Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ Magic of Tennis ❯ Woes of the Chaperone II ( Chapter 4 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Arigatomina 
Anime/Manga: Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Comedy / Romance | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 01.17.2006 | Pages: 4 | Words: 6.6K | Visits: 1.0K | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Comedy / Romance | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 01.17.2006 | Pages: 4 | Words: 6.6K | Visits: 1.0K | Status: Work In Progress
Thanks for the positive feedback! I appreciate the encouragement. I'm sorry to those who want me to just focus on Seigaku and leave the others on the sidelines. Half the fun in writing this is that the fic isn’t just about Seigaku (like most PoT fics I’ve found), it’s everyone I like from the anime.
Author’s Notes: There's some hopping in this part and little less humor. Another reminder - I'm playing light with HP canon, meaning my depiction of things is the way they are in this fic. Corrections for spells and character names are welcome, but I'm not overly concerned with researching canon facts.
Character List: I have a simple webpage up with a list of the PoT characters, a picture of each, and pictures of the people each is paired with in this fic. If you've had trouble putting a face to a name, this should help.
www.geocities.com/pot9365/index.html
Amvs: Fans of Tezuka and Fuji, as a couple or as friends, are recommended to check my amv for the pairing set to Bush's Chemicals Between Us.
www.animemusicvideos.org/members/members_videoinfo.php?v=91143
Main Pairings: OishixEiji, KamioxShinji, OshitarixGakuto, SanadaxYukimura
Minor Pairings (for this part): Yukimura-Hagrid
Warnings: shonen ai, language, possible humor
Author: Arigatomina
Email: arigatoumina (a) hotmail . com
Website: www . geocities . com / arigatomina
Magic of Tennis
Part 4: Woes of the Chaperone II
The jump went as smoothly as Dumbledore had promised it would. Ernie, who Lupin had realized wasn't nearly as surly as he'd first assumed, followed his instructions without complaint. By the time the bus made its jump, Lupin no longer had any fear of being abandoned by the reluctant driver. They both knew it couldn't be helped.
The Knight Bus typically took one hundred mile hops to shorten long trips. That was a guaranteed way to fit a week's travel into a few hours. While the leaps required quite a bit of magic, there was rarely any disturbance caused to the surrounding muggle neighborhoods. Unfortunately for them, the jumps were easily tracked by any wizard interested in the bus's itinerary. With a convicted murderer on the loose, one more than capable of locating the bus via a public jump, they had to deal with a little inconvenience. True, there was no reason for Sirius Black to target a bus-load of Japanese muggles, but lack of a compelling reason hadn't stopped him from killing innocent bystanders in the past. Dumbledore was only taking the necessary precautions.
The bus stopped in the middle of an old cement bridge on the outskirts of a long-abandoned labor district that had once hidden two dozen wizard families, back when the Ministry still had hopes of establishing an Asian branch. Lupin and Ernie exited the bus on the captains' promise that no one would get out of his seat. Dumbledore had scouted the bridge himself, so it only took a moment to activate the magic that would turn the upper layer of gravel and clay into a port key. Ernie kept both hands curled around the window guard of the bus, while Lupin retreated to the dirt road. The moment the port key was activated Ernie, the bus he'd been 'holding,' and the packed layer of clay on the bridge vanished. Lupin went to work masking the magic that remained. Once the traces were faint enough to have been left by the former occupants of the area, he disapparated to rejoin his group.
He found the bus sitting placidly next to a small inn, fields and brush surrounding it. The inn, a simple two-story cottage-like structure made to look like a thicket of thorns and boulders to any muggles wandering by, was the only structure in sight. It was the perfect place to take a quick break before making the rest of the trip. The potential danger and guaranteed inconvenience would only increase once they were traveling through London's dense population of muggles and hidden wizards.
Ernie retreated to the driver's seat while the teenagers climbed off the bus. A few quick words to the middle-aged man who ran the inn, and Lupin ushered the players inside. They took the available tables without a whisper of the bickering they'd displayed when boarding the bus. Even Atobe was silent, despite his intense disapproval of the shabby accommodations. It wasn't until Lupin took a seat that he realized the teens were staring at him in visible reproach.
Atobe sent one slow look at the other players, his expression making it clear that he fancied himself the spokesman of the group. He leveled a smoldering and resentful stare at Lupin. "As I recall, you chose that mode of 'jumping' to avoid frightening us. Did it occur to you that using so much of this 'magic' at once might possibly be painful to those of us who are unfamiliar yet exceedingly sensitive to magic?"
Lupin blinked quickly and glanced over the teens more carefully. Sure enough, the ones Dumbledore had identified as 'tensai' were paler than usual. All of Atobe's teammates were glaring at him, save the bland Kabaji, and Oshitari, who had his glasses off and was inspecting them with a vague frown. Akutsu was giving him a disturbing smile, as if to say it would take more than that to best him, and Fuji, who'd been relieved to find that Yuuta wasn't as bothered as he'd been, had his eyes open in a cold stare. Lupin blinked again.
"My sincere apologies," said Lupin. "It's unheard-of for children with high magical potential to be entirely unfamiliar with magic. European students simply don't turn down invitations to magical schools. I didn't consider what a shock it might be, beyond the expected surprise at witnessing powerful magic. Using the bus as we did should have shielded you from the brunt of the magic..."
"In the future," Atobe said cooly, "I suggest you test your hypothesis before acting on it. Unless a better mode of transportation is devised, Hyoutei will be returning to Japan by plane."
Atobe turned his attention to Tezuka, who was seated at the table to his left. His manner was entirely serious, but still quite the 'king bestowing a gift on his subjects' in the lofty way he waved his hand. "I suppose I can arrange to have your team join us, Tezuka, out of consideration for a worthy rival."
"That won't be necessary," said Tezuka.
He didn't so much as glance at the ridiculously wealthy captain. His eyes were still locked on Lupin. He'd been sitting right next to Fuji during that 'jump' and as much as the tensai went out of his way to annoy him, that didn't mean he appreciated seeing him cringe the way he had.
"This school will be filled with magic," Tezuka said soberly. "If our members suffer simply by being exposed to it, this endeavor will be cancelled immediately."
"It won't be like that," muttered Oshitari, before Lupin could respond. "Hogwarts is geared toward the uninitiated magic-user, with safeguards in place to keep the advanced students separate from the beginning classes. Tolerance levels should rise quickly enough. I doubt we'd have the same reaction on the return trip, after being slowly exposed to magic over the next month."
Atobe looked as if he wanted to argue with that, or dismiss it altogether. Lupin was surprised and a tad suspicious as to how the tensai knew so much about the school, but he quickly nodded in agreement. He started to reassure Tezuka, only to be cut off again.
"I believe he's correct," said Inui, who had considerable experience with rapidly adapting tolerance levels. It had taken him almost three years to make an Inui-juice powerful enough to knock out Fuji, and even the younger members of his team had adapted so quickly he'd been increasing the potency every week to keep them from building an immunity.
"This trip was a shock to the system," he said. "With prolonged exposure at a more tolerable level, adaptation should be rapid."
"We'll take every precaution," Lupin promised. "As for your return trip, I'll speak to the Headmaster the moment we get to Hogwarts. I'm sure we can arrange to have you flown back."
He couldn't tell how well he'd placated them, but at least a few stopped glaring at him. By the time they settled to eating their packed lunches, soft conversation had started up here and there. It was a weak semblance of normality compared to the chaos on the bus, but it was much preferable to that unnerving silence.
