Harry Potter and the Aliens
Part 14
When Emiko and Kisshu reached Minerva's office, they found Yuki in there too. "What's up?" Kisshu asked.
"Due to the numerous mishaps you've been having with Transfiguration, I decided that if you want to continue turning things into animals, that you'll have to learn more about the animals first," Minerva said. "Yuki and I have found a few books on both normal and magical animals that I want you to study. I don't think we need another baby pterodactyl flying around the school."
"So the books will help me work out the problems I'm having?" Kisshu asked.
"Hopefully," Yuki said. "But you should work on your concentration too; part of the problem may be a lack of concentration."
"Oh, fine," Kisshu said sulkily. "Is it dinnertime yet?"
"Fifteen minutes," Minerva said. "You know, I don't think I've ever met anyone who can eat as much as you and still stay skinny."
"Cyniclons have faster metabolisms than humans do," Kisshu explained. "So I'm always hungry. And I'm still growing, so that doubles the effect. Once I turn eighteen, the being hungry 24/7 problems will lessen slightly."
"I see," Minerva said. "Well, maybe some reading will help pass the time between now and dinner." She took a book off her desk and handed it to Kisshu. The title was Animals of the Earth. "That should help with your knowledge of regular animals," Minerva said. "Let me know when you've finished it."
"Thanks," Kisshu said, taking the book.
"You kids can go to the Great Hall; we'll be down shortly," Yuki said.
"Okay!" Emiko said cheerfully. She and Kisshu left, headed downstairs.
They found a lot of other kids heading for the Great Hall as well, and joined them, headed to Gryffindor Table. They were greeted by the majority of the fourth years, all of whom had seen the pterodactyl trying to rip Malfoy's hair out. "That was great!" Ron said. "How'd you get that thing to go for Malfoy in particular?"
"I didn't, actually; the pterodactyl escaped the classroom and went straight for the dungeons," Kisshu said. "I didn't tell it to do anything. I would have expected it to go for Koumori-san; I was talking about turning him into a real bat before I accidentally turned my brick into a pterodactyl. Unfortunately, I'm now banned from transfiguring things until I get some more control."
"What were you trying to do?" Hermione asked.
"Turn the brick into a bat," Kisshu replied. "The others were trying to turn their bricks into a bunch of bats, but Sirius said I should start with one bat. And that's probably for the best, or we'd have a whole flock of pterodactyls zooming around the school. Though that might be kind of cool…."
Hermione looked thoughtful, and as Kisshu and Emiko sat down and started eating, she asked, "Do you have concentration issues?"
"Sometimes," Kisshu said. "But I also have trouble with the animals; I don't know much about Earth animals. I've only lived on this planet for two years."
"What planet did you live on before?" Hermione asked.
"Cyniclonia," Kisshu replied. "My family and I got exiled for failing to take over Earth, so since we couldn't live in Japan after trying to take it over, we moved to England."
"Why did you want to take over Earth?" Ron asked.
"Cyniclonia was dying, and our records said that Cyniclons lived on Earth before humans came into existence," Kisshu explained. "Some weirdo calling himself Deep Blue approached my leader with a plan to take over Earth, and everyone was so desperate that my leader agreed. Unfortunately, it turned out that Deep Blue only wanted Earth for himself, so we helped the group opposing us kill him. Everyone back home was looking forward to going to Earth, though, so even though we managed to save Cyniclonia, we got exiled. It's not exactly easy living as humans though. No flying, no teleporting, no powers; it's pretty irritating, but it's not like we've got much of a choice. And I'm glad I don't have to live with the constant fan girl interruptions, so I'll live with the 'no powers' thing."
"You can fly?" Hermione asked, interested.
"Yeah," Kisshu said.
While they were talking, Emiko noticed Harry looked gloomy, and said, "Harry, you look gloomy, did something happen?"
"The only person I really wanted to take to the Yule Ball is already going with someone else," Harry replied. "And I need a partner because I'm one of the champions."
"I would think the all the girls would want to go with you," Emiko commented.
"That's the problem," Harry said. Suddenly it looked like he had an idea, and he asked, "Is McGonagall letting you go?"
"I was going with Oniichan; what were you thinking?" Emiko asked.
"Would you like to come with me instead?" Harry asked.
"That would be fun, but I have to ask Oniichan," Emiko said. She looked over at Kisshu, who was getting peppered with questions by Hermione, and asked, "Oniichan?"
"What's up?" Kisshu asked.
"Harry wants me to go to the ball with him," Emiko said. "Is that okay?"
"Who am I going to go with then?" Kisshu asked.
Hermione perked up and said, "I'm free, would you like to go with me?"
