Tensei Skill Shop Chapter 36

Tensei Skill Shop

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 36:

‘Preparations for going to the next world are ready. Come by my office anytime.’

I looked at the message, then at the girls, who had received the same message on their phones. 

“Do we have anything to take care of before we go?” I asked them.

“Nope, all settled here. No jobs left hanging.”

“Same for me.”

“I still have the bunch of skills that Rick-tan brought back…” Seeing the looks we were giving her, Matsu hastily continued, “But they can wait until we come back, yup!”

“Don’t we need to pack some things for a long stay in that world?” Irene asked.

“We have some spare clothes and stuff stored away in our Requip space, and we’re bringing enough money to buy stuff there if we really need it,” I answered, typing out a message to my dad.

‘Going off for another week-long business trip. Won’t be able to answer. Let you know when I’m back.’

It took less than a minute for him to respond. ‘OK.’

That was easily settled. I like it that way.

“What about Leafeon? Can she come with us to this world?”

“Fee~” The Pokemon echoed her interest in Uzume’s question.

“No problem. Animal familiars are a thing there, so she won’t look out of place. Well, too out of place,” I added, “Considering she’s more plant than animal.”

Leafeon perked up proudly as though my statement was a compliment, before hopping up onto Uzume’s shoulder.

After one last check over the living space, and our extra-dimensionally stored luggage, we made our way to Sano’s office. As always, the god sat behind his desk, examining one of the extra Bell Demon curses I brought back from the Sekiro world.

He looked up as we entered. “Good, you’re here. Have a seat.”

We did as he said, and once we were settled, the god launched into an explanation about the next world we were visiting.

First off, compared to the usual direct insertion, we were going to go in more subtly. That was the reason why Sano took longer than usual to prepare for this. The deity explained that he was going to use a skill to alter our appearances so we blended in better, along with making a few adjustments to reality so that our presences would be more easily accepted by the natives. That type of cover meant that we had to restrict the use of some of our more unique skills, but that was something he trusted in our ability to do.

The second part was where I paid closer attention; compared to the canon knowledge I knew, this world was one of those alternate setting ones, and I wanted to know just where the twists lay.

“So, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter,” Sano began, “Except a bit more aged up.”

He gestured, making information packets appear in front of us. I took mine and began reading, keeping one ear trained on Sano’s voice as he elaborated.

The information recorded on those documents were in a familiar style, confirmed by the wink Matsu gave me when I glanced at her. In fact, most of the details of the plan were hers. 

Just as Sano said, this AU of the Harry Potter setting had all the characters a few years older. The point of insertion was in Harry’s fourth year of Hogwarts, except his age was seventeen instead of fourteen. The main reason for selecting that point of time was to use the big events of that year as our cover; the Quidditch World Cup held in England, followed by the Triwizard Cup that was hosted at Hogwarts. Perfect for us with our foreign features.

Since this was an AU, there was the high possibility of fanfic tropes like Ron the Death Eater or Draco in Leather Pants, not to mention Dark Lord Dumbledore and other popular fanfic twists, but I wasn’t comfortable bringing that topic up with Sano, so I just kept quiet. We would find out ourselves once we got there anyway.

The general gist of the plan was just like what we did in the Fairy Tail world, gathering all sorts of samples of that world’s magic in the various forms they manifested in. Not that there was any rush to do so. 

“The schedule is rather lax,” Sano continued, flipping to the next page, “But as the predicted earnings will more than make up for the effort invested, I’ve given my approval for this trip.”

“Glad to have that approval!” Matsu replied cheerfully.

“Any questions? No? Then I’ll alter your appearances, and you can go ahead and enter that world.”

With a wave of his hand, my body underwent a strange shift. 

“What the?” I said, then paused as I realized my voice sounded much younger than it usually was.

“So this is how we look like when we’re younger.” A familiar voice said, higher pitched than I was used to hearing.

Looking to my side, I saw that the other three all looked more youthful, like eighteen or so, just breaking into the cusp of adulthood. Shorter, slimmer and less voluptuous, especially up top.

“It’s not an actual rejuvenation, just a modification of the Take Over magic spell. It shouldn’t be easily broken, but just be careful.”

“Magic power is still the same, though the physical ability might be a little reduced,” Matsu took over the explanation, “But with the falna, there won’t be much difference.”

