Hi everybody!
Here a new 3 parts story, each part being a prompt for the collab with
Once again, I edited that story myself, I hope there are not too many mistakes and you'll enjoy it ^_^
Daoming Si nunquam titillandus – Part 1: Magic
On this September morning, Shancai woke up pretty soon. She spent a long moment watching London city waking, seeing the empty streets progressively livening up. The merchants of the district where she lived, Chinatown, always got up at dawn, sometimes even before the sun started rising, hurrying up in their shops, restaurants, until the first customers arrived.
At the foot of her bed, her belongings were already ready, all tidied in her two suitcases she brought in her 'boarding school'. Her black cat, Suzhi, disdainfully and uninterested watched her from the top of her little bookcase. She stared back at him, looking right into his deep green eyes.
"You still can hide, I would look for you, even if I had to use some magic on you!" She stopped talking a few seconds while her cat carried on taunting her. "I'm seventeen years old now, I'm major in the magical world – so I can use my wand if I wish!"
The cat seemed not caring at the least and Shancai couldn't help but discreetly sighed. It only remained a few hours before she had to leave for a new school year in what they decided to call 'the boarding school'.
She was eager to see her friends again, as well as her class, the school itself but – leaving her family, her home, tightened her heart every time and she had the feeling that someone was ripped a part of herself off. Sighing, she glanced at Suzhi; "You know I'll come back and I'll bring you with me no matter what happens, even if you claw me or bite me."
During a split second, she thought that the cat was shrugging, but she might be mind-blowing. She took a deep breath and decided to leave a moment the tiny familial flat to go to the restaurant on the lower floor, the one where her mother was working.
The restaurant owner, Yue Ji, usually energetic, was highly elated that day. Her daughter, Barbie Hsu Yan, came to visit her with her husband, Jerry Yan, and their little daughter Yan Hsu Dee. So, Yue bend over backward to worthily welcome them.
"It's not like it was the England Queen!" a waiter grumbled before running away in the kitchen to avoid the owner's attack.
Dong Lizi, Shancai's mother, already worked in the kitchen to cook her specialty, sweet and sour pork ribs, while their tiny corgi, Xiaoxi, slalomed between the tables like a crazy dog, chased by the laughing little Dee.
Xiaoxi jumped into Shancai's arms, licking her face and she felt little Dee wrapping her legs, making her smile, amused. Yue appeared at that moment, ashamed; "Dee! Xiaoxi! Let Shancai alone, please!"
Barbie came, running, to take back her daughter while Shancai laughed, amused: "It doesn't bother me! Let them do!"
At that moment, Lizi appeared, wiping her hands on her apron. "Are you ready, Shancai?". The young girl nodded, on the verge of tears but trying to smile at the same time. Her mother hugged her an instant.
Yue immediately came toward her, exclaiming and laughing as usual; "Oh my Shancai! You're coming back for Christmas, aren't you?" The young girl immediately reassured her with a forced smile. "But why do you absolutely wish to go to that boarding school?" Insisted Yue. "Wouldn't you prefer to go to a London high school?"
Lizi and Shancai slightly stiffened, discreetly glancing at each other. They both had to find a relevant answer, the truth just being impossible to say; Shancai was a witch and she was registered to Hogwart School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and she attended the class for more than six years. She was going to begin her seventh school year, her last one, then certainly went to the London magical faculty and could live again with her parents.
Originally, she was born at Shancai and would have been registered at birth at the magical school of Mahoutokoro in Japan – but she moved with her family in London when she had only three years old and the magical word having the power to know everything, they automatically registered her at Hogwart.
Of course, Shancai was unaware of everything. She was born and had grown up in a 'muggle' family, it means that her family didn't have any magical power and ignored everything about wizardry world – until Shancai received her letter for Hogwart on her eleventh birthday.
She still remembered that day like it was the day before. She was calmly eating a Chinese hotpot with her parents, Dong Danian and Dong Lizi when an owl appeared at their window.
An owl!
In the middle of the day!
They stayed a long moment staring at her, agape, while the bird stared back at them across the glass, her head slightly tilted on one side.
It was just – magic!
Then they noticed a letter tied on her leg.
They wondered who could make such a joke and especially who was able to train an owl and, one thing leading to another, the professor Longbottom came in their home, exhibiting some magic to prove them everything was real.
