. He was still angry with him, so he entered the room quietly and with a wave of his wand, he moved aside the curtains so the sunlight could stab Sirius in his sleep. Hearing the man groaning and cursing was music to his ears.
He joined Hermione for a late lunch. Once they finished, the doorbell rang and Tawny went to attend the guest. She came back announcing the arrival of Harry's dueling instructor.
Once Harry had showed an interest in Professional Dueling and he had told Sirius about this, his guardian searched through sky and earth for the best duelist. Since Professor Flikwick was out of question, due to living in completely different countries, Sirius settled for a Japanese Duelist. And so, Harry had met Aoyagi Mitsuo.
Japanese Dueling was slightly different than its western counterpart. It was all focused in recognize your true potential and coming into terms with your magical core, and think of it as a part of you, and as your truly source of energy. You needed to train your magical core, as more training made your core grow large and resistant. And the larger your magical core was, the more resource of energy you had within you.
It also involved physical training too. You are needed to develop quick sense of agility, speed and focus, plus learn how to sort your energy into these three points accordingly. In a duel, it wouldn't matter if your opponent was stronger than you or if he had a larger variety of spells; if you had a well grasp of your abilities and knew how to react in due time, you were sure to win.
That's something Harry was familiar with, since even though he didn't have any special knowledge or power against Voldemort, he still defeated him with a simple Experlliarmus.
Also, there was a technique Japanese Duelists seems to be fond of, and that was free style dueling. In a normal, etiquette, formal dueling, the two duelists were subjected to only use offensive and defensive spells. A spell like Wingardium Leviosa wasn't expected to use in a formal dueling, and in a professional championship, you could easily get disqualified if you do use it. But you could get away with the spell in a free style dueling championship. In free style, what counted was originality and creativity; if you could throw off your opponent with a simple every day spell, you were sure to be on the lead.
And that was what Harry was aiming for. He had already won the Junior Dueling Interstate Championship in the formal style, and now he wanted to win the same title again, but this time trying his luck in free style dueling. The championship was due at the end of summer vacation and Harry was getting only a fresh start on practice.
And that's where Aoyagi came into the picture. The man, around forty years old, was one of the best top free style duelists in the history of magical Japan. He had long midnight hair pulled into a ponytail and piercing gray eyes. His whole demeanor screamed warning; Aogayi wasn't a person to fool around with and he took his career very seriously. He wasn't at all moved with the fact that the Harry Potter had asked him to become his tutor and for that, Harry was very grateful. The man was harsh on his training and in his schedule; he constantly reminded him of Snape, but without the snarky remarks about him or his father and without the blatant favoritism.
Watching now as the man entered the foyer to the manor, Harry was grateful to Hermione for not giving into his whines to cancel the lesson. He wouldn't want to disappoint the man, who hated tardiness and people not committing to their words.
"Good afternoon, Aoyagi-sensei," Harry welcomed the man and gave him a respectful bow.
"Likewise, Potter-san," The man replied, his face completely stoic.
Looking forward to a three hour lesson with the man, Harry guided him to the drawing room. The room was never returned to the previous state it was when he and Sirius "destroyed" it, so it was labeled as the Dueling room. Hermione also accompanied them; while she wasn't interested in perfecting her dueling skills, she liked to watch the lessons till the end.
Some would say Harry didn't need any training since he had already defeated Voldemort and he had taught secretly Defense against the Dark Arts to a group of students.
Harry didn't agree with them when Aoyagi send him flying across the room with his first spell.
Harry wasn't sure, but he suspected that Aoyagi enjoyed beating the hell out of him in every lesson. He always had an unnatural devious glint in his eyes each time Harry fell onto the floor.
~oOo~
"Potter-kun?" A soft voice asked behind him, and Harry winced before turning around. Even with all the pain-relieving potions, he was still stiff from the dueling lessons and had a slight strained ankle, the reason why he was limping a bit through the corridors.
He faced the one who called him. To his surprise it was Haruhi, and not so far away was standing the auburn haired twins, looking at him curiously.
"Yeah, Fujioka-san?"
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine,"
"You sure?"
"Absolutely," Harry gave her a crooked smile. "Did you need something?"
"No, nothing."
"Alright then," Harry turned around and walked away towards his next class, purposely leaning on his right side and trying not to limp so much. He felt the large chocolate eyes on his back.
