Vita Magicis (HP SI-WC) (Patreon)

Chapter 40: Hats, Houses, and Mischief

In what seemed like no time at all, the sun had finished its lazy arc across the sky and night was fast approaching as the train rolled into Hogsmeade Station.

Everyone had changed into their Hogwarts uniforms much to Illya’s vocal irritation about “wearing something so outdated”—and, thankfully, there hadn’t been any further incidents on the ride.

Harry and Ron had popped in to say hi earlier, but the second their eyes landed on Sakura and Illya, they’d turned into blushing messes and beat a hasty retreat. I could already tell what had happened: Harry had gained a little crush on Sakura, and Ron on Illya. Which, honestly, was hilarious because they had about as much chance as a chocolate frog in a blast-ended skrewt’s mouth.

Sakura’s gaze never wandered from me—ever—and with Kama’s powers now part of her, any poor fool who tried to come between us would basically be signing his own death warrant. You just don’t get between a yandere and the person she’s attached to. That’s not even a rule, it’s a law of nature.

Illya wasn’t much safer. Sure, she had that deceptively cute, bratty energy, but she also carried a streak of sadism a mile wide once considering torturing her idiot brother (Shirou) to insanity before finally killing him. Combine that with Ruby, and poor Ron’s future was… well, let’s just say he should start checking his food for hexes if he went after her.

We stepped off the train to the sound of Hagrid’s booming voice calling for the “Firs’-years!”

“Alright, this is where we split for now. You three need to go with Hagrid,” I said, grinning at Illya, Rin, and Sakura.

“Onii-chaaaan! That’s super embarrassing! We’ll stick out like sore thumbs!” Illya whined, her eyes glistening with crocodile tears.

Rin looked just as mortified, her whole face the color of a ripe tomato. She kept fidgeting, glancing everywhere except at me. Sakura, though, was cool as ever, she just stepped forward, hugged me briefly, and walked ahead without a word.

“Huhuhu~ too bad,” Astoria chimed in from my side, looping her arms around mine with an infuriatingly smug smile. “It’s tradition.”

“W-Why you—!” Illya’s fake tears evaporated in an instant as she spun on Astoria with a glare.

“L-Let’s just get this over with!” Rin blurted, grabbing Illya’s hand and practically dragging her toward Sakura as she comically reached out a hand for me.

I finally let my laugh burst out, holding my stomach. “That was priceless! I wish I’d had a camera for their reaction when they see Hogwarts for the first time.”

“I don’t see the big deal,” Hermione said with a shrug, gently nudging me toward the waiting carriages as Luna quietly claimed my free arm. “Like Astoria said, it’s tradition and now it’s something I’ll always remember.”

“At least it’s not raining,” Ginny added, moving to stand next to Luna, looking faintly disappointed she’d missed her chance to grab my arm first.

“They might even meet Mr. Squid~,” Luna said dreamily, sounding positively delighted as she leaned against me.

“…Mr. Squid?” Rose asked with a curious look toward Ginny.

Ginny just shook her head. “Don’t ask.”

Yeah. Only Luna would name the giant squid like it was her old pen pal.

“Who cares about them? Let’s find an empty carriage. I’m starving,” Astoria said, tugging at my sleeve.

“Astoria! Behave,” Daphne chided automatically, though she didn’t sound all that serious.

“Yeah, yeah. If you’re so grumpy, maybe I’ll let you sit on Aether’s lap for the ride~,” Astoria teased, earning herself a furious blush from her sister.

“Astoria!”

Grinning, I followed them into the nearest carriage while Daphne and Astoria’s bickering became the background music for the ride.

=====

A While Later

I was right.

Seeing the towering forms of Sakura, Rin, and Illya lined up behind the first years was hilarious.

Even better were the wildly different reactions.

Sakura stood there like a queen—calm, cool, collected—radiating an elegance that immediately caught the eyes of several boys. Rin and Illya… were the complete opposite.

The two of them looked like mannequins forced into smiling for a catalog photo: their lips pulled into smiles so stiff it was a wonder their cheeks didn’t cramp, their bodies fidgeting constantly like they were trying to shake off invisible ants.

I’d lived with them long enough to see past the act. They were nervous. Even Sakura wasn’t as calm as she looked—she kept sneaking glances my way, as if checking I was still there.

“Hmhmhm, those three are so nervous,” I whispered to Rose, Luna, and Astoria beside me.

“Serves them right,” Astoria replied with a sly smirk.

“Are they? They don’t look nervous to me,” Rose said, tilting her head. Then she shrugged and looked back at me. “Anyway, what House do you think they’ll end up in?”

“Who knows.” I shrugged then opened my mouth to answer more when Luna casually popped another piece of chocolate between my lips. Her smile only got brighter when she noticed I was still wearing the sea glass necklace she’d sent me over the summer.