“So, a little like the rough state after leveling up… just weaker instead of stronger.” Uzume stretched her shorter limbs. “We’ll get used to it quick.”

Sano nodded to us. “Good luck on your trip.”

…

At the very edge of the woods, a group of seven arrived at an empty camping spot, marked by a sign that read WEEZLY. The majority of them were redheads, bearing strong family resemblance to each other, with two more teens who were just family friends. All of them were teenagers, except for the one adult male leading the group.

"Couldn't have a better spot!" The lone adult in the group said, "The field is just on the other side of the wood there, we're as close as we could be." 

He hoisted his backpack from his shoulders, and the younger members accompanying him did the same. They started trying to figure out how to set up the camping tents they brought, though the main responsibility fell to the glasses-wearing boy and the frizzy-haired girl accompanying the family of redheads.

“Hello there! Need any help?” 

They paused in their work and turned to look, seeing a young man standing there. They recognized him, because they had previously passed by his camping site that was just over in the next spot.

“Hello!” The redheaded adult responded in a friendly manner, “Thank you for offering, but I think we can figure it out ourselves!”

Unfortunately, his words didn’t come across as very convincing, as his attempt to hammer the anchor pegs in with a mallet resulting in him dropping the tool entirely. He wiped the sweat from his balding spot with a handkerchief, before turning to the young man.

“Um, maybe a little help would be nice,” He said awkwardly.

With the stranger offering simple directions, they managed to erect a pair of two-man tents. Considering that the one they managed to do by themselves looked quite shabby before the young man stepped in to correct it, they did look like they were put up well.

“A bit cramped for your group, isn’t it?” The young man commented, which was an understatement.

The boy wearing glasses, Harry, was of the same opinion, And from the quizzical look the frizzy-haired girl, Hermione, had, she thought so as well.

“Yes, but I think we’ll all be able to squeeze in,” Mr Weasley, the redheaded man, replied. “Thank you again for your help. Oh, where are my manners! I’m Arthur Weasley, nice to meet you!”

“Rick Steel, a pleasure.” They shook hands.

The rest of the group quickly introduced themselves as well. Mr Weasley’s group consisted of his children, redheaded twins Fred and George, followed by another son Ronald and his youngest daughter, Ginevra. The other two were Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, friends of the family who were invited along for this trip. Harry was rather famous in this lands, but it appeared that Rick wasn’t aware of that.

“Are you a Yank?” One of the boys asked, “You don’t look like one.”

“Ron! Don’t be rude!” Hermione chastised him.

“No, it’s a reasonable question. I’m actually from Asia. Someone way back in my family decided to change their surname to be more Western, and it just carried over to first names eventually.”

“You seem very experienced at camping. Do you do it often?” Hermione inquired, before Ron could stick his foot in his mouth again.

Rick opened his mouth to reply, but seemed to reconsider what he had been about to say. “More often than I would have liked, actually. Though this is the first time we’ve done so in close proximity to so many others.”

“We? Did you come with your family too?”

“Oh, no. They’re not really camping people. I’m here with my close friends.”

As they continued chatting, Mr Weasley went into the boys’ tent, and came out with a kettle and several saucepans, which had apparently been inside that small space. As part of the camping experience, he tasked Harry, Hermione and Ron to get water from the campsite tap, while the rest of them went to grab firewood, in order to cook outside just like Muggles did when they went camping.

The trio went off, experiencing the fascinating sights of witches and wizards from all over the world as they gathered in this misty campground. They were doing a rather poor job of hiding their magic or eccentricity, something that was stressing out the British Ministry people overseeing this event. 

The Quidditch World Cup finals was between Ireland and Bulgaria, and the tents belonging to the fans of both teams were quite distinctive; the Irish tents looked like oddly shaped hillocks sprouting out of the earth, with their shamrock-covered appearances, while the Bulgarian tents bore posters with the image of the Bulgarian team’s star Seeker, Viktor Krum. 

Along the way, Harry met several people he knew from his wizarding school of Hogwarts; his fellow year and house mate Seamus Finnigan was part of the Irish camp group, the former captain of his Hogwarts’ Gryffindor House team, Oliver Wood, who had graduated last year, and several more from the other Houses, all having come to watch the match with their families.

Eventually, they returned to their campsite, where a trio of very pretty girls had joined the group. Hermione had to nudge Ron, who couldn’t stop staring. Harry didn’t blame him.

