Arch Mage, the Path of Magic Chapter 29 (Patreon)

Hey friends and fans, Kairomaru is here with another chapter of Arch Mage, the Path of Magic! Trip in Japan! Yay! What fun and interesting things will Harry discover in this foreign land? Just by walking down the main street of the Magical District in Tokyo, Harry had someone interested in him. But who, or what, was the watcher in question? Will they make themselves known? Perhaps their interest in Harry’s power and intuition will be a door for Harry to learn something that he never could in Magical Europe?

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So, without further delay, please enjoy.

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Chapter 29 – Sights, Culture, Magic

The second day of the Harry and family’s trip to Japan started off with a traditional breakfast at the inn. Harry enjoyed the food, even though it was very different from an English breakfast. Plans for the day were made, Andromeda and Ted were going to walk the Magical District of Tokyo and ask around for recommended magical sights to see. It was basically a day out for the husband and wife to enjoy time alone together. Sirius, Tonks, and Harry would be checking out more shops and whatever else caught their interest, maybe even heading out into Non-Magical Tokyo to see a few of the sights there.

“Hm?” Harry looked off to his left and just over his shoulder.

“Something wrong, Harrikins?” Tonks asked since Harry had been looking over his shoulder somewhat often today.

Harry looked a little puzzled before turning to answer. “I keep getting the feeling that I’m being watched. But I don’t see anyone when I look.”

Sirius narrowed his eyes and looked around the area. Pulling out his wand he flicked it. “Homenum Revelio.” A slight wave left the tip of Sirius’s wand and spread out in a large circle around the three of them. A moment later and Sirius shook his head. “No people are around.”

“Maybe I’m a little off because we’re in a new place?” Harry shrugged it off for now and the three of them continued on their way.

A distance away, a short figure hummed thoughtfully. “Quite the intuition on the young man. Perhaps he’d be worth conversing with?” It had been a while since the figure had someone new to have a good conversation with.

-Inoue Books and Scrolls-

Harry happily pulled another book off the shelf at the shop that had caught his eye. Flipping it open, he looked at the various characters that he couldn’t read, but his eyes quickly focused on the diagrams on the pages intently. The details of the diagrams explained more to Harry than the words that he couldn’t read when it came to the Magic being explained. “So…a type of protective ward? It’s a very different method than what I’m familiar with from back home.” Without being able to read the words, however, Harry knew it would take a lot of trial and error to make use of the diagram he saw within the book.

The shopkeeper, a lovely Witch with sleek black hair going down her back and quite the curvy figure barely hidden by her yukata, smiled politely at the three foreign Magicals in her shop as they browsed. “If you have any difficulty, please feel free to ask for assistance.” She offered with heavily accented English.

“Thank you, we will.” Sirius gave the woman a smile, Miss Inoue’s cheeks gaining a hint of pink on them from his aristocratic good looks.

By the time they’d left the shop, Harry had three books and two scrolls stored in the expanded space within his pockets and a bright smile on his face. Sure, he’d need to at least learn a bit of Japanese to fully read them, but just the diagrams alone that he’d seen were already a wealth of information to his intuitive understanding of Magic. Miss Inoue was also smiling, having made a good sale and feeling quite flattered from Sirius’s attention and compliments. Tonks rolled her eyes at Sirius and pulled him out of the shop lest he get too far into his playboy persona.

-Later-

A bit after lunch the trio of Harry, Tonks, and Sirius were in Non-Magical Tokyo and enjoying the sights of the expansive metropolis. The lights, screens, and sounds in the entertainment area known as Akihabara were amazing and all three Magicals could imagine that they’d be even more impressive at night. Harry and Tonks were having a ball checking out various things, shops that catered to videogames, Japanese cartoons or ‘anime’ as the locals called them, character or themes shops and cafes. It was all so very different than anything they’d seen before. Sirius was happily collecting fliers that young ladies in various costumes and outfits were handing out. He would admit to being rather fond of the maid outfits and how much leg they showed.

“These are way different than the comics back home.” Tonks mentioned as she and Harry perused a manga shop and looked at various books. “They’ve got long stories, all told chapter by chapter in these comics, instead of the stuff in the papers.” She wasn’t familiar with Western Comic giants from the United States, Marvel and DC, so she only had the comics that were in the Muggle papers that her father occasionally brought home to compare them to.

