Sano looked out at the scenery as it whipped by the speeding train. He was in England and going to a new school. It wasn't that he was nervous, just that his family's move from Japan was unexpected. One minute he was packing for school, then within a week he was in another country where everything was different. He had travelled, but now he was actually living in a foreign country. He frowned -- he had been looking forward to going back to school because he was in his last year and the upper sixers usually ruled the school. Instead, he was now the new kid. He kicked his carry-on. To make it worse, his parents had dragged him to some place called Daigon Alley for a long day of shopping for school supplies, and his mom had insisted he stay with them, so he couldn't go look at the latest Quidditch brooms.
"Sano," his mother sighed. "Do you plan to stop growing soon?" She looked up at her son as he stood on a stool being measured for new robes. "We just got you new ones last term."
Sano's father grinned down at his wife. "That's from my side of the family. He's a growing boy."
His wife just rolled her eyes. "Since he takes after you, dear, do you think you could get him to brush that mop?"
"Mom!" Sano turned red as he glanced at the tailor.
The tailor looked up, "Don't worry, young man." He looked at the magic quill scribbling on a piece of parchment, "One hundred and seventy-eight centimetres." He looked back at the family. "I don't understand Japanese but teenage embarrassment remains the same no matter where you're from."
The tailor draped a robe over Sano's shoulders. "Hmm.. falls nicely. This is would be good for his uniform. Strong fabric, highly resistant to stains and impervious to potions accidents."
Sano turned redder as his mother fiddled with the robe. "There's plenty of hem, so it can be let down during the year."
Sano just stood there, rolling his eyes at his father, who looked back at him sympathetically.
"Hey!"
Sano jumped as a hand clamped on his shoulder. He looked up to see his best friend leaning over him.
"Katsu!" He jumped out of his seat and hugged his friend's shoulders, lifting him off the ground.
"How the hell are you?" Katsu grinned, "Sano! Put me down!" They dropped into the seats. "Where's your brain today? I've been calling you for the last five minutes."
Sano shifted and reached for his bag. "Just thinking. Everything just moved so quickly in the last couple weeks, and I'm pissed off." He pulled out a box of pocky and offered it to his friend.
Katsu grabbed a few and took out his ever-present sketchbook. He spoke around the sticks in his mouth, "You mean the sudden move to England?"
"Yeah, but your mom was already here for her exhibition, so it was just you and your Dad."
Katsu shrugged. He didn't know why they had suddenly moved to England, but he couldn't be bothered. It was all new material for his art. He looked over at Sano, who was kicking his bag. Better the bag than him.
"Don't worry about it. You're an upper sixer. You'll rule the school within a few days."
"Right, providing I don't fail out of my courses."
"You did well on your O.W.L.S."
"That's only because I had extra tutoring and Mom threatened to ground me. I like transformations, care of magical creatures and muggle studies; but potions, Zen mediation and the rest aren't my best subjects."
Sano shrugged, looking down at his friend's artbook. Katsu had drawn platform nine and three quarters at King's Cross. There were students milling around, owls hooting, cats yowling in their carriers and parents hugging their children goodbye.
On one side of the picture, a crowd of Japanese students stood a part from the chaos.
"There's so many of us," He brushed his fingers over the picture.
The station had been noisy. Sano was trying to avoid his mother as she tried fruitlessly to tame his hair.
"Sano!" She grabbed his ear.
"Ouch! Mom!" He rubbed the offended appendage.
She glared up at him. "I don't want this headmaster to owl me saying you've been running a gambling ring."
"I wasn't running the gambling ring..."
"Sano, I'm not stupid."
"...I was just gambling."
His mother sighed and looked up at her husband, who was grinning behind the boy's back. Sano slowly backed away from his mother's deadly hand and hid behind his father, who promptly stepped aside.
"Sorry, son. I'm afraid of your mother. You're on your own"
Sano kicked his father in the shin, then jumped out of the way.
A girl ran past him, calling out to an elderly man.
"Hurry up, Jiya! I don't want to miss the train!"
