Chapter Text
By the time summer drew to a close, Chuuya was more than a little desperate for the start of term. While he held Kouyou only in the highest of respect, her expectations were just as rigid and harrowing in her home as they were in her classroom. Everything had its proper place and time, and if it was so much as a millimetre off, she would know. He had never realised there were so many wrong ways to do simple things, such as sneezing and storing socks.
That’s not to say she was unkind -- she was more than a little bit guilty of spoiling the child with all the things he hadn’t known growing up. It seemed impossible to remember that a year ago he would sleep in garbage on a fairly regular basis and often had only one consistent meal a day when he was surrounded by Kouyou’s taste for the finer things.
The sheets at her house were silk . He’s fairly sure he hadn’t even seen silk before.
She taught him how to do all sorts of things that would never come up at school -- proper cleaning, cooking, how to stitch up a tear or hem a sleeve, floral arrangements, pieces of french -- as she was just as much a teacher in her home as she was at the castle.
But as much as he appreciated Kouyou, he was getting restless. After months of hearing Tachihara chatter, Kunikida rant, and his various upperclassmen friends causing chaos wherever they went, the peace was almost dull.
He blamed Dazai.
After all, before the bandaged boy dragged him around on ‘fun adventures’ ranging from visiting a unicorn in the Forbidden Forest to landing in the infirmary passed out for a week, he had been perfectly content just going about his day to day life.
As much as he hated to admit it, things were boring without him.
Not that Chuuya would ever tell him that.
He had gotten letters by owl from Tachihara, Kunikida, and one massive, very confusing letter that was a collaboration from Yosano, Ranpo, Edgar, and Louisa, so it’s not as if he was in isolation, but letters hardly matched up to actually being around his friends.
Dazai hadn’t bothered sending anything at all, which didn’t surprise him too much. It wouldn’t have been strange if he got letters everyday, either. He’s not sure anything from the brunette could shock him at this point.
Chuuya wouldn’t bother telling him that either, considering the boy would probably take that as a personal challenge to surprise him and cause mass chaos.
Regardless of the reasons, he was ready for term to start, and his anticipation was keeping him awake the night before he would climb aboard the Hogwarts Express. Aside from all the courses and seeing his friends, since the former captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team graduated last year, he would have a chance to tryout for the team.
Kouyou had shown him quite few tips upon learning about his interest, as she was the best seeker to grace Hogwarts in decades and if it were not for her interest in teaching, she would have likely made the national team. But when that was the only example he had to compare himself against, it was hard to tell if he was actually any good.
Chuuya rather liked flying. Defying gravity was a heady feeling that was nearly addictive -- he could spend hours in the air without minding. With the added adrenaline from competition and risk, Quidditch was a gift from the gods to him as an individual.
But none of that would matter if he was too tired, and if he fell asleep on the train there's no doubt in his mind that Dazai would do something awful.
Pretending that even the idea of the Slytherin being a nuisance didn’t make him miss Hogwarts even more, he fell asleep.
“Oi, Chuuya!” Ranpo called as students were milling around the train, families talking to their children and friends reuniting after the summer. He was standing with the usual crowd -- Edgar, Yosano, and Louisa, as well as Edgar’s raccoon perched on his head.
Grinning, the ginger dragged his trunk over to the three fourth year Ravenclaws and the third year Hufflepuff.
“How much did you read of each of your textbooks over the break?” the boy asked.
Chuuya blinked. “Er, well, I skimmed the materials to see what we’d be going over in most of them so that I wouldn’t be caught off guard, but nothing too intense. Was I supposed to?”
“Which one did you look at most?” Yosano pressed.
“Probaby potions, I guess,” he said.
Ranpo was clearly getting impatient. “And why was that?”
“Because Dazai always nags me about not knowing anything and I have double potions with Slytherin?”
Ranpo broke out into a wide smile. “Alright, Yosano’s covering us for the snack trolley on the ride up this year.”
The girl gave him a withering look. “You couldn’t have just said that Kouyou was having you study, could you? Do you have any idea how much sweets Ranpo eats?”
“Wait a second, were you guys wagering who would pay for snacks based off of that?” Chuuya asked.
“Ranpo is always correct in his judgements, so it’s not surprising he won yet again,” Edgar had a soft look on his face, and even with his eyes obscured the Gryffindor would have been willing to bet anything they were filled with fondness and admiration.
Yosano sighed. “I was hoping that the kid wouldn’t want to admit he did something because of Dazai.”
Chuuya felt the tips of his ears heat up. “I would have done it anyway, since I stayed with Kouyou over break. It’s not like I care what he thinks or anything, he’ll just have to find a new way to bother me.”
