disclaimer: I ONCE HAD SOME SWEET MEMORIES, ITS WORTH REMAINS THE SAME. HOW CAN I REMEMBER THOSE MOMENTS, SWEETHEART? THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN RIGHT THERE


OUROBOROS

A Harry Potter x Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha crossover


Year 6, part 2


More Twists and Turns


The Floo connection to Mahoutokoro from Tokyo was one of the most tightly-guarded establishments Harry and Snape had the privilege to see – before getting themselves settled into their hotel, they had to register for the panels and lectures, first.

Thankfully, their arrival in Tokyo was in the morning, so they had some time to get all that taken care of before going to their hotel.

"Ah yes, Snape-hakase," a pretty fox girl said as she finalized their registration in the ICP symposium to take place over the next few days. "Potter-san, and your Ministry-appointed bodyguard, Takamachi Shirou."

"That's right."

"Bringing in the big guns, I see," the fox girl added. "Building from the previous championship, huh?"

Snape shook his head.

"Not really," he replied, and Harry noticed that the Potions master sounded a lot more sociable than at school. "Just here to add a little glitz and glamor to an otherwise mundane event."

"Indeed," the fox girl replied, "but you aren't helping your case with the prestige of your company, Snape-hakase… but pay me no mind, have fun in Tokyo! We'll be starting the lectures and panels the day after tomorrow, so do feel free to take in the sights of Japan."

Snape bowed to the fox girl, turned and left.

Once they were back onto the streets of Tokyo after taking the floo network, Harry just had to ask what was bugging him.

"Professor, you were really chummy with that nice lady manning the registration," Harry thought aloud.

Snape chuckled.

"That wasn't just any nice lady. She's one of my contemporaries and a top-notch potioneer herself: Fujiwara no Kaoruko."

Harry's eyes bolted open.

"A namesake of Murasaki Shikibu?"

Snape chuckled again.

"I see you know your classics, Potter. And no, she's not just a namesake of Lady Murasaki: she is an actual descendant of hers, and a powerful onmyoji in her own right. Also yes, she was also the winner of the 1974 Wizarding Schools Potions Championship."

"You weren't a part of it, sir?"

"No, I wasn't of proper age or temperament to join. Still, I got my Potions Mastery before she did, which is why she considers me a bit of a rival."

"I see… should we watch out for her, then?"

"Not really. Mahoutokoro is far less lenient of the Dark Arts than even Hogwarts is."


"Well, this is just great," Harry groused as he, Professor Snape, and their bodyguard was stranded right outside their hotel, after some jumped-up Japanese politician strong-armed their way out of the hotel room they supposedly 'reserved'.

"Ten points for stating the obvious, Potter," Snape said, and Harry couldn't help but laugh. "Fifty points off for not doing your homework in looking at how the Japanese treat foreigners."

"I am so, so sorry about this, sirs," Takamachi Shirou said after bowing to the two of them. "If we cannot find suitable lodging for you, then… it seems I must have to resort to more unorthodox measures."

They took a short stroll to the nearest phone booth, and after their bodyguard made a call, he stepped out.

"This is how it will go, Professor Snape, Mr. Potter," the bodyguard explained. "I am going to offer my household to shelter you for the time being."

Harry smiled; things were finally looking up.

"Thank you, Mr. Takamachi."


It wasn't just Severus Snape and Harry Potter who were subject to some surprises, though.

Professor Snape and his apprentice were introduced to the Takamachi family: their bodyguard's wife Momoko, and their two children Kyouya and Miyuki. They seemed like a nice family, aside from their father's bodyguarding job, and Harry noticed something about the matriarch.

Two Linker Cores. With that power level, I'm guessing she's been carrying for four to five months.

That's wonderful. Son or daughter?

Linker Cores align themselves in a particular way depending on the biological sex, so… daughter.

Do they know that yet?

I wouldn't worry too much about that, Harry.

Speaking of which, I ought to do something to lighten Mrs. Takamachi's load while I'm here.

Sounds good.

And the very next morning, after waking up, Takamachi Momoko had quite the shock to see one of her guests making breakfast in her kitchen.