He waited to make his rounds until the teens were distracted by their lunches. He wasn't sure what to make of their adverse reactions to the transfer, but since there appeared to be no lasting harm, he didn't feel it necessary to contact Dumbledore immediately. They were on a schedule.
The first item of business was making certain the foreigners would be able to communicate. Dumbledore had proposed the use of wristbands enchanted with a simple translation charm. Since most of the teens already had bands to support their wrists when they played, they were less likely to forget the items and find themselves lost and unable to speak the language. Lupin, who'd never actually watched a tennis match, took it for granted that the Headmaster knew what he was talking about.
Lupin hesitated at the Hyoutei table, where his offer of the bands was met by a resentful glare from the little redhead seated across from him. He explained again how important and useful the bands would be, and the redhead leaned over the table to wave a pair of glasses in his face.
"If your magic crap can make a wrist-band talk," said Gakuto, "you can fix these."
"The bands won't actually talk," Lupin said weakly. "They're more like-"
Shishido interrupted, rolling his eyes at Gakuto and his silent partner. "It's not like he actually needs them, anyway."
"So what?" Gakuto scowled. "You don't need your cap, but I bet you'd be a little pissed if some wizard came and ripped it to pieces for no reason. Why should we do anything he asks when he tears up our stuff?"
Atobe plucked up one of the black wristbands with a perfectly manicured hand and a distasteful expression on his face. His simple movement silenced his bickering teammates. He looked from the band, held between two fingers like a piece of dirty laundry, over to Lupin. "A simple reparo would do the trick, to make up for the uncomfortable jump responsible for the damage."
Lupin blinked in surprise, and Atobe looked double haughty.
"Just because I prefer not to associate with that branch of my family doesn't mean I'm ignorant of the basics."
Lupin didn't respond to that taunt, but he had a sudden epiphany that Atobe was likely a member of the Slytherin line. It was the way he spoke as if he could remark on the weather and have it come out as the most intelligent and creative insult ever thought up. He just knew Slytherin would welcome him with open arms. He quickly repaired the glasses and left the teens to try on the bands with varying degrees of grudging resignation or, in Atobe's case, profound disapproval.
He was quite relieved to find none of the other groups were nearly as insulting. One of the boys from Rikkaidai did glare at him with a little more red in his eyes than Lupin thought human, but as the boy didn't attack him it could have been worse. His soft-spoken captain, Yukimura, was the epitome of grace, which helped to make up for the promise of slow and painful violence in Kirihara's red-tinged glare. He even got a word of thanks from the captain of Fudomine since none of them had brought their own bands. It seemed Dumbledore had been right to choose the accessories as the targets for the translation charms. The bands had a double use for tennis players.
There were no more headaches, at least, not magically induced headaches, for the rest of the trip. Now that they were in England, there were far fewer jolts and therefore less complaining from the passengers. They were well within range to make distance jumps, so the actual travel time was under an hour. That was very good because, as Ryoma was quick to point out, the pets hadn't received any attention when the humans had made their stop. He spent the last leg of the journey above with Kaidoh and Inui, the latter receiving a funny look from his captain when he joined the two cat-owners. It seemed he'd managed to sneak his owl aboard without his captain noticing it.
Ernie took off the moment they finished unloading the bus, not offering to help them carry their luggage into the inn. Lupin didn't hesitate over that. The cars would be arriving to take them to the train station in less than two hours and they still had to get robes and wands. He was just glad Hagrid was waiting for them on the other side of the seemingly closed alley behind the inn. The teens were so unimpressed by the sight of the brick wall moving in response to his wand-tapping that he was surprised by their reaction to the sight of the half-giant. It might have had something to do with the fact that Hagrid, who towered like a shaggy mountain-man a few heads above Kabaji, had arms the size of a normal person's thighs. Lupin supposed he could appear a little intimidating at first sight.
Jiroh, who'd remained conspicuously awake and quietly lurking in Kabaji's shadow, gaped and fell over from craning his head back so far. He had quite a bit of company in his shocked state. Even the captains hung back and stared up at the inhumanly tall man with the hairy and too-large head. Hagrid just grinned and greeted them with English so mangled Lupin wondered if the language charms would translate it. His silent question was answered when Eiji cocked his head with a baffled look.
"Did he just call us guns...?" Eiji blinked.
"Me Chuu?" Gakuto was saying, with a confused look at Oshitari. "Is Chuu supposed to be his name? Who talks like that?"
"He called us young-uns," Ryoma was saying to his teammate, "not 'guns over there.' Young people. It makes more sense if you listen to what he says and not what the band makes you think he said."
"But I'm no good at English!" Eiji protested.
"You'll have trouble, then," Ryoma shrugged, not quite smirking when the redhead promptly whined to Oishi that he was showing off.
Oshitari had already removed his wristband. He took Gakuto's as well and translated for him. "He said, 'Oi, chibi-tachi, nice to meet you.' He appears to be of giant blood. Speaking is not one of their noted talents. They're rather like Kabaji, but less graceful and well-behaved."
"Oh," sighed Gakuto. "So he's a magic-mutant thing. Right?"
"Something like that."
Lupin didn't know whether to be embarrassed or insulted on Hagrid's behalf. It wasn't his fault the charms worked according to sound rather than context. He quickly realized it was more worrisome that Hagrid had been identified as part giant with a single look. He wasn't that big. The normal students at Hogwarts had seen him for years without any guessing his background. Were people over seven feet tall so rare in Japan that they were automatically assumed to be other than human?
Yukimura broke the impasse by stepping forward and accepting the hand Hagrid had offered. He didn't seem to notice how his polite 'Hagrid-san' was translated into 'Sir Hagrid,' or the blush it brought to Hagrid's face.
"Ah, well, now," Hagrid mumbled, scratching at his long hair and plucking a bit at his beard. "Jus 'agrid'll do. I'm jus takin some o ya ta be fit'd, is all."
"To be fitted?" Yukimura inquired, with a sweet smile that could have put Fuji to shame.
"Aye," Hagrid nodded, still grinning a little too widely. "Tho I don 'magin ye'll be com'n fer that, see'n as ow ye've gotta right bit-o magic yerself there."
"Quite right," Lupin said smartly, remembering his schedule and feeling a bit too amused at how easily the polite captain had charmed Hagrid. It wasn't like him to laugh at his fellow non-Slytherin professors and he wasn't about to start now. "Some of you will be coming with me to get wands, the rest with Hagrid. Those of you I call will need to give your teammates your sizes so they can pick up robes for you. We'll meet back here when we're finished and go directly to the train station."
The teens looked at each other and he hurried to call names before they could complain. "With me will be Akutsu Jin, Atobe Keigo, Fuji Syusuke, Ibu Shinji, Kirihara Akaya, Oshitari Yuushi, and Yukimura Seiichi."
It was fairly obvious that the teenagers were quite attached to their so-called 'tensai' teammates. Lupin wasn't surprised by the immediate objections, especially considering two of the boys named were captains. What did catch him off-guard was the language used by a few of the more...outspoken...boys.
"Fuck that," said Gakuto. "You're not taking Yuushi anywhere. And if you try, I'll take that magic stick of yours and shove it right up your-"
Oshitari covered his partner's mouth, a small bemused smile on his face. Behind them, Shishido snorted and even Atobe looked amused.
"I don't like it," Sanada said coldly.
"No kidding," Niou scoffed quietly to his vice-captain. "Yukimura's great and all, but there's no way he can babysit Akaya all by himself."
Kirihara scowled at the two, mostly at Niou. "I'm standing right here..."
