Breakfast the morning that Bill and Hermione are to arrive is a boisterous, high-tension affair. Mrs. Weasley yells louder than normal, bustling around the house and kitchen like a whole swarm of bees are chasing her. She flicks her wand one way then the other, banishing dust Izuku didn't even know was there.

"She always gets like this when company's coming," Ron groans, slumped over the kitchen table with his head buried in his arms. Izuku sits between him and Ginny, while across the table, Fred and George scarf their food down so fast Izuku suspects they might choke. "She needs to make everything spotless, never mind that Bill's literally her son and Hermione might as well be another one of our siblings."

"Well, maybe if any of you boys helped," Ginny snipes, picking up her dishes and walking them to the sink.

"The house is already clean!" Ron protests. "Whaddaya want me to do, Vanish all the clutter?"

He looks at Izuku, like Izuku is going to have any better an idea of how to help out than him. Izuku just shrugs and follows Ginny's lead, setting his dishes in the sink and taking the scrubber from her.

Between both Ginny and Izuku, they manage to bully Ron into helping out. They experience less luck with Fred and George, who, it seems, can only be made to do something they don't want to do by their own mother.

They spend the morning cleaning, taking rugs outside and shaking them out, helping Mrs. Weasley strip blankets and cushion-covers off the couch to be washed. Though the household doesn't have a washer and dryer (because technology and magic do not agree, he's learned), they don't need to wash by hand. With a few twisting wand motions and clear words, she sets the washing to do itself.

Izuku also takes a few minutes to clear his stuff out of the room Bill and Charlie will be staying in. The amount surprises him—books (though he's just borrowing those), notebooks and notes, clothes (also borrowed, technically), a weird rock Luna had given to him one morning when she had come over.

(The rock he leaves in a drawer on the nightstand. Hopefully, Bill and Charlie will leave it there.)

Between the work and the August heat, by the time the early afternoon rolls around they've all worked up a good sweat. Rather than take the time to shower off, Ginny takes great joy in spraying Izuku, clothes and all, off with the garden hose. He gets his revenge when it's her turn, and the two of them, still dripping, head into the house to towel off and change clothes.

"Do you want to come with Mum and I to pick them up?" Ginny asks as she pauses on the doorstep to wring a bit more water out of her hair before going inside. "You've been to Diagon Alley to get your wand, but we'll be seeing a bit more of it. We're meeting Hermione and her parents in Muggle London, then going in to Gringott's to get Bill."

Izuku thinks for half a moment before agreeing. He's been outside of Japan a handful of times—most notably to I-Island and Otheon, both trips which were … eventful. Though he's not exactly here willingly, it might still be nice to go see London without worrying (hopefully) about villains or whatever mass-murdering plot people are on about this time.

"Alright." Ginny smiles and opens the door. "I'll let Mum know you're coming with us!"

Floo travel the he's-lost-count'th time isn't any more enjoyable than it was the first time. He's pulled some crazy maneuvers with Blackwhip, even managed to almost make himself sick with it on several different occasions, but he would rather take that over the ceaseless spinning of Floo travel.

He stumbles out into the same dingy pub as last time (the Leaky Cauldron, if he remembers correctly) and steps away from the fireplace just before it spits out Ginny.

Mrs. Weasley steps out while Izuku is still shaking ash out of his hair. She frets over the two of them for a moment, brushing dust off Ginny's shoulder and turning to do the same with Izuku. Not thinking, he ducks away from her hand.

"Sorry, dear," she apologizes. "Sometimes it's hard to remember which ones are mine and which ones aren't!"

Flushing from a mixture of embarrassment and oh-no-I've-made-things-awkward, Izuku waves his hands in front of him. "It's okay!"

Nearby, Ginny snorts.

"Do be sure to tuck your wand away somewhere the Muggles won't see it," Mrs. Weasley reminds him, gesturing at where it's currently tucked behind his ear. "Or, I can hang onto it while we're out, if you don't have another spot to put it."

"Oh. Right. Thank you," Izuku replies. He's wearing short sleeves, meaning he can't just hide it up his sleeve, and though he thinks of a handful of other spots he could put it, those all sound like they wouldn't exactly be comfortable to keep it there.

