Magical Paw Prints, 1/9
Title: Magical Paw Prints
Characters: B6 and a few friends
Pairing: Tanaka Juri/Morimoto Shintaro
Genre: Hogwarts!AU
Rating: G
Summary: Juri and his friends are perfectly aware of how difficult, dangerous, and illegal it is to become an unregistered animagus. Yet they decide to try.
A/N: This monster of a fic was my challenge for Nanowrimo 2013, and it's finally both finished and edited! I can't even start describing how /absolutely relieved/ I am right now. I'm happy too, because it's my third nano fic but only the very first time that I've actually managed to finish the thing properly and even post it.
The number of chapters will probably be around seven but I'll reserve my right to change that, in case I decide to divide some of them a bit differently while rereading and posting them! So I did some fixing since some parts would have been too long to be posted in LJ. I hope they'll fit now that the story is in nine pieces instead!
I hope you'll enjoy the story! :3♥
- - -
At eleven o’clock, like every year, the scarlet steam locomotive whistled and slowly started to move on the rails. Parents, younger siblings, and other people who stood at the platform Nine and Three-Quarters waved their hands. At the windows of the train dozens of teenagers waved back at them until the white steam covered the vision and King’s Cross Station was left behind.
Some younger students were dashing around the narrow corridor of the car, letting out eager shrieks of the happy encounter (“Finally! How was your summer? Did you really get a new broom? You’ll let me copy your Astrology summer homework tonight, right?”), and Juri let a wide grin spread on his face when he opened the ventilation window and let the cool breeze make a mess of his hair before he sat back down on the soft bench. It was good to be going back again, even though there was a hint of sadness in the feeling too, now that he was starting his last year in Hogwarts. But it wasn’t the time to be moody. There was a whole long year ahead and Juri was determined to make it the best year of all.
“What’s so funny?” Jesse Lewis, a fellow Gryffindor starting his sixth year in the wizarding school and Juri’s best friend, asked from the other side of the table and continued searching for something from his bag.
“Nothing. Everything,” Juri answered with a shrug, his smile unwavering. “What’s that?”
Jesse had found what he had been looking for. He threw a small piece of plastic onto the table and chuckled, rolling his eyes.
“It’s a navigator.”
“It’s a muggle thing,” Juri pointed out the obvious fact, “why would you take that to Hogwarts? It will probably stop working as soon as you step your first toe across the borders of the school.”
“That’s what I told to my father,” Jesse snorted, “but he insisted I’d take it along. He’s an engineer. He likes to know how things work and he finds it incredibly interesting how magic blocks electronic devices from working. He made me promise I’d send that old wreck back to him in a few weeks. I think he imagines its insides will be full of pixie dust.”
Juri hadn’t heard anything so ridiculous during the whole long summer but he simply nodded; Jesse’s father was a nice man despite his constant weirdness. Besides, Juri didn’t really know many adults like him. Maybe Jesse’s father was a perfectly normal person in the eyes of his own kind?
“Seriously,” Jesse said and rolled his eyes, “sometimes I really wonder what made my mother fall for him. If what I’ve heard is true there were more than a few perfectly capable wizards in the town and yet she chose a muggle. I mean, there’s nothing wrong in being one but, you know.”
“Dunno, really. My family tree is all wizards and witches back to the Middle Ages or so,” Juri said and grinned, “Just wait until you find someone you really like. I bet you won’t care if she’s a witch or a muggle girl, as long as she gives you that one smile which makes your head spin.”
“Bullshit,” Jesse answered calmly, the both of them knowing Juri was right.
Every now and then someone walked past their compartment and raised their hands in a greeting through the glass of the door but nobody disturbed their peace, and when the commotion eventually seemed to quiet, Jesse went to peek out from the door to make sure there weren’t anyone on the hearing distance.
“How about the plan? Did you accomplish anything new during the summer?” he asked in a low voice.
“Not much - we spent most of the holiday at the relatives’ place,” Juri answered and leaned closer, “but there’s this one thing that I can do, look!”
He took a deep breath and concentrated until he felt an itching sensation that tickled his scalp and the sides of his nose. Jesse’s eyes widened in awe and Juri knew he had managed to do it again.
“Cool!” Jesse gasped and raised his index finger to touch the thin whiskers that had grown on the both side of Juri’s nose, “And your hair, too!”
Juri glanced up even though he already knew what had happened. His deep brown hair had gotten a shiny black color with a narrow streak of white in the middle of his front hair. Yes, it was cool, he mentally agreed with Jesse and tilted his head, just to make the strands of hair move so the change in their color became even more obvious. He was just about to say something when the door of the compartment flew open and Nakajima Kento, Juri’s classmate, waved his hand at them.