The Sorting moved along quickly until Illya stepped up. The Great Hall’s attention locked onto her, not surprising. Three mysterious and extremely beautiful girls all showing up at once? The gossip would be flying for weeks.

Illya sent me a nervous glance, and I gave her a reassuring smile. Then the Sorting Hat was dropped on her head.

Three seconds later—“SLYTHERIN!”

Illya’s eye twitched. She yanked the hat off like it had just insulted her mother, all but threw it back at McGonagall, and marched toward the cheering Slytherin table with the grumpiest scowl imaginable.

I clamped a hand over my mouth, eyes watering from holding in the laugh. I still managed a quick wave before I lost it completely.

Rin was next, looking more nervous now. She gave me a silent please help me look just before the hat came down.

“RAVENCLAW!”

Rin exhaled hard, sat there for a second, then hopped down and strode toward the Ravenclaw table pausing just long enough to throw a smug look at both Sakura and Illya.

She sat directly in front of me, and I gave her a welcoming smile. “Welcome, Rin.”

She muttered a quiet thanks.

Finally, Sakura. She met my eyes briefly before the hat covered her head.

A heartbeat later: “HUFFLEPUFF!”

The Hufflepuff table erupted in cheers, but I barely heard them. My eyes were on Sakura, because I felt it. A flare of Divinity, like an overheated engine threatening to blow. For a split second, her hair lightened in color.

I glanced around quickly. Only Rin, Illya, and I had noticed. All of us were ready to move if she lost control.

But after a few tense seconds, Sakura’s shoulders loosened. She stood, removed the hat—now looking somehow older, like the experience had aged it a century—and walked toward the Hufflepuffs.

Spotting that the Ravenclaw table sat right between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, she lit up and claimed the seat closest to me—directly behind my chair.

Once the handshakes and greetings from her new Housemates ended, I turned to her with a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, Sakura. We’ll have plenty of time to hang out.”

Her lips softened into a real smile. “Thank you, Senpai.”

Food appeared, and we all dug in until Luna spoke up.

“That was scary. I thought Mr. Hat was about to be reduced to ashes.”

I blinked at her. Then again, of course Luna noticed, she’s as sensitive to magic as a niffler is to gold.

I slid an arm around her shoulders in a comforting half-hug and murmured in her ear, “I’ll explain later. Just know Sakura really doesn’t like being away from me.”

“Okay,” Luna said simply, already relaxing against me.

See, this is why Luna is one of my favorites. She doesn’t overreact, she doesn’t pry, and she’s as sweet as sugar quills.

After dinner was over, we made our way to bed not really feeling like exploring since classes would be starting the next day early in the morning.

Before leaving the Great Hall, I caught sight of Illya and Sakura shooting me looks of slight longing that I responded by waving at them and wishing them a good night.

Seeing the looks some of the Slytherin were giving Illya, I had a feeling that it was only a matter of time before someone annoyed her and she released her frustrations on them.

=====

Following Day

‘Yep, someone annoyed her alright.’ I thought in dry amusement watching as most of the Slytherin house gave her a wide berth as she showed up for breakfast. Only Daphne and Tracey were brave enough to walk beside her and were subtly shooting the brat half-awed, half-wary glances.

“Huhuhu, seems like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed~,” Rin muttered, piling food on her plate with a smirk.

Almost as if she’d heard it, Illya’s head snapped toward our table. She marched right over, ditched her frosty mask, and replaced it with a pout. Then, without warning—

“Whoa—!”

She jumped onto me, forcing me to catch her. Arms around my neck, she made herself perfectly at home in my lap while half the Hall stared with surprised expressions.

“Onii-chan, I hate my House! It’s cold and damp, and there are a bunch of meanies there~.” She whined, her crocodile tears obvious and clearly demanding for me to pay attention and comfort her.

Raising an eyebrow, I tilted my head toward the approaching Daphne and Tracey for an explanation.

Daphne coughed politely into her hand, cheeks tinged pink and refusing to meet my eyes. “Some Slytherin boys tried asking her out last night. Einzbern clearly took exception to that and she, ah… objected. Forcefully. She cast something that—” Daphne’s voice dropped to a whisper—“somehow targeted their… privates.”

Illya just huffed, not even trying to hide her pride. “What? They deserved it! They wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer, so I made it crystal clear I’m already taken. They never had a chance.” She puffed her chest out, clearly fishing for praise.

I sighed and patted her head. She melted instantly, curling closer. “I figured something like this might happen.”

Daphne’s eyes lingered on the scene a little longer than necessary before she quickly looked away when I met her gaze. “Did she get in trouble?” I asked.

“Nope~,” Illya chirped, but I kept my attention on Daphne.

“Nothing official,” Daphne said, Tracey nodding in agreement. “Slytherin issues stay in Slytherin.”