"Misao! The train isn't going to leave without you. Watch out for that owl!"
Sano grabbed for the tilting cage and muttered softly at Hibou. "Don't worry buddy, I'll dump her in a well when we get to the school." The owl hooted, his eyes glittering up at his owner in agreement.
His mother yanked at the back of his shirt. "Sano, I want you to promise me no gambling, no fighting and please, no drinking. You're underage."
"Mom..."
"Promise me."
Sano shrugged. The drinking wasn't going to be a problem. He seriously doubted sake was that readily available in England and besides, his former principal took away his fake ID. The gambling thing was pretty harmless. It wasn't like he bet big money, just pennies. Now the fights. Well... What was he supposed to do? Run away like some coward? He was fast and he was strong. It was the other guy who usually felt it the next day, not him.
His mother smiled at him and stroked his cheek. "Just be careful, okay? Don't be so reckless, and please, try not to upset the teachers."
Sano nodded, not really making any promises, but he wanted to keep his mother happy.
"Yeah. I heard the school was destroyed."
Sano perked up "What? I heard something about the school! What happened? No one's telling me anything!" He frowned at his friend.
"You've got that underground information network going, don't you? Well? What have you heard? The other students are saying some freaks trashed the building and killed all the teachers"
"I -"
"Sano! Katsu!" The boys turned to see Kaoru heading towards them with a brown-haired girl. She slid into the opposite seat.
"Hi guys! This is Hermione Granger. She's in my year and she said she's going to help me with my O.W.L.S. and I'm going to help her with self-defense."
Hermione smiled at the two guys and shook hands. She stuck her head out of the compartment and looked around.
"Are you expecting someone?" asked Katsu, quickly sketching her.
"Just checking on a couple of my friends. Harry and Ron are off talking to Lee and Neville."
"Harry?" asked Sano.
Kaoru nodded, "The Harry Potter. I've read so much about him. It should be interesting to meet him."
"So he's the one who defeated what's-his-name all those times." Sano nodded to himself. You had to admire a guy who could defeat a man considered the most dangerous wizard in the world. The four teenagers chatted for a while and then there was the mad scramble to get their robes on, cram the last bit of junk food into their mouths and get ready to get off the train.
"Oi! Katsu, you idiot! That's my owl!"
Hibou screeched.
"Now he's pissed. He's gonna come after you as soon as he's free."
Katsu just rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't have hit the cage if you hadn't smashed my foot. Get out of the way, I don't want to get caught in the crush."
The girls had, by this time, left the compartment to go get their stuff. The boys pushed each other out the door and tumbled down the steps. Sano looked around and backed up into his friend.
"Ouch! You twerp! You stepped on my foot again."
"A giant. Cool."
"Oh. Yeah."
"Firs' years! Firs' year over here! All right there, Harry?" The giant Hagrid grinned over the heads of the milling students. "All Jap'nese students over here! You're ridin' the boats."
The students trudged after Hagrid down a steep, narrow path that opened suddenly to the edge of a huge lake. The school loomed in the background, a huge dark castle with turrets and towers and even a few of the prerequisite bats hovering.
"No more'n four to a boat!" called Hagrid. "Everyone in? Right then - FORWARD!"
The boats made their way to the school. Sano, Katsu, Kaoru and Kaoru's little brother Yahiko Myojin ('Same mother, different father. Mine is a descendant of famous a Tokyo samurai family!') all sat in the boat watching as they drew closer to their new school.
"It's dark," whined Yahiko. Sano kicked him then pushed him aside when the brat tried to climb onto his head. The kid had just turned 11 and was supposed to go to their school. It was set on the cliffs near the ocean in Japan, and it certainly wasn't as dreary as this place.
"Yeah," agreed Sano. The boat ride was cool, but he missed the serpent that greeted all the students each term. A friendly if not large snake, the sea serpent was content to live in the bay, feeding on the squid and algae that came in with the tide.
The little boats carried them to an underground harbor and they climbed out of the boats and stumbled towards the castle door.
Hagrid knocked, and it opened to reveal a black-haired witch in emerald green robes.