"I bet it's a trick," Shinji muttered to himself. "Trying to separate us like that. And to get magic sticks? What do we need sticks for if only a few of us need them? Are we supposed to share? Sounds pervy...and unhygienic, too..."
Tachibana coughed into a hand as the others glanced from Shinji to the uncomfortable looking Lupin. Even Sanada turned to stare at the mumbling tensai a deadpanned expression.
Akutsu filled the sudden silence with a growl of his own. "Why the hell would I need a wand? it's fucking tennis!"
Lupin opened his mouth but couldn't form the rational thought required for a response before another spoke up.
"What I want to know," drawled Atobe, "is why Tezuka's name is not on that list."
That was something Lupin could answer. He latched onto it quickly. "Professor Dumbledore made the list. If you have any questions about his choices, you're welcome to ask him once we reach Hogwarts. All I can tell you is that both groups will be perfectly safe. This is entirely routine. But we are on a schedule, so-"
"I'm going, too," said Kamio.
Lupin started with a frown. "That isn't-"
"Shinji won't go alone," Kamio interrupted, stating what he thought should be obvious. "If all you're doing is getting these wand things, it shouldn't matter if I'm there watching. It's not like you have anything to hide, right?"
Lupin noticed that Tezuka and Sanada were looking at him with expressions just as suspicious as the redhead's. He gave in with a sober, disapproving frown. "Very well, but I find this inherent suspicion insulting. I understand that you're new to the wizarding world, but I was assigned to be your chaperone by Dumbledore himself. You can trust him, and me. No professor of Hogwarts would allow harm to come to a student." At least, he added silently, not this year since the 'Defense Against Dark Arts' professor was him and not a Death-Eater or a blabbering idiot.
Yukimura smiled at him, throwing him off guard nearly as much as he had Hagrid. Lupin reminded himself to ask Dumbledore if that was a 'tensai' talent. If so, he'd need to warn the other professors to watch out for overly charming, and likely scheming, geniuses.
"Trust is earned," Yukimura said patiently. "I'm sure you understand. Now, you mentioned a schedule...?"
"Right," Lupin said slowly. He turned to where Hagrid was keeping an eye out for suspicious wizards. "Hagrid?"
"Ready, then?" Hagrid grinned. "Off we go. Jus follow me."
The players not on the list went reluctantly. Gakuto made as if to copy Kamio and tag along with the tensai group, but a look from Atobe dissuaded him. Akutsu was seething, but something, perhaps the reminder of a certain black-mailing headmaster, had him cooperating.
Olivander, the little old wizard whose shop was the source of almost all the wands in England, had been warned of their visit. He wasted no time in measuring, poking, and prodding the first volunteer. Lupin was faintly surprised that Fuji volunteered before Yukimura. Those two were definitely the most cooperative, though he still considered Fuji a troublemaker in disguise. He hadn't quite made up his mind about Yukimura yet.
After what seemed like an hour of trial and error, Kirihara was sighing in boredom, and Kamio was muttering dubiously to his teammate.
"There's gotta be a quicker way to do this," Kamio scoffed quietly, standing near the door with Shinji and those who'd already gotten their wands, as well as the ones still waiting. "He keeps talking about the types of cores and wood and sizes. There are only so many combinations. There should be a way to say, okay, the phoenix doesn't fit you, let's try one of the other two. Or, hey, mahogany doesn't like you, let's stick with the walnut. You can probably guess the sizes just by the ego. I mean, come on, did you see the one Atobe got?"
"Fuji was phoenix," muttered Shinji. "If Seigaku's phoenix, Rikkaidai should be dragon."
Fuji smiled from behind them and nodded to where a certain blue-haired captain was admiring his new wand, unconcerned that Atobe's surpassed his by a good inch in length. "Yukimura got unicorn, not dragon."
"Yeah," Kamio sniffed, glaring at the back of Kirihara's head, "but he's not like him."
Kirihara glowered from where he was waving his twelfth wand. Could they talk a little louder about him? If he didn't think Yukimura would sigh and lecture him, he'd have tried waving the wand in the gossipers' general direction. He was so bored he didn't even enjoy the way the shelves of boxed wands across the crowded shop from him exploded in a pretty little light show. After a while, even mini-explosions and random destruction wasn't fun anymore. It might have been, if Olivander had looked the least bit upset over the damage being done to his shop. If everyone who came in blew the place up, he was just like everyone else. Where was the fun in that? At least Yukimura had stopped apologizing for him every time he flash-fried another section of the shelf. The old guy probably had some great insurance, so apologizing was pointless. Why else would he have people test out the sticks inside rather than in a cleared alley or an empty room?
Lupin sighed from where he was playing guard on the door. Akutsu had approached him again, as if he'd be any more obliged to let him pass than the last four times he'd come to tower over him with that ungodly glower of his. As much as it irked him to look up to an eighteen year-old, he was not intimidated. He'd been dealing with Snape daily since the year began. There was no way a violent semi-psychopathic muggle would bother him when he had a violent semi-psychopathic Slytherin professor, and former Death Eater, making potions for him to drink.
"You'll have to wait inside," Lupin said, for the fifth time. "I know it's crowded, but we don't have time for sight-seeing. If I let you wait outside, the others will want to as well, and we can't afford one of you getting lost."
Even if he were to wait outside with them, there was no way he could keep an eye on all of them if certain people were as eager as Akutsu to disappear into the crowded shops lining the street. The teen had tried slipping off twice on the way to the wand shop. Lupin wasn't about to trust him any further than he could hex him, which, in a crowded wizard-filled street, wasn't very far.
"I apologize for the inconvenience," Lupin added, as if he thought politeness would help.
Akutsu growled, muttering under his breath about fucking horned horse-hair sticks and decapitation and old bastards who need to be beaten into a gooey pulp. He stalked a few feet away to glower at the other teens, the old shop-keeper, and the shop in general. Lupin merely watched him and wondered how happy Snape would be to get a ripe new handful of evil-minded teenagers in his House. He didn't know how much trouble a few students could cause in a month, but he had an idea Akutsu could cause plenty of trouble all by himself if he had a mind to do some damage. And he did have a mind to, as evidenced by the fact that he'd growled at him. All he'd done was block the door. He couldn't wait till someone like Malfoy insulted him. Who knew, maybe the entire Slytherin house would self-destruct and there wouldn't be anyone left to torment the rest of the houses.
"Finally!" Kirihara spat from across the room. He didn't even say thanks to Olivander before stalking over to glower at Lupin. "Can we go now?"
"I know where you can go," Kamio said, casually, but loudly enough to make the Rikkaidai teen twitch and snap a nasty glare at him. He pretended not to see it as he waved for Shinji to take his turn. "Make him give you one with the right core so you don't have to try out all the rest."
Shinji nodded and proceeded to mutter at the old man who was measuring his arms as if he were being fitted for clothing rather than a magical stick. "It should be unicorn. Tachibana-san would be dragon, and Kamio would be phoenix since he tires and then bursts out stronger. He does it to show off, but still, that fits if they were getting them. I don't fit either of those. That Kirihara got dragon like Atobe, which is what I said, and it is sort of funny that Akutsu and Oshitari both got unicorn, but that could be a fluke. I have more in common with Yukimura than Fuji since he has his eyes closed all the time, and people like that hide stuff more than I do. I guess if Hyoutei's unicorn and dragon, and Seigaku's phoenix, I have more in common with Seigaku, but it just doesn't fit. Rikkaidai's split, too, just like Hyoutei, so it makes sense that I wouldn't have the one that fits my captain, and Tachibana-san would definitely be dragon, though I guess he'd fit the phoenix, too..."
