Chapter Text
Toto watched in awe as his grandmother slowly poured carrots and onions into the thickening curry. Like a chef in a restaurant, she managed the meal with precision. His stomach longed for rice, curry, and chicken. It wasn’t long before she asked Toto to grab two plates for the table.
Excitement for dinner overtook safety and carefulness because when Toto opened one of their wall cabinets to follow his grandmother’s request, a plate slid out. It was like time slowed—not to a stop, but slowed down. The only thing the eleven-year-old could do was to reach out and pray for it to remain intact. With a crash and a rattle, it fell onto the wooden floor.
Remarkably, it was still intact.
“Ah, Toto!” his grandmother yelped from the other side of the kitchen. Her face wasn’t the normal calm expression anymore.
“Sorry, Granny,” he apologized before picking it off the floor.
She walked over, the calm expression returning to her face. “It’s okay, Toto. I’m glad you didn’t hurt yourself. It could’ve been bad…” She smiled kindly and patted Toto’s head lovingly. “Can you get the spoons? I’ll get the plates.”
Toto nodded, slightly disheartened by his inability to complete the first task. However, his mind soon forgot about the trouble because a delicious plate of chicken cutlet curry and rice was on his dining placemat.
“Thank you for the food, Granny!” Toto exclaimed, ready to dig in.
“You’re welcome. When you’re done, there are vanilla butter sandwich cookies for dessert.”
Toto giggled to himself. Butter sandwich cookies were always available at his home. Pretty soon, his grandmother’s obsession would become his own.
Halfway through the meal, the polite chime of the doorbell rang through the house.
“Oh,” the grandmother said, getting out of her seat. “I wonder who that could be.”
Toto also got up from his chair, wanting to get a better look at who was at the front door. When it opened, a stranger was on the front porch. The tall lady stood firmly, holding her hands together in the front. Her outfit was also unusual to Toto—a long dark robe. She looked dressed for the winter when it was the middle of summer.
“Good evening,” Toto’s grandmother said. “How may I help you?”
“Is this the household of Totomaru Isshiki?” the woman asked.
“I’m Totomaru,” Toto answered, still curious about the stranger on their front porch. He walked closer to the front. “Who are you?”
“I’m Aimee Emmerich, headmistress of Hogwarts, the school for witchcraft and wizardry.”
“Are you… a wizard?” Toto’s grandmother asked hesitantly.
“Technically, I’m a witch. But to simplify things, both use magic, and I fall under that category.” Her gaze fell from the grandmother to the child. “I’ll cut to the chase. Totomaru Isshiki, you have magical abilities. For children like yourself, these abilities came from a distant magical ancestor. Furthermore, you have been accepted into Hogwarts for the next school year.”
“Really?” Both Isshikis asked in unison.
Excitement filled the young boy. Magic? He was capable of magic? It seemed impossible, like something out of a dream.
“May I talk to you alone?” Toto’s grandmother asked. “Outside?”
“Of course.”
Before Toto’s grandmother closed the door, splitting Toto from their conversation, Emmerich slipped a hand into her sleeve and produced a small white envelope.
“For you.”
“Wait inside for a second, Toto. I want to ask a few questions.”
Her request was answered when Toto walked back to the dining table. The rice and curry were surely cold by now. However, that was the last of Toto’s worries. His whole interest was consumed by the stranger and the envelope with his full name and address written on it. With a shaking hand (and a few disastrous rips), he opened the envelope to reveal a letter inside. In rough parchment paper, words in ink were delicately written on it.
“Wowza!” He exclaimed while soaking up every word.
The more he read and the more he thought about Headmistress Emerrich’s words, the more his heart thumped with excitement. The magic school seemed like a dream! He could wear a robe like Emmerich, carry a wand, and do magic. He didn’t know exactly what the magic was, but that only spurred his imagination. Then, his mind returned to just before dinner, when the plate fell out of the cabinet. Was it his magic that prevented it from breaking?
I already did magic! Toto thought with a smile.
As soon as that thought occurred, the front door opened with a creak.
“Thank you for your cooperation, Ms. Isshiki,” Emmerich’s voice said.
“I’m sorry about all the trouble. It’s just he’s my grandson, and…”
“There are no worries. With non-magic folk, the staff personally makes the trip down for this reason.”
Toto jumped out of his seat again, this time, dragging the letter with him. “Is everything okay?” Toto asked, gently holding the letter in both hands.
“Yes, Toto,” his grandmother answered with one of her gentle smiles. “Do you have questions for Emmerich before she has to leave?”
Toto pondered the question for a few seconds. “I don’t think so,” was his final response. “There’s a lot of stuff in this letter.”
He held the white sheet up to show his grandmother. The elder took it with both hands and quickly glanced over the contents.
“If there are no further questions, I’ll be on my way. There are more students that I have to talk to.”
“I see,” Toto’s grandmother said. “Thank you for the information.”
“When the time comes to gather his school supplies, help will arrive from another professor of Hogwarts. Until then, I’ll be looking forward to seeing Isshiki on the first day.”
The headmaster gave Toto one final smile. She walked back to the front door, and it closed behind her. Toto blinked twice, trying to remember if she used her hands. Instantly, he pulled the door open to catch her. But she was gone. Disappeared. Vanished.
“Wowza,” Toto whispered. “A real witch.”
The boy closed the door (not with magic) and faced his grandmother. She was still in the middle of the entryway.
“Can I go?!” he asked, heart pounding from all the imaginative scenarios about attending a magic school.
A sigh escaped her lips. However, it wasn’t filled with malice/anger or tiredness.
