![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prowlingthunderMultiFic Index:
First Chapter:
Previous Chapter:
Next Chapter:
Story Title: Harry Potter and the Light of the Moon
Story Summary: They hid their only offspring from Voldemort, and lost track of him. But now Date Tsukiyomi is coming to Hogwarts, and Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy couldn't be happier. - His friends will never forgive him.
Chapter Title: Teacher, Teacher, I declare!
Chapter Summary: Lets meet teacher, and find out a little about Yulie's friend, nee? Ah, but there's a witch's toad in our midsts.
-x-x-x-
The faculty meeting had been expected to be easy. Date Seiji had very little to do with the majority of the school's troubles, and he had intended to meditate on his first lesson-plan. Due to the history of his particular class, and the history of the school in general, he had managed to argue a three-day mandatory course each week. It was less then he had wanted, perhaps, and while the details of his occupation here were sketchy at best, the Headmaster had promised no other teacher would interfere with his class. He hadn't been quite pacified, but it had helped ease his mood until the man had revealed a pleasant surprise.
They had built a dojo on the grounds.
Coupled with weekends, Seiji was going to proudly work his students into the ground. It would be a mass class, of course, and he already had much of the pecking system worked out. He had spent the last three days throwing up wards, nets, barriers and a rather nastily coalition of alarm systems to keep out anything with ill intent that could possibly intend to harm his students. He had stitched part of it to the Youjikai, giving him a proper training yard to work with, and tackled that barrier system proper. With a mass of two hundred and eighty students, which very much included his own student and nephew, they would need the space. Even after he broke them into four divisions, and fourteen squads of five, it was still invariably a good deal of children of various ages. It would be tricky, yes, but he had commanded armies before.
No, his real problem was that the faculty meeting was not the relaxation he had expected. Oh, for the first half of it, certainly, but halfway through a short, plump woman in garish pink that would burn Illusion's own eyeballs. That color was meant to be on little girls of three and younger. No grown woman had the right to wear such a shade.
It wouldn't have been so bad if he had remained unnoticed. He had settled against a wall, leaning on the masonry. It was late and he was tired; the sun had already set. So he hadn't paid much mind when she walked in, introducing herself to Dumbledore and the rest of the staff like she meant it. It was, honestly, Dumbledore's own fault he'd not been overlooked in the first place.
“Ah, Delores; I'm afraid the post for Defense Against Dark Arts has already been filled.”
She turned then, glancing at each member of the staff pointedly as she spoke. “Wonderful... Who is this teacher?”
“Why, a visitor from Japan.” Seiji frowned faintly, barely visible to onlookers, but didn't dare shift from his position against the wall. Though his hand did grab the tanto in his sleeve, on the off-chance she did something. “We are being loaned a teacher by the Chrysanthemum Throne. Delores, this is Shukijo Date.”
In retrospect, telling Dumbledore his name in the first place might have been a bad idea. But Seiji had been being simply polite, and it was too late to think better of it. And, of course, as Dumbledore turned to look at him, so too did the unusual woman, and something coiled in his belly when he caught site of her eyes. Chocolate, which was a human enough color, but Seiji was far more perceptive then that; her pupils were horizontal slits, and narrowed so thin he was surprised she could perceive shapes at all.
Neither of them smiled, though the woman kept her tone light enough. Seiji was sincerely glad for the very first time that Cye had not taken this post, no matter how much they had argued over it. Neither had wanted to come, but they had not wanted the other to go. Cye had been fairly determined to find a way that would remove them from the trouble, and Seiji could understand that. Europe was not his territory, and he could, theoretically, whisk Yulie off to the Dynasty. It was well within his rights as Emperor, though there would be questions given the adult name the boy had taken when he'd graduated.
Kaosu Seijin would cause anybody to pause. Kaosu more then others, especially in the Youjikai where the Ancient was loathed more then most, but Seijin as well. Seiji still had a bit of trouble wrapping his mind around the name he had taken, since it was close to his own, and he wasn't sure if that had been Yulie's motive or not. But he had consented to it, none the less.
Seiji was less inclined to sit idly by while a war of ignorance waged in such a place where his talents and knowledge may well help. But he still had not wanted to come; he was Date-sama, the clan leader. As the head of the family, certain things were expected of him-- such as remaining in the country where the rest of the clan could find him as necessary. Coming to teach here had also meant leaving behind his dojo and the lessons he taught. New dojo-masters were hard to break in, to find a style that suited the student's needs. In the end though, Seiji simply hadn't been able to let it go; people were dying, others were doing nothing of it, and for some odd reason, Mia had explained, everybody seemed to think these school children were the sole saving grace of humanity.