“Very different stories, that’s for sure.” Harry looked through a few different manga with a grin. One had a boy with a monkey tail that did martial arts, another had a teenage punk that got mixed up with demons, one that had a swordsman with red hair and a cross-shaped scar on his cheek, and one about a boy detective. He couldn’t read a word of it, but the pictures and art were very easy to follow along with and had an impact all their own.

Tonks snickered as she looked through a few manga that were clearly aimed more towards girls. The book in her hand even had an anime, considering that they’d both seen it on one of the tv screens out front. “Ara ara, huh?” She laughed quietly at the way one of the older female characters acted, especially around the male lead of the manga. ‘I might have to borrow that expression.’ Tonks glanced over at Harry with a grin.

Upon returning to the Magical District after their jaunt into Non-Magical Tokyo, Harry was in a good mood. But shortly after entering the district he once more felt like he was being watched. Not looking this time, Harry wondered just who could be watching him with such constant attention. The following eyes disappeared as they returned to their inn.

-Next Day-

“Oh, it’s lovely.” Andromeda was enjoying the architecture and colors of the shrine they were visiting today. It was one that was built and taken care of entirely by Magicals and was placed a bit away from the main thoroughfare of the Tokyo Magical District.

Ted looked at the little informational pamphlet (thankful that it had English below the Japanese) and read off a little of it. “This place enshrines the Kami… Oh, I might butcher this name… Kotoshiro-nushi-no-kami…also known as Hiruko…or Ebisu. He’s one of the Seven Gods of Fortune, and a Deity of Fishermen and Luck.”

“Can never have too much luck.” Sirius said with a grin. “Japan has many, many Deities and spirits, it’s impossible for me to try and keep track.”

“You’re not wrong.” Tonks had looked at the paper that Ted was holding and saw a list of other shrines across Japan that were operated solely by Witches and Wizards. It was a very long list that took up almost the entire back of the paper. “And these are just the shrines run by Magical people… How many are there for the Non-Magical side?” Given the vast population disparity between Magical and Non-Magical it had to be in the tens of thousands, at least.

After visiting the shrine, and being led through the proper rite to pay respects to the Kami by a friendly shrine goer that they’d met, the family headed out to continue their sightseeing for the day. They saw a few places that had survived through the second World War thanks to Magical protection, though some did mention that the Statute of Secrecy had nearly been broken during the bombing and subsequent burning of Tokyo. It could be hard to hide the fact that one place in the city was unnaturally less damaged than everywhere else, after all. They had lunch at a small restaurant, trying out something called Gyudon (a beef and rice bowl), before continuing with their day.

Harry stopped walking as he felt something change in the air. He was a fair distance away from anyone else, having gone off a bit to explore, and noticed that there weren’t any people around. The feeling of being watched had followed him around most of the day, but now it had increased. ‘This is getting ridiculous.’ Harry thought to himself before reaching out with his Magic straight towards where the feeling was coming from.

“Mmmnnngh.” The large creature that Harry’s Magic had grabbed looked similar to the Oni that were native to Japan, but this one was different, with sharper features, almost like it was wearing full body armor or something over its blue skin. But there was something very ‘odd’ about the Oni that Harry couldn’t quite put his finger on.

“You’re not the one that’s been watching me.” Harry spoke to the blue Oni, his green eyes narrowing slightly. “Where did you come from?”

A soft clapping came from behind the blue Oni as a short figure revealed themselves from behind the creature. “You are a very impressive young man.” The person smiled at Harry, making the High Sorcerer blink once in surprise.

“A cat?” Harry couldn’t help but ask.

Indeed, the person that had spoken to Harry was a cat dressed in traditional clothing, a simple pair of ash grey hakama, a white kosode, with a forest green hanten over the kosode. On the cat’s feet were white tabi socks and wooden geta. The humanoid body was a bit strange to Harry, given he could see the cat’s head and the long tail behind it.

“How interesting…” Harry grinned at meeting another non-human, sapient Magical species for the first time. Outside of the Goblins and the Dwarves he’d met, and Fleur who was a Veela, Harry hadn’t met any others.

“Glad you think so.” The cat laughed lightly before holding up its right hand. “That’s enough, Zenki, you’ve done well.” The blue Oni glowed lightly and then faded away right before Harry’s eyes. A slip of paper in a vaguely human shape floated into the cat’s hand, only to be stashed away within a pocket of the forest green hanten. “Shall we have a chat, young man?”

Harry was now VERY interested in this magical cat and what it had just done. “I’m with my family right now. But if I stay in the area, I’m sure they’ll find me soon enough.”