He reaches up and takes it from behind his ear, releasing his hold on it with Blackwhip as he does. With careful fingers he flips it around to hand it, handle-first, to Mrs. Weasley. "Thank you," he says again.

"You're very welcome," she replies as she takes his wand and tucks it next to hers.

Rather than heading out back like they had when they came to get Izuku's wand, they head out toward the front door. Mrs. Weasley greets Tom as they pass the bar, and a couple other witches sitting around a table together wave at her.

Exiting the pub, they exit into another world. There's been something rustic about all the magical places Izuku has been (except for the Ministry, which went hard in the imposing and monolithic directions), and stepping out into modern London is like falling off a pier into ice-cold water in terms of culture shock.

Though, really, it's closer to what he's used to, tall buildings and car-filled streets and numbers of people moving around, going about their lives. The fashion sense here is odd, a very old kind of retro, though considering what he's seen the wizards wearing, maybe London is just like that.

The cars look old, too, now that he thinks about it, not that he really knows cars. Bigger, blockier—again, maybe it's the difference between countries, considering the difference in popular styles he's seen just between Japan and America.

Ginny and Izuku dutifully stick close to Mrs. Weasley as she leads them up the street. They get a few odd looks—more specifically Izuku gets a few odd looks—and considering he hasn't seen much of anyone with hair that isn't blond, brown, black, or red, the culprit is probably his hair.

"Ginny! Mrs. Weasley!" Someone calls their names, and Izuku turns to see a short girl with curly, dark hair waving at them. She's dressed smartly, in a pair of clearly-new jeans and a blouse. A man and a woman, both similar in appearance and in niceness of dress, stand with her.

"Molly," the woman says, smiling politely. "Ginny." She turns toward Izuku. "And I don't think I've met you."

"Midoriya," he replies. "I'm a transfer student. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were kind enough to let me stay with them."

"That's nice of them. They're very generous in opening up their home for anyone to stay," she replies. Her tone remains polite, but the coldness in her eyes negates the complimentary words.

Izuku clearly isn't the only one who's caught the derision—Ginny shifts next to him, frowning, while Mrs. Weasley's smile grows a few degrees tenser.

Out of all of them, Hermione appears to be the only one to remain blithely unaware of the new layer added to conversation. Instead, she turns toward Izuku.

"Oh, is this your first time in London?" she asks.

Technically, it's his second, but his first trip was solely to Diagon Alley, so he nods his head in agreement to Hermione.

"Oh, we could show you around!" She glances up at her parents before looking at Mrs. Weasley. "If there's time for that."

"There's a couple hours before we're expecting Bill," Mrs. Weasley replies. "I figured we could do a little bit of sight-seeing before picking him up."

Hermione's eyes light up. "Only a couple hours. Okay. That's enough time for a few places. Let's see, what's closest …."

They end up at a library.

"Typical Hermione," Ginny mutters as they approach it. "This is going to be our only stop. I hope you like libraries."

Izuku has nothing against libraries. Admittedly, he's never had reason to visit a brick-and-mortar library, considering they all have ebook lending services and he's quite skilled in, ah, finding free copies of whatever he wants to read online. But he appreciates the work the archivists do, preserving books and materials for future generations.

"This isn't just a library," Hermione announces to them in a chiding tone. "This is the national library of the United Kingdom and one of the largest libraries in the world. The Magna Carta is displayed here! They have millions of books and other items. It is a must-see."

The building they approach is quite impressive, a sprawling burnt-orange behemoth. Though it's hardly the glass towers of UA, or any of the other glass-and-metal spires he's grown up with, it carries its own sense of timeless grandeur.

Hermione barrels forward, full steam ahead, while Izuku hangs back, eyes wide as he takes in everything around him.

"Come on!" Hermione calls, impatient.

"Sorry!" Izuku rubs the back of his head as he jogs up to rejoin the group. "I was just looking at the building. It's very neat."

Hermione preens, like him complimenting the library was the same as complimenting her.

Together, the group of six enters the building. Hermione takes the lead, and they all willingly follow her as she plays dutiful tour guide.