“You’ve been ages,” George said to them as they drew closer.

“Met a few people… Who are these girls?”

“Rick’s friends. They came over to introduce themselves shortly after you three left.”

“Dad’s getting along well with Rick,” Fred added, “Guy knows quite a lot about Muggle camping, and has a lot of tools to show.”

Harry watched as Mr Weasley paid close attention to Rick’s explanation about the box-like metal grill, where several pieces of wood were already burning away, almost at the level of heat they needed for cooking. Though he had never been camping in the seventeen years of his life, as the Dursley family he lived with in the summer refused to take him anywhere on holiday, Harry had to admit that it was interesting to see how Muggles handled themselves so well without magic.

He briefly wondered just what was this Yooroo Camp that Rick was referencing.

Meanwhile, the newcomers introduced themselves to the trio as well; Uzume and Matsu, also from Japan, and Irene, a redhead who looked like she could be a relative of the Weasleys, if not for her regal disposition. All of them were very beautiful, much more so compared to Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw Seeker, whom he had seen earlier among the other campers. The recent onset of puberty had made him a lot more conscious of girls, and some of the talk he overheard during the last year at Hogwarts mentioned snogging. Harry caught himself staring at their lips a few times, which was only one of their striking features.

Even Hermione was asking them for hair care tips, with slight envy on her face as she admired their sleek and smooth hair.

In exchange for the simple grill, Mr Weasley invited the group of four to join them for lunch, which they accepted. The simple camp tricks that they knew made it easy to expand the cooking space, along with the bunch of prepacked foods that took very little time to cook. Time that quickly passed with lots of friendly conversation, as these foreigners knew all sorts of interesting things that they were more than willing to share.

Their campsite seemed to be pitched near a kind of thoroughfare to the field, so members of the Ministry kept passing by, greeting Mr Weasley as they passed. For his part, Mr Weasley kept up a running commentary, both for his guests, and for Harry and Hermione’s benefit.

Other people soon joined them, Mr Weasley’s older sons, Bill, Charlie, and Percy came out of the woods, having Apparated into the area to arrive in time for lunch. Ludo Bagman, one of the main organizers of the entire event, looking very much like a young child in a chubby man’s body. Barty Crouch, the Head of the Department of International Magical Co-operation, who helped facilitate the arrangements between the countries involved, his crisp appearance like a Muggle banker, and clearly idolized by Percy, whom he called Weatherby by mistake.

Harry was a little taken aback when the sharply-dressed man turned to Rick, after talking to Bagman and Mr Weasley about the respective issues he sought them out for.

“Mr Steel, I’ve been wanting a word with you too.” The man’s sharp eyes focused on the young adult. “We’ve confirmed the details with your country’s embassy, and your request has been tentatively approved.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“However,” Mr Crouch added, stressing the word, “The final approval lies with Dumbledore.”

Rick and the other girls nodded in understanding.

“Dumbledore?” Ron asked out loud. “What does the Headmaster have to do with this?”

“Exchange trip,” Irene answered his question, her short tone silencing any further questions from Ron.

“You’ve picked a great time to visit, you know,” Bagman interrupted jovially.

“Ludo, we agreed not to announce any details until-”

“Oh, details!” Bagman waved a hand dismissively, “They’ll know soon enough anyway, eh? It’s happening at Hogwarts-”

“Ludo, we need to meet the Bulgarians, you know,” Mr Crouch straightened up further from his already standing position, like a person rising to leave. “Thank you for the tea, Weatherby.”

The man pushed his undrunk tea back at Percy, and Disapparated together with Bagman. Though the younger teens tried to press their Ministry-employed parent and sibling for details, they remained tightlipped.

As the day wore on, the general mood in the campground rose in excitement, and with it the outbreaks of magic being used. It appeared that the Ministry had given up on controlling the behavior entirely. Rather than stay in the tent, Harry and his friends decided to take another walk around the campground, accompanied by Rick’s group.

It was a magical sight; salesmen Apparating every few feet, selling their magical merchandise to fans to express support for their favorite team. Collectible moving figurines, clothing articles with animated images, flags from both countries that played their national anthem as they were waved, and many more. Harry even bought Ron and Hermione Omnioculars, brass binoculars covered in all sorts of weird knobs and dials that cost ten Galleons each, a pricey purchase, but something he was willing to spend on his friends.

