Magic Storm: Might and Main
Aug. 30th, 2019 10:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matsu1ninoTitle: Might and Main
Pairing: Gen
Genre: AU
Disclaimer: Plot is mine, Arashi is not. Unfortunately.
Summary: Excited in his first year attending Hogwarts, Jun learns there is more to the school and those around him than meets the eye. Prequel to Magic Storm.
Author's Note: Happy Birthday Jun! Over the next few days, there will be several more releases dedicated to the celebration of my ichiban's 36th birthday, so keep an eye out for them.
Chapter 13
Classes had finished for the term. Most of the students were excited; at the very least, even if they weren’t going home, they were grateful there was no more lessons to attend for the next two weeks. While normal classes had concluded until the holidays were over, Jun and Sho had agreed to do one final private lesson before heading home to their families. This arrangement had been made before the most recent of attacks, however, and was now the last thing on Jun’s mind. Since finding his sister petrified, Jun had not felt up to seeing or speaking to anyone. When the professors checked in with him, which they were doing with increasing regularity, he would stay completely silent. Aiba had tried to cheer him up by brainstorming some of his most wild and perhaps idiotic ideas yet—something about using Karaage-chan’s moulted feathers and the conflagration spell to safely set himself on fire—but the best he managed to get from Jun was the smallest of smiles that had seemed incredibly forced. For the most part, Jun had fallen into a quiet, glaring sort of mood whenever anyone approached him. Even Toma couldn’t get more than a couple of words out of him since their small talk in the infirmary. Nino hadn’t dared to show his face to Jun since the attack.
It had been days since Sho even saw him. So when he spotted the Gryffindor a few paces ahead of him in the corridor, he raced to catch up with him.
“There you are. I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” he said, though Jun didn’t even turn his head to acknowledge him. Sho tried not to take offence and forced a smile. “You didn’t show up at the library this morning, so I thought maybe you’d like to move our final session to this afternoon; we still have a few hours before the train leaves. It might help to, you know, get your mind off things, and we might as well have one last practice before we head home over the break.”
Ignorant to Jun’s recent decision to remain at Hogwarts, Sho genuinely thought his offer would succeed in bringing a smile to Jun’s face. His presence alone was usually enough but in light of the recent tragedy to have befallen the smaller boy, he believed something extra was needed. He was more than a little shocked when Jun stopped dead in the hallway, whipped around and cast him the most vicious of glares. Sho felt the breath catch in his throat seeing the pure rage burning in Jun’s eyes.
Jun didn’t want to talk to Sho. Actually, he didn’t want to talk to anyone, but Sho was among the handful he really could not be around at the moment. His mind had been locked in an endless conflict with itself ever since Megumi was attacked; he had been rethinking everything that had happened this year, everything he thought he knew about all the people he had met. Did he really know any of them? Just looking at Sho was enough to remind Jun of his past naivety, a lifetime of sheltered innocence shattering the moment the Ravenclaw revealed his true colours with whispered insults, too cowardly to tell him straight.
Seeing Sho approach him, grinning from ear to ear and acting as if everything was perfect and normal, Jun hadn’t been able to control the glare that had set upon his features. The flicker of surprise that crossed Sho’s expression was enough for Jun to know he had noticed the abnormal amount of tension and aggression coming from the smaller boy, but he went on to ask about their final tutoring session anyway.
Leave me alone! Jun wanted to yell at him. Stop acting like you aren’t looking down on me!
But no matter ho much he might have wanted to say what was in his mind, to scream at Sho to the ends of the earth, Jun could not bring himself to say such things to his face. The part of him that held Sho in high regard—a side that Jun was increasingly coming to loathe about himself—would never allow him to voice such honest thoughts aloud to Ravenclaw he once idolized.
Instead, Jun threw daggers at him, half wishing his gaze or magic was strong enough to set the other boy alight without an utterance.
“You know nothing,” he hissed. He shoved past Sho, practically feeling the shock and confusion radiating off the Ravenclaw as his gaze trailed after him.
