Chapter Text
At precisely 10:02 the next morning, Sirius Black appeared in Number Twelve Grimmauld Place with a loud crack.
Saki jumped back from where she’d been standing with an undignified yelp. Curse wizards for teleporting everywhere without warning.
Sky immediately started laughing. “You’re like a scared kitten!”
Saki glared at him. “I’ll show you a vicious tiger-”
She leapt forward, only to fly halfway into the air. Something was holding her ankle, suspending her there. She looked up as best she could, finding . . . nothing. No one was there. She flipped her head back down, noticing that Sirius was still holding his wand.
“You!” She snarled. “Put me down!”
“Only if you promise not to attack Sky,” Sirius said. “You’re overreacting—he was only teasing you.”
“Only?!” Saki tried moving her ankle, but it wouldn’t budge. “He insulted me and-”
Sky had the gall to look at her. “Sorry, Saki.” His smile was teasing. “I didn’t know you were so sensitive.”
She growled at him; Sirius shot Sky a look and flicked his wand.
“Wait no-” Now, Sky, too, hung in the hair, suspended by one ankle. “Okay! Okay! I’m sorry!” He held his hands up. Or down, given the fact that he was upside down. “I just thought it was funny!”
“It wasn’t.”
Sirius looked at both of them. “I don’t want a sound from either of you until we’re ready to leave for the train.” Saki opened her mouth to speak, but he continued. “And if I hear that you attacked Sky after I let you go, Saki, I’ll be taking you to Hogwarts myself. I’m sure Professor McGonagall will adore the impression you will make on the new first-years of your house.”
She sighed. Sirius was right (to an extent). They’d waste time if Saki fought Sky now. She resolved to hit him later, once they were on the train and out of Sirius’ eyesight. “Okay.”
Sirius (gently) let her and Sky down, and she left for her bedroom with a huff. Stupid boys. Stupid Sky. Stupid wizards for teleporting everywhere without warning her about it. Stupid stupid stupid.
When she burst into her bedroom, Saki realized that she had nothing to do since she had already meticulously packed all her stuff the previous evening. She checked the clock at her bedside and, upon realizing that she still had about thirty minutes before they were due to leave for the train station, groaned and threw herself on her bed. Whyyyyyy had she been stupid enough to pack everything the night before? She was obviously going to get into trouble the next morning!
Outside her closed door, she could hear Estela calling out to see if anyone had seen her copy of Spellman’s Syllabary. Apparently, she’d taken it out the afternoon before and hadn’t seen it since. Saki thought this was unfortunate seeing as, to her knowledge, every Hogwarts age resident of Number Twelve was set to take Ancient Runes and, thus, every Hogwarts age resident of Number Twelve owned a copy if Spellman’s Syllabary. Saki’s happened to be resting at the bottom of the piled books in her trunk, which she had shoved inside her backpack.
But, seeing as she couldn’t talk because of Sirius’ orders (and definitely couldn’t help Estela find her book without speaking), Saki resigned herself to sitting in her room. No, she was not sulking. Not at all. Definitely not. She was just biding her time. She was only waiting for her opportunity to hit Sky upside the head for insulting her. Definitely not sulking.
“Are you coming? We need to go.”
Saki looked up; Estela stood at her door, eyes wide and concerned. Her messenger bag rested on her hip—she was ready to go. With an eye roll, Saki grabbed her own bag and walked out of her room, slamming the door shut behind her.
Only Alex was downstairs. Sky, Hari, and Sirius were nowhere to be found.
Saki turned to Estela and decided to risk speaking. “Seriously? They won’t be here for another three hours.”
“FALSEHOOD!” Sky appeared on the staircase and attempted to slide down the banister. He fell backwards.
Estela shrieked in surprise. Sirius’ wand was out and in an instant, Sky was, once again, suspended from his ankle.
Saki huffed and rolled her eyes. “How do you even function?” she muttered.
Sirius shot her a look. “What was that?”
Saki shrugged; Estela looked at her, eyebrows furrowed in concern. “What’s going on?”
Saki glared at her as Sirius explained: “She’s under threat of being dragged to Hogwarts by me and dropped off in the middle of the Welcome Feast if she misbehaves.”
“What did you do?”
“She threatened to fight Sky. And don’t defend yourself,” Sirius added at Saki’s open mouth. “You know exactly why I’m doing this.” He paused. “And it’s not because I’m evil.” Saki made a fist. “And don’t think you’ll fight me, because then I’ll drag you to Hogwarts like I said I’d do, even if you don’t talk.”
How the Hell was he reading her so easily? Saki resigned herself to relaxing her stance (only to keep what ounce of respect she had left).