The cat smiled, looking a bit odd on a cat’s face, and walked over to Harry. “Wonderful. I know a nice stand that has good tea.” He walked further down the street to lead the way.

“Alright then.” Harry chuckled and followed along. “Might you tell me your name?”

“I’m called Yasashī.” The cat said with a slight nod. “And you, young man?”

“Harry Potter.” Harry introduced himself.

The two sat down on a wooden bench with a large umbrella over it to provide shade. A few moments later and a woman greeted them and asked for their orders. Yasashī ordered for both of them and shortly afterwards Harry had a cup of matcha green tea in his hands.

“Why have you been watching me since I got here?” Harry asked after a sip of tea.

“You’re interesting, mostly.” Yasashī answered with a grin. “You noticed me watching you very quickly and even looked right at me, despite the fact that I was concealing myself with a spell. Not many can do that. It takes a great amount of intuition to see through the type of Magic that I use.”

Harry took the compliment but his mind quickly locked onto the part about Magic. “And what Magic is that? Is it the same type that allows you to summon an Oni with a piece of paper?”

Yasashī took a sip of his tea. “Indeed, it is.” He looked at Harry with a grin. “What you saw earlier is called a shikigami. It’s one of the Magics of Onmyōdō. Several centuries ago, I was a normal cat that happened to be the pet of an Onmyōji. After growing old, I became a Bakeneko and learned the art of Onmyōdō from years of watching my master.”

“Interesting.” Harry smiled at learning about a type of Magic that didn’t exist in Europe. “Can you tell me more?”

“I can.” Yasashī laughed lightly at Harry’s clear interest. “To start with, Onmyōdō means ‘The Way of Yin and Yang’ and it deals with Divination, Timekeeping, Astronomy, Natural Sciences, and the Wuxing, also called the Five Elements.”

Harry perked up at the last part. “I know the five phases from Chinese magical principals.” He’d studied whatever he could get his hands on growing up and with a small population of Chinese Magicals in Britain, the five elements or phases had been something Harry had learned a little about. “Wood generates fire, which generates earth, which generates metal, which generates water, which generates wood. Wood overcomes earth, earth overcomes water, water overcomes fire, fire overcomes metal, and metal overcomes wood. Or at least that’s how it’s explained in the book that I read about it.”

“You have some basic knowledge then, I’m impressed. Not many in the modern age bother to learn about the Magics of other lands.” Yasashī said before taking a sip of his tea. “I can already see the questions in your eyes.” He laughed at the obvious inquisitiveness that practically poured off of Harry. “Normally you’d have to join the Onmyōryō, one of the oldest groups that makes up the Ministry of Magic of Japan, to learn the old rites, rituals, and spells of Onmyōdō.”

“I’m sensing a ‘but’…” Harry raised an eyebrow at the Bakeneko.

Yasashī snickered for a second. “But… I was one of the Six Elder Onmyōji of the Onmyōryō for almost a century. I have quite a bit of leeway in who I decide to teach anything too, especially since I retired and don’t work for them anymore.”

Harry smiled at the thought of learning any kind of cultural Magic from the ancient Bakeneko. “Brilliant.” Looking thoughtful for a moment, Harry felt like he’d explode if he didn’t ask the biggest question in his mind. “That shikigami…was that a type of Spiritual or Soul Magic?”

“Shikigami are conjured beings, spirits, yokai, monsters and the like. Their power is connected to the magical power of their master and the abilities they can use grow stronger and broader in scope in proportion to said master’s skill and power.” Yasashī explained to Harry. “As the Shikigami arts deal with spirits, they fall under the rather broad term of Shamanism, much like any other form of Soul Magic does.”

“Fascinating.” Harry finally had a lead on figuring out Soul Magic, or at least one type of it. That would hopefully help him find ways to deal with it. Voldemort apparently knew some form of it himself, if that diary ‘memory’ from his Second Year was any indication. “Why are you willing to teach me any of this though?”

Yasashī looked at Harry for a moment. “It takes a great deal of intuition to actually use Onmyōdō and become a full-fledged Onmyōji. Your intuition is so great that you managed to perceive my gaze even through my spells. While I doubt you have the time to undergo a full apprenticeship right now, I’d like to give you a test to see if you have the aptitude for Onmyōdō.”

Harry could sort of understand Yasashī’s reasoning. He’d also agreed to teach his friends that had shown a desire to learn, after all. Perhaps the Bakeneko was so ancient now that he just wanted to teach someone that he saw potential in? Harry wouldn’t miss an opportunity like this. “Thank you for giving me the chance to prove myself.” He nodded to the cat.

