Sakura was pleased to see Eriol's house was built to resemble the house he had in her home city as well. Syaoran was giving it shifty looks but she saw Tomoyo and Kero were also pleased. She looked at Chiharu who was surprised to see the building.
"That looks like a building I've seen back home." She exclaimed.
"Yes, I copied the house exactly." Eriol smiled. "Come, into the study."
They entered the study, so familiar to Sakura and she noticed the tall chair of Clow Reed sitting in it's center again. The chair from which Eriol did the majority of his grand magic.
"Sakura, if you would." Eriol bowed and offered her the seat. She sighed, not the first time he had insisted on this.
She sat down on the chair and looked over the others. She wondered what Eriol thought when he took visitors from this majestic chair.
"You are the true heir to Clow Reed. But you're not ready to own this chair for real yet. In my past I made some modifications to it that make it a bit of a danger to leave lying around."
Sakura managed to keep herself from jumping out of the chair. Syaoran looked like he was about to burst. She carefully stood up and straightened her skirt.
"I must be off to Hogwarts." Eriol explained. "Teachers need to be there tonight to prepare for your arrival. You will be chaperoned though."
Sakura felt a sudden surge of magical power and braced herself as Nakuru tackled her from the side.
"Sakura-chan!" The magical being pretending to be human cried out. "So cute as usual! Hey, listen! I'm going to be helping out as a caretaker at Hogwarts too along with Touya and Yukito."
Sakura smiled. Her brother was in for it now.
"Make sure you actually get your work done instead of just playing with them." Spinel scolded as they floated into the room.
"Hello, Spinel. Will you be joining us as well?" Sakura asked as Nakuru continued to snuggle her close.
"Of course. I have been asked to stay with the heir of the Li clan though, so I hope we can get along." They bowed to Syaoran.
Syaoran blinked at that. "Shouldn't you be with Eriol?"
The small black cat creature shrugged. "Likely. But the master wishes the heir of the Li clan to have me near in case you need me. I believe it's because he cannot trust this to Cerberus."
Her small magical familiar got up in Spinel's face. "Why you…"
"Now, such a rude little man." The cat-like creature winked at Kero.
Sakura blinked in confusion. Nakuru leaned into Sakura's ear. "Truth is, none of the four of us created by Clow or Eriol actually have biological sex. It was not deemed mandatory to carry out our duties. However, both Kero and Yue have chosen the male gender to define themselves. Spinny and I chose female, though Spinny was slower to come to her decision. I had to call her they or them for so long!" She pouted and complained.
Spinel sighed. "I told you many times, you could have referred to me as you please. I still don't understand the purpose of this 'gender' you go on and on about. But I do find teasing Cerberus to be very pleasing."
"Spoken like a woman in love." Tomoyo sighed from the sidelines. Chiharu nodded beside her sagely.
A blush came to the plushie face of Spinel's temporary form, Sakura still was unsure how that was possible, and she floated away with crossed arms.
Kero sighed. "What am I going to do? Food is my one and only passion!"
Sakura narrowed her eyes at him. "I better not hear about you breaking into the kitchens and gorging yourself at Hogwarts."
The plushie sighed. "Everyone is a critic."
*CCSXHP*
Before Eriol left, while Nakuru was treating the others to dinner with promises to set her some aside, Eriol took her into the study. Before her, lay a pink box.
"Inside is a wand blank, the wand that has not yet gotten it's core. I have four possible cores for you to chose from."
Eriol took her to a side table. There sat a white feather, a scale, a black hair, and a golden hair.
"The white feather and the golden hair belong to Kero and Yue." She said as she felt her own magic radiate from them. "But since they get their powers from me now, I shouldn't use them as the cores, right? They would tap more of my powers than what is needed for the wand magic?"
"Oh, well done Sakura." He grinned. "I was testing you. Yes, they would not make good wand cores. However, when I made Ruby and Spinel, I also gave them their own internal power sources in addition to drawing magic from me, sort of how Cerberus gained power before you could sustain him but always active. These two can act as magical cores without overloading your spells with excess power. You should chosen wither Spinel or Ruby."
Sakura looked at the multicolored scale and the soft black fur.
"Also, don't worry. Both promised they would not be upset if you chose the other for your core." He promised.
She knew which was drawn too. She picked up the tuft of black fur. "Kero has been my partner for so long. I choose the Sun of Eriol's powers to fuel my wand."
"Excellent choice, Sakura. Your magic is made up of equal parts Sun and Moon like my own, but you've always been closest to the sun. Still, I was not sure which you would pick."
He opened the box and withdrew a wand made of Sakura wood. Sakura recognized that pink color anywhere. He then took the tuft of fur and spoke some incantations as the wand and fur rose into the air. He brought his hands together and they fused, creating a single wand the hummed with power.
"Here, Sakura. I have made this for you. Let us see if it accepts you."