Sirius let Sky down (again) and began Apparating them one by one to Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters (what a stupid name). Saki’s plans to get back at Sky were thwarted by Sirius leaving her with Alex, meaning she couldn’t do anything. He was even smart enough to take her before Alex, meaning she was never alone.
Saki wanted to fight. She wanted to kick and scream and absolutely destroy Sirius, because she knew that if she got her hands on his wand, it’d be game over for him. She’d been taking down opponents much taller than her on the tatami since she was twelve (at home, where she belonged). He couldn’t fight her. No one could.
So, of course, the second the train left the station behind it, Saki turned to Sky and slapped his upper arm.
“Hey!”
“That’s for insulting me.” Saki turned to the door to the compartment. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
~~~~
There wasn’t much to say about the train ride to Hogwarts. Honestly, there never was. The train ride was boring. All Saki, Neville, and Hermione did was catch up and then settle to do their own thing, like read a book or watch the scenery.
Perks of having made friends with people who weren’t overly social. Saki could get stuff done, like a set of pages in the English textbook she’d brought with her. After all, Saki would rather lose an ice dance competition with Hiroto (which had happened only once, and then never again) than to find herself lagging behind everyone else in her language skills. Or her math skills. Or even science. She was better than that.
She snapped her book shut as the train began to slow, and then pulled her robes (which had been stuffed at the top of her backpack) over her head. And, boom, she was a witch now. So easy. And she could wear pants under her robes.
Hermione stared at her. “You’re going to suffocate in all of those layers.”
Saki scoffed. “No, I’m not.”
She didn’t say anything else. She didn’t need to: her point was clear. Instead, she put her book into her trunk (now pulled out of her backpack) and slammed the lid shut.
“You’ll be dry, maybe.” Neville eyed the windows, which showed nothing but darkness and raindrops. “It doesn’t look that great outside. Cold, too.”
Hermione pulled her wand out. “We should cast Warming Charms.”
Saki snorted. “Is there a drying one, too?”
“We haven’t officially learned a drying one, yet, but I know one. And there’s a spell to make our clothes waterproof.”
“Why isn’t it already on our clothes?” Saki asked. “Magic could resolve that problem.”
“Spells need to be cast on clothing one at a time, Saki.” Hermione tucked her book into her trunk. “They’re weak if they’re cast on cloth or thread instead. And the permanent spells take more experience and energy.”
“So invent new spells! Everything can be improved.” Saki smiled. “Except me.”
Hermione crossed her arms. “I honestly don’t know how I put up with you.”
“You’re indebted to me. I saved your life. Multiple times.” She looked at Neville. “Both of your lives, actually. With spells I invented. Which means other people can create new spells, too.”
The train screeched to a halt. People began moving in the hallways; Saki and her friends followed suit.
She grimaced the second the rain hit her, flicking some of the drops from her chin. Her hair was drenched, and she knew that it was going to stick to her face like it had been oiled for the rest of the evening. Disgusting.
Since she knew Hermione and Neville would follow her, Saki didn’t bother looking behind her. And she was right—Neville and Hermione climbed into the carriage she claimed for them, robes soaking wet. Neville’s blond hair was plastered to his forehead, making him look a bit like a wet cat.
Hermione cast a spell that dried them up. Saki ran a hand through her hair to make sure it had also dried (it had).
The door to their carriage opened, and three more people entered. Saki recognized Lily, Lavender, and Parvati, who were all soaking as well.
“Hi.” Lavender sounded breathless, like she’d run through the rain (because she definitely had). “How was your summer?”
Hermione cast her spell again, drying off the three newcomers just as the carriage began moving. “We went to France,” she said. “It was lovely.”
“Talk to Alex,” Saki said. “He’s from there.”
“That Slytherin boy?” Parvati asked. “The tall one who got Petrified last year?”
Lavender giggled. “Honest yet mysterious, right?”
Saki felt a flash of something similar to annoyance. “Alex isn’t mysterious, you said so yourself—he’s honest.” She scoffed. “To a fault. It’s a wonder he gets anything done without lying.”
Lily crossed her arms. “An honest guy, then. There’s not many of them.”
“I don’t know,” Parvati said. “I think, out of the Slytherins, Nott is the most handsome. Alex has . . . I mean, he’s sort of fat, isn’t he?”
“So?” Hermione snapped. Her eyes glinted with barely concealed indignation. “His parents are bakers. He bakes all the time. And he’s extremely intelligent and much more trustworthy than any of the other Slytherins.”
“You like him, don’t you?”
Hermione stared out the window, silent.
Lavender gasped. “You do. Why?”
Hermione’s mumbled reply was lost to the raindrops hitting the carriage roof. Her eyes glimmered strangely whenever they caught the light.
Lily narrowed her eyes at Lavender and Parvati. “Are you serious?”