“To begin, let’s run down the list of skills that all Onmyōji must know.” Yasashī began with a grin. “We’ll start with the various forms of Divination.”

It was almost twenty minutes later that Tonks, Sirius, Andromeda, and Ted found Harry, sitting on a bench and talking to a rather large cat wearing human clothes that was also smoking from a kiseru pipe.

“Wotcher, Harry…who’s your friend?” Tonks asked as the four approached.

Harry smiled at his family and introduced his new friend. “This is Yasashī, a Bakeneko, and a retired Onmyōji from the Japanese Ministry of Magic. He’s teaching me a bit about Onmyōdō to see if I have the aptitude for it.”

“Pleased to meet you, Yasashī.” Sirius greeted the cat with a polite smile. “Sirius Black, Harry’s godfather.”

“Wotcher, just call me Tonks.” Tonks gave a short bow to the cat.

“Andromeda Tonks, Harry’s aunt.” Andromeda gave a polite and proper greeting to the Bakeneko.

“Ted Tonks, Harry’s uncle.” Ted copied his daughter and gave a short bow to the ancient magical cat.

Yasashī nodded to the four with a polite smile. “A pleasure to meet you all.” His English was nearly perfect, only a slight accent and none of the humans were sure if that was because his native language was Japanese, or if it was because he was a cat. “We were just going through the list of skills that make up Onmyōdō. Young Harry has proven to be remarkably talented so far, I’m sure he could have the basics of the few parts that he doesn’t know well in hand before you all return home.”

Tonks let out a long sigh. “Harry, must you turn our vacation into you going to Magic class?”

Harry held his index finger and thumb apart by a fraction of a centimeter. “Just a little Magic class, Nym.” The little smirk on his face made Tonks flick his forehead. “Oi!”

“We do still have plans for most of the days of our vacation, Harry.” Andromeda reminded him that they’d be traveling to various parts of the country to see the sights.

“I’d be more than able to fit in a few lessons at the end of each day.” Yasashī offered with a small smile. “The rest I’ll write up for Harry to study and refine his lessons after you all return home.”

Sirius gave the Bakeneko a smile. “That would be much appreciated.” It meant that their family trip wouldn’t be interrupted, and Harry still got to learn this new Magic that he clearly wanted to. Sirius was nothing if not a doting parent.

“Not a problem.” Yasashī waved off with a chuckle. “It also give me a chance to shake the rust off of my English writing skills. I haven’t had need of them in quite a few years now.” He stood up from the bench and took one last drag from his kiseru pipe and then blew the smoke out into a cloud off to the side. “I’ll see Harry for a lesson this evening, if that’s alright?”

Sirius and Harry both agreed that would be fine after sharing a look between them.

With the agreement made the smoke cloud formed into the shape of an Eastern Dragon and Yasashī jumped on its back, revealing that it was now a solid shikigami. “Once you advance far enough in your studies of Onmyōdō, you’ll be able to use almost anything as a medium for it, Harry.” The Bakeneko was then flown away on the back of his white dragon shikigami.

“Okay, that was kind of cool…” Tonks admitted once the magical cat was out of sight.

So it went that the Family spent their days in Japan visiting various locations, cities, and sights. They went to the Tokyo Tower, were able to join a tour of the Imperial Castle (what parts were open to such things, of course), saw many of the special wards of Tokyo, such as Shibuya, Roppongi, Yokohama, Ginza, and Shinjuku. Tonks and Harry convinced the others to return to Akihabara at night to see all of the lights, which had been worth the trip in their opinion. They went to Kyoto, the old capital, and visited gardens, shrines, they’d seen the famous Ginkakuji and Kinkakuji temples, and saw traditional kabuki theatre as well. Nara Prefecture had been fun with various parks filled with Sika Deer that would bow if they were bowed to first and then given a ‘deer cracker’ which could be bought from small stands that were set up around many of the parks. They visited Osaka and the famous Dotonburi area filled with shops and their various large and colorful signs, including one that was a giant crab that moved! Seeing various ancient castles, a few of which were as old as Hogwarts if not older, had been interesting as well.