"Every time we're in London, we take her here," her father remarks at one point. "She mopes if we don't—"

"Dad!" Hermione protests, crossing her arms and glaring at him. "I do not!"

Her father laughs, though there's something almost sad about it. "I know, I know, you're too old and grown up to pout over missing out on the library."

She's growing up too fast for him, Nana remarks.

Hermione's mother cuts their tour short, checking her watch and declaring it's time for them to go before they're late to dinner. Hermione drags her feet and makes a few statements of complaint but lets herself be ushered away from the stacks without causing a scene. Her mother sets a quick pace as they walk back through London.

After a quick detour to retrieve Hermione's trunk (now isn't that old-fashioned—sure fits in with what Izuku has seen of the wizarding world, though the non-magical people around them give it weird stares), they return to the Leaky Cauldron, Hermione hooking her arms through her parents' elbows as they walk up to it while her father pulls her trunk along.

The small family says their good-byes inside the pub, Hermione's mother fretting over her while her dad gives her a big hug and a pat on the back. Mrs. Weasley and Ginny pretend to be busy with their attention elsewhere, so Izuku follows suit, giving the Grangers their moment while wandering to investigate an abandoned newspaper on a nearby table.

That was one of the other strange things he had noticed as they walked through London: the newspapers. While Izuku is familiar with the concept, the newspapers he's used to are less papers and more sites. He hadn't had a chance to look closer at any as they were walking through London, and while Mr. and Mrs. Weasley have a subscription to one of the wizarding papers, Izuku's been focused more on study than on news.

The Daily Prophet, the name of the paper reads.

Then, in smaller print, 22 August, 1994.

Izuku reads it a second time, then a third. No, the date doesn't change. The ink doesn't magically shift around into something more believable.

1994.

Nineteen. Ninety-four.

Well. That explains the cars and the architecture and the ultra-retro fashion.

Could this be time travel instead of dimension travel?

Called forth by Nana's question, a couple more presences move forward in Izuku's head—Yoichi and Shinomori.

Are we seeing this right? Shinomori wonders. Izuku turns the paper around, and no, the date doesn't change.

It could be both, Izuku suggests back to Nana. I think we would have noticed if I had magic before coming here.

Quirks could be our modern manifestation of magic, Yoichi muses.

Izuku doesn't deign to reply. Yoichi's amused embarrassment reaches him a moment later, communicated without words.

It's okay. Easy thing to forget, Izuku sends back.

Still. I apologize—

"Find something interesting there?"

Izuku whips around, paper crumpling in his hands, to find Ginny watching him with a raised eyebrow. Panicking, he glances at the first headline he finds.

"Uh, yes, this, uh, fans already camping out for the World Cup, fascinating, fascinating to read." As he stammers out the lie, his face heats up. There's no way anyone could buy it.

Ginny snorts and shakes her head. "Oh, yes, terribly exciting news. Don't bother with the Prophet—it's all shite. Celebrity gossip and fake love triangles and fascinating things like Percy's cauldron bottoms."

"Alright." Izuku nods and sets the paper back down. Though, he makes a note to himself—and to Yoichi, Shinomori, and Nana, all still observing—to take another look at the Prophet later, maybe read a few of them. While he's been safe, and admittedly sheltered, staying with the Weasley family, he'll be entering the wider magical world soon and he should at least have some idea of what's going on with it before then.

"Ginny! Midoriya!"

The two of them turn around at Mrs. Weasley's call. Both the Granger parents have vanished, presumably back into the London streets, while Mrs. Weasley waves a wand over Hermione's trunk. It shrinks, and his mind turns briefly back toward UA. He hadn't had a chance to interact much with his 1-B schoolmates, but the shrinking trunk throws him back to the joint training with them and facing Kodai's quirk in mock-battle.

"Here you are, before I forget," Mrs. Weasley says, reaching into the hidden pocket in her skirt and presenting Izuku with his wand, handle-first. He takes it from her with a quiet thanks.

Divested of Izuku's wand, she begins ushering the three of them out the back of the pub.

"Come now, come now, we haven't got all day—Bill's portkey is due to arrive any minute now!"