"Ah, Potter-san," she said, "good morning. May I ask what you are doing?"

"Good morning, ma'am," Harry replied. "I am currently repaying your family's hospitality by helping make breakfast. Professor Snape and I have already imposed on your household enough, and this is what I know best to do."

"I see. You seem to be quite skilled for your age."

"My aunt taught me how to cook," Harry said with a smile on his face. "I was… what, seven or eight when she started to teach me? I'm nowhere near as good as she is, though."

The matriarch of the household took up an apron and seamlessly joined the breakfast-making process.

"What I'm seeing from you so far is pretty good, your aunt must be very skilled."

"That she is, Mrs. Takamachi, that she is."

As they were serving what turned out to be a surprisingly tasty fusion breakfast, Hogwarts' potion master couldn't help but shake his head.

"Always thought the stories about you being very muggle were exaggerated," he said, before taking a bite out of the scrambled eggs. "Well now."

Harry shrugged.

"You did say that potion-making needs just as much discipline as cooking, sir."

"That I did. Anyway, my panels will be tomorrow and throughout the weekend, so we have a free day today… and most of next week off until our scheduled flight back to London. Apologies if we're going to impose on you further."

"Don't be, you're doing a good enough job of helping out already, Snape-san, Potter-san," Momoko replied. "Wish I could be of more help but…"

"It's all the more reason for me to help further, Mrs. Takamachi," Harry said, noting the swell of her stomach, and as he turned to his professor, the man gave an enigmatic nod.


Despite the ritz put on by the ICP symposium, the event itself wasn't that impressive to Harry; he was mostly there as a show of achievement by Hogwarts.

There was, however, a lot of advanced potion-making lectures that Harry took copious amounts of notes on. And yes, the Fujiwara lady was apparently Mahoutokoro's Potions instructor too, and during her own lecture, spared a few moments to look at the spiky-haired English kid seated near the back row, writing notes on the lectures of advanced potion making she made as host of the symposium.

It was after the lecture that she walked up to him.

"How are you liking Mahoutokoro, Mr. Potter?"

"Pretty good so far, ma'am," Harry replied politely. "I've got a lot of work to do when I return to include these in my potion making… but if you don't mind, ma'am, I've got a question."

"I can humor at least one good question; go ahead," she said.

"What's with the fox ears and tail?" he asked, and she laughed.

"Oh, these?" she asked, her ears wiggling and tail wagging as she did. "I was given some very important scrolls on a partial animagus transformation as part of my own Potions mastery."

"I see; thank you for your time, ma'am."

"I hope to run into you again, Mr. Potter. For that man's apprentice, you seem to be a vastly different kind of man than he is. Until we meet again."

She bowed, and after Harry bowed back, sashayed away, and he found himself momentarily spellbound.

Wow, Mahoutokoro has a really fancy staff.

Don't let their beauty blind you from their power, Harry. The Dark Arts have not taken a foothold in Japan ever since the Shimabara rebellion.

That reminds me, why isn't our History of Magic curriculum as important as Mahoutokoro's?

Ouroboros scoffed.

You think the lesson 'he who forgets history is doomed to repeat it' will take with the wizards and witches back home?

Forget I asked.


The rest of the symposium was more lectures and note-taking for Harry until the very last day, where after the final lecture on 'Alchemical Techniques for Potion Potency Preservation', Professor Snape and Harry were met by the two presenters.

"Knew you wouldn't resist coming here, Severus," the nice old lady said as they approached Snape and Harry. "My darling, they're both here."

"Oh, good," the old man said delightedly as he made his way towards the Hogwarts duo.

"Potions Master Severus Snape," he declared. "That does have quite the ring to it. And his understudy… by Morgan's lacy underthings, is it Harry Potter?"

"Yes… and yes," Professor Snape answered, his voice sounding a bit strained. "Mr. Potter went to Hogwarts under an alias for the first few years of his education, to avoid being a 'school celebrity', Mr. Flamel."

"You wound me so, Severus! How many times have I asked you to just call me Nicolas?"

"There are some things you just do not say to the progenitor of alchemy, sir," he said, and Harry smiled a bit.