~oOo~
"Now, listen up!" The teacher spoke with authority. "I will be giving out the papers for your joint chemistry project. Remember that it represents the fifty percent of your grade for this semester. And before anyone asks, you won't be working with your usual partners in class. I have deliberately divided each of you into pairs, so you can focus on your assignment instead of wasting time in trivial nonsense."
The 2-A classroom was filled with whines and displeases sighs.
The teacher paid no mind to them and started listing off names from the papers he had in his hands. Hermione sat at her desk, waiting expectantly and wishing for a partner that wouldn't give her problems or let her do all the work. She noticed Tamaki-san was being paired with a girl and said girl fainted. So it would seem Tamaki and Kyoya wouldn't be pair up together like they always were.
She heard the professor approaching the surnames starting with "G" and instantly paid attention.
"Granger, Hermione-san, you're working with Ootori, Kyoya-san."
The classroom felt silent at that. Everyone was aware of the battle of wits between her and the Shadow King.
Said Shadow King didn't do more than stare impassively at the teacher, and Hermione knew this was going to be a long project. While she had started to gradually accept him, she wasn't sure she would have sufficient self-control if he started to act out like a git.
Little did she know that Kyoya had lifted the left corner of his lips in a tentative smirk.
~oOo~
A couple of days later after these events, a new face showed up at the host club. Renge Hoshikuji, a chaotic fangirl otaku who insisted Kyoya was her fiancé.
At that same time, Harry and Hermione were visiting the Black Magic club, located in the basement of the north wing of the school. Umehito and the rest of the members welcomed them happily, for once not wearing the black cloaks. After Harry had explained his friend his uneasy feeling towards them, Umehito always tried to meet Harry without his cloak and wig.
The blonde male was sitting in a comfy arm chair, facing both of his British friends. The rest of the black club were scattered away, some talking between themselves, other reading ancient texts of old magic. Only one girl was in their little group. She had long dark hair as well as stormy gray eyes. She sat stoically next to Umehito, since she was the vice-president of the Black Magic club; Kanazuki Reiko. (1)
"Harry, as member of the black magic club—"
"I'm still not a fully fledge member, remember?" Harry corrected. "I'm just an honorary visitor."
Umehito just smirked. "One day, my darling, I'll see you wearing that black cloak beside me." He winked at Harry flirtatiously. Harry just rolled his eyes.
"The president seems to need to display his motions of affections towards you, Potter-kun." Kanazuki said, emotionless. "Does this means there is some kind of relationship between you?"
Harry flushed deep scarlet and Hermione let out a giggle. Suddenly, he was pulled out of his seat and pushed into Umehito's arms. Harry's blush seemed to deepen.
"We would make a wonderful couple, wouldn't we?" Umehito laid a soft kiss on Harry's right cheek. "But alas, my affections haven't reached my dear Harry yet. Such a pity." Gently, he let Harry fall back onto the loveseat, the black haired boy looking deeply mortified.
"You could use a love potion," Kanazuki suggested matter-of-factly. Harry widened his eyes in horror, along with Hermione.
"Now, now, I won't force my dear Harry into anything; I wouldn't get out alive if I did." Umehito smiled kindly and Harry relaxed just slightly at his words. "Now, back to the matter at hand! Harry, I have a request to make!"
Harry lifted his green emerald eyes suspiciously at the blonde.
"Oh, don't be like that. I just wish for you to bake me a cake!" Umehito announced.
Both Harry and Hermione exchanged a look. "A cake?"
"Yes, and before you say anything, I want your cake. You may not think so, but you have a splendid culinary talent. I'm sure my mother and Kirimi-chan will say the same. Therefore, I want you to bake me a cake for the third year anniversary of the Black Magic club, to celebrate this Friday."
Blood flushed to Harry's ears at the compliment as he looked at the blonde, outraged. "Friday? That's two days from now!"
"And isn't Friday your birthday, Umehito-sempai?" Hermione added.
"Oh, is it? How nice of you to remind me, Hermione dear!" Umehito cooed happily. "So, what do you say, Harry dear? Pretty please? I'll give you a curse Belzeneff doll and a free pass to our upcoming dark artifacts exhibits!"
"You're going to expose dark artifacts to the students!" Hermione practically jumped out of her seat.
"The muggles would believe anything you tell them, my dear." Umehito clarified, shrugging his shoulders. "Could you believe they think my precious Belzeneff puppet is cursed? How horribly uncultured!"
While it wasn't an affirmation that no, he wasn't exposing dark artifacts, it was subtle enough to understand that only the members of the magic club would know that they weren't really dark.