“Hi guys! It’s been a while! How was your summer?“
Jesse immediately jolted up with a wide smile on his face, obviously hoping to drag Kento’s attention to himself while Juri faked a huge sneeze, getting an excuse to cover his face and force his whiskers away while Jesse chatted with Kento.
“Huh, is that the candy troll? I better go back before it passes our car! See you,” Kento suddenly said and stepped back to the corridor, only stopping for one more second before leaving, “Nice hair color by the way, Juri!”
“Uh, thanks,” Juri murmured with an embarrassed smile. He had only concentrated on the whiskers and completely forgotten about his hair. Kento was already gone, however, and Juri let the darkness of his hair melt back into the ordinary brown.
“That was close,” Jesse sighed and flopped back onto his place. Juri nodded and sighed, deciding not to show off anymore. At least not before getting into a more secure place where his overly-social classmates wouldn’t just march in.
-
The whole thing had started almost four years ago. Juri had learned about animagi on his third year in Hogwarts and he still remembered the fascination he had felt when thinking about the ability to change into an animal by willpower. He had kept daydreaming about it for the whole year, amusing Jesse with his enthusiasm.
That year Jesse had given him a book about transfigurations for a Christmas present. There had been a whole long chapter about the Animagus spell and everything related to it, and during the holidays a crazy idea had sprouted in Juri’s mind.
"I want to try it," Juri whispered to Jesse when they came back to school after Christmas.
"Are you out of your mind?" Jesse hissed.
"I might be," Juri answered and to his delight saw Jesse's eyes starting to shine of obvious interest despite his disapproving tone.
"It's dangerous," Jesse said, leafing through the Animagus pages of Juri's transfiguration book.
"I know."
"And illegal."
"I know that, too."
"I want to try it!"
"I knew you would!"
For the next weeks they had practically lived in the school library, looking for any relevant books and browsing through them, making notes about everything that could possibly have anything to do with their interests. It had taken them a long time before they dared to try the actual spell.
-
Little by little the blue of the sky behind their window started to turn into soft shades of light pink and flaming orange. Shadows deepened, the first stars lit up, and eventually the only thing the boys saw in the black window was the blurry reflection of their own faces. The train trip had been comfortable and nice but they were relieved to see the warm yellow lights of the Hogsmead station anyway.
"Did the navigationer already break?" Juri asked when they collected their things from the compartment.
"Navigator," Jesse corrected and glanced at the small grey screen of the device before pushing it back into the front pocket of his bag, "it seems to be thinking we're at the North Pole. To be honest I'm impressed. I didn't think it could even be switched on anymore."
"Maybe that will be fixed once we get into the castle," Juri suggested and stretched his arms above his head. "Man, I could eat a whole dragon!"
In the hallway of the castle they joined into the mass of people slowly entering the Great Hall. By the doors they saw a bunch of seventh-year Ravenclaws, one of which greeted them both with a high five when passing by.
“Had a good holiday?” Juri asked and Hokuto raised his thumbs up.
“My brother and I spent two weeks on a science camp. Just ask me if you ever need to know anything about electrolysis!”
Jesse laughed aloud and Hokuto grinned at them before continuing his conversation with his housemates and going to sit in their own table.
“Screw you two and your muggle things,” Juri murmured, although it was more from a habit instead of real annoyance. It was the like that every time after the long weeks of summer, during which his friends were continuously exposed to the non-magical side of their lives. From years’ experience Juri knew his the acquired extra muggleness of his friends would fade away in a few days. Until that he’d have to deal with their incomprehensible humor. He could only be thankful that Kouchi wasn’t that bad.
Speaking of Kouchi, Juri thought. He stretched his neck and scanned the Hufflepuff table with his eyes, trying to locate his friends from the sea of black robes. He smiled when he saw both Kouchi Yugo and Morimoto Shintaro already sitting in their table and animatedly chatting with their housemates. With a glance to the other side of the Great Hall Juri made a similar check to the Slytherin table until he met Kyomoto Taiga’s eyes. Taiga raised his hand in the air for a second and flashed a quick grin at Juri before the both of them sat down on their own tables.
The food was as delicious as ever and after the meal the boys wished they could float up to the Gryffindor Tower instead of climbing all the stairs to their dormitories. Juri’s roommates were already there when he arrived, both unpacking their trunks and changing into their pajamas at the same time.
“Oi, did you see the new Ravenclaw girl? The one who sat right behind you Kento!” Morohoshi Shoki, the third Gryffindor boy of their age flailed and rolled around in his bed, making a comfortable nest of his pillow and blanket.
