So It Finally Begins
"THEY'RE HERE! THEY'RE HERE! THE LETTERS!"
Rei's eyes snapped open, and he jumped in surprise as the bedroom door slammed open and high-pitched, Adam's apple-less, preteen voices screamed at the top of their lungs. He was only barely aware of the ground that met his face as he slipped from the bed. A tired groan was the only thing his brain could process performing.
"Harry, Draco, that's very wonderful to hear about, but could you two please keep it down? Poor Rei can't even register language right now."
"Sorry Uncle Rei."
"Sorry Dad."
Rei let out an understanding grunt, shifting onto his back and allowing his eyes to start accepting the dreaded morning light. Thank Arceus for Akari, she was easily the calmest and most reasonable of the three. Plus, she was a morning person, meaning he could take his sweet time entering the world of… consciousness- ugh.
Rei could only guess Akari was crossing her arms disappointedly, because after a moment, the two boys gave their apologies to the women in the room. Putting in more effort than he had his entire life, Rei got up, thankful for his forward-thinking late-night preparation of wearing more than just underwear to bed. Less effort now, huzzah. He was almost completely dead on his feet until he heard his favourite song start playing, the infuriated cries of the boys bringing a vindictive grin to his face, it was even better once he saw their expressions after he started singing along.
"We're no strangers to love~"
"Noooooo!"
"Please, Dad! Don't do this!"
"You know the rules, and so do I~"
"You could choose any other song why this one!?"
"A full commitment's what I'm thinking of~"
He was already cackling like some kind of evil scientist/super villain inside. His grin grew even wider when he noticed Cassia and Neville closing the door behind the boys' horror filled views.
"You wouldn't get this from any other guy~ I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling~"
"Cover your ears, Draco! He's almost at the chorus!"
"Gotta make you understand~"
----____--------____----
"Hermione! Over here!" Harry and Draco shouted together the moment they spotted the bushy haired girl.
"Hi Harry! Hi Draco! Hi Cassie! Hi Neville! Hi Mr, Mrs and Mrs Evans, how are you all?"
"The letter came!"
"I figured, since my one arrived as well."
"She's got you there, Draco!"
Rei chuckled at the kids' conversation, before turning to greet the approaching Dan and Emma, who looked far more comfortable at seeing a familiar face over most of the other Leaky patrons.
"How are you three? Last we saw you was before that recent expedition to- what was it, Galar?"
"Yeah, Laverton's home region actually. With all those weird reports about giant Pokémon, we just had to investigate."
"Sounds interesting, did you discover what was causing it?"
"A legendary we named Eternatus, we found it in a kind of hibernation and the energy leaking from it matched the energy causing the Pokémon to grow to gargantuan proportions. There were even a few Pokémon that looked different, we're still figuring out a name, but Pandora was able to create a way for us to harness the energy safely."
"That sounds both fascinating and terrifying."
"Yeah, we also discovered a few limitations to our Pokémon's movesets whenever we gigantified our Pokémon, except in the cases of the Pokémon that got a different form, their moves were limited to one per move-type. So even if your Pokémon knew multiple grass-type moves, when gigantified, it was always the same grass-type move. Of course, they're still incredibly powerful, but it's limited."
"So gigantic Pokémon with maximum power, sounds like a wild ride."
"… I'm sorry- can you say that again?"
"Sounds like a wild ride?"
"No, before that."
What was this? Some kind of cliché sitcom?
"Gigantic Pokémon with maximum power?"
"… I think I've got an idea on the name for the phenomenon."
"Ooh, what have you got?"
"How does Gigantamax sound?"
----____--------____----
Rei was sitting with Walter and Dan while the women and kids got measured and fitted for their uniforms and whatever other clothes they'd 'need' while they were at Hogwarts.
"So, what are you planning to do regarding the kids and Pokémon thing? I doubt you would ever just give them one, otherwise their kids and so on will probably start expecting one at age 11, like a birthright or something."
"You're not wrong, Walt. We're planning on going to Galar for a couple of days so they can catch their first Pokémon, it'll be a similar idea to what I've started doing recently with Helzar and Gringotts and sending newly caught, low level Pokémon to people that connect with them when they come to Evanton. The most recent one was a Joltik that went to a young man named Lee Jordan. There were also two Espurr that hatched recently, one girl, one boy, both have the 'own tempo' ability, don't know if they'll have a partner, but I have the feeling they will."
"That sounds interesting, though why Galar? Wouldn't it be easier to stay in Hisui if you're not going to be there for very long?"
"Yeah, but we haven't set up a research center or link there yet to allow easier study, so there's already a need to go there. It's good that Pokémon help with improving travel to the extent they do, otherwise we'd probably only get there with like, half a day available to catch anything."
"Well, let's hope you remember to bring enough Pokéballs and don't waste them all on a single Pokémon."
"Oh, come on! That was onetime!"
"Yeah, yeah. Say, have you heard anything on how Frank and Alice are doing?"
