I nearly kicked the door to the house off its hinges.
"I'm home!" I shouted for anyone that was here.
"Welcome home~" Yasaka responded from where she was lazing around on the couch.
"Thank you." It was Venelana who answered for me, as her head peeked over my shoulder because I was carrying her on my back.
"Rough weekend?" Yasaka raised an eyebrow at us.
"Oh, definitely~" Venelana and she shared a knowing smile.
"I'm glad you're back." Yasaka got up, and gave me a quick kiss.
"Do I get one of those?" Venelana giggled, obviously joking, but Yasaka quickly moved and placed her lips against Venelana's, initiating a rather deep kiss.
I sort of just stood there, silently watching them for a few moments before they broke apart.
"Well, that's a welcome surprise." Venelana's expression didn't change much, and not a hint of displeasure.
Yasaka just had a smug look about her as she noticed my expression. She grinned mischievously, patting my cheek.
My girls were the best.
"I heard you had a fun dinner." She finally said.
I walked over, letting Venelana slide off onto the couch. "That's one way to put it."
Well, I was one hundred percent sure she knew the details, so I didn't really feel the need to recap.
"At least you had a fun weekend." Her eyes lit up with amusement.
"Tired." Venelana practically fell over. "Been awhile since I've been this exhausted."
She wasn't the only one. I can honestly say that after spending nearly the entire weekend with Venelana, I was also tapped out for the moment.
The funny thing was, despite all the ridiculousness that's inside of me, that really should elevate me to levels beyond her ability to handle in such a way, she kept up without much issue.
But damn if that wasn't a good problem to have.
Yasaka just giggled at her response. Her tail wrapped around me happily. "I almost thought I would have to drag you back home. You were cutting it close, time-wise."
"Oh, come on." I nudged her with my shoulder. "You know I wouldn't miss something so important."
"Is it time to go meet the people at Kunou's new school?" Venelana perked up. "With everything else happening, I nearly forgot."
"That's a lie." Yasaka rolled her eyes, looking at me. "You should see the messages she's been sending. Pretty much hourly updates so our schedules wouldn't conflict."
"Don't give away my secrets~"
Maybe I should just let Venelana run my Harem? She seemed to be really good at it? Though it seemed to run itself already.
"Mmm, when you get back, how about we talk about setting up a playdate?" Venelana offered. "I think Milicas would love to have a friend. He's sort of stuck in the same situation Kunou is, it's hard for him to make friends when his dad is a Satan and the others don't have kids his age."
I was certainly not against Kunou having more friends.
And….after the fiasco of that dinner, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try and mend bridges in some parts outside of the ones I couldn't bring myself to actually like. My Half-Brother was by no means guilty of any negative feelings I had for much of his family.
"Alright, we can talk about that after." I nodded.
Nearly as soon as I said that the door opened and a fluffy missile shot right at me.
"Daddy!"
I caught my little fox in a big hug with Raikou right behind her.
"Can you tell she's excited?" Yasaka smiled.
I guess after the knee jerk 'abandonment' reaction wore off, she hyped it up a bit in her head? If I were in her shoes, it would certainly also be an exciting thing to me as well.
I rubbed her head and gestured for Raikou. My Servant accepted the side hug since Kunou was wrapped around me. Followed by a quick kiss, she smiled happily and sat on the couch next to Venelana.
"Was she hard to deal with today?" I asked.
"I was good!" Kunou immediately denied. "Right, Auntie Raikou?"
"She is always wonderful." Raikou chuckled.
"No burned down building?"
"Dadddd, that was only one time!"
"Only one time so far." Venelana snorted with a bit of laughter.
"Auntie Venelana…." Kunou pouted.
I don't know how it happened, but she started calling Venelana Auntie as well. Honestly, I think Kunou was a lot like me in that aspect, she really loved having a big family. She's happy to take it in any form it came in.
A new Auntie? Sign her the hell up. Just another person to dote on her.
She had them wrapped around her finger and everyone knew it.
But I digress.
"How about breakfast? Then maybe we can do some paperwork? Also, I have some errands to run…."
"Noooo, Dad!" Kunou started pulling on me.
"What?"
"I wanna go look!" She whined.
"Really? Do you wanna see it that bad?"
"Yes!!!"
"Alright, stop teasing our poor daughter." Yasaka nudged me. "We already planned to head over right away after your Auntie Venelana decided she was done with your Father."
Venelana's smug smile didn't disappear even as Yasaka shot her a little grin.
"We, I suppose." I said with mock reluctance.
The Little Fox all but bounced around the room with another burst of excitement.
There's no way this school was going to be still standing by the time she graduates.
"But seriously, anything we should take care of before we go?" I looked towards Yasaka.