Jun didn’t care. He would not turn back for anything. He had to let go of that side of himself lest let his heart weaken and fall prey to another betrayal from someone he thought he could trust. Sho’s words that he’d overheard all those weeks ago were ringing in his mind, mocking him, reminding him of his own stupidity in failing to see the obvious right from the beginning.
Jun’s pace quickened into a frantic run as he rushed down the familiar corridors leading to the infirmary. He was in need of a distraction from what he knew would only end up hurting him, but in that moment the thought of impending anguish was removed from his mind. All he wanted was her. He needed to feel her hand gently grasping his, hear her reassuring words murmured close to his ear and see her familiar smile that was always so comforting. He knew, of course, that he would not receive any of these things by going to visit her, but it did not stop his feet from leading him straight back to where he felt he should have been this whole time.
The hospital wing was mostly empty, sans the petrified pupils and the occasional nurse weaving between the beds to check each student’s vitals. They weren’t expecting any change and were neither disappointed nor relieved when they found none. They paid Jun no mind when he entered, having been expecting his return sooner or later. Jun walked straight across the room to sit on the chair by his sister’s bedside. The nurses had given up on moving it after his visits, knowing it was far more practical to just leave it where it was given the number of times Jun had visited his sister over the last few days.
Grasping her rigid hand, Jun tried not to sigh at how cold it felt. He had grown used to its lifeless feel, much to his dismay.
“You were right, onee-chan,” he whispered, staring into her glassy eyes. “I should have listened to you about him. Maybe if I had, you wouldn’t…” His sentence trailed off, unable to bring himself to speak about what could have been. It wasn’t like he could know for sure anyway. But it still felt easier being able to blame someone for his beloved sister’s condition, even if that someone was himself.
Jun could practically hear Megumi’s voice; her blithe laughter ringing in his ears, affectionately calling him an idiot for feeling guilty for something that was not his fault. He could faintly feel her hand cupping his face as she told him to stop trying to act so tough, to not give up hope, to stop pushing everyone away. He could almost feel her fingers ruffling his hair, ordering him to cheer up already as she assured him she would be just fine, and he would be too.
A tear slid down Jun’s cheek as he forced himself to smile, tightening his grip on Megumi’s hand just a little. It really did feel like she was there consciously watching over him. Feeling her like this gave him a spark of hope that things really would be okay…eventually. Until the time when she recovered and was among the world of the living once more, Jun would just have to be strong enough on his own.
Upon returning to the Gryffindor common room, he ran into Ohno, who was hauling his hefty trunk behind him on his way out. The other boy gave a sleepy grin and bid Jun farewell for the holidays.
“Don’t give up on him.” Jun was sure he heard Ohno whisper in his ear as the two embraced shortly. But when they pulled apart, Ohno said nothing more, waving back over his shoulder as he lumbered down the stairs on his way to the Hogwarts station.
Jun stared after him, his every thought questioning what Ohno had meant and who he might be referring to. When the other boy disappeared out of sight down the below corridor, Jun pushed his confused thoughts away and entered the common room. It was empty. Jun expected nothing less. Students were most likely either about to board the train to go home for the two week break or else seeing their friends off at the station. For the time being at least, Jun had the common room to himself. He briefly considered sneaking into his sister’s dormitory to borrow some of her spell books but quickly dismissed the idea. Takizawa had warned them on their first night that there were barricading charms around each dorm to hinder any perverted eyes should any of them grow too curious for their own good as to what resided in the dormitories of the opposite sex. The last thing Jun wanted or needed was to be caught trying to sneak into his sister’s dorm to obtain a book and be accused of something far more lewd.
As it were, when he entered his own empty dorm room, he found a parcel wrapped in parchment sitting on his bed. He was suspicious of the unexpected gift, but his curiosity soon got the better of him as he made his way to it, plucking it from where it sat in the middle of his doona cover. He checked the blank paper for any indication of who it might be from. It was a book—that much was obvious from the package’s shape and size—but he wanted to know who had sent it to him. It wasn’t until Jun unwrapped the parcel that a note fell out of the packaging. He picked it up, reading the words hastily scribbled across the smaller piece of parchment.
