Chapter Seven: Golden Snitches and Silver Stars

***Zeno***

Several months passed during Zeno's stay at Hogwarts, with each morning, the castle's grounds were doused in drizzle by the grey cloudy sky above. Despite the miserable weather, the Great Hall was alive with the loud chatter of excited students, when he asked them why they all gave him strange looks, while some overreacted.

"How could you not know what Quidditch is?!" One young Gryffindor exclaimed, the kid was decked out in red and gold, complete with lion face-paint.

"He didn't say he that! He asked what all of us were so excited about," the Gryffindor's friend admonished.

"Do you know what Quidditch is?" A Hufflepuff, who just joined the conversation, asked. All heads swivelled to look at the Yellow Dragon Warrior.

"Nope, Zeno doesn't know! Should he know?" Zeno tilted his head.

"YES!" was the unanimous shout.

"It's the greatest sport ever to be invented! So each member of the team gets a broomstick and-"

"Oh! Zeno remembers now! It's the game where you fly around on a broomstick and try to catch the little bird, right? Zeno watched a game at the Quidditch World Cup!" He said, interrupting the enthusiastic first-year.

"What teams?" Asked the Hufflepuff, the small crowd of students all quietened down in order to hear Zeno's answer.

"Teams? Hmm…oh! It was Flanders against Transylvania, they didn't play fair at all," Zeno recounted as he remembered how during the match 700 known fouls were committed with several new ones subsequently being created as a result. The attempted decapitation of one of the players with a broadsword was particularly memorable, due to how it brought back memories of his own experiences.

"No way, that's not possible! That was the first ever Quidditch World Cup, it was in 1473! Quit joking and tell us who they were," an avid fan had yelled from the crowd surrounding him. As he opened his mouth to reply to that comment, he was saved the trouble as someone had interrupted him.

"Zeno! There you are! The match is going to start soon! Hurry!" Ginny's voice called out from the doorway of the Hall. This gave Zeno the opportunity to excuse himself and rush off to the Quidditch Pitch. It was his first time on Hogwart's Quidditch Pitch, he never been to visit it before, so now was a good time to check it out. Around him, the stands were packed full of students, half of them were dressed in red and gold and the other half in yellow and black creating patterns of colour. The crowd roared as the school teams made their way onto the pitch, Zeno took a seat somewhere next to a young Gryffindor who was constantly taking photos with his camera.

It wasn't long before they were all up in the air on their broomsticks, Zeno shielded his eyes with his right hand as he watched them hover and soar. One of the Gryffindors, who was sitting on a broom high above the rest of them, looked like that Harry-kid he remembered that was friends with Hermione. Seconds later, a magical golden ball with wings flitted into his vision, about an arm's length away, before zipping off to the other side of the stadium; Zeno was relieved they didn't use those poor birds anymore.

A familiar dreamy voice echoed across the grounds, and sure enough Zeno spotted Luna with her Butterbeer cork necklace standing beside a woman who appeared slightly uncomfortable. Zeno remembered seeing the woman talking to Dumbledore during mealtimes. "…but now that big Hufflepuff player's got the Quaffle from her, I can't remember his name, it's something like Bibble-no, Buggins-"

"It's Cadwallader!" Professor McGonagall loudly corrected from beside Luna. The crowd laughed, Zeno chuckled. Through the rest of the match, Luna kept attempting to draw the crowd's attention to the shapes the clouds were forming or how Zacharias Smith was possibly suffering from "Loser's Lurgy," Zeno smiled contently. The peace didn't last as Gryffindor's Keeper, McLaggen, had snatched one of the Beater's bats and mis-hit the oncoming Bludger. Everyone in the crowd screamed as Harry Potter was knocked off his broomstick after being hit in the head. Zeno's legs tensed in preparation to break Harry's fall with his body, however, one of the professors had beaten him to it with a spell, slowing Harry's rapid descent before Zeno could leap off the stands. They watched, anxious, as an unconscious Harry was rushed to the Hospital Wing on a stretcher. Despite Gryffindor's Seeker being knocked out of the competition, the game continued until Hufflepuff won, scoring 320 points against Gryffindor's measly 60.


Several weeks passed since then, with nothing much of interest occurring. Bored, the Yellow Dragon Warrior decided to visit the Art Classroom on the fifth floor. The class inside consisted of 4th year Hufflepuffs and Slytherins, each student standing before an easel with a canvas propped against it, some of the 4th years had already begun pencilling the outlines for their paintings while the rest were too preoccupied with staring at Zeno.