She held up her hand, then started lowering fingers. "Artoria is handling that…..Scáthach is handling some other things. Oh, then there's the person coming from –"
"I'll handle that." Raikou suddenly spoke.
"I appreciate you so much." Yasaka's expression softened. "Thank you."
"It's no trouble." Raikou dismissed.
"But I still need to send someone to investigate the –"
"I already talked to Jinn, she's handling that." Venelana interjected with her phone in her hands as she lazed on the sofa. "I saw what you said a few hours ago and started arranging things. Don't worry about it, go ahead."
…..a few hours ago she was very much preoccupied, so I'm genuinely confused as to how she was keeping up with Yasaka's schedule and arranging things. Not that I'm complaining at all, but I am very much impressed.
"Then I guess I have nothing but free time for the next few hours." She finished with a smile.
"Let's go, Daddy!"
"Yes Daddy, let's go." Yasaka giggled.
Well, a nice relaxing outing with my two fluffy girls would be a nice reprieve in comparison to the last few days.
[***]
"Kunou, I want you to be on your best behavior." Yasaka said rather sternly as we walked out of a portal. "I know you're excited, but we'll have time to look around and have fun. Promise me that you won't run off."
"I'll be good, momma." Kunou nodded.
I let them have a moment but we were getting quite a few looks. Perhaps our method of arrival, or their unique looks compared to the people around, but we were clearly the center of attention.
Well, fuck'em.
I didn't really care to hide myself that much. And I refused to tell my two beautiful foxes to hide themselves either.
Especially if Kunou was going to be attending the school here for several years. There's no way I would force her to hide her features for that long a period of time.
Yasaka briefly mentioned before that it's not difficult to appear more human, hiding her ears and tails. But that it become exceedingly uncomfortable the longer it's held for. After a few hours, it's an annoyance, a few days it would be unbearable. Given the years that Kunou would be learning here that wasn't really an option, especially in a boarding school.
Nope, either everyone here deals with it or we find an alternative.
If anyone wanted to give her shit, well, I was more than happy to teach them a lesson.
Once they had a little hug, I led them inside. Rather, we were at the entrance to Diagon Alley from the inside, and we were walking back out to the little tavern.
And again, the people only seemed to stare for a few moments. I guess the magical people here were used to a bit of stranger sights, so Yasaka and Kunou didn't elicit too great a response, but there were obviously people looking longer than they politely should have.
But there was one person who got up and approached us.
"You must be Mr. Wilhelm Schweinorg and Miss..Yasaka?" The older woman seemed to slightly stumble on the name, it wasn't difficult by non-eastern standards, but then again, they're a very insular society. "I am Deputy Headmistress for Hogwarts – Minvera McGonagall." She introduced rather bluntly.
There was also a certain…sternness to her. Tense, maybe? But she didn't particularly look enthused by our presence for some reason.
Before we could speak, Kunou poked out from between us. "Hi, I'm Kunou." She smiled brightly.
Ever so slightly, that cold exterior of the Deputy Headmistress cracked as she looked at the fluffy fox. I don't know what misconceptions she began with, but at this moment, those seemed to be thrown out the window in front of the strategically deployed Fox.
"Yes." She seemingly settled on, a touch of softness was now found in her tone. "We were expecting you three. If you don't mind, we can proceed immediately to Hogwarts."
"That would be lovely, thank you." Yasaka answered.
"Normally, we would use the Floo to directly go to the Headmaster's office, but in this circumstance, I believe you wished to see the school?"
I…had no idea what this Floo was, my investigation into this place was not horribly conclusive yet, but I just nodded my head.
"Very well, would you like to Side-Along Apparate, or follow along?"
"We'll follow along." I nodded, having only a vague idea of what she was talking about now. I was aware to a certain extent that Wizards and Witches here had a method of teleportation, as some of the books barely touched on the topic, but I had yet to investigate it.
The Deputy Head-mistress nodded again. "Very well. Hogwarts has Anti-Apparition words throughout the castle, we will need to appear some distance away. Please wait a moment and follow along."
With that, she disappeared with a strange mixture of a pop and a crack.
I couldn't help but scrunch my face as I watched what she did.
"What?" Yasaka looked at me. "Is something wrong?"
"Imagine being a Blacksmith, working on your craft for decades. You tirelessly honed your skill and after many long years, you consider yourself a master and take pride in every work that comes out of your forge. Then, you see someone swinging around a piece of bent and rusted metal that was grinded down so it has an edge, and they claim it's a good sword." I did my best to articulate my current feelings. "That's what I'm feeling right now after seeing how she teleported."
Yasaka rolled her eyes and swatted at my shoulder. "Let's go."
I sighed, opening a portal by following the traces she left. And by traces, it was basically a big neon lit sign that said 'This is where I went!'.
I'll have to fix that shit if Kunou ever wanted to learn it.