Izuku leans toward Ginny and murmurs, "I … don't know what a portkey is, yet."

"You touch it, and it takes you where it's charmed to go, but only at the right time," she explains, though it still leaves him vaguely confused. "It spins, too."

"A portkey is an object, generally some article of muggle trash, something easily looked over, charmed to take anyone who's touching it at a certain time to a specific location," Hermione rattles off, announcing to everyone in the vicinity (which, considering they're behind the Leaky Cauldron, is just the four of them) that Izuku didn't know what a portkey is.

Pushing aside the brief flash of irritation, Izuku nods at her. "Thank you. That makes a bit more sense." He pauses and turns to Ginny. "More, or less, spinning than the Floo?"

Ginny frowns. "I've never actually taken a portkey anywhere. We'll have to ask Bill."

"What is it about magical travel that calls for so much spinning, anyway?" Hermione harrumphs and crosses her arms. "It's all nauseating, except for the Express."

During all of this, Mrs. Weasley opens the way to the alley. As they walk through, Ginny shrugs and responds, "Maybe that's what you'll be famous for: inventing the first non-sickening form of magical travel."

"Travel's not so bad once you get used to it," Mrs. Weasley chimes in. She hurries them through the crowds of people, weaving between groups of shoppers with practiced ease. Izuku spots several kids with long, thin wand-boxes clutched eagerly to their chests—must be their first ones, he figures.

They're most of the way down the alley, drawing closer to the monolithic white marble building at the end, when someone calls Ginny's name several times.

"Hello, Colin!" Ginny yells back, waving her hand high in the air.

A short boy in jeans and a T-shirt, his brown hair tousled, runs up to them with a bright grin on his face. Another, much smaller but similarly brunet boy follows him, clutching a wand box tight to his chest.

They're followed by a short woman, her dishwater blonde hair pulled back in a bun rife with fly-aways. She looks like both the boys in the shape of her face and the set of her mouth, and she gives the four of them a tired smile.

"Hi Ginny! And hi, Hermione!" The older boy, presumably Colin, waves so hard his whole body sways with the motion. "This is my little brother, Dennis. He's starting at Hogwarts this year! Oh, who's this?"

Colin finally notices Izuku, peering around Ginny with wide eyes.

"My name is Midoriya," Izuku introduces himself. "I'm a transfer student from Japan."

"Oh, wow! What's school like there? Do you learn different spells? Can you—"

"Colin, slow down," his mother cautions, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We don't want to overwhelm him."

"Oh, it's fine!" Izuku smiles. Honestly, Colin reminds him of Hadou—and himself, with all the rapid-fire questions. "I don't really know what magic school is like—I was homeschooled. So I don't really know if they teach different spells in their curriculum. I do—um, did—attend non-magical school there, though I don't have anything to compare it against, yet!"

"You're muggleborn, too?" Colin grins and bounces up and down. "If you're a transfer student, have you been Sorted yet? What year are you in? Can you teach us Japanese?"

"Half-blood, really," Izuku replies, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "I have some non-human blood in my family somewhere, though we're not quite sure what, exactly. And yes, I have been Sorted: I'm in Gryffindor, and I'm a fourth-year. And, I can try? I can't promise I'm any good as a teacher, though."

I think you're pretty good at it, Yoichi murmurs. You've gotten quite skilled at tutoring your classmates.

Izuku tries and fails to not blush at the praise. Luckily, it can be brushed off as embarrassment or self-consciousness.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we really do need to be meeting Bill, now. It was lovely to meet you, Mrs. Creevey." Mrs. Weasley jumps in before Colin can fire off any more questions. Izuku's blush deepens—he didn't mean to get so carried away, but it's hard not to match Colin's energy.

"Oh, alright!" Colin grins again. "I'm in Gryffindor, too, in Ginny's year, so I'll be seeing you at Hogwarts!"

"See you there," Izuku replies, waving as the two boys follow their mother and vanish back into the crowds of fellow shoppers.

Turning back to his companions, Izuku finds Ginny staring at him with a perplexed expression on her face. It remains, even as they continue walking toward the bank.

"You know, that's the first time I've seen you that talkative." She purses her lips and studies Izuku, leaving him feeling like he's just been put under a microscope.