Nearby, the bespectacled girl with braided hair examined the set she bought for herself. 

“Oooh, very interesting enchantments on this… analysis, auto-tracking, quick recording, and many more…”

Seeing Harry looking at her curiously, Rick explained, “Matsu’s very interested in magical crafts. I expect her to go into spellmaking in the future.”

The two groups got separated after some time, pushed apart by the crowd, but eventually reunited at their campsite, with much lighter money bags. After that, it was just a matter of waiting for the match to begin. A gong signaled the beginning of the seating process, and Harry joined the crowd headed towards the gigantic stadium on the other side of the woods.

Unlike Mr Weasley’s group, who had seats in the Top Box, Rick’s group were seated elsewhere, so they parted ways yet again. 

The match was an intense one, with Ireland’s Chasers rapidly scoring goals, along with some chaos as the mascots from both teams engaged in a fight on the pitch during the game. It finally ended when Krum caught the snitch, bringing an end to the game with a narrow victory for the Irish team in points. Harry got to see the players up close when they came to the Top Box for the awarding of the World Cup.

Later, after they returned to where their tent was, none of them felt like sleeping with the excitement and general noise, so they sat around talking about the match and the plays that took place.

“WHAT?!”

Conversation came to a halt when Fred and George suddenly exclaimed out loud.

“Fred, George, what’s the matter?” Mr Weasley asked.

“This gold… It's fake! Bagman paid us with fake gold!” One of the twins complained, pointing at the pile of gold on the table between them.

Earlier, when Bagman had visited their campsite, he had asked if Mr Weasley was interested in betting on the outcome of the match. The twins had taken him up on it, putting all their savings on a risky result. That result had turned out to be true, which meant they would have won quite a lot. Except…

Irene, who was sitting near the twins, had identified that the gold they had received was leprechaun gold, which was conjured and would eventually vanish. Mr Weasley, experienced with all the usual tricks wizards did as Muggle-baiting, soon arrived at the same conclusion. It brought the whole mood down.

“Don’t worry, boys. I’ll have a word with Bagman myself, and get you back your money. But for now, you all should go to bed.”

With the excitement cooled off, Harry yawned, drawing the others into doing the same, and they separated into their respective tents to sleep. Harry’s thoughts soon drifted back to the plays and tactics he saw, and he fell asleep without realizing it.

He didn’t expect to be snapped awake only a few hours later by Mr Weasley’s shouting, nor was he expecting the riot that was taking place.

The events that occurred in rapid succession made his mind spin, culminating in being found near the site where the Dark Mark was cast, and realizing his wand had been used to cast it. Thankfully, it somehow settled itself, and Harry and his friends were led back to their tent by Mr Weasley. He caught sight of Charlie Weasley, who had his head poking through the opening of the tent, keeping an eye out.

“Dad, what’s going on?” The young man called, relief on his face as he caught sight of their approach. “Fred, George, Ginny got back okay, but the others-”

“I’ve got them here,” Mr Weasley assured him, bending down to enter the tent.

“I invited Rick and his friends to join us here too,” Charlie said, “Safety in numbers. They’ve been very helpful.”

Sitting at the small kitchen table within was Bill, along with Rick and the other girls, who looked rather calm compared to the worried expressions the rest of the Weasleys had. Harry spotted a bloodstained bedsheet on the table, but none of them looked injured.

“They helped treat Bill’s cut, and Percy’s nose.”

“Did you get them, Dad?” Bill asked. “The person who conjured the Mark?”

“No,” Mr Weasley shook his head. 

With some assistance from Harry, Ron and Hermione, the events in the woods were recounted for all present to hear, with further elaboration provided for the foreigners who knew just as little as Harry did. The terror the Dark Mark used to inspire, being used to signal a killing committed by Voldemort and his followers. Harry started to get an idea of why it had evoked so much panic.

“Well, whoever conjured it didn’t help us tonight,” Bill grumbled, “It scared away the Death Eaters the moment they saw it, though we managed to catch a few of them.”

“Death Eaters? What are Death Eaters?” Harry asked.

"It's what You-Know-Who's supporters called themselves, and I think we saw what’s left of them tonight. The ones who managed to keep themselves out of Azkaban anyway.”

“Someone was helping the Ministry against them, though we didn’t see who. Whoever they were, they were using some powerful magic.”