She tenderly smiled, remembering that moment. An exclamation from Yue brought her to earth. On the television screen, a woman just appeared her chin up, with an arrogant look. Behind, a banner was saying; 'Daoming Feng, Daoming group leader, bought back a few big London hotels.
"She's so intimidating!" Exclaimed Yue, a hand on her heart, her mouth ajar.
Lizi worriedly glanced at Shancai who just stiffened.
Daoming Feng
During the war, she and her husband, Daoming Yánzhòng, supported Lord Voldemort, a terrible dark wizard who carried on a reign of terror in the magical world, deeply hating muggles and muggles descendants. The Daoming weren't Death Eaters (Voldemort's active supporters) but preferred moving from Shanghai after the dark lord's defeat.
Then the Daoming settled down, wishing to go unnoticed. Daoming Yánzhòng died a few years ago and Daoming Feng continued his work, working in close partnership with muggles – muggles' elite, but still muggles.
On the face of it, people could think she tried to redeem herself for her mistakes, showing her goodwill and accepting to live in harmony with non-magical people. But Shancai doubted about her real purpose. With her friends, at Hogwart, they wondered if it wasn't a way for Daoming Feng to strengthen her hold on the muggle world and to easily manipulate them.
Shancai sighed and turned her back to the television. Glancing at the wall clock, she noticed it was almost time to leave. Dong Danian, her father, came in at that moment. "I drove the car closer, but I'm afraid to not be allowed to park on the place I choose."
Lizi and Shancai both winced and Yue elbowed the young girl. "Come on Shancai, quick, quick! Hurry up! Go and take your belongings before they take your car away!"
Shancai immediately hugged her, then Dee, Barbie, and Jerry while Xiaoxi jumped after her, furiously barking, asking for some strokes. Running away in the stairs to hide her tears, she went to get back her suitcases and in extremis grabbed Suzhi who came down on the bed and peacefully slept, forgetting to be cautious.
She put him in his transport cage while he furiously protested with big offended miaow and she brought her belongings upstairs, carrying everything as best as she could. After some last hugs, the three Dong family members took the car to hurtle to King's Cross.
As usual, the station was full of muggles who looked surprised, or even afraid, at these strange figures with their unpaired clothes and their trolleys full of old trunks and strange animals like toad or owls – owls!
Shancai hurried toward the wall between platform 9 and platform 10. Like they were used to do for almost seven years now, her parents put their hands on her shoulders and they raced toward the wall to find themselves on platform 9 ¾.
Immediately, Shancai looked for her friends but it didn't take long to find them. A voice called her and a few seconds after, her best friend, Xiaoyou, hugged her tightly, quickly followed by Lizhen and Qinghe. They exchanged hugs and a few words while their respective parents greeted each other.
Then, suddenly, excited whispers echoed in the parents and Hogwart students crowd.
"The golden trio! The golden trio!"
Indifferent about the effect they caused, Harry Potter with his wife, Ginny, and his two famous best friends Hermione and Ron Weasley, just arrived with their children. Shancai was in the same house and in the same class as James Potter, the eldest son of the magical word hero.
Rose Weasley, the daughter of Ron and Hermione (who had just been elected minister of magic) was in Gryffondor as well and began her third year. Albus Potter, Harry Potter's youngest son, surprised everybody when he was sent in Slytherin house and became Scorpius Malfoy's best friend, the son of his father's ex enemy.
However, it didn't seem to annoy Harry Potter who apparently was in a cordial relationship with Draco Malfoy and his wife, Astoria, surely to show that they were in a forgiveness and peace era.
Lily Potter, James' and Albus' younger sister and Hugo Weasley, Rose's little brother, began their first year in Hogwart. Everybody was curious to see which house they would be sent.
At that moment, Albus Potter waved in the crowd and a blond almost white head appeared, hugging him. Draco Malfoy followed his son, Scorpius, politely but stiffly greeting Harry Potter who greeted him back in the same tense way.
If the golden trio arrival was welcomed with many exclamations, the platform 9 ¾ suddenly became utterly silent, only pierced by a few whispers. It wasn't for Draco Malefoy, no. It was for the people who were following him.
Daoming Feng, chin up, a disdainful look on her face, just appeared in her crimson wizard dress contrasting with the white of her face. She escorted her son and his friends who were only a few steps behind her. Their simple appearance caused everybody paled because of fear and envy as well.
