I decided to split Year 2 into two chapters, since I was done with the first half but not with the second. Kafka Fortunata will be put on hold until Year 4 begins for this fic and Be Careful What You Wish For. I'm including the poems from this fic into Poetry Practice, but all of them will be combined into one chapter.
Guest: Harry becoming MoD isn't clear yet, but collecting all 3 Hallows will be one of his "achievements in ignorance". As for becoming a reaper, he might have to die before becoming one. The technical Japanese term is shinigami, which Noragami explained is a possible form that deceased spirits can take. Harry is already not completely human and he's being raised by Kofuku; combined with the Potter luck... The Gods of Fortune wouldn't stand a chance (/TwT)/
Year 2 (Part 1)
Chapter Summary:
"Hogwarts's guardians are awake, every step with caution take.
This is the first of the four, the serpent behind your door.
Enemies of the heirs, beware, lest you die by spiderbane's stare.
When you look in the mirror, stone you'll become in terror.
Those that are caught by eyes of gold, for eternity shall they lie cold."
Waking Serpent
In an underground chamber situated underneath Hogwarts Castle, a slumbering serpent began to stir. Trouble was beginning to brew once more in her home, and the castle was calling her to do her duty.
The residents of the Forbidden Forest shivered as they sensed an ancient being wake. Yellow eyes reflected the bright light of the full moon, and those unfortunate enough to gaze into them saw and knew no more.
… … …
Luna Lovegood
A delicate girl with pale hair and pale blue eyes smiled as she read the letter from her friend. For far longer than she could remember, Luna Lovegood had been waiting for the day she could meet them. She wanted to meet the person who could see the creatures she also saw! And maybe, just maybe, that person could understand the things she saw…
"First of the four," whispered the girl, "the serpent… behind your door…"
… … …
Unexpected Visitor
"Harry Potter must not go to Hogwarts!"
Harry blinked at the strange creature in front of him. From what he gathered from its hysterical cries, there was some sort of evil plan afoot in Hogwarts, a plan that was meant to harm him. The perpetrator of said plan was its master so it wasn't supposed to tattle or it would be punished, but apparently, the creature was tattling anyway because it respected Harry more than its master. Oh, and it would punish itself upon returning to its master for disobeying.
'What a strange creature,' Harry thought as he turned to his guardians and asked, "Well, what do you think, Kofuku, Daikoku?"
"Hm, I say we pay its master a visit!" declared Kofuku as she smirked mischievously and clapped her hands. "This will serve as a test of your ability to sense bonds. You will follow the trail of its bond to its master and teleport there, and maybe you can leave a prank or two behind~"
"I guess I can do that," nodded Harry, the gears in his head starting to turn, and he returned his gaze to the strange creature, which shivered as he grinned at it. "But first, I'd like to have all of my stolen letters back. All of them, all right?"
… … …
Intruder in Malfoy Manor
"Your husband sure keeps a lot of dirty little secrets, Lady Malfoy."
"Who's there?" asked Narcissa Malfoy as she took out her wand, her eyes scanning the hall for the speaker, as well as the telltale signs of disillusionment charms being used. "How did you get through the manor wards, intruder? Show yourself, or suffer the consequences of trespassing on our lands."
"That's rich coming from you," tutted the voice in amusement, "especially when it's your retainer that trespassed on our lands first. You should be grateful our Lady isn't raising a fuss because of that. Anyway, I just came to see whose retainer it was that interrupted our lovely dinner last night, so I'll be taking my leave now~ Ta-ta!"
Strong winds suddenly blew across the hall as the intruder finished their piece. Narcissa could do nothing to fight the gusts blowing her away, so she quickly grasped the first thing within her reach, which was an antique vase fortunately charmed to stick permanently. When the gales finally subsided, the whole hall was in disarray and the intruder had somehow painted the Dark Mark on the walls, in the colour of the Killing Curse!
"Merlin," gasped a dishevelled Narcissa, "how am I supposed to clean all this up?!"