Harry wanted to ask for more details about the fight, but Mr Weasley put his foot down and chased them off to bed, telling them to get a bit more rest before they got an early Portkey out of there. 

The next morning, Mr Weasley used magic to pack up the campsite so they could leave quickly, joining the crowd of witches and wizards clamoring for Portkeys to leave the area quickly. Rick and his friends departed the normal way, but accepted an invitation from Bill and Charlie to come over for dinner sometime in the future, as thanks for the help they provided.

The rest of summer vacation passed rather uneventfully for Harry and the Weasleys at the Burrow, with the exception of Mr Weasley and Percy, who were kept very busy at the Ministry in the wake of the attack at the World Cup. They were barely seen by the others with how early they left and how late they returned.

It was on one of those nights that Rick and his friends showed up at the Burrow, and Mrs Weasley did her best to give them a warm welcome. However, Harry noticed that she appeared to be a bit judging of the girls, which he quickly realized was due to the slight interest Bill, Charlie and Ron seemed to have in Rick’s female friends. It was only after Irene took the older woman into the kitchen for a private chat, that the atmosphere returned to a polite friendliness.

“So did Professor Dumbledore respond to you?” Hermione asked them after dinner.

“Yes. He did. We’ll be seeing you at Hogwarts for a year.”

“An exchange trip… I wished I could have gone on one,” Bill said wistfully.

Mrs Weasley frowned. “You know we didn’t have money then. And that friend of yours sent you a cursed hat when you told him no.” 

“Can you tell us more about what your experiences at Hogwarts are like?” Rick asked.

Harry thought back to all the things he had gone through. In his first year, he had confronted a possessed Professor over the Philosopher’s Stone. In the second year, he was accused of being Slytherin’s Heir, and ended up fighting a giant Basilisk for Ginny’s life. And just last year, he was targeted by a supposed crazy murderer who broke out of Azkaban to do so.

He decided to tell a more censored account, focusing on the classes and school activities.

Now that the festive mood of the Quidditch World Cup wasn’t affecting the topics of their conversation, Harry was able to learn more about Rick and his friends. They were more mature than their appearance suggested, having a good life plan of what they wanted to do and experience, something that Harry was a little envious of.

Eventually the time came for them to leave, and after exchanging farewells, they agreed to meet on the Hogwarts Express at King’s Cross Station. It was shortly after that, that Mr Weasley finally arrived home, looking very exhausted.

The reason for that was that Ludo Bagman had been found to be in severe debt, and that bit of news had been found out by Rita Skeeter, a journalist who enjoyed writing inciting articles about the Ministry of Magic. Mr Weasley had managed to get back some of the gold that the twins had used in the bet, but there was a huge mess at the Ministry due to the various events Bagman was involved in.

…

“Well, that was unexpected,” I remarked as we sat in one of the compartments on the Hogwarts Express, my attention on the newspaper I was reading.

The moving picture showed an image of Bagman, looking very uncomfortable as cameras flashed around him, finally pulling up his striped Quidditch Beater uniform up like a hood to cover his face.

The article itself was about how Bagman had been fired from his job as head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports, in view of his gambling behavior and heavy debts. At this point, he was unlikely to remain in position as one of the judges of the Triwizard Tournament.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize that tipping Mr Weasley off about the fake gold would cause such a change,” Irene apologized.

I patted her hand reassuringly. “No need to feel sorry. I don’t think they’ll change much about the tournament in any case.”

Sitting across from me, Uzume stared out the window. “Uwaah… it’s raining really heavily out there…”

“Leeee…” Leafeon growled in annoyance, sitting in her lap.

“Sorry, Leafeon. Bear with it, alright? You can’t use Sunny Day here.”

The Pokemon whined, before burrowing into Uzume’s robes and going back into her Pokeball.

I don’t know what sort of pull Sano had with this world, but we had no problem getting the Japan magical embassy to corroborate our background, despite never having attended a single class in their school, Mahoutokoro, which literally translated to ‘magic place’. Keeping to our cover story, the four of us were dressed in Mahoutokoro robes, which looked like hakamas, grey up top with dark skirts, with a colored overcoat. 

We definitely drew some attention from the other passengers who passed by our compartment, though only a few dared to interrupt us to satisfy their curiosity. The rest just continued to peer at us like we were odd attractions, which we generally ignored.