They were four. Four Slytherin who began their seventh year like Shancai. They were handsome, rich and pureblood like they enjoyed to remind it. Yan Ximen, Feng Meizuo, Huaze Lei and their leader, Daoming Si. They liked to be called F4, four flowers.
Flowers, what a joke! They'd rather be pesticide, you mean!
They came from Shanghai, like her, but she knew they had absolutely nothing in common. His three mates looked arrogant but not aggressive at all whereas Daoming Si glared everybody with a dark and piercing look. He was unpredictable, aggressive, violent. More than one student went to the infirmary because of him.
Only James Potter, his worst enemy, dare to confront him, everybody else feared him and avoided him – Shancai being the first one to behave that way. Her objective, since her first year in Hogwart, was to avoid him as much as possible and she brilliantly succeeded until now.
She perfectly saw the fate that awaited the unfortunates one who dared to confront Daoming Si. No matter which house they came from, they woke up on the morning with a red card at the foot of their bed with the F4 signature. Then everybody began to avoid the student like he was suffering from the plague, afraid to receive some jinx from the Slytherin boy. He harassed the unfortunate one, casting spells on him, humiliating him, scoffing him, until he got bored and moved on another victim. Everybody looked away, even her three friends who didn't play a part in lynching but neither did anything to stop that.
Sometimes, some victims abandoned their studies at Hogwart, going in a muggle middle school or asking for a transfer in another wizardry school like Beauxbâtons in France, Durmstrang in Bulgaria or even Ilvermony in the United States. The other ones waited for the storm went by but became a mere shadow of what they were before, hugging the Hogwart walls, hoping to get unnoticed.
Shancai sighed. With her friends, she always succeeded to escape from him, to get unnoticed by him, closing her eyes when her classmates or other students from her house were victims from his fury, looking away from their huddled shapes in a corner of the common room, crying hard.
Am I really worthy of being in Gryffondor?
She came back to earth when she felt her mother gently squeezing her shoulder. "It's time for you to go, Shancai!"
On the verge of tears again, she kissed her parents and followed her friends in the Hogwart Express. They quickly find an empty compartment and waved at their families until they didn't see them anymore.
Shancai sighed once again, having a heavy heart. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath then turned toward her friends, a huge grin on her lips, and she began to converse with them with joy and good mood.
Like her, Lizhen, Qinghe, and Xiaoyou came from Shanghai, coming from muggle families who migrated in the United Kingdom many years ago. Only Qinghe was what they called a 'half-blood'; his father was a muggle and his mother was a witch.
They went to school together, in the same kindergarten, then the same elementary school. They discovered together they had some magical powers and they pulled together to hide it to the other children until they received their letter for Hogwart. They were inseparable, speaking often mandarin with each other – but however, that didn't prevent them to make friends with other Hogwart students.
The trolley lady passed and the four friends bought an assortment of different enchanted candies. Lizhen couldn't help but laugh at Qinghe who took more than tens Chocolate Frogs. At that moment, loud voices rose in the corridor. Shancai looked across the compartment glass and froze when she recognized the F4 and especially Daoming Si who was attacking an afraid second-year boy.
Shancai sighed.
"They are bullying a student, aren't' they?" Asked Lizhen who had the reflex to shrivel herself on her seat when she recognized them.
Shancai nodded and couldn't help but clench her fists when she heard the student's cries. Xiaoyou noticed it and put her hand on her shoulder; "Do you want to intervene?" She gently asked her.
Qinghe and Lizhen let out a horrified exclamation while Shancai, ashamed, closed her eyes. "Do you remember that, back to the elementary school, every time someone attacked us, you were still there to protect us?" Xiaoyou gently said. "You lectured them and didn't hesitate to fight with your fists – or your feet!"
Qinghe burst into laughter. "Oh, yes! Your famous deathly death kick!"
Shancai blushed and bittersweetly smiled. "Yes, I remember that – and I still have the feeling it was another person, it wasn't me – it's not me anymore! What this school had done to me?"
Her friends sadly smiled at her. Then Qinghe clapped to shake them up and brought out his chocolate frogs to give it to them. But, in the rush, he opened all the packs on the same time and the chocolate frogs ran away in the compartment and began to run through the door which hadn't been totally closed after the trolley lady passed.