… … …
Blocked Gateway
"Hoh, looks like that house-elf's really set on stopping you from going to Hogwarts," chuckled Daikoku, clearly amused by his ward's predicament.
Harry raised an eyebrow and gave him an unimpressed look. Kofuku on the other hand… well, she wasn't even with them anymore; she already sank her claws onto another poor soul. Probably fell for the whole "innocent cute girl" act hook, line, and sinker, if his blushing face was any indication. Harry spared the man a bit of pity, considering how he'd be bankrupt within a week.
"Eh, no matter what it plans to do, it'll probably be useless anyway," replied Harry good-naturedly, pulling out his phone to dial Hermione's father's number. "He's being harmless for now, so I won't do anything to him yet. The moment he goes too far, though…"
"Would you look at that," whistled Daikoku, "Kofuku's definitely going to be ecstatic when she finds out you've learned how to mimic that expression."
Harry just stuck his tongue out at his guardian. He smiled triumphantly when the phone call connected and waved goodbye to the man, vanishing in a flurry of white light as he took hold of the open path to the other end of the call. He'd have to thank Yato-san¬ for teaching him this ability, maybe get him his favourite, a doll of the god's beloved Capyper.
… … …
Nargles and Wrackspurts
"There are no such things as Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, wrack spurts, or gargles!" griped Hermione irritatedly, pushing back her urge to scream at this nonsensical and illogical blonde girl, reminding herself she was the older and bigger person here. "They aren't in any of the books I've read, and certainly not in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. That means they aren't real, just figments of your imagination! That's probably why you're the only one who can see them too!"
"That's because they're invisible to people like you," replied the blonde stubbornly, sniffing in disdain as she turned the page of her upside-down newspaper. "You're too bound to your own worldview, too resistant to new and unorthodox ideas. Your mind is too shallow at the moment too, so that might also be a problem."
Hermione's patience snapped. The first-year wasn't just ignorant; she was downright loony! For all her mother told her not to argue with that type of person, Hermione was still about to rant at the blonde when Harry suddenly appeared in a flash of white light.
"Sorry to suddenly appear out of nowhere and butt into this lovely discussion, but actually, both of you are partly right and partly wrong about that," snickered Harry amusedly, attracting both of the girls' attention. "The creatures Luna can see are real, I know that much is true because I can see them too. They influence thought and thoughts influence them. She calls them by many different names, I simply call them phantoms."
"Phantoms?" repeated the blonde girl, her eyes widening. "You're Eve, aren't you?"
"Glad you still remember me, Moon," Harry smiled at her as Hermione wrapped him in a hug.
"Okay, one, did you just teleport? Two, why's she calling you Eve?" asked Hermione. "Did you get a name change that you never told me about? Three, what are you talking about?"
"Eve was my pen pal…" replied the blonde reminiscently. "My name's Luna, but Eve knew me as Moon. I don't know how he knows my name though; I've never told him and this is the first time we've met each other in person."
"Oh, I just asked the stars for your name," answered Harry, taking a seat beside the blonde and crossing his legs as he turned to Hermione. "Luna's mother had seer blood, the gift mixed with the Lovegood's gift for sensing emotions probably turned into an ability to see those creatures. Also, they can only be sensed by people who've come very close to death," he tapped his scar, "but survived. Ghosts can also see them, but they don't like 'em; Hermione's got a lot of the creatures around her so ghosts try to avoid her."
"O-kay," Hermione blinked as she quickly processed the new information. "So what are they called in my books, then? You said they've been recorded under different names and descriptions, didn't you?"
"Spirits, ghosts, and apparitions," replied the blonde quietly. "That's the general term for them. Some of the really strong ones are visible to the naked eye. Some can even affect the physical world, but they're few and far between."
"We should get on the train first, though," interjected Harry, pointing to the clock, "Unless you're not planning to go to Hogwarts."
… … …
A Song to Expand
"Oh, Luna! I've been looking everywhere for you!"