The Magical sites in Japan had Harry the most excited. There were hidden forests and springs filled with magical creatures native only to Japan, small islands hidden by Magic where various workshops and artisans practiced magical crafts that had been honed and refined for almost two-thousand years. They’d even gotten to see students of Mahoutokoro (Japan’s premiere Magical School and one of the eleven largest magical schools in the world) that had been visiting one of the workshops. Seeing their robes, Harry wondered why Hogwarts only had plain black. The Mahoutokoro robes apparently changed color based on a student’s academic performance with gold being those that got top marks in every subject. Harry saw a range of colors, but no more than twelve for sure, and he wasn’t absolutely certain that at least two of the colors weren’t just regular robes since they seemed to be worn by Professors.

-Final Night in Japan-

Yasashī stood across from Harry under the night sky. “Whenever you’re ready, Harry.” He said, motioning for Harry to attempt a shikigami summoning.

“Right.” Harry breathed out and focused on the single leaf on the ground in front of him. His goal was to manifest a simple spirit known as a ‘Kooni’ or ‘Small Oni’, though Yasashī also called them ‘Leaf Sprites’ because of their medium being a leaf. They were just little earth spirits with no will of their own, being that they were based in pebbles and leaves. It was a simple and safe beginning shikigami because of the lack of sapience and the fact that they vanished the moment that the Onmyōji stopped giving them Magic.

A soft green glow surrounded the single leaf as Harry used his Magic as Yasashī had taught him. Recalling the five phases and knowing that the Kooni were earth spirits, he focused his Magic to that specific element as he tried to call forth the little sprite. A moment later and a spherical little spirit formed around the leaf. It was a rather cute thing, having two small eyes, two stubby arms and an equally stubby pair of legs, with two horns atop its spherical body that were both larger than its tiny limbs.

“Oo…” The little Kooni made a soft noise as it floated upwards until it was at eye-level with Harry. As it hadn’t been given any instruction, it simply floated near Harry for now.

“Oh ho… Very good, Harry.” Yasashī praised his sort-of student with a smile. “You managed to summon a Kooni shikigami in just over a week. Most beginners take a month or more for such results.”

Harry smiled at both the praise and the little shikigami in front of him. This was what he wanted the most while traveling abroad, new Magics, esoteric Magics, cultural Magics, things that he’d never see or know if he stayed in Magical Britain his whole life. “Thank you very much, Yasashī-shishou.”

The Bakeneko let out a meowing laugh. “Who’re you calling ‘Master’, boy?” Yasashī shook his head at Harry’s address. “You can only call me that if you undertake a formal apprenticeship. Maybe in the future, but something tells me that since you now know the basics, you’ll figure out the rest yourself easily enough.”

“I hope to improve, at the very least.” Harry confirmed with a laugh of his own. “Should I try giving this little one an order?” He looked at the floating Kooni.

“Give it a try.” Yasashī said while taking a drag from his kiseru pipe.

Harry looked at the Kooni and directed it with merely thought and intention. The little green Kooni shot towards Yasashī at speed, only to be smacked away by the kiseru pipe while the Bakeneko exhaled the smoke.

“You’re a few centuries too early to be trying that on me, Harry.” Yasashī smirked at the young man. “Trying to take an old cat’s pipe from him. How rude of you.”

The Kooni had ‘popped’, Harry noticed of his first shikigami. “You put a little Magic into your pipe and broke the medium to undo my shikigami, right?”

Yasashī nodded with a smile at Harry’s quick deduction. “Indeed. It doesn’t take much when you know how to undo a Shikigami. Using an element that is overcoming against the spirit also makes it easier to strike directly at their medium.” He held up his kiseru and lightly tapped the wooden length. “Wood overcomes earth, after all. The medium itself is also important in shikigami when it comes to the five elements. The Kooni you summoned is a tiny earth spirit, a plucked leaf can be a good medium as can a small pebble. However, if you were to try using either of those as a medium for a fire spirit, the Kooni summoned would quickly disperse as the medium was burned up.”

Harry thought about the new information. It made sense that the elements between medium and spirit would need to be compatible. “Is that why natural sciences are part of Onmyōdō?”

“That’s part of it, yes.” Yasashī confirmed with a smile at how quickly Harry picked up knowledge from even brief lessons. “I believe that will conclude our lessons for now.” He took out a book, bound in the traditional way with a thick string through one edge of the pages. “I almost bound the edges on the right side, but I stopped before I did so, given that English is read left to right.” The old cat laughed as he handed the book to Harry. “It’s no Senji Ryukketsu like Abe no Seimei’s, but it’ll serve you well on your further studies into Onmyōdō.”

“Thank you very much.” Harry accepted the book with a polite bow.