"I guess I could," Harry said sheepishly. "Bake you the cake, I mean."
And he was instantly attacked by an overly jovial blonde into a bone-crushing hug.
~oOo~
Maybe one of the few things that Harry could appreciate from his upbringing at the Dursleys was their insistence that Harry learned how to cook from a very young age. It was one of his few hobbies that he greatly enjoyed.
Harry loved baking; cakes, tarts, cookies, you name it.
That's why, when he had been offered the list of electives for the school year, when he knew there was a cooking/baking course for first years, he signed his name right away. Hermione, meanwhile, had taken Conversational French as her elective.
He took the class every Tuesdays and Thursdays, and it would carry along for the first semester. Until now, the class only had been introduced to the basic rules to follow inside the kitchen and baked only simple things. But the teacher who gave the class had been very impressed with Harry's skills. She usually had to teach kids who had never stepped inside a kitchen before, and was happy to have Harry in her class. That's why Harry had special permission to use the Cooking rooms at the school whenever he wanted.
"I don't know why you are baking here instead at home, Harry," Hermione sighed from the stool she was sitting on, a chemistry book on her hands.
Harry was currently in Cooking Room 3, using the oven facilities. He wore a pink checkered apron over his school sweater (he had tossed away the school blazer) and had flour all over his raven haired from running his hands all over it. He was looking over all the cupboards and slamming them shut loudly.
"I can't find more flour!" He shouted in desperation.
Hermione raised her look from the book on her lap and stared at him in amusement. Harry really looked funny with the flour spots on his hair and his emerald eyes distressed. She almost took pity on him.
"Why do you need more flour?"
"For the cake, Neenie! For the cake! Umehito wants the cake for tomorrow and if I do this at home, Sirius won't be able to keep his hands to himself. Now, I need more flour!" Harry ran another flour covered hand through his hair.
Hermione went pensive for a moment. "Wouldn't the other cooking rooms have flour? Isn't each cooking room stock with materials and such?"
"You're brilliant Neenie!" Harry shouted before dashing towards the door, leaving her alone with her book and the fresh baked eight inches wide vanilla cake Harry had taken out from the oven not so long ago. She eyed the sweet thoughtfully.
"Self-control, Granger,"
Harry walked down the corridor with a small smile on his face. Cooking Room two and four had been closed, but a student told him Cooking Room 1 was currently open. He just hoped there was more spare flour he could use; he really didn't want to disappoint Umehito since the blonde awaited expectantly for his present.
As Harry turned at the corner, he realized the entrance to the cooking room was occupied. A group of six men were standing at the doorway, seemingly interested in what was going on inside. He recognized the Hittachin twins, Suoh and Ootori, plus the two third year students he couldn't remember the names of; a short blonde haired boy who looked like the tiniest first year from Hogwarts, and the tallest man he had ever seen, who didn't look like a student at all.
As if he had called him, the tallest student swirled his head around to look at him, charcoal black eyes meeting with emerald green.
All of a sudden, Harry felt as if he was being smack by a bludger, leaving him stunned and breathless. He felt his heart accelerate inside his ribcage, and he felt as if his whole world had stopped moving, as cliché as it sounded. And just by looking into the charcoal eyes, he knew the other tall male was feeling the same way.
He gasped as he fell onto the floor, blackness gaining him over.
For what Harry felt like an eternity under his unconsciousness, it was really just a minute. A minute where Takashi Morinozuka felt like it was an eternity too, as he dashed toward the smaller male in an attempt to break his fall.
"Takashi?" He heard his cousin calling from behind.
Takashi held the smaller male in his arms, shaking him awake. He vaguely noticed how small and thin this boy was and the mop of black hair that tickled his face. To his great relief, the boy came to his sense rather quickly, fluttering his eyes open. Again, Takashi felt how all the air left his lungs as he stared into enchanting emerald eyes.
"Nhg, what happened?" The boy asked, with a voice not too high nor not too deep, perfect for him.
"Are you alright?" Takashi asked quietly. He felt the gaze from the rest of the club members, but paid no mind to it.
"Yeah, thanks, I'm alright," The boy nodded, as to convince himself and tried to stand up. Takashi helped him until the boy could stand on his own.
"Hey, Potter!" He heard Hikaru and Kaoru calling. "You went a bit wonky there, are you okay?"
"Just got a bit dizzy," Harry mumbled as walked towards them, leaving the tall third year behind.