Unfortunately, learning the Kaleidoscope wasn't just a matter of effort, but a certain inherent talent that can't be replicated without some absurd circumstances.
Ignoring the patrons in the bar, my family and I appeared on a cobblestone road, right in front of a long brick bridge that led to a rather impressive castle that stood over a body of water.
I admit, I was left a bit breathless by the scenery.
If nothing else, I would praise the first impression I had of this place.
"…that was not Apparition." The Deputy Headmistress spoke as we were suddenly jerked back to her presence.
"Pardon?" I blinked.
"….nothing." She thinned her lips with an indiscernible look in her eyes. She cleared her throat and put back on a natural expression. "Welcome to Hogwarts." She said with a hint of pride.
"Daddy, it's so big!" Kunou exclaimed. "This is really the school!?"
"It certainly is impressive." Yasaka spoke with a bit of awe. "I'm a little jealous that you can go to school in a castle like this."
I let out a whistle myself. "And the Magical Protections here are equally impressive." I wasn't just blowing hot air either. I would genuinely be hard pressed to break through the many Bounded Fields that I could just catch with a glance without resorting to….certain destructive means. "Let's see, an intent based recognition. Another one that parses for certain unknown parameters, but…oh, is that for throwing out alarms for non-students and faculty? Neat. And a –"
"Dear." Yasaka gently nudged me.
I awkwardly cleared my throat. "Apologizes, I get carried away sometimes."
The Deputy Head-Mistress pursed her lips as she looked at with a strange look again. "…..Yes, Hogwarts has a long and proud history with many impressive Witches and Wizards who have graced these halls. It seems that with every new generation of Headmaster, the safety of Hogwarts is further enhanced."
Why was there a sharpness to her tone?
I had the distinct feeling she was not particularly fond of me?
Though, she seemed to quickly change gear. "This is the South Entrance, if you look off to your left you can barely see the North one along with the Quidditch field a bit further beyond." She pointed off. "We have a very good Quidditch program here, and professional teams often scout upcoming talent from the House teams." She preened as she said that, but got a little more serious as she looked down at Kunou. "However, only second years and above are allowed to attend try-outs for the team. We want first years to acclimate themselves to Hogwarts first before branching off into various hobbies and extracurricular activities."
Kunou's tails swayed and she had that same big smile on her face. "What's Quidditch?"
The woman nearly stumbled over herself as she heard what my daughter said. With slight wide-eyed she looked as if she was making sure she wasn't the butt of a joke.
And honestly, I wanted to know what Quidditch was too.
I mean, I heard about it offhand when I was walking around and assumed it was some kind of sport. But details would go a long way here.
Then, she looked at both Yasaka and myself as if to gleam anything from us, but we both had blank expressions in return.
"….it is the most popular sport in the wizarding world." She said with a strange tone, like she couldn't believe she had to explain this to us.
"Oh, I wanna play!" Kunou's eyes lit up. "Can I play too, daddy?"
"Yes, can she play too?" Yasaka giggled, looking at me.
"Once you're eligible, you can make decisions like that yourself, sweetie. While you're here, you're also responsible for yourself in things like this." I put a hand on her head.
Maybe she's just been told how and where to walk most of her life that decision making was something she left to others?
No matter, some independence will be good for her.
"And beyond we have a small town that older students are allowed to visit on the weekends called Hogsmead." The Teacher continued. "It's less than a 30 minutes' walk from the castle."
Sounded almost like a College and accompanying College town.
Honestly, impressed so far. The Facilities looked very good on the surface, we'll see how they hold up under a bit more scrutiny.
"And how far does the School's property extend? You said that Kids aren't allowed to go to this town, right? Are they also not allowed to leave the Castle itself?" I asked.
"The School grounds extend to the forest you can see in the distance." She pointed. "However, that Forest is forbidden, and your daughter will learn more about that later. And it is obvious where the grounds end on the other sides as they are marked by a pathway. We do not allow younger students to venture beyond these points without being accompanied by a teacher, and without a reason. As for venturing beyond even Hogsmead itself, without a proper reason, students are not allowed to leave without express approval by the administration."
I nodded, not perturbed by her words. It was a boarding school, kids were supposed to stay at the school. Randomly going home whenever they wanted went against the whole concept.
Exceptions were made for obvious reasons. But we wouldn't be able to simply pull her out for a weekend to visit or what have you.
It was both an experience for them and a place of learning.
"Let us not tally." She said promptly, pivoting on her heels. "Please follow me."
Silently, we paced along across the brick bridge. Kunou marveled as she quickly ran to look over the edge and nearly jumped around to get a good look at the massive castle.
We couldn't see most of it from this angle, but it was a marvel of engineering if nothing else.
Coming up to some large wooden and metal doors, they seemed to open by themselves.