So far, our time in this world had passed relatively peacefully; we visited places like Diagon Alley, looked at all sorts of magical objects and creatures, and basically acted just like tourists. I had to admit, matching with our wands at Ollivander’s was quite an experience.

The only exception to our peaceful activities was the conflict at the Quidditch World Cup, where we had interfered a little to ensure that some of the attackers’ number were apprehended. 

The book had mentioned that the number of people joining the Death Eater riot had been quite big, and what we saw proved that to be true. Though in reality, under my [Appraisal], most of them were simply drunk and thought it would be fun to cut loose a little, instead of being actual Death Eaters. It wasn’t that difficult to transfigure one’s clothes into hoods and a mask to blend in. Wizarding LARPing crossed with a flash mob, so to speak. Perhaps that was the reason why most of the Minstry people weren’t trying very hard to catch them as the damage they inflicted wasn’t anything permanent. 

To them, at least.

As for how we had made it so that they had caught a few of those responsible? A mix of skills enabling targeted casting, setting up triggers to go off when they tried to Disapparate away, and a bit of stealth and thievery on my part. The result? A few wizards were being asked uncomfortable questions by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and I obtained a few skills from victims who wouldn’t realize their reduced casting ability for a while.

Our main reason for interfering was to get an idea of the differences in this AU setting, which was the driving purpose of all our activities so far in this world. 

Our checking of the main character and the Weasleys didn’t indicate any love potions nor other insidious schemes like marriage contracts going on behind the scenes. Molly Weasley was just being an overbearing mother who thought that my Sekireis weren’t good fits for her sons. Good thing Irene quickly cleared that misconception up.

Or I might have done… something.

Matsu had her nose buried in a book of spells, murmuring as she waved her new wand carefully, one made of walnut wood.

Already trying to work this world’s magic to crafting new skills. My Sekirei is an overachiever. As though she sensed my gaze on her, she looked up and winked, making me blush slightly. She knows just what her new appearance stirs in me.

It wasn’t just her. Both Uzume and Irene were rather attractive in the nubile way, as I proved to them in our private time together in this world.

“Ah, we’re moving.”

Sure enough, the blurry environment through the rain-streaked windows was moving, as was the feeling of motion in our bodies. 

According to my skill, Harry Potter and his friends were already on the train, several carriages away.  It was unlikely that we would be interacting much on this train ride.

There was another knock on the door, and Irene opened it with a wave of her hand. 

The handsome young man standing there looked at us confused. “Did you just-?”

“Sorry, may we help you?” The redhead asked tersely.

“Ah, I’m Cedric. Cedric Diggory. I was just curious…”

I leaned forward in my seat. “Hello, Cedric. Nice to meet you. I’m Rick Steel. We’re exchange students.”

A look of understanding came over his face. “Oh, my dad mentioned something like that.”

Oh yeah, his dad works for the Ministry, but I don’t think he’s part of the department related to international relations? Ah, I forgot, the gossip culture here is just that deep.

It wasn’t just in Hogwarts in the stories. The Wizarding World really enjoyed discussing rumors and hearsay, so the smallest bit of interesting news would inevitably end up spreading to all sorts of people. 

“Well, don’t just stand there. Have a seat, and let’s get to know each other.” 

Though the compartment was full already with the four of us, Irene simply tapped her fir wand on the wall. Her talents as a mage, combined with the Development Ability in her falna had really boosted her skills; that simple action was enough to cause the compartment to expand in size, creating enough space for Cedric to sit down as well.

“Wow, you’re a very talented witch.” He said in wonder.

“Thank you.” Irene replied politely.

Despite the gloomy atmosphere outside the train, our compartment was filled with comfortable chatter as Cedric’s friends ended up joining us. They were certainly living up to the reputation of Hufflepuff House as friendly and welcoming people. The topics of conversation were quite far-ranging, sharing all sorts of interesting knowledge about Hogwarts and British Wizarding culture. 

“Our Head of House is Pomona Sprout. She teaches Herbology. As for the others, there’s…”

“Say, do any of you know why we were told to have dress robes this year? My dad works at the Ministry, and he keeps hinting that something’s going to happen at Hogwarts.”

“Did you see the news about Ludo Bagman? I totally didn’t expect that!”

“Oh, you were at the World Cup too? Ireland’s Chasers were awesome, weren’t they?!”