“That’s… reassuring, I guess,” I said, turning back to Illya. “Alright, go back to your seat. We’ll talk at lunch or after classes. I still owe you three a tour.”

Illya pouted, clearly about to refuse—

Zap!

She yelped, hopping off my lap to glare at Astoria, who stood there with her wand out and a smug little grin.

“You heard Aether~,” Astoria said sweetly. “Back to your table, Einzbern. Ravenclaws only.” She then plopped herself down beside me, hugging my arm between her chest with the expression of a cat who just stole the cream.

Illya grit her teeth but did as told. “This isn’t over, brat,” she muttered darkly.

From my other side, Rose spoke up with a not-so-subtle edge in her voice. “They’re really close to you. You sure you just met them over the summer?” Her eyes flicked to Rin, who maintained a perfect poker face.

“Yes, an excellent question,” Astoria said, glaring at me cutely. “Alright, Mister. Spill.”

I glanced at Rin. She didn’t object… but she didn’t volunteer anything either.

So I kept it short. “Let’s just say their lives before I met them weren’t great.” Then I went back to my breakfast, catching the way Rose and Astoria’s curiosity instantly sharpened on Rin.

When the meal ended, I gave Sakura her hug before she left—and Illya too, once she saw that and refused to be outdone.

With that, we were off to our first day of classes. At least this year we’d have something actually interesting to study. Ancient Runes, perfect for comparing to the Fate counterpart. Rin and Illya were just as eager as I was to see how similar (or wildly different) they might be.

=====

A Week Later

In what felt like the blink of an eye, a week had passed since term began and from my seat, the entertainment value had been top-tier.

Nearly every mealtime brought some kind of “incident” involving Rin, Sakura, or Illya.

Illya had taken to subtly siccing Ruby on annoying boys, nothing dangerous, just harmless (and humiliating) little tricks like pantsing them in the middle of the Great Hall. Sakura had somehow developed her own quiet fan club, mostly smitten boys drawn to her reserved elegance. And Rin… well, Rin kept “accidentally” blowing things up while experimenting with runes.

Turned out, there were a few similarities between Hogwarts runes and the ones from her own world. The symbols matched in meaning but the magic? Completely different league. Nasuverse runes were stronger and more versatile. Still, Rin was determined to master both, convinced there might be hidden depth here if she dug far enough.

As for sightseeing? We hadn’t done much exploring yet. The girls had been busy adjusting to life at a magical boarding school—rules, routines, the occasional prank war—and today was supposed to be our first proper Hogwarts tour.

It was lunchtime when the owls arrived in their usual feathered parade, something that still made Rin and Illya grumble about “wasting such intelligent creatures on postal duty.”

Athena swept down in front of me, regal as ever. My hand automatically went to stroke her feathers right before the rising murmur in the Great Hall caught my attention.

One glance at the Prophet’s front page, and I knew why.

“Famous Auror Couple Miraculously Recovers After Being Driven to Insanity by Death Eaters.”

Looking across the hall, I noted Neville’s absence. Then I glanced at the head table just in time to see Dumbledore leaving in a hurry, a small knowing smile tugging at my lips.

The old man had been getting far too curious about Rin, Sakura, and Illya lately and more pushy about the Potter twins’ sudden absence from the Dursleys. So, a distraction was needed. And what better distraction than the “miraculous” recovery of two war heroes everyone thought beyond help?

And more important than that, finding the person who had been able to do the impossible and attempting to recruit them.

‘That should keep him busy for a while.’

“I’m glad for Neville,” Rose murmured, a brief shadow of melancholy flickering across her face before she pushed it aside.

“I wonder who could have done it,” Astoria said lightly, scanning the paper. “From the article, it says his parents were cursed with an Unforgivable. That’s supposed to be impossible to heal… unless someone had healing powers.” She looked up at me with a knowing little smirk.

I just shrugged, spearing another piece of bacon. “Who knows?”

Rin was giving me the same look Astoria had but she hid it behind her goblet.

“Anyway,” I said, standing, “we’ve got a castle to explore. And we already lost a couple of hours because someone—” I looked at Rin pointedly—“couldn’t get out of bed this morning.”

Rin’s cheeks went red. “I said I was sorry! Let’s just go.” She stuffed the last bite of toast into her mouth and got up, the others following.

We met up with the rest of our group outside the Hall, making for quite the crowd as we set off.

Somewhere along the way, I felt a small hand slip into mine and give it a gentle squeeze. Looking down, I met Luna’s pale silver eyes and soft smile.

“Thank you for helping them, Aether,” she said quietly, just for me.

I blinked. “How did you know?”

“There aren’t any Wrackspurts around your ears today,” she said serenely.

I couldn’t help smiling as I gave her hand a squeeze in return. “Hmhmhm… never change, Luna.”