"They're recovering, suppressing their memories of the event was definitely helpful. I know they get flashes of it, but it's only to an extent they're able to handle or at least work through at the time, which has been great for their recovery. They're still pissed at Frank's family for the whole situation with Neville. Honestly, we're lucky we caught it before it was too late, the damage to Neville's mental health could have been crippling in his development. Apparently, Augusta didn't even plan for Neville to get his own wand! She wanted to give him Frank's! It's- ugh!"
"It's bullshit?"
"Exactly! I don't understand how human beings can do that to one another."
"I mean, Cass-"
"I know that it happens, I don't understand what aspect of those people's minds think they can do shit like that, and it'll all be fine!"
Rei knew Walter was about to bring up Cassia. Even though she was his, Akira and Narcissa's daughter by blood and every other way that counted, they all still had the unfortunate knowledge that it was Petunia and Vernon that had conceived and birthed her in the first place. It always left a bitter taste in his mouth knowing that his sister had become the sort of person that would straight-up abandon her child because she didn't fit into her definition of 'normal'. Apparently his talk with her 3 years prior hadn't done anything to improve her behaviour, he was right about his thoughts on Vernon when he met the man; the whale brought the worst out of his sister. She had gone from a girl who had mailed Dumble-whore for a chance to go to his school just so she could still be with her sister to a woman who abandoned her daughter before even her birth because there were signs of Cassia potentially being magical. The moment Rei blood-adopted Cassia, he disowned Petunia from the house of Evans. Even his mother had done the same, and she had forgiven the criminal that had killed her husband! Jasmine Evans was probably the kindest and most considerate woman on the planet, that she disowned her child showed how fucked up what she did was. And yet, Petunia continued to live as she was; hateful and dishonest.
Rei was thankful that Cassia was at Evanton with Jasmine, Pandora, and Luna, she loved the Pokémon, and he would’ve hated for her to hear the conversation and see him in his current state. He had always viewed children as precious, even more so after Rose.
"So, which classes do you think each of the kids will like best?"
Thank Arceus for Dan, the man was damn good at reading the room.
"Neville's a shoo-in for Herbology, I'd bet half my fortune on that."
"Suckers bet."
"Draco and Harry both love potions, though I worry about what Severus might do to Harry, and consequently Draco's enthusiasm on the subject. Draco likes flying, but it's not really a subject."
"Hmm fair, fair. Though I think we can all agree that Hermione's favourite will probably be Arithmancy, which she won't be able to take until her 3rd year."
"That'll be like torture for her!"
The three laughed with each other over the conversation, Hermione had not outgrown her obsessive desire for knowledge. It had at best been tamed somewhat through her friendships with Dean, Harry, Neville, and Draco.
"I reckon Dean's favourite will be charms, Flitwick is the cheeriest guy I've ever met, especially given he's half-goblin. It's also the closest magical equivalent of physics."
"I do like how we're completely glossing over Defence."
"To be fair, thanks to Dumbledore, that class has become an absolute dumpster fire! To think, the man is considered some kind of saint by the wixen population- and yes, I'm including the Death Munchers, they still saw him as a saint, they just saw that fact as a problem, rather than something good."
"I mean, you're not wrong."
"Am I ever?"
Rei and Dan didn't dignify that with a response and just stared at him blankly, it wasn't long before he broke.
"Okay! I get it! Damn, I can feel you guys specifically judging me for the event."
Done with the daily reminder of that event and once he eventually felt enough pity, Rei opted to change the subject.
"Let's also not forget Trelawney's bullshit Divination. It's pretty hilarious that magicals think mundane fucking fortune telling is actual divination."
"Yeah, oh! History of Magic! Is Binns still teaching that?"
"From what I've heard from Rubeus, he is. Which is really disappointing."
"Oh, that's right, you got an O+ for your NEWT in History, didn't you."
"And helped get Lily her O as well. Had it not been for me, she would have dropped History altogether after her OWLs. And that isn't an exaggeration, she told me that herself, in those exact words."
He remembered her aggressive rant as if it were yesterday. Though, given that she subjected him to a 2-hour long rant about why History of Magic and a few other subjects had 'fallen from their once actually competent levels', repeating what she said about half the time, it was practically ingrained into his skull.
"Maybe you should take over Binns' job, then."
"I would, but Dumbles won't let that happen- I offered."
"Same with Ed, I'm guessing."
"Yeah, he keeps pulling the 'Death Eater' excuse, as if Severus wasn't one."
It was for that reason that Edward was currently teaching DADA at Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. Dumbledore had been rejecting his yearly application for DADA professor for 4 years now. After the first year rejected, he applied for the position at Beauxbatons as their previous professor had retired. Edward still applied for the Hogwarts position as he felt at the very least, someone should figure out the 'curse' (whether it actually existed or not) and remove it so students didn't end up with a new teacher for such an important subject every year. Though in the end, his main focus had become Beauxbatons, he would just, hopefully, do a year of teaching DADA at Hogwarts where he'd also try and stop whatever was causing professors to spend no more than a year teaching the subject.