“The blonde one? Big boobs, long legs,” Kento specified in an amusement tone and laughed aloud when Shoki nodded frantically. “She’s been there for five years already!”
“What?" Shoki gasped and then frowned. “Isn't she an exchange student? I thought I had checked out all the okay-ish girls of the school!” His shock was so honest and confusion so deep that Juri took a pity on him - only after a good laugh of course.
“She didn’t look like that before this summer,” he admitted, “Her hair was darker and, uh. I think she has done some serious renovations to her wardrobe. Her new clothes are much more… flattering than the old ones were.”
“How do you know? She wore a dress robe tonight,” Shoki asked, clearly not quite ready to believe his roommates' words.
“I saw her at King’s Cross in the morning,” Juri explained. Kento was already giggling aloud and Juri couldn’t help joining into the laughter. He was thankful of the thick stone walls that wouldn’t let their noise through to disturb anyone.
“But honestly, I don’t get it,” Kento said and rested his chin on his crossed arms once they managed to compose themselves and were all lying on their beds again, their heads towards the foot of the beds so they could see each other. “Why are you so unhappy about it? This just means she’s a new addition to the assortment. Why don’t you just try to hit on her?”
“She already tried to hit on me, two years ago,” Shoki sighed and made a face, “I turned her down.”
“Shit. Bad luck, man,” Kento agreed and shook his head. However, after a few moments his face brightened again. “Does that mean she’s free for me to try?”
“Moron! You can’t play with a girl’s feelings like that,” Juri retorted and threw his pillow at Kento.
“I’m not going to play with her! I’m just going to make her fall on my irresistible charm,” Kento calmly answered with all the dignity he had, easily dodging the pillow.
“Too bad your charm isn’t located between your ears,” Shoki made a sarcastic remark.
“Too bad your charm is located between your legs,” Kento snorted back.
A second of silence followed his words before everyone laughed again, even louder than before. After a while Kento, still grinning, tiptoed to put out the candles and returned into his bed. Juri wiped the tears of mirth from his eyes, flopped down on his back and rolled around until he was comfortably stuck between his warm blankets and big soft pillows.
“You two are the most idiotic guys I’ve ever met in my life,” he pointed out from his comfortable roll of beddings.
“Takes one to know one,” Shoki murmured from his bed.
- - -
Chapter 2
Characters: B6 and a few friends
Pairing: Tanaka Juri/Morimoto Shintaro
Genre: Hogwarts!AU
Rating: G
Summary: Juri and his friends are perfectly aware of how difficult, dangerous, and illegal it is to become an unregistered animagus. Yet they decide to try.
A/N: This monster of a fic was my challenge for Nanowrimo 2013, and it's finally both finished and edited! I can't even start describing how /absolutely relieved/ I am right now. I'm happy too, because it's my third nano fic but only the very first time that I've actually managed to finish the thing properly and even post it.
The number of chapters will probably be around seven but I'll reserve my right to change that, in case I decide to divide some of them a bit differently while rereading and posting them! So I did some fixing since some parts would have been too long to be posted in LJ. I hope they'll fit now that the story is in nine pieces instead!
I hope you'll enjoy the story! :3♥
- - -
At eleven o’clock, like every year, the scarlet steam locomotive whistled and slowly started to move on the rails. Parents, younger siblings, and other people who stood at the platform Nine and Three-Quarters waved their hands. At the windows of the train dozens of teenagers waved back at them until the white steam covered the vision and King’s Cross Station was left behind.
Some younger students were dashing around the narrow corridor of the car, letting out eager shrieks of the happy encounter (“Finally! How was your summer? Did you really get a new broom? You’ll let me copy your Astrology summer homework tonight, right?”), and Juri let a wide grin spread on his face when he opened the ventilation window and let the cool breeze make a mess of his hair before he sat back down on the soft bench. It was good to be going back again, even though there was a hint of sadness in the feeling too, now that he was starting his last year in Hogwarts. But it wasn’t the time to be moody. There was a whole long year ahead and Juri was determined to make it the best year of all.
“What’s so funny?” Jesse Lewis, a fellow Gryffindor starting his sixth year in the wizarding school and Juri’s best friend, asked from the other side of the table and continued searching for something from his bag.
“Nothing. Everything,” Juri answered with a shrug, his smile unwavering. “What’s that?”
Jesse had found what he had been looking for. He threw a small piece of plastic onto the table and chuckled, rolling his eyes.
“It’s a navigator.”
“It’s a muggle thing,” Juri pointed out the obvious fact, “why would you take that to Hogwarts? It will probably stop working as soon as you step your first toe across the borders of the school.”