"Really?" Izuku asks.

Ginny nods, solemn. "Really."

"Huh. People tell me I talk too much, normally."

"Well, you can talk as much as you want, with us," she declares. "Did people just act like snots because you're smarter than them all?"

Izuku chuckles. "I'm hardly that smart. No—I just had a difficult time keeping my thoughts to myself."

"You crammed three years of material into one month well enough for the professors to let you into fourth year, and you say you're not that smart." Ginny's voice drips sarcasm. Izuku blushes again, while Hermione whips around toward them so fast he swears her neck cracks.

"How?" Hermione demands.

Izuku shrugs helplessly. "I have very good memory for things I read or write down?"

She continues to stare at him with wide eyes, but before conversation can continue, large marble pillars loom above them. Mrs. Weasley leads them through a set of heavy, burnished bronze doors and into a small entrance area. Another set of doors greets them there, and Izuku takes a moment to glance over the verse inscribed on them.

Then he notices the guards.

Clad in intricately decorated plate armor, two short, stout men flank the doors. Both sport well-groomed beards and long hair, beads braided into a few locks.

The one closest to Izuku glances at him, pupils flashing in the light. Izuku gives him a quick nod of greeting before his mind catches up to him—different culture, what if that was a sign of offense?—but, before he can spiral too hard, the guard gives him a brief nod in return.

Before them, the doors open on their own, letting them into a grand hall. Desks line one side of it, while the other plays hosts to comfortable-looking seats. Many, many more doors fill the back wall, changing shapes each time someone goes through them.

Leaning against said back wall is a tall man with long red hair. Another man, this one blond, sporting the beard and braids of the guards, and just as short, talks animatedly with him, their jovial voices echoing through the hall and garnering a handful of glares from wizards talking to tellers or waiting for their turn.

"Bill!" Mrs. Weasley exclaims, rushing over and wrapping the tall man in a big hug. He laughs, face open and joyful, and hugs her back. Meanwhile, the blond man grows disgruntled, face closing off as he steps away.

Mother and son step apart as Izuku, Ginny, and Hermione reach them.

"My favorite sister!" Bill pulls her into a hug.

"I'm your only sister," Ginny grouses, but hugs him back.

After stepping back from Ginny, Bill turns to the last two. "Hermione, good to see you. And you must be Midoriya. Fred and George have been telling me about you—I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all," Izuku replies, shaking his head. Bill's easy-going smile puts Izuku himself at ease, and he finds himself smiling back. "I hope it was nothing too embarrassing."

Bill's grin sharpens around the edges. "Just the time Ginny pushed you into the ditch."

"Alright, alright, we should be getting home!" Mrs. Weasley begins herding the four of them to the exit. Bill lets her, throwing a wave and a farewell over his shoulder.

Once back in the bustle and hustle of Diagon Alley, Hermione turns to Izuku. "Have you visited Gringott's before?"

Izuku shakes his head. "This was my first time."

"Gringott's is run by the Dwarven Nation—they don't much like witches and wizards, so you'd best tread carefully around them—"

"Eh, don't worry about it too hard," Bill cuts Hermione off. "Treat them with respect, and they'll respect you right back."

Ginny nods and backs him up. "Bill works with them. He knows what he's talking about."

Hermione frowns, almost enough to call it a pout. "Yes, right, I forgot he does."

They pass a few stores without speaking before Ginny pipes up. "I hope Fred and George haven't tampered with dinner. I wouldn't put it past them to test their joke sweets on us."

Bill turns toward Mrs. Weasley, mouth gaping. "You left Fred and George in charge of dinner?"

"Would you trust Arthur, Ron, or Percy in the kitchen?" she retorts.

Frowning, Bill considers this. "… No. No, I wouldn't."

That evening, after an untampered-with dinner, Izuku gets set up with a cot in Ron's room.

A couple hours after he falls asleep, he wakes to Ron's chainsaw snoring. Groaning, he slaps his hand around on the bedside table until he finds his wand. One mumbled muffling charm later, Izuku rolls over and goes back to sleep.

Magic does come in handy, sometimes.