"Sure," Kisshu said. Then he looked at Harry and asked, "Do you know how to dance?"
"Uh… no," Harry said.
Kisshu sighed. "I guess I'll have to teach you both then; Emiko doesn't know how to dance either," he said. "Come to the guest quarters with us after dinner; we can start right away."
"Okay, thanks," Harry said.
~Time skip to the night of the Yule Ball~
Yuki and Emiko were getting ready for the ball; Kisshu had already done so and left to find Hermione.
Emiko had curled her hair and was wearing it in a ponytail tied with a sky blue silk ribbon that matched her dress robes. Yuki had done basically the same thing, except her ribbon and dress robes were pale yellow.
As they finished, there was a knock on the door, and Emiko went to get it. She found Sirius and Harry outside, and said, "Good timing, we just finished."
Sirius was wearing dark red dress robes, and had his hair in a short ponytail. Harry was wearing bottle green dress robes, and had obviously attempted to neaten his hair somewhat, but hadn't succeeded very much.
"You both look very nice," Sirius said, offering Yuki his arm. She smiled and took it as Harry did the same to Emiko, saying, "You do look really nice."
"Thanks," Emiko said. "So do you."
Harry smiled slightly as they went down to the Great Hall. When they got there, they noticed that instead of the House tables, there were several round tables set up, as well as the Head Table, which was already occupied by several staff and the visitors. "Where do you want to sit?" Emiko asked.
"I've been informed that the champions need to sit at the Head Table," Harry said, making a face. "Hey, I just noticed, Mr. Crouch isn't here."
"He's taking some time off, apparently," Sirius said as they made their way over. "His assistant is filling in for him."
Harry and Emiko looked along the table, and saw a red-headed young man with glasses. Harry sighed. "Great, it's Percy," he said.
"He looks pompous," Emiko commented.
Harry and Sirius both snorted. "He is," Harry said. "Oh great, I think he wants us to sit with him."
"Should we knock him down a few pegs by ignoring him?" Emiko asked.
"I think you've got assigned seats," Sirius commented. "Good luck!"
Harry groaned, and Emiko said, "Well, we can just tune him out, right Harry?"
"Good point," Harry said, and led the way over to the seats next to Percy. As they sat down, Percy said smugly, "I've been promoted." He might as well been announcing he had been named ruler of the universe with how smug he sounded.
"That's nice," Harry said, sounding bored.
Obviously missing the tone of Harry's voice, Percy continued, "Yes, I'm now Mr. Crouch's personal assistant, and I'm here representing him."
Harry and Emiko chose to ignore this; Percy was getting annoying with his smugness. Emiko looked at Harry, and asked, "What's with the lack of food?"
"Not sure," Harry said. "And what's with the menus?"
Emiko looked down at hers, just as down the table from them, Minerva looked at her plate and said clearly, "Fish!" A piece of breaded fish appeared, and the others got the idea. Harry ordered goulash, and Emiko ordered fish. Both of them continued to ignore Percy, even when he spoke to Harry. He didn't seem to notice Emiko, but finally he asked, "Are you listening to anything I'm saying?"
"No," Harry said.
"We tuned you out a while back because you're too smug," Emiko piped up. Harry snorted, and Percy looked affronted. As Harry fought to contain his amusement, Emiko continued, "Being Mr. Crouch's personal assistant doesn't mean you're a god- and the way you announced it, one would think you had been appointed supreme ruler of the universe or something. Arrogance is bad for your health, by the way."
Percy was sputtering incoherently, and Emiko smirked, then went back to eating her fish.
Soon after this, the food disappeared, and Minerva got up and waved her wand. The tables all flew to the sides, leaving the floor clear. "Champions, please come take your places on the floor," she said.
Emiko snickered at the doomed look on Harry's face, and said, "You'll be fine. Come on, the others are waiting."
Harry sighed and got up, and he and Emiko took their places as a band who Minerva introduced as The Weird Sisters started playing a slow song. As they started dancing, Emiko asked, "So Harry, do you know what's up with the idea some people have that purebloods are better than everyone else?"
"I have no clue; it's stupid in my opinion," Harry said. "Sirius said it's worse in the UK than anywhere else. What's it like in Japan?"
"We don't judge people on their blood purity; but some people judge or scorn others if they marry people who aren't from Japan," Emiko said. "I'm told it's similar in China. For a long time, Japan was closed off from the outside world, especially the Western world, and that mentality hasn't really changed much, at least in Wizarding Japan."
"I take it you're not actually Muggleborn then?" Harry asked.