Laughing out loud, Lizhen tried to catch them with her wand and some spells while Suzhi stretched a paw through his cage bars to catch its. Shancai and Xiaoyou were shaking with their laugh and couldn't do anything while Qinghe, frantic, tried to catch them with his bare hands.
Lizhen cast a spell more powerful than the others and all the chocolates exploded, spraying everyone, making them laugh harder.
But suddenly, Qinghe froze, followed by Lizhen, staring the compartment door which utterly opened during their battle with the chocolate frogs.
"What's going on?" Asked Xiaoyou, turning toward the subject of their concerns. Her eyes widened with horror and she repressed a cry in her hands.
Shancai ended to turn as well and her blood turned to ice. Daoming Si stood on the doorstep, his head and the top of his body covered with exploded and melted chocolate frogs which would have fallen on him when he passed in front of their compartment.
He stared at them, speechless, his deep dark eyes looking like he was boiling with fury, his spiky hair looking more rising because of anger. His three friends just stared at him without a word, flabbergasted. Shancai closed her eyes, trying to control her shaking body, fear progressively invading her.
Lizhen was the first to react. Terrified, she pounced on him, profusely apologizing. "I – I'm going to clean all that mess on you!" She stuttered. She tried to wipe his face with a cleaning spell but he disarmed her with a so powerful "Expelliarmus!" that she was projected across the compartment.
"If apologies could help, why still need Aurors?" Hissed Daoming Si.
Shancai, Xiaoyou, and Qinghe rushed toward Lizhen to check if she was alright. Out of the corner of her eye, Shancai saw Daoming Si walking away as if nothing happened and her blood began to boil. The anger rose in her body, a sense of injustice raised her adrenaline level and she forgot to be afraid and to be cautious, rushing toward the Slytherin boy with a determined look on her face.
"Hey!" She yelled. "Pineapple head!"
Qinghe and Lizhen choked when she heard she used the nickname they secretly gave to the Slytherin boy for years. As for Xiaoyou, she smirked. Daoming Si stiffened and, very slowly, turned toward the tiny Gryffondor girl who furiously walked toward him, her ponytail twisting in her back.
Meizuo, Ximen and Lei stiffened as well, looking at this petite woman with round big eyes while she stood in front of Daoming Si.
"Who do you think you are?" Shancai screamed. "How dare you to treat people like that? Lizhen did nothing to you! She even apologized! Do you really think you are better than anyone else? You only are an arrogant moron with a pineapple head! You despise everyone else but you are despicable yourself! Do you hear me, Daoming Si? I despise you with all my being!"
The corridor remained silent. Her three friends and the other F4 members were staring at her, agape. But Shancai didn't see anything else than Daoming Si's dark look spiking her, burning her.
She felt his hand catching her nape and abruptly forced her to lean against him, making her shiver. She saw every chocolate drop dripping alongside his face, the tip of his nose, his chin, slightly damaging his angry dark look credibility. If the situation wasn't as serious for her, she would gladfully have burst into laughter because of this ridiculous situation.
Daoming Si'lips came near her face, tetanizing her.
"You –" He whispered with a dull and warning voice. "You've got guts."
He abruptly let her go, making her lose her balance, and went away, followed by his friends who stared at her with disbelief before disappearing as well. Once they left, Shancai felt dizzy and leaned against the wall, trying to calm her heartbeats and her panting breath. Xiaoyou wrapped her arms around her shoulder and led her in the compartment.
"Why did you do this, Shancai?" Whispered Lizhen as she feared they heard them despite the distance. "Why did you resist Daoming Si?"
Shancai didn't answer and collapsed on the seat, still feeling dizzy.
"I – I don't know." She stuttered; her mind being deserted by all logical thoughts.
"You are crazy!" Continued furiously Lizhen, still whispering. "Do you really want to receive a red card?"
Shancai took her head in her hands and Xiaoyou wrapped again her arms around her shoulders, glaring at Lizhen.
"She did what everybody should have done for a long time!" She exclaimed, her voice shaking. "I'm the first to be too shy to do it, but we can't let Daoming Si terrorizes everybody! It's not possible anymore to live permanently in the fear!"
Lizhen didn't answer, pouting and afraid at the same time. Qinghe, after swallowed, ended to say; "I think you were very brave, Shancai. You have to know that I'll support you if he attacks you."
"Me too!" Declared Xiaoyou.
Only Lizhen didn't say anything.
yánzhòng : grave, serious, critical