“I think whatever the reason is, it’s good you’re taking an interest in your studies,” Louisa says, offering him a smile. “Plenty of students in their first few years end up getting too caught up in messing around, and then when they have to take O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s in their later years, they’re overwhelmed.”
“Those are the big standardized tests for fifth years and onward, right?” the ginger checked.
“You’re lucky you still have three more years after this one, they’re awful and pointless,” Ranpo said. “Tests are dumb.”
Before he had a chance to reply, someone bumped into him. He looked down to see hair, one half brown the other pure white and blinked. The small child looked up at him with a strange smile and stranger eyes, the pupils distorted and he fought the chill running down his spine.
“Oops, it looks like I bumped into you, mister,” they said. “Sorry.”
“Merlin, Q, you’re such a nuisance. Can’t you watch where you’re going?” a familiar voice said, roughly pulling the child aside by their shoulder then jerking his hand away as if burned. His scowl twisted into a grin when they looked back up at Chuuya. “There’s chibi, I was worried he’d be too small to find among all the students.”
The Gryffindor rolled his eyes. “You’re such a brat, mackerel. How did you manage to fit even more bandages?”
“It’s not any more than usual, slug’s just never seen me with my sleeves rolled up before.” Dazai shrugged. His usual white button up was pushed around his elbows, revealing that the bandages wrapped at least up to his upper arms. The top button was open, showing a bit more around his torso and not just his neck.
Chuuya felt a hand rest protectively on his shoulder at the same time he saw pale, spindly fingers clasp down on Dazai’s.
“Ozaki, what a pleasure to see you. You’re radiant as always,” the man with a grip on Dazai said through a smile, violet eyes closed in a twisted play at harmlessness. “I see you have quite the beautiful student under your care.”
“I see one of my students is quite unfortunately in your care as well, although I wonder if ‘care’ is an adequate word. With all the bandages and how skinny he is, one might make some assumptions,” the woman said from behind Chuuya.
“It hurts that such a lovely flower such as yourself would cast suspicion upon her former coworker and mentor. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were threatening me. You’re far too intelligent to do something so pointless.”
“Far too intelligent to think that you began taking in children out of the goodness in your heart either, Dr. Mori.”
The man feigned hurt with one of his hands pressed to his chest and wide eyes. “There’s no need to be so cold and formal with an old friend, Kouyou.”
“You’re a fool if you think I would ever give you an opportunity to assume that I think of you with anything but cold formality,” she said, sharp eyes boring into his without hesitation.
Chuuya spared a glance at Dazai to see that the boy merely looked bored, hands in his pockets and tie hanging lopsided. His brown eyes had gone back to being void of any light or life -- the ginger wondered if he would even notice if a hand waved in front of his face.
“While it was a pleasure to speak with you and to see your charming little protege once again, I’m afraid I do have things that need attending,” Mori said with a sigh, hand relinquishing its hold on Dazai. “Come along, Kyuusaku.”
Kouyou’s grip on his shoulder didn’t lighten up until the man and the unnerving child were far out of sight, and her lips pressed into a thin line.
Her red eyes focused in on Dazai and she let out a little tsk before moving to button up his shirt, straighten his tie, and roll down his sleeves. “Living among scum and trash doesn’t excuse sloppiness, child.”
The other boy’s lips twitched into a smirk of sorts. “Yes, mother. ”
She fixed a glare on him. “Think twice before referring to me as such.”
“Would you prefer I call you sister?”
“I find my name works just fine.”
A whistle pierces the air, signalling the train is soon to depart.
“Bye, older sister! I’ll take chibi from here,” Dazai called with a grin, taking Chuuya by the wrist and weaving through the crowds.
He had missed this.
Due to them having waited until the last minute to board the train, there weren’t a lot of options as far as compartments went. Dazai’s first choice (Oda and Ango) was already full, as was Tachihara and Kunikida’s. As much as Chuuya liked Yosano and the other three, it would be chaotic enough with those four and Karl.
Eventually they found a car with two students who looked young and nervous enough to be first years and no one else, so Dazai flung open the door and forced the two new students to sit next to each other so he could he could stretch out and crush Chuuya against the window.
“Oi, mackerel, your scrawny body doesn’t need that much space.” The Gryffindor shoved his legs off the seat and tried to get comfortable before turning to the two startled first years. “Sorry about him, he’s the worst.”
“So rude, chibi!”
“Er, are those your names?” the more confused looking of the two who had brown eyes and much softer colored ginger hair asked Chuuya. “Chibi and Mackerel?”