"Ah, you must be Mr. Zeno. Do you wish to give it a go? We have a spare easel in the cupboard, feel free to use our paints and brushes," said the kind Art Professor. Zeno accepted the offer and removed the spare equipment from the cupboard to set it up. With a pencil in one hand, Zeno gazed thoughtfully at the blank canvas before him, wondering what he should paint. Unable to think of a subject, he looked around at what the students were painting for inspiration and found that they were doing portraits. As he thought about who he wanted to paint an idea formed in his mind and a warm smile lit up his face.

Without him realising, a whole day had passed by, as he carefully coloured in familiar faces of the past. During the last Art Class of the day, a crowd of 7th years gathered around Zeno, some attempting to sneak a peek over the yellow-haired boy's shoulder while those in the front observed Zeno's precise brushstrokes.

"That's really good," one of the taller 7th years, commented.

"You'll get an Outstanding on that for sure!" a paint-covered girl exclaimed.

"It looks so professional! I'd bet you'll be a famous artist one day," a third student said with awe-filled eyes.

"How long did it take you?" With that question, Zeno pried his eyes from his work to check the time. Outside, the sun had already sunk low on the horizon, casting a molten gold hue on the landscape. He put some finishing touches to his work, two more careful strokes of oil paint to highlight the surface of a cooking pot on the painting before leaning back on the stool, hands behind his head and a look of achievement on his face.

"Done, Zeno just finished! He spent the whole day on it," Zeno answered with a beaming smile. This caught the professor's attention, who made his way over to see Zeno's artwork. The Art professor spent a moment to pore over every brushstroke before he turned to the patient boy with a mildly surprised expression.

"You certainly have a lot of artistic talent, Mr. Zeno. Ever thought of becoming an artist in the future? This painting, the details are superb, you've used a lot of texture and contrast and not to mention the perspective is perfect, giving the painting a sense of depth; it feels like I can just walk right into it! The tones of green from the leaves create a calm feeling when you look at it…but if I had to criticize something, I think your choice of hair colours are a little…unusual. If you want it to be more realistic, I suggest sticking to more natural hair colours such as brown, blonde or black. Other than that, you should be proud, Mr. Zeno! If you were in my class, this would have certainly earned you an Outstanding," He finished his criticism by giving Zeno a congratulatory pat on the back, then on his way back to his desk, he tapped Zeno's painting twice with his wand. The crowd of students clapped.

"Told you so," said the paint-splashed student from before. They all watched the painting come to life as the people Zeno had painted, blinked and yawned. "It'll take a while before they're all aware of things. It's always like that,"

Too engrossed in fawning over the new painting, the group of 7th years missed the melancholic smile Zeno adopted when he looked at his painting of those most precious to him in the past. In the painting of a forest campsite; King Hiryuu, Abi, Shuten, Guen and Kaya mingled with Yona, Hak, Yoon, Kija, Shin-ah, Jae-ha and Ao. Each and every detail was perfectly replicated, from the cracks in Shin-ah's mask to the fine strands of King Hiryuu's blazing red hair.

"We have Astronomy in an hour. Hey, Zeno, are you gonna join us?" One of the 7th years asked, snapping Zeno out of his daydream.

"Sure, Zeno loves stargazing," his voice didn't sound as enthusiastic as he wanted it to, no matter how hard he tried, Zeno couldn't remove the hint of sorrow in his tone as he said those words.


After dropping off his painting in his guest room, Zeno followed the 7th years, who lingered behind to show him the way, to the Astronomy Tower. Professor Sinistra was already waiting at the top-most level of the tower and promptly assigned them each a telescope the moment they arrived.

A calm breeze flowed around them, not too cold as to make them shiver but cool enough to refresh them from a long day of work. Crickets chirped from the school grounds below, filling the once silent night with a harmonious chorus. Titling his head back, Zeno relished in the tranquillity as he gazed at the river of stars winking back at him, not unlike those he would see from his time in Kouka. No matter how long he walked for, whenever he looked up at the night sky, those same stars were always there, with him, following him on his journey.

Somewhere up there in the Heavens, amongst the twinkling starlight, are those who he sorely misses. King Hiryuu and the original three Dragon Warriors…Kaya…the Dark Dragon and the Happy Hungry Bunch (minus himself)…

They were all watching over him, always there, just like the stars above.


Author's Note: Hope you all enjoyed Chapter Seven! Thank you all for reading!

Also for those who haven't yet, please don't be shy to tell me what you think. If you want to, that is. Otherwise I'm left wondering if you like it or not…

Anyway, enjoy your day. :)

~PurpleFlyingBird