There was no name left with the note but Jun was far too intrigued by the tome lying in front of him to worry about the sender right now. The book was thick with many volumes, and bound by a hard black leather casing with golden letters engraved into the front to spell out ‘Confronting the Darkness: A Guide to Surviving the Dark Arts.’
Jun was shocked as he stared down at the title, his finger tracing each letter. He had never heard of this book before; it certainly had not been mentioned in Defence Against the Dark Arts as far as he knew. He flicked through the pages, his eyes widening as he witnessed the type of spells contained within. Even without thoroughly reading through them, Jun immediately knew these were incredibly advanced enchantments, ones he would not be learn about for a number of years, let alone be taught to cast them. There was only one person that Jun could think of who may have been able to give him such a book, though for what purpose exactly he wasn’t sure. He picked up the note a second time and narrowed his eyes as he looked at the handwriting. It was a mess of scribbles, as if it had been written in a haste by a shaky hand, and a far cry from the impeccably neat, cursive script he was used to seeing in his tutoring lessons. Jun glanced back at the book, doubtful. Surely Sho knew a first year couldn’t possibly learn such spells without endangering themselves, assuming this gift was the Ravenclaw’s doing. The sort of hexes they’d been practising in their sessions were from later in the first year curriculum, with the occasional second year spell thrown in every now and then. Granted, Jun had been picking them up with surprising speed, but it was most certainly too soon for these sort of complicated and dangerous incantations.
Still, he was mesmerized by some of the things he came across as he continued to flick through the book that had been gifted to him. Full-body binding curses, non-verbal enchantments, obliteration curses, shielding spells, slashing hexes; it was all utterly riveting. Jun wanted to know them, all of them. Maybe if he could learn to master these spells, he could stop the culprit from attacking any more students. No one else would have to suffer the same fate as Megumi and the others. He had no one to teach him but he had this book and for a brief moment, Jun was convinced that was enough.
Pairing: Gen
Genre: AU
Disclaimer: Plot is mine, Arashi is not. Unfortunately.
Summary: Excited in his first year attending Hogwarts, Jun learns there is more to the school and those around him than meets the eye. Prequel to Magic Storm.
Author's Note: Happy Birthday Jun! Over the next few days, there will be several more releases dedicated to the celebration of my ichiban's 36th birthday, so keep an eye out for them.
Chapter 13
Classes had finished for the term. Most of the students were excited; at the very least, even if they weren’t going home, they were grateful there was no more lessons to attend for the next two weeks. While normal classes had concluded until the holidays were over, Jun and Sho had agreed to do one final private lesson before heading home to their families. This arrangement had been made before the most recent of attacks, however, and was now the last thing on Jun’s mind. Since finding his sister petrified, Jun had not felt up to seeing or speaking to anyone. When the professors checked in with him, which they were doing with increasing regularity, he would stay completely silent. Aiba had tried to cheer him up by brainstorming some of his most wild and perhaps idiotic ideas yet—something about using Karaage-chan’s moulted feathers and the conflagration spell to safely set himself on fire—but the best he managed to get from Jun was the smallest of smiles that had seemed incredibly forced. For the most part, Jun had fallen into a quiet, glaring sort of mood whenever anyone approached him. Even Toma couldn’t get more than a couple of words out of him since their small talk in the infirmary. Nino hadn’t dared to show his face to Jun since the attack.
It had been days since Sho even saw him. So when he spotted the Gryffindor a few paces ahead of him in the corridor, he raced to catch up with him.
“There you are. I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” he said, though Jun didn’t even turn his head to acknowledge him. Sho tried not to take offence and forced a smile. “You didn’t show up at the library this morning, so I thought maybe you’d like to move our final session to this afternoon; we still have a few hours before the train leaves. It might help to, you know, get your mind off things, and we might as well have one last practice before we head home over the break.”
Ignorant to Jun’s recent decision to remain at Hogwarts, Sho genuinely thought his offer would succeed in bringing a smile to Jun’s face. His presence alone was usually enough but in light of the recent tragedy to have befallen the smaller boy, he believed something extra was needed. He was more than a little shocked when Jun stopped dead in the hallway, whipped around and cast him the most vicious of glares. Sho felt the breath catch in his throat seeing the pure rage burning in Jun’s eyes.