Olivander didn't say a word, not even when the first wand he handed Shinji had a dragon's heartstring as the core and the tensai went off on a mumbled rant correcting him for the mistake. Maybe he disagreed with Shinji's decision that while he might fit phoenix he definitely didn't fit dragon and so it was a waste of even more time trying those. More likely, the wise old wizard had tuned him out. Either way, he smiled pleasantly when the ordeal ended twenty minutes later and Shinji gave another five minute rant explaining that he should have listened to him in the first place because he would know what fit him best since it was him they were talking about and no one would know him better than he knew himself. Whatever went through Olivander's head, he seemed content in the knowledge that the foreigners would now be leaving his shop, and Hogwarts would be footing the bill.
Shinji shrugged at Kamio when he joined the group waiting by the door. "I would know if unicorn fit me, wouldn't I? It's not my fault it took so long."
"No one's blaming you," said Kamio.
"I am," Oshitari muttered from the other side of the group, but he did it quietly enough that the volatile redhead didn't notice. How Fudomine functioned being in constant contact with the rambling tensai was beyond him. Hyoutei had its share of unique individuals, and Jiroh's narcolepsy was bothersome, but even he was never as annoying as that continuous muttering. He swore to himself that if he got sorted into the same house as Ibu, the first spell he'd learn was a silencing charm. Hopefully he'd be able to avoid that fate by asking the talking hat to put him somewhere else. Assuming Hogwarts still used a talking hat...he hadn't spoken with his cousins in years, so maybe the magical school had talking earmuffs now. Either way...
It wasn't until later that Lupin learned he'd gotten the easy group. Hagrid was not quick to volunteer the details, but he could tell from the teens expressions that things had not gone as well as he might have hoped. All Hagrid would tell him was that while they'd gotten a robe for each boy, he didn't think they'd be worn very often. It seemed no one had informed them of the dress code and they were not happy with the idea, or with the options they'd found at the shop. Luckily that was a problem Dumbledore would have to address himself as Lupin preferred not to look for trouble.
The trip to the train station was noisy, mainly due to the sharing of stories and wands. Lupin did his best to keep the ones in the car with him from playing with the instruments. While the rules of proper wizarding students were rote for him, the Japanese teens took exception to being given sticks they couldn't do anything with. They didn't seem to appreciate that it might be difficult for the driver if random magic bursts were bouncing off the windows and the back of his head. They obeyed only because he was an adult and their captains told them to. He assumed the group in the second car obeyed because Hagrid was big enough to crumple the largest one of them into a little ball if they annoyed him enough. The unfortunate driver of the third car was mute by the time he unloaded his group, but his faintly smoking hair and red-tinged ears spoke of magical misfires. Niou and Marui had the grace to look embarrassed, and Sanada, who hadn't been in the car with them, apologized soberly for the trouble. Lupin decided Rikkaidai was not more trustworthy than the other teams, after all, even with their well-mannered captain looking over them. Yukimura didn't even wipe the smile off his face when his vice captain wilted and looked overburdened by something or other.
There was a lot of chatter on the way to the platform, but Lupin didn't pay much attention to it. He was preoccupied with the curious looks muggles were sending them as they walked through the station. Usually students came in small groups of one or two so they could sneak through the secret passage unnoticed. He was faintly surprised to find that London commuters stared more at people of foreign origin than they did at strangely dressed wizards. He thought it might have had something to do with the variety of hair colors or the blatant Japanese being spoken by Oshitari and Gakuto, who still hadn't put their wristbands back on. He ushered the group close to the narrow wall dividing the two platforms and hoped no one would notice as the teens disappeared one at a time.
For the first time since picking them up, Lupin received the shock and surprised reactions he'd have expected from normal muggle teenagers. It turned out even jaded Japanese tennis players had trouble believing in walls that could be walked through.
"I have heard of such things," Inui offered, only a little doubtful. "But it does look like a normal wall."
Eiji prodded Ryoma lightly and grinned when the boy leaned back hard to resist being pushed. "Put your hand through it, O-chibi. Go ahead."
"Why should I go first?" Ryoma scowled.
"Because you're the smallest," Eiji grinned.
"Yeah," Momoshiro agreed. "If there's a secret door there, you won't have to worry about hitting your head if it's a short door and not a tall one. Besides, if you get stuck we can push you the rest of the way through."
"Dan's the same size as me," Ryoma reminded them.
"But he's not your senpai," smiled Eiji.
"I can take the first few through myself," Lupin offered. "It's really very simple. You just walk through the middle of the wall the same way you would through a doorway. And it's more than tall enough, so there's no need to worry about striking your heads."
Niou smirked at the less than eager expressions on the other players. He patted a light hand on Kirihara's shoulder. "I vote we make Akaya go. He's the one who flashfried that driver."
"Only because you grabbed my wrist," Kirihara glowered. "It's your fault he got hit. You know I was aiming for Yanagi, damn it..."
"Yeah," Niou waved, "and I still say it would have bounced right off his shiny hair and hit Yukimura in the face. Then where would you be? Just accept the blame and walk through the wall."
"You walk through it."
"Jackal will walk through it," Marui said brightly.
"No, I won't," blurted Jackal.
"Why not? You're such a spoil sport today."
Sanada looked at his teammates, silencing them with his well practiced stare. Then he stepped forward and nodded to Lupin. "I'll go."
And he did. He walked right at the wall, completely prepared for the impact and unconcerned about the probable humility he'd suffer. He didn't even hesitate when instead of rebounding he blinked to find himself on a platform with a shiny red train waiting on the tracks. On the other side of the invisible doorway, his teammates gaped and wondered if Yanagi would replace him as vice captain if he'd just been teleported to some alien dimension. Kirihara jumped at that and suggested Yanagi go through next. Either he'd be as safe as Sanada was on the other side of the wall, or they'd both be gone and he'd only have Yukimura to defeat in order to be the best player on the team.
Things went rather smoothly from there. Yukimura and Fuji volunteered to go at the same time, with Yuuta following, along with his teammates. Tezuka sent the rest of his team through before going himself, mostly to make sure no one - like Momo and Ryoma - were left unwatched to cause trouble. With Tezuka gone, Atobe couldn't allow himself to be shown up. Once Hyoutei was through the wall, Lupin found it quite simple to sneak the others through a few at a time. Akutsu appeared ready to refuse until a small hand caught his and Dan tugged him through, Sengoku adding a two-handed push from behind to speed them along. Lupin was left to wonder how the little boy had managed that without getting his arm ripped off.
Once they were all settled on the train, Lupin steeled himself for making constant rounds. Dumbledore had assured him the bus wouldn't be stopped by demontors this time, but he thought it wise to keep an eye on the teenagers. He wasn't sure exactly what he was afraid they'd do if he left them alone for too long. They hadn't bickered very much about compartments, and they were surely tired by now. He simply couldn't shake the feeling he had that even the individual teams were made up of mixed Houses. He was suddenly very glad Dumbledore had chosen to limit the number of wands among them. Even if Atobe was the only one who knew the names of spells, there was plenty of damage to be done with random wand wavings. Lupin was too close to completing his chaperone duty to lose one of the kids now.