"Bah, I see Albus still hasn't quite pulled that stick out of your backside. Come on! We have important business to discuss, and I believe you still have his ear, because there is something he needs to know."

As the two men went into the makeshift office to continue their talk of business, Harry found himself engaging in small talk with Perenelle Flamel.

"We have enough material here for several more hours' worth of lectures, but alas, my darling miscalculated somewhere severely. It was only now that word got out of our little… mistake."

"What kind of mistake, ma'am?"

"Oh, nothing much, just something that threw a monkey wrench into our timetable. My darling trusted Albus to take care of the stone after he was done updating Hogwarts' alchemy curriculum – why he continues to keep that on the syllabus when there hasn't been a potential alchemist in Hogwarts since Lily Evans, I'll never know – which is why my husband needs to head over there himself."

"So the rumors were true…" Harry muttered.

"Oh yes, it's true," Perenelle continued. "We did leave the Philosopher's Stone for Albus to keep safe, and now that we're planning to destroy it, well…"

"Destroy it?"

"My dear boy, Nicolas and I have lived far longer and interesting lives than beyond our wildest dreams. If Albus wanted the Stone for nefarious reasons, we would know… but the reason we can't get the Stone back is because Albus Dumbledore's security measures are too good, even he can't get it out!"

Harry chuckled.

"My husband has half a mind to just march up to Hogwarts again; this whole affair is just making things needlessly complicated. You understand, don't you?"

"A little bit, ma'am. When do you plan to take the Stone?"

"Not immediately; we still have a few odds and ends to take care of here and in Beauxbatons. But we will be heading there soon, that's what my darling is talking to your Professor Snape about."


Post-Symposium Antics


Once the last of the lectures were done with and everyone was being sent home with souvenirs and novelties, Snape and Harry still had a good chunk of a week left in Japan before their flight home, as the trip to Japan was booked for two weeks, not one.

During one of those days, Snape and Harry found themselves watching their bodyguard training his two children in swordsmanship.

Kyouya and Miyuki were remarkable for their age, but Harry had spent some time under the tender loving care of the Witch of Dun Scaith, so it seemed a little underwhelming to him.

Harry found himself daydreaming a bit watching the spar, and barely noticed that the patriarch of the house had taken up a seat beside him.

"Not interested?" he asked, and Harry was in awe at how the man was able to just vanish from the senses without warning.

Even I need a second to use my advanced sensor suite to pick him up. This guy is good.

"Your kids are great, but…"

"I read your profile; this level of sparring would definitely bore someone who learned from your country's equivalent of… the great Kurama tengu."

That we didn't read about.

Yet.

"Once my children have completed their daily training, do you want to spar, Mr. Potter?"

This is a bad idea.

Which is why I don't want you backing me up. I'm putting every lesson the Witch carved onto my body to the test here.

Your funeral.

You think so? He is our bodyguard. Lady Fujiwara vouched for him, said it was a sad thing to see him retire. He'll know how to pull his punches.

Harry, I've made an observation… but I'll save it for after he wipes the floor with you.

The outcome isn't relevant. I just want to stretch this muscle out.

Again, your funeral.


Half an hour later, an exhausted but smiling Harry Potter was lying on the dojo floor, his body pockmarked with bruises while he yet held the bo staff he chose to use in lieu of a spear.

"You're really some kind of adrenaline junkie, aren't you, Potter?" Snape asked, the disappointment in his tone unable to hide the amusement in his eyes.

I was about to say combat junkie, but this works too.

"Can I say I thought there would be some exhibition duels in Mahoutokoro?" Harry asked back. "Oh, right. I forgot."

He sprang to his feet and bowed to his opponent.

"Thank you for the opportunity, Mr. Takamachi."

"To someone with your potential? Please, do call me Shirou."

Several hours later, as the Takamachi family were enjoying some tea after the spar, Shirou and Harry were still picking each other's brains about their combat techniques.

"My darling has always been an analytical fighter," Takamachi Momoko said with a sigh. "He hasn't had the chance to speak with someone who just fights for the joy of it for quite some time, so… your apprentice has lit up a fire in him I thought that had gone dormant."