“Your girlfriend seems to be waiting for you, so I’ll be on my way.” Yasashī nodded his head to Tonks who was standing at the edge of the inn’s garden where they’d been having Harry’s lessons each night. “Good evening to both of you.” The Bakeneko nodded as he walked by Tonks and headed out into the Magical District of Tokyo. He was soon lost amongst the crowd, his short form easily hidden by the taller Witches and Wizards.

Tonks approached Harry with an amused grin on her lips. “So… I’m your girlfriend now, huh?”

Harry rolled his eyes at her playfully. “I never said that. Yasashī just assumes it because of how close we are.”

“You know you love me.” Tonks wrapped Harry into a hug.

“How could I not?” Harry asked rhetorically, just a hint of sarcasm heard in his tone as he returned the hug.

Tonks grinned at Harry as she pulled back from the hug a bit. “Ara ara it is then.” With that she leaned down slightly and kissed him gently.

Harry blinked at the unexpected kiss before looking at Tonks with a raised eyebrow. “And how long have you been waiting to say that?”

“Since the manga bookstore.” Tonks said without shame. “Come on, lover boy, time for bed.” She took his hand and started leading him back towards the inn.

“With you?” Harry asked with a smirk.

“You wish.” Tonks shot back with her own smirk.

Harry laughed as he let Tonks lead him along. Part of his mind still thinking about his last lesson from Yasashī about compatible mediums for shikigami. ‘I know I can’t summon a shikigami from anything that’s not natural, so conjuring mediums is out. But as long as they’re compatible…’ A few different ideas would form before he went to sleep that night, but he’d have to try them out to determine their actual practicality.

-Tonks Family Home ~ Midnight-

“Oof!” Tonks lost her balance and toppled over, taking Harry with her to the floor.

Sirius shook his head once. “International Portkeys really disorientate you.”

Andromeda and Ted appeared fine for the most part as they got their bearings.

“Alright there, Harrikins?” Tonks asked as she lay on top of him.

“Take your time, I’m brilliant.” Harry said with a joking grin.

Tonks rolled her eyes, but pressed her breasts against his chest a little before she pushed herself off of him and stood up. Taking his hand, she pulled Harry to his feet, the two of them sharing a look with each other.

“So… We’re back eight hours now. Should we stay up and try to resynchronize?” Sirius asked the group.

“Absolutely not.” Andromeda shook her head. “I have Sleeping Draughts for all of us.” She walked into the kitchen and came back with five stoppered vials. “These will put us to sleep for about eight hours and we’ll all wake up and have a nice breakfast. The Japanese food was nice, but after so many days I’ve grown a bit of a longing for some home cooking.”

“Sounds wonderful, luv.” Ted kissed his wife’s cheek.

The five of them downed their potions and then headed for bed, knowing they only had about fifteen minutes before they’d be asleep.

“Night, Harrikins.” Tonks said as they both headed for their bedrooms (which happened to be across the hall from each other’s).

“No kiss goodnight?” Harry asked with faux shock.

Tonks scoffed at him. “Give you one and suddenly you start expecting it forever.”

Harry only smiled at her.

“Here.” Tonks kissed him softly and pulled back. “Better?”

“Better.” Harry nodded sagely, getting a flick to the forehead from Tonks. “Oi!”

Tonks laughed at him before entering her room and closing the door.

Harry headed to bed with a little smile on his face.

-Junior Dueling League-

“Hmm… Maybe like this?” Harry mused as he let his Barrier spell block every jinx, hex, and curse thrown at him by his opponent. He gathered water from the air with his Magic until he had a small sphere of it floating in front of him. With the right spell the water ball glowed and a bright blue Kooni formed with the water as its medium. “So, as long as it’s not conjured water I can use it. That’s good to know.” Harry gave the little shikigami and order just as he dropped his Barrier.

The Kooni shot across the Dueling Platform like a bullet and smacked straight into the chest of Harry’s opponent. The teen squawked as he was taken off his feet and hit the platform on his back, further knocking the wind out of him. The Kooni picked up the teen’s dropped wand and took it back to Harry.

“Disarmed!” The Wizard acting as referee declared. “Harry Potter wins the match!”

Harry and his opponent gave each other the post-Duel bow, as was tradition and then they both left the platform for the next two Duelists to have their turn.

While Harry waited for his next turn, he continued to think about more applications for his newly learned shikigami spell. ‘I’ll read more of the book that Yasashī made for me tonight and see what it says about more advanced forms.’