"No, I probably showed up as a Muggleborn because of my new family," Emiko said. "Had I stayed in Japan and gone to another magic school, I doubt it would have been the same. I'm a pureblood; both my parents were purebloods, and my mother could trace her wizarding roots back to the Heian Period, which started in the year 794 AD."
"Whoa," Harry said. "That's a REALLY long time ago."
"Yeah," Emiko said. "I got curious a while after she told me that, and started asking lots of questions. I've always been fascinated by history, both magical and non-magical, and especially family history."
"What did you find out?" Harry asked, curious. "I've never had the chance to study other cultures- and Binns isn't exactly great at getting people into history."
"Should we go sit down?" Emiko suggested. "There's a lot of people dancing now."
"Sure," Harry said, and led the way over to a table. They sat down, and Harry asked, "So what all did you find out?"
"My mother told me that originally in Japan, both wizards and witches were known as shamans," Emiko said. "The words used now are majutsu-shi, or sorcerer, for men, and majo, or witch, for women. She also told me that her family was one of the six most prominent magical clans of the time period. These days, the Japanese wizarding community doesn't put as much stock in that sort of thing, but back when they did, my mother's family was part of the nobility. My father couldn't trace his family back more than fifteen generations, but my mother could trace hers back over thirty."
"Fifteen generations is still a lot," Harry commented.
"Yep," Emiko said. "My mother's family thought so too, and that's why they arranged the marriage between my parents. Luckily my parents hit it off right away; I've heard that some people end up never liking one another. It helped that my father's grandfather was one of the best wand-makers Japan had ever seen. They figured an alliance between our families would be a good thing. Arranged marriages are still pretty common in Wizarding Japan, and not unheard-of in the non-magical world either. My mother's family was, and probably still is, more into the whole 'where you come from is important' thing, but unlike purebloods in Britain, they care more about the potential for magical power rather than blood purity. Even if my father had been Muggleborn, his connection to his grandfather's talent would have been enough to convince them that some good could come of the alliance. The fact that he could trace his wizarding roots back fifteen generations didn't hurt either."
"Was your dad a wand-maker?" Harry asked.
"No, he didn't inherit that talent," Emiko said. "If he and Okaasan hadn't been killed, I would have been named his heir, and they would have found out about my wand-making talent in Japan."
"Is any of your family still alive?" Harry asked.
"Probably, but as I'm not human anymore, I can't inherit anything, even if I still lived in Japan," Emiko replied. "And I've got a new family now anyways. Can we change the subject?"
Harry got the hint and said, "Okay, so what do you know about Muggle Japan?"
"Now or back in ancient times?" Emiko asked.
"Both," Harry said.
"Well, Japan has always been ruled by an emperor, although now I think most of the power is in the hands of the prime minister," Emiko said. "The first emperor was said to be directly descended from the sun goddess Amaterasu, Japan's primary Shinto deity. That's probably a myth, but for a long time, people believed, and maybe some still do, that the emperors of Japan were descendants of Amaterasu. The first capital of Japan was Asuka, but it was moved a few times, first to Nara in 710 AD, then to Nagaoka-kyo in 784 AD, and again to Kyoto in 794. Kyoto remained the capital until 1868, but then it got moved to Tokyo, which at the time was called Edo."
"Why did they change the name?" Harry asked.
"When they moved the capital to Edo, they renamed it as part of an East Asian tradition, to use the word 'capital' in the name of the capital city," Emiko replied. "Tokyo means 'East Capital'. Actually, at the time of Nara being the capital, I think it was called Heijo-kyo, not Nara. Kyo, depending on what script you write it in, can have a lot of different meanings, but in this case, the character used means capital."
"What did you mean by script?" Harry asked.
"Japanese writing consists of three different scripts; Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji," Emiko explained. "Hiragana and Katakana both are syllabaries; Hiragana has 46 characters, and Katakana has 48 characters. Kanji is the hardest to learn; it's derived from, and literally means, Chinese characters. So there's over 2,000 characters to learn, and then you've also got the English alphabet, which is known as Romaji."
"Whoa," Harry said. "How do you learn all that?"
"It's not easy," Emiko admitted. "And in non-magical schools, they also require you to learn English on top of the reading and writing in Japanese."
"Something just occurred to me," Harry said. "Why does Kisshu have a Japanese accent, but you don't, even though you were born there?"
"One of my Cyniclon powers is the ability to speak any language fluently and without an accent," Emiko explained. "I prefer speaking Japanese to any other language, though. I find English kind of distasteful; Japanese sounds so much prettier to me."
"What does it sound like?" Harry asked.
"Minerva-san wa, ichibu nekodesu," Emiko said. "Kanojo no neko no katachi wa, isshu no kawaiidesu."