“I wasn’t in the area where they attacked, but I heard stories from those who were. They said one of those caught was a wizard who previously claimed to be under the Imperius…”

“Oh, I’m currently pen friends with another student from Beauxbatons. We met at the World Cup match, and kind of hit it off. Perhaps I should go on an exchange trip too…”

“I’ve never been to Japan. France, yes, but not Japan. What’s it like?”

“Those are the normal robes you wear over there? Wow! I have some interest in wizarding fashion myself, so please tell me more!”

“Your wand’s cherry wood? Is it true what Mahoutokoro students say about those who own cherry wands?” One girl asked Uzume.

“My favorite spell? I rather like the Banishing Charm, just flick your wand and-” A book flew across the compartment, crashing into the wall. “Sorry!”

And just like that, the time just flew by. The lunch trolley coming by saw a lot of food being bought and shared among the students present, which temporarily turned the conversation topics towards food and the sort of magical effects. 

Perhaps it’s this chaotic nature of their personalities that allow these wizards and witches to wield the reality-altering magic of this world. I bit into the Chocolate Frog I held. Or it’s the other way around… in which case we better be careful not to be too influenced by the power.

As the train drew closer to Hogwarts, the students excused themselves to get changed. Once we were left by ourselves in the compartment, Irene lifted the expansion enchantment, and sealed the door.

“So, what do you think?” Uzume asked.

“So far… the general behavior is the same, just that they’re more adult-like in behavior based on their age.” Matsu shared her analysis. “Some of the boys were definitely sneaking glances at Irene-tan’s chest.”

Irene crossed her arms in front of her breasts protectively, even though no one else was around to see it now. 

Well, I do agree that they’re very nice to look at, even if they’re a little smaller than their usual size. “I guess that since Sano was originally aiming for the canon setting, an AU version wouldn’t be that much different.”

“Alright then!” Matsu clapped her hands together. “Then we’ll just enjoy ourselves while we’re here. Their magic is really interesting, and I’m coming up with so many ideas.”

Her fellow redheaded Sekirei sighed. “Just don’t go too overboard, please.”

I couldn’t help it; I snorted. “After what I’ve seen? What we’ve seen? Even holding back, we’re going to be blowing their socks off. Might as well embrace it.”

…

An old man wearing half-moon spectacles and a long beard looked at the clock on the wall of his office. The train bearing the students would soon arrive at the station, so he had to leave soon in order to be present for the Welcoming Feast. A look out the window showed that Hogwarts was currently experiencing the worst storm in ages, and he felt some pity for the students who had to make their way to the castle in this horrendous weather.

Being the Headmaster of the school was a difficult task, made all the more so by the plans the Ministry of Magic had for this year. Arrangements had to be made for Hogwarts to host students from two other schools, not to mention the group of four that were already due to arrive. It had been so long since they had transfer students…

However, his thoughts eventually went back to one of his particular students, who had an unfortunate fate lying in wait for him. Especially when considering the events that had occurred during the recent Quidditch World Cup, which seemed like an ill omen for the future. It tore at his heart, but considering the alternative, the destruction the youth’s nemesis could wreak, it was the better option.

Sighing, he murmured the words that always strengthened his will in trying times. “For the Greater Good…”

The next moment, a large wave seemed to pass across the entire place, making him stagger slightly. Taking a quick look at the various instruments on the shelves in his office, he saw that none of them seemed to be out of place. 

It was only a few moments after he looked out of the window again that the old wizard finally realized what had changed.

The skies, formerly completely covered with stormy clouds, were now clear.

Afterword: And so, after Sekiro comes an AU world of Harry Potter! I know I said that this world might not be all that different, but with that last scene, you have to ask yourselves… Is it really? Could it be a White Lord Dumbledore setting? Or is he just a well-meaning but ultimately ineffective Dumbledore? Who knows?

Sometimes I ask myself where this story is going, but the main thing for me now is that I’m having fun writing it. And isn’t that enough? My muse does flow when I’m having fun, and to be honest, I ended up writing this whole chapter in two days, which was fast for me, given how much reading I had to do to refresh my memory on the events of the Goblet of Fire, as well as to pick the wand woods for the girls. Feel free to guess what wood Rick’s wand is.

Thanks to my patrons who support this story with their money, even if there are many others that are much more deserving.