Hermione looked up from her book to see a redheaded girl barrelling toward the odd blonde girl, whose name was Luna. She greeted Ron and Neville who came with the girl as they joined them in the compartment. Neville sat beside Harry while Ron joined the redhead and Luna. Ron's elder brothers, the twins, had also come along. They pouted when they saw that there was no more space left for them. For some reason that Hermione didn't know, the twins wanted to join them in their compartment.
"Looks like-"
"There's no more space-"
"Left for us-"
"I suppose-"
"We'll have to-"
"Reserve our lovely conversation-"
"With our favourite-"
"second-year tomorrow-"
"Won't we, Gred?" "Right, Forge?"
The twins spoke in their odd manner of interrupting and continuing the other's sentence and said the last part in unison, a scene that was common in Hogwarts yet never stopped amazing the bookworm. She was dying to know how they did it, but every time she asked they never gave her a straight answer!
"Not quite," replied Harry thoughtfully, pulling out his wand, "after all, if the room's full and the space is tight, don't we just have to expand the space?"
"But Harry, we won't learn the Space Expansion Charm until our fifth year," protested Hermione worriedly. "Even if you know the incantation, what if something goes wrong?"
"Oh, don't worry. Harry's not limited to spells like that," replied the blonde first-year (Luna, the female Weasley called her Luna), who was now watching Harry with curiosity.
"I take it that you already saw this would happen, Luna?" asked Harry with a soft smile, before he put his wand down and recited a poem. "As endless as the meadow, rivers far do flow, so will this space ever grow."
At first, nothing happened, but then the compartment began to grow. Hermione's eyes widened in awe at the rapidly expanding space. Her friends shared her awe at the sight and the Weasley twins whistled in admiration. Luna gave a smile to Harry before retreating behind her newspaper.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" asked Harry expectantly, gesturing to the still growing room. "These seats aren't going to fill themselves you know."
… … …
Unsettling Words
Hermione paused when she noticed Luna wasn't following her fellow Ravenclaws. The welcome feast just finished and students were heading to their common rooms, but Luna was a first-year and Hermione didn't think the odd girl knew the way to the tower. She left her fellow Gryffindors and began pulling at the girl to get her to move, but she wasn't budging at all. Deciding to get an adult's aid, Hermione was about to move away when Luna suddenly caught her hand in a powerful grip.
"The emptied heart will descend, the Chamber of Secrets opened," rasped Luna, her voice making shivers run down Hermione's spine. "The half-life of the seed will bind, and corrupt the guardian's mind… In Hogwarts's walls, it will crawl… in Hogwarts's halls, heads will roll… Hogwarts's guardians are awake, every step with caution take. This is the first of the four, the serpent behind your door. Enemies of the heirs, beware, lest you die by spiderbane's stare. When you look in the mirror, stone you'll become in terror. Those that are caught by eyes of gold, for eternity shall they lie cold..."
Luna closed her eyes and let go of Hermione's hand as she trailed off. When she opened them again, she looked around in confusion before she found her housemates. Giving Hermione a small smile, she skipped away to join them. Hermione stood there for a few moments before returning to her common room with a troubled heart and more questions about the girl than she ever had about anyone else.
… … …
Gilderoy Lockheart
"Tut, tut, it looks like everyone needs to reread their books! Only Harry got all the answers correctly, even my favourite colour, lilac, which was only mentioned once in all of my books!"
"Oh," snickered Harry, "that was easy. Your mind's an open book, I didn't even need to knock to enter. Scattering a few flattering words here and there, and voila!"
"What?"
Harry isn't a seer, but he's studying divination from Kofuku. They visit Japan once a year to check on Daikoku's garden, which Suzuha (Bishamon's shinki who's killed by Kugaha) manages as a favor from Bishamon. In this fic, Harry and Luna have a more powerful version of Hiyori's Far Shore sense ability; Harry sees phantoms as they're depicted in Noragami while Luna sees them as she does in canon HP.
In this fic, Luna is prescient, not omniscient. Also, she's eleven but already has a bad reputation because of her heritage. So being a "cloudcuckoolander" is both how she is inherently as well as a way of escaping further scrutiny.