"Apologies, Mrs. Takamachi," the potions master said. "It's odd, though. The kind of strikes Harry was taking…"

"Yes. After he took the first blow, it was like he knew he wasn't in any danger, and focused on learning all he could, whether it be by avoiding, blocking, or taking my husband's strikes… Your apprentice also pulled back all his own blows at the last moment, as if he knew about my darling…"

"We will have words," Snape told Harry, but before he could continue, Momoko gave him a look and shook her head gently.

"Worry not, Professor Snape," the Takamachi family matriarch said. "Harry is in his element here. Should you decide to… have words… with him, it's best that you let him come down from his high first."

Snape took a glance at the two children talking about something called a "play station" in the living room, then back to Momoko.

"I will take your words under advisement, ma'am," he said solemnly, just as he decided to spend the rest of the day picking his reading back up.


The rest of the week went uneventfully, and near the close of their trip, Severus Snape found himself transfixed with a very different kind of magic: the kind of magic that was Akihabara.

Shops filled with things related to Japanese animation and video games, arcades, appliance stores, electronics, and many others– it was a paradise of colored lights and fancy sounds even to someone as well-traveled as Hogwarts' resident potion master.

On the train back to Uminari, the thing that had been bugging Snape finally came to him.

"Potter," he whispered as the train chugged along, "how are you able to find your way around a place like that?"

Harry grinned.

"My folks went to Tokyo before I did."

Snape was about to say something about Harry's parents, but then remembered Lily's sister.

"The Dursleys?"

"What, you don't think they're my family, when you took the biggest share of Aunt Petunia's baked ziti in the Hogwarts' faculty Yule potluck?"

That got him to nod.

"That reminds me, Albus told me that Petunia just dropped everything after Lily's passing, even her hobbies. What got her to start cooking again?"

"Way my aunt explains it, she got a wake-up call around when I was what, five, six, seven years old? And yeah, about those things you heard about me being made to cook for the Dursleys? That's a bit inaccurate: Aunt Petunia is teaching me and Dudley."

"Is teaching… you mean she's still teaching you?"

"Yes, Professor. She says we're about half as good as she was when she was our age," Harry thought aloud with a smile. "Thought it would just be a hobby like hers, but who knew her insistence on perfection in cooking bled over into Potions?"

The train slowed to a stop at the station, and Snape took a moment to think before he nodded.

"Always thought the Dursleys were bad news for you. It seems I've been proven wrong."

"Never too late to turn the ship around, so Uncle Gil likes to say," Harry said as the train moved onto the next station.

Severus Snape made a mental note to write a few more notes onto his old book for Harry to find later, when he could.


It was planned by the Headmaster that Snape and Harry would return to Hogwarts discreetly, then have their achievements announced at the Halloween feast at the end of the month.

Due to this, Harry and Snape spent a few more days in Japan, most of it sightseeing and purchasing souvenirs. Snape even got a chance to do several 'guerilla' guest lectures in Mahoutokoro before the time came for them to return.

"You look different, Severus," the headmaster of Hogwarts said upon the two entering his office via the secret tunnels in the castle. "You too, Harry. I assume Mahoutokoro has been good to you two."

"It has, Headmaster," Snape said. "Teaching Defense even for a few weeks has done you good as well."

"Indeed, it has," Dumbledore replied with a smile. "Unfortunately, after the Halloween feast, the students of Hogwarts will now have to make do with you."

"I'll do my best to fill in your shoes, Headmaster," Snape drawled back, but Harry could see that his eyes were filled with mirth. "Anyway, for my preliminary report on the ICP symposium held at Mahoutokoro, I was given the chance to run several official lectures, and with the extra days afforded to me, I was able to ask for several other unofficial lectures, much to the delight of the Mahoutokoro staff…"

Sure enough, when the Halloween feast came, the actual professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts for that year was announced, none other than Severus Snape.

"Is THAT Professor Snape?" a Ravenclaw near where Harry was seated asked, but when Harry turned to him, he didn't see the seventh-year's mouth move.

Whoa, those were his thoughts!