A person waited beyond for our arrival as the Deputy Head-Mistress came to a stop for them.
An older gentleman sporting some rather colorful – and painful to look at – robes. He also had a remarkable beard that went down to his waist.
"Albus, I thought you would be waiting in your office."
"I found myself fancying a walk." The Older man chuckled and his attention turned to us. "Greetings, I'm the Headmaster of Hogwarts. I am Albus Dumbledore."
He held his hand out and Yasaka took it first. "I am Yasaka, Leader of the West Kyoto Youkai." She introduced professionally. "Thank you for allowing us to visit."
"Oh, it's certainly no trouble!" The Headmaster quickly exclaimed. "I admit I am excited. Rarely do we get visitors from your side of the world." His eyes twinkled for some reason. "Welcome to Hogwarts, I hope that regardless of any discussions, you enjoy your time here."
Well, he seemed nice.
He then looked at me and I took his hand.
But before I could speak, there was a flash of flames, and a very familiar looking bird appeared and perched gently on his shoulder.
"Birdie." Kunou's eyes flashed.
The Headmaster chuckled awkwardly. "Apologies, Fawkes here likes to come and go as he pleases."
The Bird in question let out a soft squawk at him.
"It's nice to meet you, Headmaster." I shook his hand politely. "I am Wilhelm Henry Schweinorg." I introduced myself with a very well-practiced ease. "You have a wonderful School here."
"Yes, I've heard your name in recent days." His eyes twinkled again.
"Good things I hope." I smiled.
"…..that depends on the perspective, I suppose." He said with a strained smile. "And who is this wonderful little lady?" He his tone shifted to a bit more grandfatherly as he hunched over slightly to address Kunou.
"Hi, I'm Kunou." Kunou introduced herself. "You have a pretty bird."
"Why thank you." He smiled good-naturedly. "Fawkes here has been my companion for many years. And he loves when people compliment him. Don't you?" He gently rubbed the mythological bird.
"….can I pet him?" Kunou asked, a little bashfully.
"Well, that depends on Fawkes. While he may seem almost like my pet, he is actually my familiar and a partner. He is no less intelligent than you or me, so you need to respect his opinion on the matter."
As if to answer, the Bird flapped his wings and almost dropped to the ground to get more level with my daughter.
"It appears that he said yes." The Headmaster chuckled.
Fawkes tilted his head slightly and Kunou silently, but excitedly, began to rub him gently.
I mouthed a thank you to the bird that looked at me from the corner of his eye.
Well, so far, I wasn't getting any bad vibes, and my instinct was spot on for most things. Thus, I was being skeptically optimistic so far.
"Well, this is wonderful." Dumbledore clapped his hands. "I have been looking forward to this meeting for several days now." He turned his gaze to me. "I had the most interesting news arrive not long after I received your original letter. My good friend Ollivander regaled me with an interesting tale about a rather particular customer of his."
"….I paid for all the damages."
The corners of his lips curled up. "Yes, yes. He had to reassure the Auroras that there was no malicious intent regardless of the substantial damage to his shop."
Yasaka stared at me.
"And then there was an incident that occurred that brought the entirety of Diagon Alley into a chaotic hazard. Seemingly, there was a strange spell cast that disrupted a significant amount of wards that hid the Alley from the Muggles. The Auroras scrambled to fix the issue without alarming the population."
"…how peculiar." I forced out.
"Yes, quite." His eyes twinkled again. "After investigation, they said that it was a simple Lumos spell amplified to a degree unheard of. Quite the conundrum."
Yasaka's eyes drilled into me.
"I can only hope that the proper authorities handle the issue with haste and do diligence." I said with a completely straight face.
"Indeed." The Headmaster stroked his rather impressive beard. "Then, I heard one last piece of interesting information."
"Oh?"
"Yes, And I find myself confused." He stated. "I have some good friends in the lovely Aurors from the ministry that are working on a rather strange case. You see, a masked man and a….bird, reports say a Phoenix, were seen accosting a rather prominent member of the community."
He looked at me, then down at Fawkes.
Fawkes squawked and disappeared in a flash of flames.
"They say that the bird in question was…..oh yes, painted blue for some odd reason." The Headmaster informed me. "And that the masked stranger bludgeoned several people."
"It sounds like a strange tale indeed." I was an expert in keeping my cool.
The headmaster continued to stroke his beard. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about this, would you?"
"I have never met a phoenix before in my life." I responded with my expert lying ability. Fawkes already reappeared with a flash of flames, landing up my head and nodding to confirm my statement.
I could tell by the look on his face that I successfully fooled him.
In a completely unrelated matter.
"How about we talk about that sizable donation we wished to make towards Hogwarts?" I definitely wasn't changing the subject.
[***]
A/N
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