Despite his decision to keep an eye on them by making rounds of the different compartments, Lupin ended up sitting with the St. Rudolph trio after only checking two compartments. He'd had a long day. He really didn't have the patience to lecture the pair he'd found snogging in the second compartment. The fact that they were doing it with Jiroh snoring on the seat across from them told him it was too commonplace to get upset over. And Oshitari was quite reasonable when he remarked that knocking was a universal sign of politeness. So Lupin simply turned on his heel and left them to it. Dumbledore could sort that one out himself.
.-.
TBC
Next up, the sorting, introductions, and rule breaking.
Author’s Notes: There's some hopping in this part and little less humor. Another reminder - I'm playing light with HP canon, meaning my depiction of things is the way they are in this fic. Corrections for spells and character names are welcome, but I'm not overly concerned with researching canon facts.
Character List: I have a simple webpage up with a list of the PoT characters, a picture of each, and pictures of the people each is paired with in this fic. If you've had trouble putting a face to a name, this should help.
www.geocities.com/pot9365/index.html
Amvs: Fans of Tezuka and Fuji, as a couple or as friends, are recommended to check my amv for the pairing set to Bush's Chemicals Between Us.
www.animemusicvideos.org/members/members_videoinfo.php?v=91143
Main Pairings: OishixEiji, KamioxShinji, OshitarixGakuto, SanadaxYukimura
Minor Pairings (for this part): Yukimura-Hagrid
Warnings: shonen ai, language, possible humor
Author: Arigatomina
Email: arigatoumina (a) hotmail . com
Website: www . geocities . com / arigatomina
Magic of Tennis
Part 4: Woes of the Chaperone II
The jump went as smoothly as Dumbledore had promised it would. Ernie, who Lupin had realized wasn't nearly as surly as he'd first assumed, followed his instructions without complaint. By the time the bus made its jump, Lupin no longer had any fear of being abandoned by the reluctant driver. They both knew it couldn't be helped.
The Knight Bus typically took one hundred mile hops to shorten long trips. That was a guaranteed way to fit a week's travel into a few hours. While the leaps required quite a bit of magic, there was rarely any disturbance caused to the surrounding muggle neighborhoods. Unfortunately for them, the jumps were easily tracked by any wizard interested in the bus's itinerary. With a convicted murderer on the loose, one more than capable of locating the bus via a public jump, they had to deal with a little inconvenience. True, there was no reason for Sirius Black to target a bus-load of Japanese muggles, but lack of a compelling reason hadn't stopped him from killing innocent bystanders in the past. Dumbledore was only taking the necessary precautions.
The bus stopped in the middle of an old cement bridge on the outskirts of a long-abandoned labor district that had once hidden two dozen wizard families, back when the Ministry still had hopes of establishing an Asian branch. Lupin and Ernie exited the bus on the captains' promise that no one would get out of his seat. Dumbledore had scouted the bridge himself, so it only took a moment to activate the magic that would turn the upper layer of gravel and clay into a port key. Ernie kept both hands curled around the window guard of the bus, while Lupin retreated to the dirt road. The moment the port key was activated Ernie, the bus he'd been 'holding,' and the packed layer of clay on the bridge vanished. Lupin went to work masking the magic that remained. Once the traces were faint enough to have been left by the former occupants of the area, he disapparated to rejoin his group.
He found the bus sitting placidly next to a small inn, fields and brush surrounding it. The inn, a simple two-story cottage-like structure made to look like a thicket of thorns and boulders to any muggles wandering by, was the only structure in sight. It was the perfect place to take a quick break before making the rest of the trip. The potential danger and guaranteed inconvenience would only increase once they were traveling through London's dense population of muggles and hidden wizards.
Ernie retreated to the driver's seat while the teenagers climbed off the bus. A few quick words to the middle-aged man who ran the inn, and Lupin ushered the players inside. They took the available tables without a whisper of the bickering they'd displayed when boarding the bus. Even Atobe was silent, despite his intense disapproval of the shabby accommodations. It wasn't until Lupin took a seat that he realized the teens were staring at him in visible reproach.
Atobe sent one slow look at the other players, his expression making it clear that he fancied himself the spokesman of the group. He leveled a smoldering and resentful stare at Lupin. "As I recall, you chose that mode of 'jumping' to avoid frightening us. Did it occur to you that using so much of this 'magic' at once might possibly be painful to those of us who are unfamiliar yet exceedingly sensitive to magic?"
Lupin blinked quickly and glanced over the teens more carefully. Sure enough, the ones Dumbledore had identified as 'tensai' were paler than usual. All of Atobe's teammates were glaring at him, save the bland Kabaji, and Oshitari, who had his glasses off and was inspecting them with a vague frown. Akutsu was giving him a disturbing smile, as if to say it would take more than that to best him, and Fuji, who'd been relieved to find that Yuuta wasn't as bothered as he'd been, had his eyes open in a cold stare. Lupin blinked again.
"My sincere apologies," said Lupin. "It's unheard-of for children with high magical potential to be entirely unfamiliar with magic. European students simply don't turn down invitations to magical schools. I didn't consider what a shock it might be, beyond the expected surprise at witnessing powerful magic. Using the bus as we did should have shielded you from the brunt of the magic..."
"In the future," Atobe said cooly, "I suggest you test your hypothesis before acting on it. Unless a better mode of transportation is devised, Hyoutei will be returning to Japan by plane."
Atobe turned his attention to Tezuka, who was seated at the table to his left. His manner was entirely serious, but still quite the 'king bestowing a gift on his subjects' in the lofty way he waved his hand. "I suppose I can arrange to have your team join us, Tezuka, out of consideration for a worthy rival."
"That won't be necessary," said Tezuka.
He didn't so much as glance at the ridiculously wealthy captain. His eyes were still locked on Lupin. He'd been sitting right next to Fuji during that 'jump' and as much as the tensai went out of his way to annoy him, that didn't mean he appreciated seeing him cringe the way he had.
"This school will be filled with magic," Tezuka said soberly. "If our members suffer simply by being exposed to it, this endeavor will be cancelled immediately."
"It won't be like that," muttered Oshitari, before Lupin could respond. "Hogwarts is geared toward the uninitiated magic-user, with safeguards in place to keep the advanced students separate from the beginning classes. Tolerance levels should rise quickly enough. I doubt we'd have the same reaction on the return trip, after being slowly exposed to magic over the next month."
Atobe looked as if he wanted to argue with that, or dismiss it altogether. Lupin was surprised and a tad suspicious as to how the tensai knew so much about the school, but he quickly nodded in agreement. He started to reassure Tezuka, only to be cut off again.
"I believe he's correct," said Inui, who had considerable experience with rapidly adapting tolerance levels. It had taken him almost three years to make an Inui-juice powerful enough to knock out Fuji, and even the younger members of his team had adapted so quickly he'd been increasing the potency every week to keep them from building an immunity.
"This trip was a shock to the system," he said. "With prolonged exposure at a more tolerable level, adaptation should be rapid."
"We'll take every precaution," Lupin promised. "As for your return trip, I'll speak to the Headmaster the moment we get to Hogwarts. I'm sure we can arrange to have you flown back."
He couldn't tell how well he'd placated them, but at least a few stopped glaring at him. By the time they settled to eating their packed lunches, soft conversation had started up here and there. It was a weak semblance of normality compared to the chaos on the bus, but it was much preferable to that unnerving silence.
He waited to make his rounds until the teens were distracted by their lunches. He wasn't sure what to make of their adverse reactions to the transfer, but since there appeared to be no lasting harm, he didn't feel it necessary to contact Dumbledore immediately. They were on a schedule.