Exactly. This is the kind of problem one tends to have with learning legilimency: you let go of your occlumency a bit, and then you're suddenly this giant mind-reading antenna getting signals from everyone around you. Can't be helped, though; people do have some intense thoughts.

Yep, you're right. Man. That extra week at Mahoutokoro did wonders for Professor Snape, now that I think about it. He still looks like a dungeon bat… but now he pulls off the look with class.

You'd think it was Mahoutokoro that got him doing that, but no. Takamachi Momoko was very insistent on helping out Professor Snape with his look… now that I think about it, that was the price we really had to pay for Mr. Takamachi's hospitality.

Well, we can tell the Breakfast Club all about our adventures while sharing our spoils from Japan with them tomorrow.

Yep. That's the general idea.

The rest of the Halloween feast went without incident, though Harry knew that the other shoe would drop pretty soon, as it tended to do in situations like this.

For now, though, Harry Potter would simply enjoy the Halloween festivities.


First of the Month


While the students entered November with the trepidation that came with Severus Snape teaching Defense against the Dark Arts, their worries turned out to be a fat load of nothing.

He was still very strict in teaching, but to Harry, it seemed that something had him spooked: his Defense classes were all about the mentality of the Dark Arts, and how to best resist their siren call.

I mean, who else would be the best to know about it like an actual former Death Eater?

Fair point. He's also building a lot of his lessons from Moody's stories from the previous year. The only other time we've seen this kind of continuity is with Professor Lupin and the witch.

Of note was one lecture Harry sat in, when Professor Snape, of all people, went on an impromptu tangent about why Death Eaters tended to use the Unforgivables more often than most.

He looked around the room when Snape posited the question, and noted that only Neville raised his hand.

"Longbottom," he said, and the sixth-year Gryffindor stood up.

"It's to elicit fear, Professor," Neville replied, and kept going after being gestured to continue by the momentarily-surprised professor. "You yourself said that the muggles' appraisal of the Death Eaters as 'terrorists' is more accurate than they think, and what other way to raise fear among the populace other than spells that were deemed 'unforgivable' by the Ministry?"

"A very insightful answer, Longbottom. Twenty-five points to Gryffindor."

Now that was novel.

Word quickly spread around the school about how Professor Snape had turned around his teaching style, but Harry knew better: he was applying how he operated with Harry as his apprentice towards classes of twenty or more people.

That aside, nothing much took place across November and December, and much to Harry's relief, he was able to go through the holidays without much drama.

It's when classes return to their usual pace that Harry found himself in the headmaster's office, as Professor Snape was giving Professor Dumbledore the requisite monthly appraisal of his schoolwork.

"…and that's all. If Harry keeps this up, he's going to be due for at least seven NEWT masteries, probably more. However, that's not what you brought me and Harry for, right, Albus?"

"That is so," the headmaster replied, before turning to Harry. "Throughout December, Horace has been giving me reports about how you have been, and I quote, 'physically distressed when attending Potions classes'. What spurred me into action is him airing his concerns about you maintaining your NEWT-level performance throughout the year."

Harry wavered a bit.

"I find it uncomfortable to take classes with Professor Slughorn," he declared. "He feels… slimy."

That response surprised the two professors.

"What do you mean, slimy? Like, toad slimy?"

Harry fought the urge to chuckle. "No, that would be the presently indisposed Dolores Umbridge."

Dumbledore and Snape did chuckle, which broke down Harry's defenses, getting him to let out the laugh he had been holding in.

"I mean, sir," Harry clarified once he had gotten that laugh out of his system, "that Professor Slughorn feels like too much hair gel, that muggle product they use to stiffen hair…"

He trailed off before closing his eyes. "I don't know… Professor Snape always had that obsidian feeling, while you're like a wall of mist, Professor Dumbledore."

This time, the response was met with far less amusement.

"Harry, if you would, please keep Fawkes company for a while," the headmaster said with his typical kind voice, though Harry could easily feel the insistence under it. "It is his feeding time, and he is in a parsley state of mind right now."

"Of course, Professor," Harry said, grabbing the sprigs on the table before leaving.