"The firs' years and the transfer students, Professor McGonagall."
"Thank you Hagrid." She came forward and looked over the collection of students. She indicated that they should follow her and they made their way up the staircase and into a small room.
"Welcome to Hogwarts. The banquet will begin shortly, but you must be sorted into your houses. All students that aren't first years please follow me." Sano lead the other students after the teacher, leaving Yahiko behind. The kid was already showing his shinai to a little brunette. Sano smirked; he had to tease the brat later on.
The Professor came to a stop and looked at them with a small smile. "I know your move here was rather abrupt and the surroundings are unfamiliar. Since you are not first years, we will sort you here in the Headmaster's office." They were lead into a dusty office.
Sano sneezed. There were things everywhere. A big pot with something green was bubbling in one corner of the office, a scruffy-looking bird was sleeping in a cage and he saw a memory sieve sitting on the desk. His former headmaster had one too. Sano couldn't fathom having that many memories that you had to store them someplace outside your head. But then again, he didn't look like he was two hundred years old. By then he might actually need a memory sieve, but where do you keep them? Would a jar stored in a cupboard work?
He broke his train of thought when the professor started speaking.
"Line up alphabetically, then sit on the stool." One by one the students sat down and a dingy hat was placed on their heads.
"Sagara, Sanosuke." Sano gingerly sat down and placed the hat on his head.
"Hmm.. strong, intelligent. Not overly ambitious, but plenty talent, a desire to prove yourself and courageous. Be a little more ambitious, because now you're in GRYFFINDOR!"
Sano removed the hat and got off the stool. Was Gryffindor a good house? He watched as Katsu got put in Ravenclaw. Kaoru and Misao hurried over to him.
"Sano! Gryffindor! Hermione told me it's the best house!" Kaoru said excitedly. Sano grinned at that news. Things were looking up, he got placed in the best house. After the sorting, Professor McGonagall picked up the hat and the stool and ushered the students out to the Great Hall. She led them to their house tables and then went to help with the sorting of the first years. Sano sat next to a redheaded boy who grinned at him.
"Hi. I'm Ron Weasley."
Sano took his hand and with accented English replied, "Hello, I'm Sanosuke Sagara."
"Sano-skie?"
Sano grinned, "No, Sano-suke." Ron nodded and turned to the rest of the table; "This is Neville, Lee, Hermione, who you met on the train." Hermione smiled at him. "Ginny, my sister and that is Harry."
Sano couldn't help it. He stared at the black-haired boy with the green eyes. Harry smiled at him, obviously accustomed to the looks. The rest of the table introduced themselves to the new students. Kaoru was looking at the sorting to see where Yahiko was to be placed.
"Myojin, Yahiko."
The eleven-year-old sat down and the hat dropped on his head. Sano watched as Kaoru crossed her fingers.
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Yahiko ran over to the table and made a face at his sister, "Yuck! I'm in the same house as you, ugly."
"Who are you calling ugly? Why couldn't you be in Slytherin?"
Sano ignored them even though the rest of the table was staring. Instead, he looked at the head table. The professors were there. An old guy with a long beard stood up,
"Welcome to a New Year at Hogwarts!"
Sano tuned out the rest of the speech, catching the usual opening comments.
"Now we will introduce the new teachers." He turned to a short redhead who stood up. "This is Professor Himura, our new ethics teacher."
The redhead smiled, his violet eyes disappearing into crescents on his face. He sat and another man stood up. He was taller than Himura, with black bangs that covered green eyes. "Professor Shinomori, the apparating and invisibility teacher. He will also be teaching a martial arts class for those who are interested." Shinomori nodded once and sat.
Kaoru, Misao and Hermione grinned at each other. The new professors were very good looking. Sano rolled his eyes and looked up as the last teacher stood. Sano's mouth dropped open.
Oh wow.
"Let me introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Hajime Saitou."
The new professor looked around at the students in the Great Hall with gold eyes and dismissed all of them. His eyes caught Sano's and a small smirk crossed his mouth. Sano's eyes dropped and he cursed as he felt himself blush.