The first item of business was making certain the foreigners would be able to communicate. Dumbledore had proposed the use of wristbands enchanted with a simple translation charm. Since most of the teens already had bands to support their wrists when they played, they were less likely to forget the items and find themselves lost and unable to speak the language. Lupin, who'd never actually watched a tennis match, took it for granted that the Headmaster knew what he was talking about.
Lupin hesitated at the Hyoutei table, where his offer of the bands was met by a resentful glare from the little redhead seated across from him. He explained again how important and useful the bands would be, and the redhead leaned over the table to wave a pair of glasses in his face.
"If your magic crap can make a wrist-band talk," said Gakuto, "you can fix these."
"The bands won't actually talk," Lupin said weakly. "They're more like-"
Shishido interrupted, rolling his eyes at Gakuto and his silent partner. "It's not like he actually needs them, anyway."
"So what?" Gakuto scowled. "You don't need your cap, but I bet you'd be a little pissed if some wizard came and ripped it to pieces for no reason. Why should we do anything he asks when he tears up our stuff?"
Atobe plucked up one of the black wristbands with a perfectly manicured hand and a distasteful expression on his face. His simple movement silenced his bickering teammates. He looked from the band, held between two fingers like a piece of dirty laundry, over to Lupin. "A simple reparo would do the trick, to make up for the uncomfortable jump responsible for the damage."
Lupin blinked in surprise, and Atobe looked double haughty.
"Just because I prefer not to associate with that branch of my family doesn't mean I'm ignorant of the basics."
Lupin didn't respond to that taunt, but he had a sudden epiphany that Atobe was likely a member of the Slytherin line. It was the way he spoke as if he could remark on the weather and have it come out as the most intelligent and creative insult ever thought up. He just knew Slytherin would welcome him with open arms. He quickly repaired the glasses and left the teens to try on the bands with varying degrees of grudging resignation or, in Atobe's case, profound disapproval.
He was quite relieved to find none of the other groups were nearly as insulting. One of the boys from Rikkaidai did glare at him with a little more red in his eyes than Lupin thought human, but as the boy didn't attack him it could have been worse. His soft-spoken captain, Yukimura, was the epitome of grace, which helped to make up for the promise of slow and painful violence in Kirihara's red-tinged glare. He even got a word of thanks from the captain of Fudomine since none of them had brought their own bands. It seemed Dumbledore had been right to choose the accessories as the targets for the translation charms. The bands had a double use for tennis players.
There were no more headaches, at least, not magically induced headaches, for the rest of the trip. Now that they were in England, there were far fewer jolts and therefore less complaining from the passengers. They were well within range to make distance jumps, so the actual travel time was under an hour. That was very good because, as Ryoma was quick to point out, the pets hadn't received any attention when the humans had made their stop. He spent the last leg of the journey above with Kaidoh and Inui, the latter receiving a funny look from his captain when he joined the two cat-owners. It seemed he'd managed to sneak his owl aboard without his captain noticing it.
Ernie took off the moment they finished unloading the bus, not offering to help them carry their luggage into the inn. Lupin didn't hesitate over that. The cars would be arriving to take them to the train station in less than two hours and they still had to get robes and wands. He was just glad Hagrid was waiting for them on the other side of the seemingly closed alley behind the inn. The teens were so unimpressed by the sight of the brick wall moving in response to his wand-tapping that he was surprised by their reaction to the sight of the half-giant. It might have had something to do with the fact that Hagrid, who towered like a shaggy mountain-man a few heads above Kabaji, had arms the size of a normal person's thighs. Lupin supposed he could appear a little intimidating at first sight.
Jiroh, who'd remained conspicuously awake and quietly lurking in Kabaji's shadow, gaped and fell over from craning his head back so far. He had quite a bit of company in his shocked state. Even the captains hung back and stared up at the inhumanly tall man with the hairy and too-large head. Hagrid just grinned and greeted them with English so mangled Lupin wondered if the language charms would translate it. His silent question was answered when Eiji cocked his head with a baffled look.
"Did he just call us guns...?" Eiji blinked.
"Me Chuu?" Gakuto was saying, with a confused look at Oshitari. "Is Chuu supposed to be his name? Who talks like that?"
"He called us young-uns," Ryoma was saying to his teammate, "not 'guns over there.' Young people. It makes more sense if you listen to what he says and not what the band makes you think he said."
"But I'm no good at English!" Eiji protested.
"You'll have trouble, then," Ryoma shrugged, not quite smirking when the redhead promptly whined to Oishi that he was showing off.
Oshitari had already removed his wristband. He took Gakuto's as well and translated for him. "He said, 'Oi, chibi-tachi, nice to meet you.' He appears to be of giant blood. Speaking is not one of their noted talents. They're rather like Kabaji, but less graceful and well-behaved."
"Oh," sighed Gakuto. "So he's a magic-mutant thing. Right?"
"Something like that."
Lupin didn't know whether to be embarrassed or insulted on Hagrid's behalf. It wasn't his fault the charms worked according to sound rather than context. He quickly realized it was more worrisome that Hagrid had been identified as part giant with a single look. He wasn't that big. The normal students at Hogwarts had seen him for years without any guessing his background. Were people over seven feet tall so rare in Japan that they were automatically assumed to be other than human?
Yukimura broke the impasse by stepping forward and accepting the hand Hagrid had offered. He didn't seem to notice how his polite 'Hagrid-san' was translated into 'Sir Hagrid,' or the blush it brought to Hagrid's face.
"Ah, well, now," Hagrid mumbled, scratching at his long hair and plucking a bit at his beard. "Jus 'agrid'll do. I'm jus takin some o ya ta be fit'd, is all."
"To be fitted?" Yukimura inquired, with a sweet smile that could have put Fuji to shame.
"Aye," Hagrid nodded, still grinning a little too widely. "Tho I don 'magin ye'll be com'n fer that, see'n as ow ye've gotta right bit-o magic yerself there."
"Quite right," Lupin said smartly, remembering his schedule and feeling a bit too amused at how easily the polite captain had charmed Hagrid. It wasn't like him to laugh at his fellow non-Slytherin professors and he wasn't about to start now. "Some of you will be coming with me to get wands, the rest with Hagrid. Those of you I call will need to give your teammates your sizes so they can pick up robes for you. We'll meet back here when we're finished and go directly to the train station."
The teens looked at each other and he hurried to call names before they could complain. "With me will be Akutsu Jin, Atobe Keigo, Fuji Syusuke, Ibu Shinji, Kirihara Akaya, Oshitari Yuushi, and Yukimura Seiichi."
It was fairly obvious that the teenagers were quite attached to their so-called 'tensai' teammates. Lupin wasn't surprised by the immediate objections, especially considering two of the boys named were captains. What did catch him off-guard was the language used by a few of the more...outspoken...boys.
"Fuck that," said Gakuto. "You're not taking Yuushi anywhere. And if you try, I'll take that magic stick of yours and shove it right up your-"
Oshitari covered his partner's mouth, a small bemused smile on his face. Behind them, Shishido snorted and even Atobe looked amused.
"I don't like it," Sanada said coldly.
"No kidding," Niou scoffed quietly to his vice-captain. "Yukimura's great and all, but there's no way he can babysit Akaya all by himself."
Kirihara scowled at the two, mostly at Niou. "I'm standing right here..."
"I bet it's a trick," Shinji muttered to himself. "Trying to separate us like that. And to get magic sticks? What do we need sticks for if only a few of us need them? Are we supposed to share? Sounds pervy...and unhygienic, too..."
Tachibana coughed into a hand as the others glanced from Shinji to the uncomfortable looking Lupin. Even Sanada turned to stare at the mumbling tensai a deadpanned expression.