After closing the office door behind him and making his way to the phoenix, Fawkes was still giving him a stinkeye until the bird noticed the sprigs of parsley he was holding.

"Sorry Professor Dumbledore couldn't make it, Fawkes," Harry said before handing out a sprig. "Hope you'll be okay with me."

The phoenix stared into Harry's eyes and onto Ouroboros in pendant form for what seemed to be an eternity before nodding and allowing himself to peck at the sprig of parsley offered to him.

Once the last sprig of parsley was eaten, the imperious way Fawkes looked at Harry and his Device returned. He was about to ask Ouroboros what was going on when he heard the voice of Dumbledore from within the office.

Back inside, Harry took the seat he was in before, and this time, the headmaster looked stern.

"It seems I have been a bit too lenient with you, Mr. Potter," he began. "I am loath to put an additional burden onto your studies, but it seems your potential for the mind arts has been growing unchecked as of late."

"Mind arts? Potential? Unchecked?" Harry asked incredulously.

"That is so," the headmaster replied. "As Professor Snape is directly responsible for your academic progress here, I will have him resume his lessons in Occlumency to you… which I will evaluate myself at the start of each month."

Oh shit.

My thoughts exactly.

Harry was caught on the back foot but was able to ask a question.

"May I ask why, sir?"

And just like that, Professor Dumbledore went back to his usual persona as he answered Harry's question.

"You will understand the need for this eventually. All you need to know is that such abilities in the mind arts of one so young as you… this power and its potential for misuse is very high… and as such, it needs to be trained so it can be used appropriately."

"All right, Professor. I'll do my best."

"That's the spirit. Keep it up and you might beat out the school's record for NEWTs. No one has done more than eight."

Harry nodded, and with a gesture, he and Professor Snape were dismissed.

As they were walking through the school corridors, the Defense professor spoke two words.

"Passive legilimency."

"Is that what the headmaster was so worried about?"

"That's right. As far as I know, the only way to keep you from picking up the thoughts and personalities of others is to strengthen your occlumency. That is what we'll be working on, and that's what we'll need to show Albus so you can stay being an apprentice of the school."

"Okay, and just like what I told the headmaster, I'm going to do my best."

Snape let out a breath.

"You do not know the depths of trouble you are in at the moment," he explained. "The last student here that had this much potential in the mind arts? You should know him; his name was Tom Riddle."

It took him a moment before he realized who Snape was talking about.

"Oh."

From there on, the walk back to Snape's office was silent.


An Ordinary Hogsmeade Weekend


The rest of January passed without much incident; the headmaster did test Harry out on his mastery of the mind arts, and true to form, the sixth-year Hufflepuff-in-name-only was able to keep his legilimency sealed enough.

On the way back to the apprentice's quarters, Snape could not hide the amusement in his eyes as he walked side by side with a swaggering Harry.

"This is just the first month, Potter."

"I know, professor. At least now, Professor Dumbledore won't be wasting any more of his time on me, and he can do other things."

"He will. I also know that another weekend at Hogsmeade is coming up. Given your confidence, you're going to give your occlumency a dry run out in real life, aren't you?"

"You don't need to be a legilimens to know that, Professor. Besides, I'll be fine; I'll be with the Phoenix chicks this time. They raised a stink because I was with the Slytherins last time at Hogsmeade."

"Yes, and don't give me a reason to keep you from these weekends."

"Of course, Professor. As the great Auror Harry Callahan once said, 'man's gotta know his limits'."

"Dirty Harry wasn't an Auror."

"I know, Professor, but the point remains."


Harry was just about to wrap up his night at Hogsmeade and make his way back to Hogwarts; the Golden Trio were still in Madam Puddifoot's and on their double date.

He had his suspicions that he was the third wheel (or fifth, since there was four of them), which were confirmed when Neville's date showed up.

Hannah Abbot almost turned around and stepped out the moment she caught a glimpse of him, remembering what Hufflepuff House put her up to at the start of the year, but Harry just took his butterbeer, gave her a toast, and stood up off the table they were in.

He gave her a slight bow before pacing out of the restaurant and making his way to Rosmerta's pub, where he thought of making himself visible and maybe enjoy the company of a classmate or two.