“What?” Parvati widened her eyes. “I didn’t do anything.”
“Really?” Lily gestured in Hermione’s direction. “You just outed her crush and you’re acting like it’s nothing?”
“I-I-” Parvati looked taken aback by the ferocity in Lily’s voice. “-I just-”
“Just what?” Saki’s lip curled. Neville’s fearful hand had been the only thing keeping her at bay. “You just hurt Hermione because you can’t handle not knowing the gossip? Because there’s nothing better to you than to know every dirty secret everyone is hiding?” She opened the door the second the carriage stopped. “Come on, Hermione. We’ve got better places to be than with gossip-” she forgot the next part of the term and improvised. “-spreaders like them.”
She helped Hermione out into the rain and shot a deadly glare into the carriage. She only softened when Neville stepped out instead of anyone else.
“Thank you,” Hermione told her when they made it to the Gryffindor table. “But you didn’t have to be so mean.”
“It wasn’t mean, it was honest. I’m not letting anyone make you feel unworthy because of who you are or what you like. Not Weasley, not Malfoy, not anyone.”
Hermione shot her a small smile. “Thanks.”
They watched in silence (except for a few nervous mumbled words from Neville about his sister) as the Great Hall filled with the old Hogwarts crowd. The teachers took their seats at the Head Table, and that was when Hermione let out a small gasp.
“Snape looks like he really hates the new Defense teacher.”
Saki turned to find that, indeed, Snape was glaring at Remus like he wanted to murder the (very sweet) werewolf. Remus wore the best poker face he could muster, which wasn’t really that good a poker face. At least he was doing better than Alex would ever do.
“Well, he hates all of them,” Saki said. “Even for no reason.”
The sound of the heavy wooden doors of the Great Hall opening silenced the buzz of conversation that had developed. Saki turned to set her sights on the newest batch of Hogwarts students, who were led in by McGonagall.
“There’s so many of them,” Neville whispered.
He was right. Saki thought there were at least fifteen more first-years as there was when she had arrived at Hogwarts. Probably because they were born right after the war with Voldemort ended. That was a thing, right? Wasn’t it called a baby boom?
Boomers.
Something told her that was supposed to be funny.
The first-years (they were so tiny) trailed after McGonagall like lost puppies, wide-eyed and terrified of their surroundings. Saki made eye contact with one little girl, who had tan skin and wide brown eyes that flashed with fear when they met Saki’s. The children were overwhelmed. Nervous. Scared. But Dumbledore and the other teachers looked on like this was normal. Like sorting children into houses based on their personalities when they were eleven was normal.
Saki gritted her teeth as McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat on the stool in front of everyone. She didn’t listen to the song the Hat sang, she didn’t bother paying attention to its message. She focused on the children and how scared they looked, especially the first to join a house. The first Hufflepuff was welcomed with open arms and a place right in the middle of the long table. The first Ravenclaw looked overwhelmed until he was fist-bumped by an older girl who looked a lot like him. The first Gryffindor’s expression of fear was replaced by a tentative smile at the loud cheers from the table. The first Slytherin’s look of fear vanished almost as soon as the Hat called his house, and he stalked to the middle of the table, ignoring the glares and annoyed looks coming from all sides as he sat not far from the Weasley twins (must’ve been a Muggle-born to break what seemed to be strict decorum).
Neville turned pale when his sister joined the Slytherins, mumbling something about revenge and “she’s going to be eaten alive,” only for his sister to plop down right in front of the first Slytherin to be Sorted. They were eventually joined by a girl with red curls and an upturned nose.
Minutes later, the Sorting was over, and the Feast began.
~~~~
When Saki entered the Gryffindor common room, she was hit with the overpowering smell of cinnamon. So today was one of those days.
The common room had four scents that rotated on an erratic basis: roses, new leather, burning wood, and cinnamon. They were overpowering and nose-wrinkling. Saki despised the smell, particularly during the first days of term—it was always so overpowering.
She coughed into her sleeve and led the group to where the third-years stood. Each year had a space between them, and they stood in order from second-years on the left to seventh-years on the far right.
Lavender and Parvati avoided her gaze as Saki took her spot at the front of all the third-years. She’d taken place at the front by doing more than just standing where she wanted to—she’d been the first to speak at her first-year initiation ceremony.
Speaking of which, Dimitri Jansen, one of the seventh-year prefects, appeared on the balcony above the main common room.
“Hello! Glad to see you’re all in one piece after last summer!”
There was general laughter all around. Saki did her best not to wince at the loud sound. Gryffindors were normally loud, but this year seemed to be worse than before.