Akutsu filled the sudden silence with a growl of his own. "Why the hell would I need a wand? it's fucking tennis!"
Lupin opened his mouth but couldn't form the rational thought required for a response before another spoke up.
"What I want to know," drawled Atobe, "is why Tezuka's name is not on that list."
That was something Lupin could answer. He latched onto it quickly. "Professor Dumbledore made the list. If you have any questions about his choices, you're welcome to ask him once we reach Hogwarts. All I can tell you is that both groups will be perfectly safe. This is entirely routine. But we are on a schedule, so-"
"I'm going, too," said Kamio.
Lupin started with a frown. "That isn't-"
"Shinji won't go alone," Kamio interrupted, stating what he thought should be obvious. "If all you're doing is getting these wand things, it shouldn't matter if I'm there watching. It's not like you have anything to hide, right?"
Lupin noticed that Tezuka and Sanada were looking at him with expressions just as suspicious as the redhead's. He gave in with a sober, disapproving frown. "Very well, but I find this inherent suspicion insulting. I understand that you're new to the wizarding world, but I was assigned to be your chaperone by Dumbledore himself. You can trust him, and me. No professor of Hogwarts would allow harm to come to a student." At least, he added silently, not this year since the 'Defense Against Dark Arts' professor was him and not a Death-Eater or a blabbering idiot.
Yukimura smiled at him, throwing him off guard nearly as much as he had Hagrid. Lupin reminded himself to ask Dumbledore if that was a 'tensai' talent. If so, he'd need to warn the other professors to watch out for overly charming, and likely scheming, geniuses.
"Trust is earned," Yukimura said patiently. "I'm sure you understand. Now, you mentioned a schedule...?"
"Right," Lupin said slowly. He turned to where Hagrid was keeping an eye out for suspicious wizards. "Hagrid?"
"Ready, then?" Hagrid grinned. "Off we go. Jus follow me."
The players not on the list went reluctantly. Gakuto made as if to copy Kamio and tag along with the tensai group, but a look from Atobe dissuaded him. Akutsu was seething, but something, perhaps the reminder of a certain black-mailing headmaster, had him cooperating.
Olivander, the little old wizard whose shop was the source of almost all the wands in England, had been warned of their visit. He wasted no time in measuring, poking, and prodding the first volunteer. Lupin was faintly surprised that Fuji volunteered before Yukimura. Those two were definitely the most cooperative, though he still considered Fuji a troublemaker in disguise. He hadn't quite made up his mind about Yukimura yet.
After what seemed like an hour of trial and error, Kirihara was sighing in boredom, and Kamio was muttering dubiously to his teammate.
"There's gotta be a quicker way to do this," Kamio scoffed quietly, standing near the door with Shinji and those who'd already gotten their wands, as well as the ones still waiting. "He keeps talking about the types of cores and wood and sizes. There are only so many combinations. There should be a way to say, okay, the phoenix doesn't fit you, let's try one of the other two. Or, hey, mahogany doesn't like you, let's stick with the walnut. You can probably guess the sizes just by the ego. I mean, come on, did you see the one Atobe got?"
"Fuji was phoenix," muttered Shinji. "If Seigaku's phoenix, Rikkaidai should be dragon."
Fuji smiled from behind them and nodded to where a certain blue-haired captain was admiring his new wand, unconcerned that Atobe's surpassed his by a good inch in length. "Yukimura got unicorn, not dragon."
"Yeah," Kamio sniffed, glaring at the back of Kirihara's head, "but he's not like him."
Kirihara glowered from where he was waving his twelfth wand. Could they talk a little louder about him? If he didn't think Yukimura would sigh and lecture him, he'd have tried waving the wand in the gossipers' general direction. He was so bored he didn't even enjoy the way the shelves of boxed wands across the crowded shop from him exploded in a pretty little light show. After a while, even mini-explosions and random destruction wasn't fun anymore. It might have been, if Olivander had looked the least bit upset over the damage being done to his shop. If everyone who came in blew the place up, he was just like everyone else. Where was the fun in that? At least Yukimura had stopped apologizing for him every time he flash-fried another section of the shelf. The old guy probably had some great insurance, so apologizing was pointless. Why else would he have people test out the sticks inside rather than in a cleared alley or an empty room?
Lupin sighed from where he was playing guard on the door. Akutsu had approached him again, as if he'd be any more obliged to let him pass than the last four times he'd come to tower over him with that ungodly glower of his. As much as it irked him to look up to an eighteen year-old, he was not intimidated. He'd been dealing with Snape daily since the year began. There was no way a violent semi-psychopathic muggle would bother him when he had a violent semi-psychopathic Slytherin professor, and former Death Eater, making potions for him to drink.
"You'll have to wait inside," Lupin said, for the fifth time. "I know it's crowded, but we don't have time for sight-seeing. If I let you wait outside, the others will want to as well, and we can't afford one of you getting lost."
Even if he were to wait outside with them, there was no way he could keep an eye on all of them if certain people were as eager as Akutsu to disappear into the crowded shops lining the street. The teen had tried slipping off twice on the way to the wand shop. Lupin wasn't about to trust him any further than he could hex him, which, in a crowded wizard-filled street, wasn't very far.
"I apologize for the inconvenience," Lupin added, as if he thought politeness would help.
Akutsu growled, muttering under his breath about fucking horned horse-hair sticks and decapitation and old bastards who need to be beaten into a gooey pulp. He stalked a few feet away to glower at the other teens, the old shop-keeper, and the shop in general. Lupin merely watched him and wondered how happy Snape would be to get a ripe new handful of evil-minded teenagers in his House. He didn't know how much trouble a few students could cause in a month, but he had an idea Akutsu could cause plenty of trouble all by himself if he had a mind to do some damage. And he did have a mind to, as evidenced by the fact that he'd growled at him. All he'd done was block the door. He couldn't wait till someone like Malfoy insulted him. Who knew, maybe the entire Slytherin house would self-destruct and there wouldn't be anyone left to torment the rest of the houses.
"Finally!" Kirihara spat from across the room. He didn't even say thanks to Olivander before stalking over to glower at Lupin. "Can we go now?"
"I know where you can go," Kamio said, casually, but loudly enough to make the Rikkaidai teen twitch and snap a nasty glare at him. He pretended not to see it as he waved for Shinji to take his turn. "Make him give you one with the right core so you don't have to try out all the rest."
Shinji nodded and proceeded to mutter at the old man who was measuring his arms as if he were being fitted for clothing rather than a magical stick. "It should be unicorn. Tachibana-san would be dragon, and Kamio would be phoenix since he tires and then bursts out stronger. He does it to show off, but still, that fits if they were getting them. I don't fit either of those. That Kirihara got dragon like Atobe, which is what I said, and it is sort of funny that Akutsu and Oshitari both got unicorn, but that could be a fluke. I have more in common with Yukimura than Fuji since he has his eyes closed all the time, and people like that hide stuff more than I do. I guess if Hyoutei's unicorn and dragon, and Seigaku's phoenix, I have more in common with Seigaku, but it just doesn't fit. Rikkaidai's split, too, just like Hyoutei, so it makes sense that I wouldn't have the one that fits my captain, and Tachibana-san would definitely be dragon, though I guess he'd fit the phoenix, too..."