“Harry, what is that?” Susan asked as she sat down not too far from Harry after her latest match. She pointed at the ‘Water Sprite’ Kooni that still floated close to Harry.

“It’s a shikigami. A type of Spirit Magic.” Harry answered simply, knowing that Susan would roll her eyes at his lack of in-depth explanation.

“I’ll just pretend that I know what that is.” Susan said with a playful huff and a joking roll of her eyes.

Harry chuckled as he had the Kooni go over to Susan and gently press itself to her forehead, cooling the girls off as she’d worked up a sweat going against one of the sixteen-year-old members of the Junior Dueling Team. “Never change, Susan.”

Susan said nothing as she rested her head against the cool water spirit.

When Harry’s turn came around again, he walked up onto the platform and saw his opponent was Theodore Nott. Another prat from Slytherin, but not nearly as vocal about it as Draco. The two met in the middle of the platform for the pre-Duel salute and then headed for their own respective ends.

“Begin!” The referee declared.

“Everte Statum Tria!” Theodore cast and the tripled hex rush at Harry in three waves of force.

“Barrier.” Harry let his barrier spell block the hex without a care. “Let’s see…how would I go about making a ‘Flame Sprite’ Kooni?” Three more spells slammed into his Barrier as he adopted a thinking pose, occasionally he’d send out a few arcing spells that went around his Barrier to keep Theodore on his toes. “I can’t use anything conjured as a medium for these simple shikigami, but more complex shikigami require a paper talisman with written instructions on them. So, how do I go about getting compatible mediums for things like fire?”

Theodore Nott hated having to duel Potter. It was always a struggle to find a way to even hit the prodigious Wizard. ‘Hell…he’s not even just a Wizard, he’s a High Sorcerer already.’ Many of the Pureblood Heirs and Heiresses felt almost inadequate when compared to Harry Potter. Several of them had seen the looks on their parents faces when they read an article in the Daily Prophet about whatever new amazing thig Harry Potter had done and then looked at their own average at best children. ‘At least my parents have never asked me why I’m not a Sorcerer yet.’ His mother and father understood that Harry Potter was just a ridiculous prodigy, the type that came around once a century at most. He was fortunate in that regard. Draco had been having his nose put to the grindstone to improve by his father, Lucius Malfoy.

“Wait…” Harry spoke after firing off a round of Rejection at Theodore, nearly knocking the other teen off the platform if not for a hastily raised Protego. “A medium doesn’t have to be the same material…it just has to be a compatible material.” The thought had struck Harry after mentally going over what he’d read in his new Onmyōdō book just last night. “Natural Sciences…what does normal fire need to burn? Fuel and oxygen…as long as those two are present, even a small spark can become a flame.” With that thought in mind, Harry crabbed hold of the air with his Magic and compressed it down into a small space rapidly causing so much pressure that heat blossomed and skyrocketed.

Fwooooosh

Flames sparked and then burst into being from the compression of the air and all of the gases within it.

Harry quickly took control of the air as the medium and used the simple shikigami spell. A red Kooni formed, the spherical spirit containing the flames within itself, making the spirit a bright red color.

“Oo…” The Kooni made the soft noise that Harry had come to associate with the little spirits.

“What the heck is that?!” Theodore questioned upon seeing the odd thing that Harry had seemingly conjured.

The Barrier spell dropping was his only warning. The red Kooni was suddenly almost in his face.

“Protego!” Theodore cast and managed to block the spirit…or so he thought.

The Kooni went through the Shield Charm, its form wavering unsteadily for a second, before touching Theodore and making his robes smolder and smoke.

“Wah!” Thoedore yelped and scrambled backwards while patting down the smoldering area with his left hand. The Kooni slammed down on Theodore’s shoes and the teen hissed as his shoes became incredibly hot quickly. “Petrificus Totalus!” He nearly threw the charm at Harry when he saw the Barrier spell wasn’t there anymore. A brief thought that Harry couldn’t keep this weird spell going while his barrier was up passed through Theodore’s mind.

That thought was proven false as the Barrier appeared and stopped his spell cold.

The red Kooni launched itself upwards at Theodore’s face and the teen threw himself backwards to dodge…and straight off the edge of the platform.

“Oof!” Theodore lightly bounced on the cushioned ground before realizing what had happened. “Damn it…”

“Out of bounds!” The referee declared. “Harry Potter wins the match!”

Harry dropped his Barrier and the red Kooni floated over to him. “Good work, little one.”