“That’s what I told to my father,” Jesse snorted, “but he insisted I’d take it along. He’s an engineer. He likes to know how things work and he finds it incredibly interesting how magic blocks electronic devices from working. He made me promise I’d send that old wreck back to him in a few weeks. I think he imagines its insides will be full of pixie dust.”
Juri hadn’t heard anything so ridiculous during the whole long summer but he simply nodded; Jesse’s father was a nice man despite his constant weirdness. Besides, Juri didn’t really know many adults like him. Maybe Jesse’s father was a perfectly normal person in the eyes of his own kind?
“Seriously,” Jesse said and rolled his eyes, “sometimes I really wonder what made my mother fall for him. If what I’ve heard is true there were more than a few perfectly capable wizards in the town and yet she chose a muggle. I mean, there’s nothing wrong in being one but, you know.”
“Dunno, really. My family tree is all wizards and witches back to the Middle Ages or so,” Juri said and grinned, “Just wait until you find someone you really like. I bet you won’t care if she’s a witch or a muggle girl, as long as she gives you that one smile which makes your head spin.”
“Bullshit,” Jesse answered calmly, the both of them knowing Juri was right.
Every now and then someone walked past their compartment and raised their hands in a greeting through the glass of the door but nobody disturbed their peace, and when the commotion eventually seemed to quiet, Jesse went to peek out from the door to make sure there weren’t anyone on the hearing distance.
“How about the plan? Did you accomplish anything new during the summer?” he asked in a low voice.
“Not much - we spent most of the holiday at the relatives’ place,” Juri answered and leaned closer, “but there’s this one thing that I can do, look!”
He took a deep breath and concentrated until he felt an itching sensation that tickled his scalp and the sides of his nose. Jesse’s eyes widened in awe and Juri knew he had managed to do it again.
“Cool!” Jesse gasped and raised his index finger to touch the thin whiskers that had grown on the both side of Juri’s nose, “And your hair, too!”
Juri glanced up even though he already knew what had happened. His deep brown hair had gotten a shiny black color with a narrow streak of white in the middle of his front hair. Yes, it was cool, he mentally agreed with Jesse and tilted his head, just to make the strands of hair move so the change in their color became even more obvious. He was just about to say something when the door of the compartment flew open and Nakajima Kento, Juri’s classmate, waved his hand at them.
“Hi guys! It’s been a while! How was your summer?“
Jesse immediately jolted up with a wide smile on his face, obviously hoping to drag Kento’s attention to himself while Juri faked a huge sneeze, getting an excuse to cover his face and force his whiskers away while Jesse chatted with Kento.
“Huh, is that the candy troll? I better go back before it passes our car! See you,” Kento suddenly said and stepped back to the corridor, only stopping for one more second before leaving, “Nice hair color by the way, Juri!”
“Uh, thanks,” Juri murmured with an embarrassed smile. He had only concentrated on the whiskers and completely forgotten about his hair. Kento was already gone, however, and Juri let the darkness of his hair melt back into the ordinary brown.
“That was close,” Jesse sighed and flopped back onto his place. Juri nodded and sighed, deciding not to show off anymore. At least not before getting into a more secure place where his overly-social classmates wouldn’t just march in.
-
The whole thing had started almost four years ago. Juri had learned about animagi on his third year in Hogwarts and he still remembered the fascination he had felt when thinking about the ability to change into an animal by willpower. He had kept daydreaming about it for the whole year, amusing Jesse with his enthusiasm.
That year Jesse had given him a book about transfigurations for a Christmas present. There had been a whole long chapter about the Animagus spell and everything related to it, and during the holidays a crazy idea had sprouted in Juri’s mind.
"I want to try it," Juri whispered to Jesse when they came back to school after Christmas.
"Are you out of your mind?" Jesse hissed.
"I might be," Juri answered and to his delight saw Jesse's eyes starting to shine of obvious interest despite his disapproving tone.
"It's dangerous," Jesse said, leafing through the Animagus pages of Juri's transfiguration book.
"I know."
"And illegal."
"I know that, too."
"I want to try it!"
"I knew you would!"
For the next weeks they had practically lived in the school library, looking for any relevant books and browsing through them, making notes about everything that could possibly have anything to do with their interests. It had taken them a long time before they dared to try the actual spell.
-
Little by little the blue of the sky behind their window started to turn into soft shades of light pink and flaming orange. Shadows deepened, the first stars lit up, and eventually the only thing the boys saw in the black window was the blurry reflection of their own faces. The train trip had been comfortable and nice but they were relieved to see the warm yellow lights of the Hogsmead station anyway.