And Seiji would be a fool to let children face a war unprepared.
Still, a small part of him regretted that choice now, because there was nothing quite odd enough to match being glared at by someone with the blood of an amphibian. It wasn't in his nature, however, to bend to anyone any longer. Though, judging by her jewelry, he couldn't say she did not eat cats, and resolved to do his best to see that, while she did not starve, none of the student's pets went missing.
“Shukijo, my boy, this is Delores Umbridge.”
She didn't offer a hand for him to shake, and he didn't bow in greeting, no matter how impolite it seemed. Neither smiled, and for a long moment, they just watched each other, searching for weaknesses and strengths alike as they looked the other over.
This was a woman who needed to be watched at all times; he could feel it in his bones. He would not make the mistake of not watching her. Oh, physically she wasn't much of a threat. He had noticed already that few of this magical community were. The potions teacher, Severus Snape- yes, there was training in his muscles, and power hidden beneath dark clothes that came from hard work and carefully keeping himself in shape. Delores Umbridge.. Her lack of physical skills was disturbing, but she exuded the belief of superior skill and confidence that she would be victorious, that she had power over everyone.
It took everything Seiji had not to raise hackles at the challenge she was throwing at him. He would be polite even if it killed him. Though if they fought, it was she who was far more likely to fall; he was Light and Lightning, one of the quickest of the armor-bearers in speed, visible only at night and when he stopped moving. Corruption matched him, but barely; if he and Cale had ever truly been attempting to kill one another, experience alone would have saved the wolf. He had no doubt, that like most of their bouts, a real fight would have resulted in a stalemate. If he and this woman fought, even the best luck in the world would not save her, and that thought prompted him to shift, settling a hand on the wakazashi at his hip.
The motion caused her eyes to widen fractionally before narrowing, and he was not certain how she had missed the blade to begin with, nor the hilt over his shoulder. Even in armed conflict, few missed the tell-tale form of a nodachi. Though startling few in the modern era seemed to noticed. It was... sad. So much history forgotten, so much potential gone unknown, or worse, wasted. And Umbridge's bearing only promised more of the same. It raked against Seiji's own teachings and upbringings, and he could not bring himself to agree with it.
It seems I will be at odds with you this year, Umbridge-san. He thought, even as she finally looked away, back at Dumbledore. Seiji had the feeling she thought much the same thing, and instinctively felt bad for the rest of the teaching staff. Their conflict would no doubt cause endless troubles through the year. When trouble began, he would need to make certain they were aware not to help him. Tricky as coming here had been, he had permission of the Emperor Himself to be here, and all the political amnesty that provided. They had no such protections.
“Be that as it may, Headmaster, I still have a job to do. The Minister is extremely worried about the test scores of last year's OWL and NEWT exams.”
“Ah yes.” Seiji narrowed his eyes. That sounded like trouble all on it's own, and seemed to become much, much worse when Dumbledore turned to address the rest of the faculty. “Delores is here to judge school and teacher performances. I'm sure she will find nothing.”
Dumbledore did not fool him. Seiji had enough life experience to know the woman would most certainly find something, even if she had to make it up. Anyone who looked hard enough would, even if there was really, truly, nothing to find. And no one could tell him that he was being paranoid, because the blond knew better. Umbridge did not move as if she had training in any proper arts, but he knew the gleams of spies well, from lifetimes ago. She had been sent to watch the school and it's staffing, and Seiji knew that much, at least, was justified. The very class he was meant to teach had not held a master for more then a year, counting back to a matter of three decades. It was a horrid record, and one that Seiji felt he should break. And even still, he had learned from Mia the events of most recent years, including an underage student in an adult's tournament.
The whole of Europe seemed to be forgetting the youth were it's future. But Seiji, Japan, would not let them throw the children away like last year's silkworms. Even the graduates of this school would barely survive in the real world, and he was a samurai. It was his duty and honor to teach in the dojo, to count his brother Ryuu as his apprentice, and more to the point, he could not throw these things away simply because he was not at his own dojo. Dumbledore had seen to it he had one here, and it would shame Hachiman-jin for Seiji to shirk his duties.