Jun didn’t want to talk to Sho. Actually, he didn’t want to talk to anyone, but Sho was among the handful he really could not be around at the moment. His mind had been locked in an endless conflict with itself ever since Megumi was attacked; he had been rethinking everything that had happened this year, everything he thought he knew about all the people he had met. Did he really know any of them? Just looking at Sho was enough to remind Jun of his past naivety, a lifetime of sheltered innocence shattering the moment the Ravenclaw revealed his true colours with whispered insults, too cowardly to tell him straight.
Seeing Sho approach him, grinning from ear to ear and acting as if everything was perfect and normal, Jun hadn’t been able to control the glare that had set upon his features. The flicker of surprise that crossed Sho’s expression was enough for Jun to know he had noticed the abnormal amount of tension and aggression coming from the smaller boy, but he went on to ask about their final tutoring session anyway.
Leave me alone! Jun wanted to yell at him. Stop acting like you aren’t looking down on me!
But no matter ho much he might have wanted to say what was in his mind, to scream at Sho to the ends of the earth, Jun could not bring himself to say such things to his face. The part of him that held Sho in high regard—a side that Jun was increasingly coming to loathe about himself—would never allow him to voice such honest thoughts aloud to Ravenclaw he once idolized.
Instead, Jun threw daggers at him, half wishing his gaze or magic was strong enough to set the other boy alight without an utterance.
“You know nothing,” he hissed. He shoved past Sho, practically feeling the shock and confusion radiating off the Ravenclaw as his gaze trailed after him.
Jun didn’t care. He would not turn back for anything. He had to let go of that side of himself lest let his heart weaken and fall prey to another betrayal from someone he thought he could trust. Sho’s words that he’d overheard all those weeks ago were ringing in his mind, mocking him, reminding him of his own stupidity in failing to see the obvious right from the beginning.
Jun’s pace quickened into a frantic run as he rushed down the familiar corridors leading to the infirmary. He was in need of a distraction from what he knew would only end up hurting him, but in that moment the thought of impending anguish was removed from his mind. All he wanted was her. He needed to feel her hand gently grasping his, hear her reassuring words murmured close to his ear and see her familiar smile that was always so comforting. He knew, of course, that he would not receive any of these things by going to visit her, but it did not stop his feet from leading him straight back to where he felt he should have been this whole time.
The hospital wing was mostly empty, sans the petrified pupils and the occasional nurse weaving between the beds to check each student’s vitals. They weren’t expecting any change and were neither disappointed nor relieved when they found none. They paid Jun no mind when he entered, having been expecting his return sooner or later. Jun walked straight across the room to sit on the chair by his sister’s bedside. The nurses had given up on moving it after his visits, knowing it was far more practical to just leave it where it was given the number of times Jun had visited his sister over the last few days.
Grasping her rigid hand, Jun tried not to sigh at how cold it felt. He had grown used to its lifeless feel, much to his dismay.
“You were right, onee-chan,” he whispered, staring into her glassy eyes. “I should have listened to you about him. Maybe if I had, you wouldn’t…” His sentence trailed off, unable to bring himself to speak about what could have been. It wasn’t like he could know for sure anyway. But it still felt easier being able to blame someone for his beloved sister’s condition, even if that someone was himself.
Jun could practically hear Megumi’s voice; her blithe laughter ringing in his ears, affectionately calling him an idiot for feeling guilty for something that was not his fault. He could faintly feel her hand cupping his face as she told him to stop trying to act so tough, to not give up hope, to stop pushing everyone away. He could almost feel her fingers ruffling his hair, ordering him to cheer up already as she assured him she would be just fine, and he would be too.
A tear slid down Jun’s cheek as he forced himself to smile, tightening his grip on Megumi’s hand just a little. It really did feel like she was there consciously watching over him. Feeling her like this gave him a spark of hope that things really would be okay…eventually. Until the time when she recovered and was among the world of the living once more, Jun would just have to be strong enough on his own.
Upon returning to the Gryffindor common room, he ran into Ohno, who was hauling his hefty trunk behind him on his way out. The other boy gave a sleepy grin and bid Jun farewell for the holidays.