"Are you okay?" The short blond asked with big brown eyes. "Do you need to go to the nurse's office?"
"No, I'm perfectly fine," Harry said a bit more snappish. "Excuse me," He said towards Tamaki and Kyoya, who were blocking the entrance.
"Hey, Potter-kun!" Haruhi greeted his classmate with a smile. Beside her, there was a frantic Renge trying to figure out how to work a stove for her cookie batch. Crazy woman, Harry thought.
"You look pale, Potter-kun. You're alright?"
"Why doesn't anyone believe me when I say I'm fine?" Harry snapped, exasperated. For some reason, Renge started staring at him intently, which unnerved him.
"Well, if you say so, Potter-kun." Haruhi gave him an easy smile. "Did you need something?"
"Yeah, flour. Do you have some? The stocks at Cooking Room Three are over," He explained.
"Oh" Haruhi said, looking around. "I'm sure I saw a bag of flour somewhere..." She muttered to herself and immediately started searching for the bag in the cupboards. While Haruhi was doing this, Renge finally spoke.
"What's up with your bird nest of a hair?"
Harry found her to be quite rude. "Nothing really, my hair always had a mind of its own. I doubt it anyone could tame it down."
Meanwhile, Harry didn't notice the twins were behind him until they both threw an arm around his shoulders, startling him. Harry tried to shake them off, but both Hittachin hold him still, grinning deviously.
"So, your hair has a mind of its own?" Asked the one at his right.
"We're quite sure we could tame it down,"
"We're professionals, after all."
"And you could get a better, sexier hairstyle than a bird's nest," they finished.
Harry actually laughed. It was a low chuckle nonetheless. "Funny, I was always told that my bed-head hairstyle was sexy; they said it made me look like I just shagged someone,"
Hikaru and Kaoru narrowed their eyes at him, studying him.
"It could pass—"
"As such, in certain—"
"Circumstances, but we think—"
"You could do better than a-"
"Bird's nest," They finished together, a smirk filled of mischief.
Harry couldn't help but feel a pang of hurt when the sudden image of two familiar red-head twins came into mind. The Hittachin twins reminded him too much of the Weasley twins to dislike them, really.
"I'll think about it, if I ever wish to get rid of my bird's nest. Now, let me take my flour with me." He took the bag of flour Haruhi tossed at him and made a dash towards the door. He heard the host club members being yelled at by Renge, something about characters revision. He was lucky to not be subjected to the woman's medusa-like anger.
When he returned to the cooking room, he was shocked to find Hermione with her small hands taking a large chunk of the vanilla cake he had made for Umehito. Needless to say, he was pissed.
~oOo~
"The next few days are going to be hectic, huh Takashi?" Mitsukuni Haninozuka asked his cousin, Takashi Morinozuka, as they walked down the hallways towards the exit of the school.
"Aa," was the only reply he received. Renge had announced that they were going to through a major character revision, and even film a movie about it. While Takashi couldn't understand why they were to be subjected to a character revision, he didn't complain. Mitsukuni and the others had decided to go along with it, so maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Besides, watching his cousin act like a bully sure was going to be entertaining.
The other members of the Host club were worried about what exactly Renge had in store for them; him, meanwhile, was thinking over a pair of emerald green eyes and their owner.
Ever since he had seen the black haired boy that day when he helped Haruhi with his books, he felt intrigued. But since the boy didn't return again, he squashed the feeling away, and proceed to concentrate in other things. He did get to see the boy in the hallways, and sometimes at lunch. He could notice the boy was nice enough, but guarded, and didn't seem to like spending time with company, except for the bushy haired girl Hermione. Takashi had met her at the ball, and she was nice and polite, if a bit bossy. She and Kyoya clashed constantly, and Takashi figured it was because of their personalities; they both wanted to be the best and to be in control.
Returning to Potter, he didn't know what to make of him. When they made eye contact in the hallway, he had feel the knots twisting in his stomach for no reason apparent. Takashi had just stared into Harry's green eyes and he had felt lost, sick, joyful, breathless and just plain excitement. And he had just known that the first year had felt the same way, and the fainting that followed was a perfect giveaway.
While Harry was asking something to Haruhi and then was harassed by the twins, Takashi took a minute to analysis the teen. He was short, just a few inches taller than Haruhi, and he was very thin. His mop of black hair stuck out in every direction, and he had heard the twins saying something about bird's nest and shagging. Harry was small and frail, almost like Haruhi, and seemed to walk with a grace only those with years of practice could muster. His green eyes were vivid, but he could see the shadows underneath. Harry wasn't happy.