“Oo…” The Kooni had no concept of thanks or praise, it was just too simple of a spirit to grasp such concepts. It faded away as Harry released the spell.

As Harry gave Theodore the traditional bow to conclude their duel, his mind was already going through new ideas. Finding out that he could use the air as a medium for fire opened up quite a few possibilities for even the simple shikigami spell that he knew. “So many ideas to test, so little time.”

At the end of the day, the Head of the Junior Dueling League reminded all parents that they would not be meeting during the end of August due to the Quidditch World Cup being held in Britain this year. It was something the man had done after every meeting, just to make sure it was heard by everyone.

“We’ve still got time.” Harry said to Sirius who had brought him to the meet and watched his Duels like he always did.

“Yeah, but there will inevitably be one person that complains they weren’t informed.” Sirius replied with a chortle. “Your birthday comes first though! You’ve sent out all of your invitations, right?”

“Yes, Sirius.” Harry laughed at Sirius being more excited for his birthday party than even Harry was.

-Hidden Location-

Voldemort stood over the corpse of Bertha Jorkins, a Witch employed at the Department of Magical Games and Sports at the British Ministry for Magic. The woman had served her purpose of getting him up to speed on what had been going on in his homeland since he’d been banished by Dumbledore in the summer of Ninety-Two. Her death had also facilitated his newest Horcrux Ritual as well. He know had the seven-way split that he’d been planning to use the murder of infant Harry Potter for.

The large snake that slithered around his feet was now his latest Horcrux.

“Nnngh.” Voldemort grimaced as the body he was possessing spasmed out of his control for a brief moment. “The ritual weakened my connection with this body.” He breathed in and out slowly, though it was more to calm down than a need for air. “I’ll have to procure another one.” He left the room he’d performed the ritual in and stalked towards where he felt Wormtail’s Dark Mark. “Wormtail! We’ll be departing from here soon! Make the preparations!”

“Y-yes, my Lord!” Wormtail bowed lowly, fearful of upsetting his master.

Once Nagini had finished with the corpse, they’d move once more and Voldemort would get himself a new body temporarily. He still needed time and some more preparation before he’d get himself a body worthy of his power and immortality. Until then, a temporary vessel would do while he made said preparations.

“Triwizard Tournament at Hogwarts this year…” Voldemort mulled over the information that he’d torn from Bertha Jorkins. “Could I use that to my advantage?” It could be possible, but he’d need competent help, his red eyes glared in the direction of Wormtail, disgusted that he only had one near useless follower right now. “Getting someone inside of Hogwarts without them being discovered would be a difficult task. I need more information.” The need to skulk about in the shadows and not draw attention to himself at this time was making information gathering harder than it needed to be. “Once I get myself settled somewhere secure…I’ll remind those who swore their loyalty to me of their place.” That would solve the information gathering issue and the competent followers issue both. “There will be no half-measures this time.” His red eyes nearly glowed as he made his plans for the foreseeable future.

-End Chapter-

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The trip to Japan went great! Harry and family got to see the sight, both Magical and Non-Magical, got to experience the culture of Japan, and Harry got a temporary teacher in the form of an ancient Bakeneko that taught him the basics of Onmyōdō!

You just have to love it when things work out!

By the way: Kooni is pronounced as Ko Oni. Ko meaning ‘small’ and Oni…well is ‘Oni’. So ‘Small Ogre’ basically. Given that none of them are bigger than a volleyball compared to the towering stature of the more well-known Oni…yeah, Kooni makes sense, right?

Tonks and Harry have some fun little moments as well and Tonks has learned ‘Ara Ara~’! Cackles in plans

Getting back home and the Junior Dueling League sees Harry already practicing further with his new shikigami spell! With the book that Yasashī wrote for him, just how far will Harry go with his intuitive understanding of Magic?

Voldemort has murdered Bertha Jorkins and made Nagini into a Horcrux! Where the hell was Nagini before this? Who can say?! JKR never told us in the books, that I can recall, and I never really read much of her ‘after book writings’, so if it’s mentioned somewhere out there…not caring!

Old snake face now knows about the Triwizard Tournament being held at Hogwarts in the coming school year! That might be bad…

Next is the Quidditch World Cup and the beginning of Fourth Year!

I know some of you just said: “Finally!”, I can hear you through the internet! Kek!

Will Harry be forced into the Triwizard Tournament again?

Keep reading to find out!

Until I get your reviews, later!