She reached out and touched the wand. Immediately her magical circle appeared under her feet as she felt the wand calling to her.
"It approves," Eriol said in joy. "You have a new partner."
As he spoke this, the magic circle under her feet changed. It was no longer pink with sun and moon but changed to silver with a massive star pattern in the middle.
"Wait… this is your summoning circle." He said in shock.
"What do I do?" Sakura called out in fear.
"Imagine a spirit you would like to summon. Quickly, before the power goes out of control and makes something random."
Sakura's mind went to the fly card and then her brain went to the lovely ribbons Tomoyo was always adding to the back of her dresses. A silvery glow appeared and a small ribbon-like butterfly fluttered there before her.
"Sakura…" Eriol started to say but she held up a hand.
"She is talking to me." Sakura told him and she lay her head on the butterfly like creature. "You wish to be my power. How to change you into a card."
As she said this, her hand not holding her wand felt warm. She clutched it and then opened it. A small key with a pattern matching her summoning circle sat there. The words came to her as if in a dream.
"Oh Key, that holds the power of dreams, show me your true form. I, Sakura command you. Release!"
The key grew into a large staff almost as tall as she was. A beautiful staff with large wings on either side of a star center. She took the staff, the words still speaking in her mind.
"Force without master," She called to the butterfly. "Heed the call of my Staff of Dreams. Become my power. Secure!"
The center of the star started to spin and the wings grew and the Butterfly vanished, leaving a clear card in it's place.
The card floated down to land in her hand. Its name, Flight.
"What just happened?" She asked Eriol.
"If I had to guess," he started as she willed the staff back to key form, "touching the new wand triggered your powers. They wanted to show the wand what you were capable of."
He took the wand carefully and listened to it. "And it is impressed with both your new creation and your new staff. I guess we will need to add card creation to your list of lessons. Your range of powers is going to expand quite a bit."
She smiled and slipped the Flight card into the deck holster on her side. "Did I ever properly thank you for the holster, Eriol?"
He laughed. "It was not a large creation, I assure you. Though some people might mistake you for the heroine of a card game anime with that."
She blinked in confusion. "Hoe?" She said softly.
"Anyways, lets go join the others, before Kero eats your share." Eriol laughed.
She smiled and joined him.
*CCSXHP*
After dinner, she had been too distracted with dessert and the stories Nakuru and Spinel entertained them with to bring up the new Key and card. Sakura went to bed, both keys around her neck as she drifted off next to Tomoyo and Chiharu.
Chiharu chuckled as Sakura blinked her eyes sleepily. "I feel sorry for Li. Takashi is a terrible snoring machine."
Tomoyo laughed. "I feel bad for your future, Chiharu."
The girl waved it off. "By then, I'll have found a way to prevent it. I think."
Sakura smiled warmly as she lost consciousness. She imagined what it would be like to have Syaoran beside her. That would be a thought just for her though.
*CCSXHP*
She woke up early for a change, which meant not right as they needed to leave for King Cross station. She got down to breakfast to find Chiharu and Kero arguing.
"I want the last scone!" He roared at her.
"I liked you better when you were a plushie." She huffed as she pulled in half and gave Kero the smaller half.
"I was never a plushie! You just didn't know that." He scoffed down his half as Chiharu ate hers.
"Are you being a pain, Kero?" Sakura asked, giving him a side eye. "Do I need to put you on an only magic diet again?"
Kero got on his knees. "Oh please, great magician Sakura-Sama," he said in Japanese. "Have mercy on a poor, starving beast."
"You just ate fifteen scones." Yamazaki pointed out, his usual joking manner gone. "How do you even fly?"
"The food gives me the power to fly!" He stated firmly.
"He was asking how you're not too fat to fly," Syaoran grumbled at him.
"Kid, if you were not Sakura's boyfriend, I would change to my true form and roast you for that!"
"Exactly why I had to be the one to say it."
"Enough, both of you," Sakura warned as she grabbed some toast. "Last thing we need is a battle in Eriol's nice home."
They frowned at each other once more before settling down.
They managed to get through the rest of breakfast and off to King's Cross Station without further incident. Eriol had taken their trunks with him already and only left them a bag each with their robes for slipping over the outfits Tomoyo had made for them.
Nakuru also handed them each a bento box before they left the house. "Here, the food on the train can be a bit steep. So I prepared you each a traditional Japanese bento box."
They took them gratefully. "You must be a good cook, Nakuru." Sakura smiled. Eriol was as good at cooking as her father was.
"Well, I learned from Eriol, so of course I am good at it." She bragged. "Well, I can't do the big fancy French dishes like he can. But I can handle simple English and Japanese dishes."
When they were in King's Cross, Sakura was blown away with just how big the station was.
"Now, how do we find platform 9 and 3/4s?" She asked Spinel.
A/N: Decided to end off her. Got some ideas for the train ride. Will see you guys in 2025! I hope you enjoyed this update.