"Did the navigationer already break?" Juri asked when they collected their things from the compartment.
"Navigator," Jesse corrected and glanced at the small grey screen of the device before pushing it back into the front pocket of his bag, "it seems to be thinking we're at the North Pole. To be honest I'm impressed. I didn't think it could even be switched on anymore."
"Maybe that will be fixed once we get into the castle," Juri suggested and stretched his arms above his head. "Man, I could eat a whole dragon!"
In the hallway of the castle they joined into the mass of people slowly entering the Great Hall. By the doors they saw a bunch of seventh-year Ravenclaws, one of which greeted them both with a high five when passing by.
“Had a good holiday?” Juri asked and Hokuto raised his thumbs up.
“My brother and I spent two weeks on a science camp. Just ask me if you ever need to know anything about electrolysis!”
Jesse laughed aloud and Hokuto grinned at them before continuing his conversation with his housemates and going to sit in their own table.
“Screw you two and your muggle things,” Juri murmured, although it was more from a habit instead of real annoyance. It was the like that every time after the long weeks of summer, during which his friends were continuously exposed to the non-magical side of their lives. From years’ experience Juri knew his the acquired extra muggleness of his friends would fade away in a few days. Until that he’d have to deal with their incomprehensible humor. He could only be thankful that Kouchi wasn’t that bad.
Speaking of Kouchi, Juri thought. He stretched his neck and scanned the Hufflepuff table with his eyes, trying to locate his friends from the sea of black robes. He smiled when he saw both Kouchi Yugo and Morimoto Shintaro already sitting in their table and animatedly chatting with their housemates. With a glance to the other side of the Great Hall Juri made a similar check to the Slytherin table until he met Kyomoto Taiga’s eyes. Taiga raised his hand in the air for a second and flashed a quick grin at Juri before the both of them sat down on their own tables.
The food was as delicious as ever and after the meal the boys wished they could float up to the Gryffindor Tower instead of climbing all the stairs to their dormitories. Juri’s roommates were already there when he arrived, both unpacking their trunks and changing into their pajamas at the same time.
“Oi, did you see the new Ravenclaw girl? The one who sat right behind you Kento!” Morohoshi Shoki, the third Gryffindor boy of their age flailed and rolled around in his bed, making a comfortable nest of his pillow and blanket.
“The blonde one? Big boobs, long legs,” Kento specified in an amusement tone and laughed aloud when Shoki nodded frantically. “She’s been there for five years already!”
“What?" Shoki gasped and then frowned. “Isn't she an exchange student? I thought I had checked out all the okay-ish girls of the school!” His shock was so honest and confusion so deep that Juri took a pity on him - only after a good laugh of course.
“She didn’t look like that before this summer,” he admitted, “Her hair was darker and, uh. I think she has done some serious renovations to her wardrobe. Her new clothes are much more… flattering than the old ones were.”
“How do you know? She wore a dress robe tonight,” Shoki asked, clearly not quite ready to believe his roommates' words.
“I saw her at King’s Cross in the morning,” Juri explained. Kento was already giggling aloud and Juri couldn’t help joining into the laughter. He was thankful of the thick stone walls that wouldn’t let their noise through to disturb anyone.
“But honestly, I don’t get it,” Kento said and rested his chin on his crossed arms once they managed to compose themselves and were all lying on their beds again, their heads towards the foot of the beds so they could see each other. “Why are you so unhappy about it? This just means she’s a new addition to the assortment. Why don’t you just try to hit on her?”
“She already tried to hit on me, two years ago,” Shoki sighed and made a face, “I turned her down.”
“Shit. Bad luck, man,” Kento agreed and shook his head. However, after a few moments his face brightened again. “Does that mean she’s free for me to try?”
“Moron! You can’t play with a girl’s feelings like that,” Juri retorted and threw his pillow at Kento.
“I’m not going to play with her! I’m just going to make her fall on my irresistible charm,” Kento calmly answered with all the dignity he had, easily dodging the pillow.
“Too bad your charm isn’t located between your ears,” Shoki made a sarcastic remark.
“Too bad your charm is located between your legs,” Kento snorted back.
A second of silence followed his words before everyone laughed again, even louder than before. After a while Kento, still grinning, tiptoed to put out the candles and returned into his bed. Juri wiped the tears of mirth from his eyes, flopped down on his back and rolled around until he was comfortably stuck between his warm blankets and big soft pillows.
“You two are the most idiotic guys I’ve ever met in my life,” he pointed out from his comfortable roll of beddings.
“Takes one to know one,” Shoki murmured from his bed.
- - -
Chapter 2