"That does sound nice," Harry said. "What did you say?"
"I said, "Minerva-san is part cat. Her cat form is kind of cute," Emiko said.
"It sure does sound nicer in Japanese," Harry said.
Emiko smiled. "I agree," she said.
They both looked up as Kisshu and Hermione came over, and Kisshu asked, "How's it going?"
"Good, I was telling Harry more about Japan," Emiko said. "Are you having fun?"
"Yes, but I didn't realize Hermione was going to ask me five million questions," Kisshu said.
Harry snickered and said, "That's Hermione for you."
"Hey, I just like learning," Hermione said indignantly. "And it's not like I can go to the library and look up Cyniclons; most people don't even know they exist."
"Point taken," Harry said. "You look nice."
"Thanks," Hermione said, smiling. "Mum and Dad won't be very happy with me, though; I shrunk my front teeth a bit."
"What's wrong with that?" Kisshu asked.
"They're dentists; they think magic and teeth shouldn't mix," Hermione said. "What do your aunt and uncle do?"
"Uncle Hayako is a doctor and Aunt Yuki is a therapist," Emiko replied. "They kept the same jobs they had on Cyniclonia, and it's worked out well. And Pai-oniichan is working in a science lab that focuses on climate change and global warming."
"Do you have any other cousins?" Harry asked.
"Just my cousin Taruto; he's my age," Emiko said. "Hey, something just occurred to me; did Ron ever get a date?"
"Yeah, he went with Lavender Brown," Hermione said. "Interesting that he noticed she's a girl, yet it took him four years to notice that I'm a girl- and only noticed that after Kisshu asked me out."
"I TOLD you he was an idiot," Kisshu said.
"I heard that!" Ron said angrily from behind them. "I'm NOT an idiot!"
"Suuuure," Kisshu said sarcastically. "And that's why it took you four years to notice one of your best friends is a girl."
Ron was bright red with anger, and hoping to intervene, Harry asked, "So Ron, where's Lavender?"
"She dumped me," Ron said grouchily. "One of the boys from Beauxbatons asked her to dance, and she never came back."
"I don't know why you expected anything different," Hermione said. "Lavender's been with more boys than any other girl in Gryffindor- and possibly the whole school."
"So she's a slut?" Kisshu asked.
"I wouldn't go that far," Hermione said. "But she's certainly not very bright."
"I hate girls with no brains," Kisshu grumbled. "They all turn into fan girls eventually. Or worse, they turn into stalkers."
"You had stalkers too?" Hermione asked.
"LOTS of stalkers," Kisshu said. "I literally couldn't leave my house without getting mobbed. I nearly killed the leader of my fan club more than once, but unfortunately, I got stopped every time."
"You really would have killed her?" Harry asked.
"Yes," Kisshu said. "I was hoping that it would scare the others off, but since people kept stopping me from killing her, I never got a break from fan girls until I got exiled to Earth. I actually kind of like it here, despite having to pretend to be human."
"Do you have problems at whatever school you go to?" Hermione asked.
"Aunt Yuki homeschools me and Taruto; Emiko is the only one of us who goes to a human school," Kisshu said. "Aunt Yuki decided it was better that way; Emiko could make friends, and me and Taruto wouldn't have to deal with humans."
"Does anyone outside your family know about your powers?" Harry asked.
"We decided to tell Emiko's best friend's family, since at the time they met Emiko's control over her Cyniclon powers wasn't very good," Kisshu said. "Natalie and her father thought it was the coolest thing ever; her mother was less sure, but after meeting Aunt Yuki, she put her concerns aside, because they became really good friends in about five minutes. Natalie's older brother was a jerk about it at first, but now he's too scared of me to say anything against us. Other than Natalie and her family, no one knows about us."
"I'm surprised people don't comment on your hair," Ron said.
"I change the color to black if I'm going somewhere," Kisshu said, shrugging. "I don't particularly like doing that, but it's a bad idea to walk around with green hair; people will generally think I've dyed it and assume I'm some kind of delinquent."
"Why do you have green hair, anyways?" Hermione asked. "Does it run in the family?"
"My mom had green hair," Kisshu said. "So I guess it does."
"I like the color," Hermione said, smiling.
Kisshu smiled back.
Before anyone gets the wrong idea, I wasn't planning on making this a KisshuxHermione fic- or a romance fic at all. I got the ideas for the alternate Yule Ball pairings from I'm a Nerd and Proud, so thanks! And I think the next chapter will skip to the second Triwizard Tournament task, so hopefully that'll go well. Please review while you're waiting for the next chapter!