Olivander didn't say a word, not even when the first wand he handed Shinji had a dragon's heartstring as the core and the tensai went off on a mumbled rant correcting him for the mistake. Maybe he disagreed with Shinji's decision that while he might fit phoenix he definitely didn't fit dragon and so it was a waste of even more time trying those. More likely, the wise old wizard had tuned him out. Either way, he smiled pleasantly when the ordeal ended twenty minutes later and Shinji gave another five minute rant explaining that he should have listened to him in the first place because he would know what fit him best since it was him they were talking about and no one would know him better than he knew himself. Whatever went through Olivander's head, he seemed content in the knowledge that the foreigners would now be leaving his shop, and Hogwarts would be footing the bill.
Shinji shrugged at Kamio when he joined the group waiting by the door. "I would know if unicorn fit me, wouldn't I? It's not my fault it took so long."
"No one's blaming you," said Kamio.
"I am," Oshitari muttered from the other side of the group, but he did it quietly enough that the volatile redhead didn't notice. How Fudomine functioned being in constant contact with the rambling tensai was beyond him. Hyoutei had its share of unique individuals, and Jiroh's narcolepsy was bothersome, but even he was never as annoying as that continuous muttering. He swore to himself that if he got sorted into the same house as Ibu, the first spell he'd learn was a silencing charm. Hopefully he'd be able to avoid that fate by asking the talking hat to put him somewhere else. Assuming Hogwarts still used a talking hat...he hadn't spoken with his cousins in years, so maybe the magical school had talking earmuffs now. Either way...
It wasn't until later that Lupin learned he'd gotten the easy group. Hagrid was not quick to volunteer the details, but he could tell from the teens expressions that things had not gone as well as he might have hoped. All Hagrid would tell him was that while they'd gotten a robe for each boy, he didn't think they'd be worn very often. It seemed no one had informed them of the dress code and they were not happy with the idea, or with the options they'd found at the shop. Luckily that was a problem Dumbledore would have to address himself as Lupin preferred not to look for trouble.
The trip to the train station was noisy, mainly due to the sharing of stories and wands. Lupin did his best to keep the ones in the car with him from playing with the instruments. While the rules of proper wizarding students were rote for him, the Japanese teens took exception to being given sticks they couldn't do anything with. They didn't seem to appreciate that it might be difficult for the driver if random magic bursts were bouncing off the windows and the back of his head. They obeyed only because he was an adult and their captains told them to. He assumed the group in the second car obeyed because Hagrid was big enough to crumple the largest one of them into a little ball if they annoyed him enough. The unfortunate driver of the third car was mute by the time he unloaded his group, but his faintly smoking hair and red-tinged ears spoke of magical misfires. Niou and Marui had the grace to look embarrassed, and Sanada, who hadn't been in the car with them, apologized soberly for the trouble. Lupin decided Rikkaidai was not more trustworthy than the other teams, after all, even with their well-mannered captain looking over them. Yukimura didn't even wipe the smile off his face when his vice captain wilted and looked overburdened by something or other.
There was a lot of chatter on the way to the platform, but Lupin didn't pay much attention to it. He was preoccupied with the curious looks muggles were sending them as they walked through the station. Usually students came in small groups of one or two so they could sneak through the secret passage unnoticed. He was faintly surprised to find that London commuters stared more at people of foreign origin than they did at strangely dressed wizards. He thought it might have had something to do with the variety of hair colors or the blatant Japanese being spoken by Oshitari and Gakuto, who still hadn't put their wristbands back on. He ushered the group close to the narrow wall dividing the two platforms and hoped no one would notice as the teens disappeared one at a time.
For the first time since picking them up, Lupin received the shock and surprised reactions he'd have expected from normal muggle teenagers. It turned out even jaded Japanese tennis players had trouble believing in walls that could be walked through.
"I have heard of such things," Inui offered, only a little doubtful. "But it does look like a normal wall."
Eiji prodded Ryoma lightly and grinned when the boy leaned back hard to resist being pushed. "Put your hand through it, O-chibi. Go ahead."
"Why should I go first?" Ryoma scowled.
"Because you're the smallest," Eiji grinned.
"Yeah," Momoshiro agreed. "If there's a secret door there, you won't have to worry about hitting your head if it's a short door and not a tall one. Besides, if you get stuck we can push you the rest of the way through."
"Dan's the same size as me," Ryoma reminded them.
"But he's not your senpai," smiled Eiji.
"I can take the first few through myself," Lupin offered. "It's really very simple. You just walk through the middle of the wall the same way you would through a doorway. And it's more than tall enough, so there's no need to worry about striking your heads."
Niou smirked at the less than eager expressions on the other players. He patted a light hand on Kirihara's shoulder. "I vote we make Akaya go. He's the one who flashfried that driver."
"Only because you grabbed my wrist," Kirihara glowered. "It's your fault he got hit. You know I was aiming for Yanagi, damn it..."
"Yeah," Niou waved, "and I still say it would have bounced right off his shiny hair and hit Yukimura in the face. Then where would you be? Just accept the blame and walk through the wall."
"You walk through it."
"Jackal will walk through it," Marui said brightly.
"No, I won't," blurted Jackal.
"Why not? You're such a spoil sport today."
Sanada looked at his teammates, silencing them with his well practiced stare. Then he stepped forward and nodded to Lupin. "I'll go."
And he did. He walked right at the wall, completely prepared for the impact and unconcerned about the probable humility he'd suffer. He didn't even hesitate when instead of rebounding he blinked to find himself on a platform with a shiny red train waiting on the tracks. On the other side of the invisible doorway, his teammates gaped and wondered if Yanagi would replace him as vice captain if he'd just been teleported to some alien dimension. Kirihara jumped at that and suggested Yanagi go through next. Either he'd be as safe as Sanada was on the other side of the wall, or they'd both be gone and he'd only have Yukimura to defeat in order to be the best player on the team.
Things went rather smoothly from there. Yukimura and Fuji volunteered to go at the same time, with Yuuta following, along with his teammates. Tezuka sent the rest of his team through before going himself, mostly to make sure no one - like Momo and Ryoma - were left unwatched to cause trouble. With Tezuka gone, Atobe couldn't allow himself to be shown up. Once Hyoutei was through the wall, Lupin found it quite simple to sneak the others through a few at a time. Akutsu appeared ready to refuse until a small hand caught his and Dan tugged him through, Sengoku adding a two-handed push from behind to speed them along. Lupin was left to wonder how the little boy had managed that without getting his arm ripped off.
Once they were all settled on the train, Lupin steeled himself for making constant rounds. Dumbledore had assured him the bus wouldn't be stopped by demontors this time, but he thought it wise to keep an eye on the teenagers. He wasn't sure exactly what he was afraid they'd do if he left them alone for too long. They hadn't bickered very much about compartments, and they were surely tired by now. He simply couldn't shake the feeling he had that even the individual teams were made up of mixed Houses. He was suddenly very glad Dumbledore had chosen to limit the number of wands among them. Even if Atobe was the only one who knew the names of spells, there was plenty of damage to be done with random wand wavings. Lupin was too close to completing his chaperone duty to lose one of the kids now.
Despite his decision to keep an eye on them by making rounds of the different compartments, Lupin ended up sitting with the St. Rudolph trio after only checking two compartments. He'd had a long day. He really didn't have the patience to lecture the pair he'd found snogging in the second compartment. The fact that they were doing it with Jiroh snoring on the seat across from them told him it was too commonplace to get upset over. And Oshitari was quite reasonable when he remarked that knocking was a universal sign of politeness. So Lupin simply turned on his heel and left them to it. Dumbledore could sort that one out himself.
.-.
TBC
Next up, the sorting, introductions, and rule breaking.