"Well, worst comes to worst, we can send the kids to another school. Despite its reputation, Hogwarts isn't the only magic school in the world, and it definitely isn't the best anymore."
"Yeah, I guess we can only hope."
----____--------____----
"Alright, kids, we're almost at Galar. Now, we'll be landing in Wedgehurst, where we'll set up a gate to Evanton, then we'll catch the train to what the locals refer to as the 'Wild Area'. Now, Neville, Draco, Harry, you three will be catching a Pokémon today, so keep in mind: as friendly as the Pokémon you've seen up until now have been, they're actually used to being around people. The Pokémon in the wild area won't be, and- as the name implies- will be closer in behaviour to wild animals, you need to have one of us with you at all times. Understand?"
A chorus of 'yes's reverberated in the air, Rei nodded to himself, the trip shouldn't be too difficult, they catch some Pokémon, set up a gate and head back to Earth in time for their start at Hogwarts. No problem.
----____--------____----
PROBLEM! Very big problem! Not even an hour into their time at the Wild Area and Harry had already disappeared and befriended a Stufful and its Bewear mother who proceeded to help him catch both a Jangmo-o and a Boltund, both of which then had to go through some kind of induction from Hedwig, Harry's owl familiar. Neville somehow met a shiny Honedge and then fell asleep cause he gave it a bunch of his magic, though not before it happily entered a Pokéball alongside a Froakie that had been apparently watching the whole thing. Draco was the only remotely normal one; and he just spent the hour unwittingly gaining a following of Pokémon as they wandered, only to shoo all of them off except a Minccino, which was now being carried in his arms like some kind of plush toy.
A few hours later, as the group waited at the Magnolia household for the gate to be set up, all three adults remained with their heads in their hands while the children played with their new partner Pokémon.
"I don't think I will ever be able to do that again."
"How all of that happened, I will never know."
"What even is our life?"
One thing they could certainly communicate with one another, they would not be repeating the experience any time soon, and, if they could manage it, not ever again for the rest of their lives.
----____--------____----
"Platform 9… and 3/4?" Harry wondered out loud, his confusion surely eminent.
"It's a hidden platform between platforms 9 and 10 on which the Hogwarts express is found, we walk 3/4 of the way down the platform and walk into the pillar between them," Uncle Rei explained, Harry supposed that made sense… but-
"What if someone doesn’t know how to get onto the platform like you do?"
"Well, that's what the Weasley family does. They walk through Kings Cross using the same spell I have on the Wixencraft section of the library at the latest they reasonably can and speak as loudly as they can about Platform 9 3/4, Hogwarts, and use the term 'muggles'. It acts to draw the attention of any stragglers who can't find the platform."
"Oh, that makes sense," Harry and Draco nodded to themselves.
"Alright, boys," Aunt Akira began as they arrived at the entrance, "you just go through that wall there, if you're worried, you can give it a running start. Once you're through, move to the side as quickly as you can so the next person doesn't accidentally run into you."
Harry and Draco nodded in understanding, before playing a quick game of 'Rock, Paper, Scissors' to decide who went first. Harry won and pushed his trolley, so he lined up with the barrier, it looked very solid. He started to walk towards it. People jostled him on their way to platforms nine and ten. Harry walked more quickly. He was going to smash right into that ticket box and then he’d be in trouble, leaning forward on his trolley he broke into a heavy run – the barrier was coming nearer and nearer; he wouldn’t be able to stop, the trolley was out of control. He was a foot away; he closed his eyes ready for the crash…
It didn't come, he kept on running, he opened his eyes. A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform packed with people. A sign overhead said Hogwarts Express, 11 o’clock. Harry looked behind him and saw a wrought-iron archway where the ticket box had been, with the words Platform Nine and Three-Quarters on it. He had done it. Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats of every colour wound here and there between their legs. Owls hooted to each other in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks. The first few carriages were already packed with students, some hanging out of the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats. Harry pushed his trolley off down the platform in search of an empty seat. He spotted Neville talking to his parents, who had opted to take him for his first day at Hogwarts. Trevor, his Froakie was sitting on his head, while Caliburn, his Honedge floated to his side, sash wrapped around his forearm.
"Oh, Neville, we're going to miss you so much," his mother said softly, wrapping the boy in a tight hug.
"I'll miss you guys, too."
"Don't worry, son. I know you'll do great things. Make friends, have fun, learn lots. Your mother and I love you," his father said as he laid a comforting hand on Neville's shoulder.
"Thanks, Dad."
When Neville turned around, he spotted Harry, who, as he now realised, had been joined by the rest of his family.
"Hey Neville," Harry and Draco greeted.
"Hey guys, you ready for Hogwarts?"
"Ready as we'll ever be," Draco answered.
Once Harry and Draco had said their goodbyes to their family, the trio made their way onto the express, and prepared for an exciting year at Hogwarts.