He knew Harry and Haruhi were sort of friends and now it seemed like the twins were getting under that title. He found himself hoping that someday they would drag him to the club room, so that way, Takashi could learn more about him.
"Oh!" Mitsukuni exclaimed, with a big smile on his face, interrupting Takashi's musings. "Go that way, Takashi!" He pointed the hallway which held the Cooking Rooms from earlier. Only one room seemed to be in use and a delicious scent of vanilla was coming from it.
"Aa," He turned left and they headed towards the room. As they approached, they heard two voices laughing and giggling. Mitsukuni and he exchanged a glance before looking inside the room.
To his surprise, both Hermione and Potter were inside, the latter carrying a large tray with vanilla cupcakes. Hermione was trying to steal one but Harry was pulling the tray out of her reach. They seemed to have finished their baking and they only had to clean up the place.
The bushy-haired girl was the first one to notice them at the door. She smiled warming at them. "Oh, hello Hunny-san, Mori-san!" Hermione greeted happily. "What brings you here?"
Mitsukuni jumped in at the opportunity. "We were just going home when we smelled sweets and we followed the scent and we ended here! Are those cupcakes? They smelled delicious, Hermione-chan!" he squealed delighted.
"Why, thanks! But I didn't bake them; Harry did,"
"Harry?" Hunny asked and Hermione pointed at black haired boy, who had a faint blush on his cheeks. Takashi noted that Harry was trying not to making eye contact with him and that upset him a bit.
"Neenie..." He mumbled out a bit. "They're for a friend," he explained. He placed the cupcakes tray next to a freshly baked vanilla cake.
Takashi could see the longing in his cousin's eyes and how much he wanted to at least try one of the cupcakes. Hermione also seemed to notice this, so she picked two cupcakes from the tray, taking Harry by surprise.
"Here, Hunny-san, Mori-san," She gave Hunny and Mori each a cupcake, while Harry was staring at her surprised. His eyes softened however, when Hunny started eating the small cake ravenously.
"This is the best cupcake ever, Harri-chan! Your friend is going to love them!" Hunny complimented and Takashi had to admit the cupcake was really good.
"That's what I keep telling him," Hermione agreed.
"Ne, ne, Harri-chan!" Hunny said a second later after he swallowed the cupcake. "Do you think you could make us more cupcakes?! I'm sure everyone in the club will love them! They are really good! And you should believe me, because I know everything there is about cakes!"
"Um, I—"
"I'm sure Harry will loved to, when he finds time, Hunny-san," Hermione said. "I'll make sure he bakes them for you really soon,"
"Yay!" Hunny squealed joyfully. Hermione giggled and Harry was just glaring daggers at her. Takashi couldn't help but find the scene amusing for some reason and his lips quirked upwards.
Suddenly, Harry looked at him again and he felt all the nerves in his body come to life as those eyes trailed him from head to toes. What was this feeling?
"We should be leaving now, but we should really meet again sometime! Isn't that right, Takashi?" His cousin told them as he climbed up to his shoulders without struggle and he just limited himself to reply with a single "Aa,"
"Thanks for the cupcakes, they were delicious!" Hunny giggled. "Bye, Neenie-chan, Harri-chan!"
The two siblings waved goodbye and Takashi gave a soft grunt. He walked out of the cooking room and down the hall, towards the front gates where his driver was supposed to be waiting.
"Ne, Takashi?" Mitsukuni whispered.
"Hm?"
"We should try and be friends with Neenie-chan and Harri-chan! They seem very lonely, don't you think?"
"Aa,"
As they climbed into the car, Takashi's thoughts drifted again to the green-eyed teen and the slight flutter inside his chest.
A/N: Like I said, MorixHarry soon, didn't I? Now, what probably won't be up soon is the next chapter. Next week I finally start my last year in highschool, so it means homework, projects and all that jazz again.
The "Lady Manager" episode comes first in the manga timeline and they show Haruhi and Renge baking. I don't think it's ever said when Nekozawa's birthday is, so I made it up.
(1) Reiko Kanazuki is a character from the manga, who made her debut in Chapter 41.
Also, A shout out to WHYDOYOUNEEDTOKNOW, who was the one who came up with the nickname "Neenie" for Hermione in the first place in her fic "Living with Danger". If you haven't read any of her work, go, go, go!