“For those of you who went and explored new places, I hope you have daring adventures to talk about. For those of you who stayed home, maybe next summer will be better.” More laughter. “Now, it’s time for our new housemates to introduce themselves! I’ll leave it to them!”
Dimitri stepped aside, and silence ruled the room. Saki imagined she could hear the heartbeats of the people around her—Neville’s had to be erratic even when he was in his house, Hermione’s more calm, Lily’s . . . that depended.
Saki had been through this ceremony twice before, but only once as a spectator. It was different every year, but the base of the initiation was the same each year. The person (usually a prefect) who had stood first for his or her year would greet the house and then introduce the initiation ceremony. After that, the first-years would have to introduce themselves one by one. It was a test of bravery and boldness, one that Saki had passed with flying colors. She’d figured it out in a few seconds, but the previous year’s students had taken almost five minutes to figure it out. Saki hoped for a year like hers.
The Gryffindors waited (very impatiently, in Saki’s case) for the first of the new students to step up. They were kept waiting for nearly three minutes before the first student stepped up—a boy with brown hair. He scanned the crowd of Gryffindors. “My name is Valerian Lomidze.”
He shrank back ever so slightly in the ensuing silence, but then came the cheers and the applause (Saki clenched her fists to keep from covering her ears at the sound), and Valerian began to smile. He was more confident this time.
Another first-year stepped up. “I’m Ailis MacClery!”
A boy stepped up behind her. “Bernard Tennyson!”
That opened the floodgates. Soon, all of the first-years were yelling out their names to the members of their new house, occasionally recognized by family members, people who shared their language, or just some happy members of Gryffindors.
There was Daina Natale and Romilda Vane, a pair of half-blood girls who didn’t seem related to anyone. There were two pairs of twins: Adalwin and Aldegar Alastair were raven-haired boys and Isolde and Ceinwen Prewett seemed to be distant cousins of Ron and Ginny Weasley. Azarias Fairbairn was a boy who clutched a carved wooden staff instead of a wand, and seemed to be the target of several Lord of the Rings jokes by one Sara Hoover. Evander Moody stared at both with narrowed, suspicious eyes trained by what the whispers said was his great-uncle: Mad-Eye Moody himself. And then came a girl with black hair and tanned skin who named herself as Cam Hoa Tran. She looked strong, her head was steady, but there was something Saki could see Cam’s eyes—fear, or anxiety. Ross Calhoun was next, and then Klara Matthews, both smiling children without furrowed, anxious brows. Naji Shafiq was next, and then-
“Kosuke Hidaka.”
Saki froze, eyes wide. For an instant, the cheers became weak again, more normal. That wasn’t—what the—there wasn’t supposed to be-
Her body moved on its own. She dipped her head, then half her torso. “Konnichiwa.”
Many of the Gryffindors didn’t hear her over their own cheers. But Kosuke saw her, and he dipped his head in her direction, the broadest of smiles on his face.
Three more students remained—Wyatt Fawley, Rashmi Janson, and Alon Varano—and after them came the end. Just like that, the initiation was over.
The first-years descended the staircase, wide-eyed, only to be greeted by the members of their house, particularly family members. Everyone broke rank to talk to one another and catch up after a summer away.
Saki headed straight for Kosuke, who stood protectively near the anxious girl—Cam Hoa Tran.
He offered her a bow. “Hi. I’m Kosuke. This is-”
“Cam.” The girl stared at a point above Saki’s head. “Just Cam.”
“Moriyama Saki,” she said, involuntarily wrinkling her nose at the smell of a different kind of perfume on Kosuke—it didn’t fit with the cinnamon smell of the common room. “Where are you two from?”
“f*ckuoka. What about you?”
“Kyoto.” Saki turned to Cam. “You?”
“Oh, er, Tipton.”
Saki blinked. She’d never heard of Tipton before. But given the girl’s quite prominent British accent (Saki didn’t know the specific region), Saki could guess that this girl had been raised in Britain. This was a disappointment. Saki had hoped that there would be more people like her—people from Asia who spoke their language and who understood why exactly Saki bowed to people as greetings or as signs of respect.
“I guess the answer you’re looking for is Vietnam.” Cam’s voice was a mumble. Saki strained to hear her. “My parents moved here when they were eighteen.”
“But you know the language?” Saki asked. “The traditions? The culture?”
Cam mumbled something.
“What?”
“I know some things.”
Saki’s eyes widened. “Not everything?”
“I’m only eleven.”
“But your parents-"
“Hey, Saki!” Lily skidded to a stop next to her. “There’s talk that we have electives first in the morning—we should get to bed.” Lily smiled at the two first-years. “Have a nice night, you two.”
Saki hesitated, but the allure of a warm bed magically fit to her standards won out over talking to Kosuke and Cam.
She bowed to both. “Enjoy your night.”