“My name is Chuuya , actually. This idiot can’t seem to say it unless he’s half asleep, though,” he said.
“No one else is allowed to call him chibi but me, alright?” Dazai flashes the first year a grin that seemed closer to a threat than anything.
The younger boy’s eyes widened and he tensed up before looking to Chuuya instead, almost asking for help.
Chuuya rolled his eyes and swatted the Slytherin’s shoulder. “Stop scaring them, Dazai. He’s the only person who calls me that because he’s the only one dumb enough to intentionally piss off every person he comes into contact with.”
“Oh,” he said with a nod, just as confused but at least a little less nervous. “I’m Junichirou Tanizaki, it’s nice to meet the two of you. What year are you starting?”
“Second. I’m in Gryffindor and that jerk is in Slytherin because he’s too lazy and slimy to be in any other house,” Chuuya said.
Dazai propped back up his legs, this time on the redhead’s lap. “And he’s in Gryffindor because he’s too much of a slow rule follower who won’t think for himself!”
“I thought Slytherin was for cunning and ambition and Gryffindor was for courage and chivalry?”
“The only thing Dazai strives for is pissing people off,” Chuuya grumbled.
The Slytherin whined and twisted so that he was draped across the shorter second year’s shoulders with his face buried in his neck. “Chibi, why are you trying to make me look bad in front of the first years? You should be nicer to me, after all we didn’t talk for months .”
“And whose fault is that? I don’t have an owl, but you sure as hell could have sent one.”
“Do you really think Mori would let me send letters? To a Gryffindor with zero connections or status? You’re not worth the extra effort if you ask him.”
The other boy, paler even than Dazai with a haunted look that rivaled the horror comics he browsed in a library once, spoke for the first time. “You’re Osamu Dazai, the one Dr. Mori took in.”
Dazai twisted so that he was hanging loosely from Chuuya’s neck to face the boy, practically in the ginger’s lap. The brunette’s eyes went back to their hollow resting state and the smile he wore looked more mocking than the foolish one he used as a mask. “‘Took’ in is one way to describe it, Ryuunosuke Akutagawa.”
“Wait, you two know each other?” Chuuya asked, brow scrunching together.
“Only an idiot wouldn’t know who the Demon Child is,” the black haired kid leveled the redhead with a glare.
“And only an idiot would insult chibi when I’m sitting right here,” Dazai said.
“You call me dumb all the time-”
He interrupted with a pout. “But that’s because compared to me you’re a slug. He’s too stupid to be allowed to call you stupid. Do you just let anyone go around calling you dumb?”
“There have been only two people in my life so far who have ever done that, and both of them are in this compartment.” Chuuya glared, shoving Dazai off of his lap with all the grace of a duck tied to a brick.
The rest of the train ride was mainly filled with the two second years’ banter and bickering, with occasional input from Tanizaki who seemed to slowly be getting used to their strange form of communication. Akutagawa’s way of expressing himself seemed to be scowling with varying degrees of intensity in silence, with interspersed breaks for coughing.
By the time they arrived at the castle in their robes, Chuuya couldn’t help but feel a little bad for the Tanizaki kid. It seemed like he wasn’t from the wizarding world, and not only having to wrap his head around that on the train ride, he was subjected to seeing first hand one of the most confusing and irritating people the world of magic had to offer.
This year, instead of the boats, they took carriages driven by these strange, skeletal horse like creatures.
“What are those?” Chuuya asked.
Dazai blinked at him with his wide brown eyes. “I didn’t think slug would be able to see the thestrals.”
“You’re not funny, mackerel.”
“I’m hilarious, I’ll have you know.” The brunette paused. “But I wasn’t making a joke. Most people can’t see them.”
It was Chuuya’s turn to be confused. “How do they miss them? They don’t exactly blend in.”
Dazai hummed and let his head fall on the ginger’s shoulder, fingers brushing in the space between them. “It’s because only people who have witnessed death can see thestrals. I didn’t think chibi had seen anyone die, but with your memories or lack of them. . .”
The Gryffindor’s jaw tensed, and if anyone were to ask, it was Dazai who laced their hands together and held tighter rather than the other way around.
“It could have been something smaller than you’re thinking. I’m sure Yosano can see them considering her parents deal with some pretty nasty things as doctors,” the Slytherin said.
Chuuya tried to push why he could see the creatures to the back of his mind. “Dazai?”
“Hm?”
“You can see them too, right?” he asked.
A deep breath. “Yes, chibi. I can see them too.”
The question was burning on Chuuya’s tongue, but he wasn’t sure if asking would be too much.
“I saw my parents die the night before I began living with Mori.”