Even if he had to fight every other person to get the job done.
X-X-X-X-X-X
Ryuu wasn't sure what he was doing. He just knew it was a really tricky thing to do.
Truth was, he really wasn't meant to be on this train. This train was the Hogwarts Express, running from London all the way out to the mountains of Scotland, for children and young adults attending the school in question. For Yulie, as well. But Ryuu had neither a Hogwarts letter nor a Hogwarts robe, the latter of which he was grateful for as the Hogwarts robes Yulie had been given were an inky black in color, and the biggest thing they did for Yulie was make him look like a ghost.
Instead, Ryuu wore a proper Date yukata and had papers. Emphasis on papers. Transfer papers, legal papers, birth papers, Imperial stamped papers, guardian papers, signed papers, and one really interesting paper that the Ticket-Taker had glared at when he had presented it instead of a train ticket. Though really, it was English, and he had enough trouble speaking the language that he wasn't even going to try reading it.
They parted on the train, he and Yulie; while Yulie slipped off to the call of a giant of a man, Ryuu was accosted the moment he stepped off the train by a woman with graying hair, wrapped up in a robe of an even deeper green then the Date called their own. That, he decided, was likely a magical thing, and did not bother feeling jealousy over the fact; the Date preferred the green of fresh-budding spring to emerald, which was simply a too rich, too expensive, color for their tastes. And emerald did not match the rest of the colors the Date heralded, the white and gold and brown. Though the old Witch did not seem to be fond of it, but Ryuu did not rightly care. So long as she said nothing- for no European had a right to say anything- he would remain equally quiet on the matter.
The left the station platform and followed a path into the woods, before she turned to him and held out a string. “Grab hold.”
This, Ryuu had had explained to him by Shukijo-sensei before. Because he had not been invited to attend Hogwarts himself, but because Shukijo-sensei was to be a teacher here this year, it had been arranged that Ryuu would take the part of student-teacher. As a result, he would sit with the faculty during dinner, and had been allowed to sign up for electives. The only mandatory class was Shukijo-sensei's own, called, ridiculously, Defense Against Dark Arts. But in order to sit with the teachers at the feast tonight, he would have to use a Portkey. Which could, apparently, be anything from a scrubbing brush to the old string the woman now held.
Ryuu eyed the string, unconvinced, before reaching out to grasp it. Shukijo-sensei would be most displeased if he did not arrive in time, and the last thing he wanted to do at all was upset his teacher. Samurai could not afford to be late.
Annoyed, mostly at the string, Ryuu grabbed hold.
The sense of vertigo made him sick to his stomach, so different then every other mode of transportation that Ryuu would have been positively thrilled to travel by absolutely any other means. Even the train, which he had loathed to such a degree it was ridiculous. But when it settled and he could focus clearly, he was surprised to find himself surrounded by stone walls, and intensely grateful for the familiar figure of Shukijo-sensei. The tails of his haori were most welcome, and Ryuu straightened, making sure his weapons were all in place. He'd not be mussed or flustered, not in the presence of his Master.
“Tsukiyomi-kun.”
A welcome, familiar honorific of acknowledgment, and Ryuu bent into a proper bow of greeting at the sound of his mother-tongue. He could feel the strange woman's eyes on him, but he didn't let his attention linger on her. She was unimportant right now. “Sensei.”
“Stand, Tsukiyomi-kun. Your place is with me.”
“Yes, sensei.”
He felt the woman frown deeper. Ryuu ignore it, straightening as he moved to stand beside his elder. He knew Shukijo-sensei's child name-- Shukijo-sensei was, in fact, his own honored elder brother, Seiji. But while he had been permitted to call his brother that when they were young, when Seiji had graduated the dojo himself, his name, too, had changed. Ryuu no longer used it except on rare occasions. When he had graduated the dojo, and Seiji had taken him under his wing, sensei was tacked on appropriately. After Grandfather's death... well, if Seiji were not his sensei, Ryuu would be relatively unable to call him by anything except Date-dono.
Westerners could read into it what they liked. Ryuu knew his boundaries, and what was expected of him.
“Come.” Ryuu knew the hidden urgency in his Master's voice, silently prompting him to hurry. And he knew why it was there, as well; soon, students would begin to arrive in the Great Hall, and for a teacher to arrive late did not provide a good example.
Still, he couldn't help but be amazed that the elder was awake, so long after the sun had hidden itself.