Alas, that was not to be, as an hour passed with nobody paying attention to the wizard at the bar quietly sipping on his butterbeer.

While Harry was waiting for someone or anyone to walk over and start a conversation with him, he was busy drinking away his annoyance at how the weekend had gone so far, and that feeling of creeping dread he was already used to whenever something was about to happen.

With his tab paid, Harry walked out of the pub, intending to spend the rest of the failed weekend back at Hogwarts and maybe work on his occlumency more.

That was when he spotted someone familiar – he had seen Crabbe and Goyle at the impromptu gaming tables at Rosmerta's earlier and paid it no mind, so what was Draco doing hanging around outside?

Frustration and boredom led Harry to doing something he thought was very 'Weasley twins'; with a muttered command to his Device to muffle his movement, he circled around in the shadows, made his way towards Draco…

…and dispelled the spell's effect as he put a hand on the other young man's shoulder.

"Draco," Harry said at the same time, but Draco was so absorbed at looking within the pub, so he reacted in a very atypical way.

He shrieked like a soprano and almost leaped up several feet into the air.

"POTTER!" he yelled at a laughing Harry. "Don't do that, you nearly scared me out of my skin!"

"Nice night to be out and about or something. Why aren't you with Pansy?" he asked, and with the way Draco recoiled to his question, Harry immediately knew what was up.

"She was with her friends today. And you shouldn't have scared me like that! If this thing had gotten onto you…"

Draco eep'ed as he knew that he said something he shouldn't have, and before he could dig himself in deeper, Harry threw an arm around his shoulder.

"We've got something to talk about, don't we, Draco?" Harry asked, and in the moonlight, his widening grin was a lot more unnerving to see.

He nodded, and Harry began to swagger towards the Hog's Head, his arm still around Draco's shoulder, showing off his off-key singing voice as he sang some Muggle song about couples, going into an even more off-key falsetto as he sang the girl's part in the duet, too.

Once he had secured a table at the inn, he asked for two tankards of butterbeer, and was now looking at Draco Malfoy like a cat playing with a mouse it just caught.

"So, what's with that thing you're carrying around, Draco?" Harry asked slowly while they were waiting for the drinks he ordered.

"I… I don't know what you're talking about," Draco replied evasively.

"Look, Draco," Harry explained, his voice still low but filled with urgency. "You know about those cursed quills Umbridge used to punish those students last year, right? Heck, you almost got a detention with her! You saw what it did to Torrance, and she's a fellow Slytherin!"

"I know!" Draco exclaimed, before deflating. "I know… but…"

"Drinks are here," the man at the bar said, and when the butterbeers were placed on the table, Harry goggled a bit – he'd never been to the Hog's Head before, and the man looked a lot like the headmaster.

Still, Harry gathered a bit of himself, and gestured to the man that he had the situation under control.

"If you need anything else, just holler," the man said before going back to his spot behind the bar.

Harry turned back to Draco as he silently asked his Device to put up a wall of silence to keep others from listening in to their conversation further.

"Draco. Listen to me," Harry said. "I met your father back at Monaco. He asked me to keep an eye out for you. If you're trying to pull something…"

"…Dumbledore," Draco whispered.

"What's the headmaster got to do with this?" Harry asked, only now noticing Draco's shoulders shaking.

"I can't have the Dark Mark until I assassinate Professor Dumbledore," Draco admitted. "If you say my father asked for your help… you're going to help me out here, right?"

Harry made a face as he found himself in quite the predicament.


A/N: The song Harry was (butterbeer) drunkenly singing is "Nobody" by Keith Sweat. And yes, Harry gets tipsy drinking butterbeer. It's psychosomatic, as he HAS drunk beer before (during holidays with the Dursleys), and pairs the feeling of drinking actual beer with butterbeer.

It's only a coincidence that I equated Scathach's teachings to that of Kiichi Hogen before the latter showed up in the FGO Little Big Tengu event, too.

Finally, "Murasaki Shikibu" is the pen name of Fujiwara no Kaoruko. We also have a cameo from The White Devil! However, that's all you'll see of Takamachi Nanoha for now.