“Don’t give up on him.” Jun was sure he heard Ohno whisper in his ear as the two embraced shortly. But when they pulled apart, Ohno said nothing more, waving back over his shoulder as he lumbered down the stairs on his way to the Hogwarts station.
Jun stared after him, his every thought questioning what Ohno had meant and who he might be referring to. When the other boy disappeared out of sight down the below corridor, Jun pushed his confused thoughts away and entered the common room. It was empty. Jun expected nothing less. Students were most likely either about to board the train to go home for the two week break or else seeing their friends off at the station. For the time being at least, Jun had the common room to himself. He briefly considered sneaking into his sister’s dormitory to borrow some of her spell books but quickly dismissed the idea. Takizawa had warned them on their first night that there were barricading charms around each dorm to hinder any perverted eyes should any of them grow too curious for their own good as to what resided in the dormitories of the opposite sex. The last thing Jun wanted or needed was to be caught trying to sneak into his sister’s dorm to obtain a book and be accused of something far more lewd.
As it were, when he entered his own empty dorm room, he found a parcel wrapped in parchment sitting on his bed. He was suspicious of the unexpected gift, but his curiosity soon got the better of him as he made his way to it, plucking it from where it sat in the middle of his doona cover. He checked the blank paper for any indication of who it might be from. It was a book—that much was obvious from the package’s shape and size—but he wanted to know who had sent it to him. It wasn’t until Jun unwrapped the parcel that a note fell out of the packaging. He picked it up, reading the words hastily scribbled across the smaller piece of parchment.
I would have preferred to give this to you in person, but this way is easier for us both. I would like to make things up to you. Consider this a start.
There was no name left with the note but Jun was far too intrigued by the tome lying in front of him to worry about the sender right now. The book was thick with many volumes, and bound by a hard black leather casing with golden letters engraved into the front to spell out ‘Confronting the Darkness: A Guide to Surviving the Dark Arts.’
Jun was shocked as he stared down at the title, his finger tracing each letter. He had never heard of this book before; it certainly had not been mentioned in Defence Against the Dark Arts as far as he knew. He flicked through the pages, his eyes widening as he witnessed the type of spells contained within. Even without thoroughly reading through them, Jun immediately knew these were incredibly advanced enchantments, ones he would not be learn about for a number of years, let alone be taught to cast them. There was only one person that Jun could think of who may have been able to give him such a book, though for what purpose exactly he wasn’t sure. He picked up the note a second time and narrowed his eyes as he looked at the handwriting. It was a mess of scribbles, as if it had been written in a haste by a shaky hand, and a far cry from the impeccably neat, cursive script he was used to seeing in his tutoring lessons. Jun glanced back at the book, doubtful. Surely Sho knew a first year couldn’t possibly learn such spells without endangering themselves, assuming this gift was the Ravenclaw’s doing. The sort of hexes they’d been practising in their sessions were from later in the first year curriculum, with the occasional second year spell thrown in every now and then. Granted, Jun had been picking them up with surprising speed, but it was most certainly too soon for these sort of complicated and dangerous incantations.
Still, he was mesmerized by some of the things he came across as he continued to flick through the book that had been gifted to him. Full-body binding curses, non-verbal enchantments, obliteration curses, shielding spells, slashing hexes; it was all utterly riveting. Jun wanted to know them, all of them. Maybe if he could learn to master these spells, he could stop the culprit from attacking any more students. No one else would have to suffer the same fate as Megumi and the others. He had no one to teach him but he had this book and for a brief moment, Jun was convinced that was enough.
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Date: 2019-09-17 05:14 pm (UTC)I seriously could feel Jun’s rage and his seething anger.. poor Sho who probably only wanted to cheer him up but it turned out to backfire instead XD this must be the start of the shojun ‘cold war’ period hahaha
Love how ohno said “dont give up on him” 💙 very short but impactful words and i wonder who gave him that tome heheh~
That’s very cute of him to give Jun the defense against the dark arts tome and im sure it will come in handy in the future for sure!! Hope Jun can forgive Nino soon and hope Jun will find out the truth >< my poor puppy..
Thank you sooo much for the updates!!! ❤️