“Let’s finish eating then we can talk about this.” His grandmother said. “But, I think we both know the answer.”
They both did. And, it wasn’t before long when Toto traveled to a place called Diagon Alley, packed his bags, was met with a huge train, and was already on his way to the school called Hogwarts.
*****
Delicious chocolates! A forest! A lake! A huge castle with moving staircases and pictures! Magic was everywhere, and Toto had only just arrived. In dazzled awe, he took everything in, not wanting to miss a single thing. However, the rational part of his mind knew he had a whole seven years at the magic school.
Walking through the vast corridors with a small group of other first years, they stopped in front of a set of large doors. Their guide, Spitz Fire, a professor at Hogwarts, turned around to address them.
“Hope you all enjoyed the tour!” He exclaimed with a huge smile. “We’re now at the Great Hall’s doors. Inside are the rest of the students at Hogwarts—second-years to seventh-years—and the rest of the professors. Here is where you all will be sorted into your house. There are four: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin.”
Chatter arose among the students, but Professor Fire soon quieted them down. With a final nod, the doors opened with a loud clunk.
For a second, chaotic conversations erupted as if they just escaped when the doors opened. Then, slowly, the voices grew to a lower level and down to none. Blinding lights from floating candles illuminated the room from end to end. The new delicious smells danced in Toto’s nose.
Walking down the Great Hall with everyone else, all eyes were on them. Eyes from the two tables from the left and the right and the back. All older students wore black robes with colored insides and different colored ties.
Since Toto was by the front, he had a clear view of the scene up ahead. There, he spotted a semi-familiar face: Emmerich. His mind remembered that she introduced herself as Hogwarts’ Headmistress.
After her little speech about forbidden sections of the castle and the sorting hat, Professor Fire moved to the front of the Great Hall. An old pointed hat was picked up off a wooden stool.
Is that the Sorting Hat?
Toto revived his answer when the ceremony began. Someone’s name was called and echoed in the hall. When she hesitantly sat down on the stool, Professor Fire placed the hat on her head. Then, showed signs of being sentient.
Toto’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. It can talk?!
More wonder filled Toto’s heart as he listened intently to the hat. Words were thrown around like ‘bravery’ and ‘heart.’
Finally, “Gryffindor!” boomed in the halls.
Cheers erupted from all five tables. But, the loudest applause came from the rightmost table with the students in red.
When Toto thawed from the shock of the talking hat, he started clapping for everyone who completed their part of the ceremony. Most people took a minute or two to be sorted.
“Totomaru Isshiki!”
Toto’s body tensed up at the sound of his name. Placing one foot in front of the other, he walked up to the front. It took a few seconds to become comfortable on the stool, but when he stopped fidgeting, his head felt heavy with added weight.
“Ah,” the hat said. “I’ve met quite a few of you youngins before. New to the magical world, but curious about it all. Although I see that you’re another case. Selflessly putting others before you, dedicated, and considerate…” The hat paused for a second. Toto’s heart pounded; he gripped the sides of his robe. “Hufflepuff!” was the final answer.
The background sounds of cheers were barely there. All he heard was the echo of ‘Hufflepuff’ in his mind.
Hufflepuff… I don’t know what it is, but it must be good.
Kicking himself out of the daze, he hopped off the stool and ran to the right—the direction the other chosen Hufflepuff went to. The students in yellow waved over at him. Two upperclassmen scooted apart, kindly giving him a seat by the front. With a nod of thanks, he carefully took a seat at the table.
The close-up of the meal made his stomach rumble. Luckily, the magnitude of the chatter among everyone was enough to drown it out.
The whole experience was slowly absorbed when Toto waited for the second half of the first years to be sorted. His patience never dimmed. For one, some students, like a black-haired Ravenclaw, were told of their decision in a snap. And, he wanted everyone to take their time for this momentous occasion.
Sitting with his house, being in the moment, and the imagined adventures ahead.
This will be fun!
*****
This is not fun!
Toto buries his hurting head in his hands. Agony and stress were eating him away. Why was it so hard to write an essay on potion ingredients? It was only the third week of attending Hogwarts, and he was already struggling alone in the library.
His parchment paper was half straight, half scrunched up on the wooden table. Library hardcovers prevented the top from rolling up and prevented more creases from forming. A library ingredients book was open to a page between Wool of Bat and Wormwood. His sloppily written notes were messily off to the side.
The essay was due by the next class, and he desperately didn’t want to be sent to detention or cost his house any points. So, there he was, in the library, going to suffer alone until closing time.
“Did you know that’s the wrong section?”
Never mind, Toto was not alone.
The sudden voice sent jolts of surprise down his back. His heart raced as he turned around to find the source of the voice.
Towering over him, there was a student with black hair covering some of his eyes. His neck was the location of a dark reddish mark. His clothing made Toto raise an eyebrow. The lack of a robe and loose blue tie juxtaposed Toto’s strict following of the school dress code.
Blue. While Toto was new to the wizarding world, the colors and distinctive features of each house were engraved in his memory. Blue was Ravenclaw for cleverness and wisdom.
“No, of course you don’t know,” the Ravenclaw muttered to himself. “For one, I doubt you’d purposely be reading the wrong section since you’re in the library on a Sunday night finishing a Potions essay due tomorrow. You’re alone and seemingly in distress over an unfinished homework assignment.”
And apparently blue was also for intensive deduction skills!
Toto blinked in shock. The steady flow of deductions was almost as amazing as everything else in the magical world.
The Ravenclaw took two steps to the left before he was stopped by Toto reaching out for him.
Toto barely managed to grab hold of the bottom of the white shirt. “Can you help me, please?” he asked.
He turned around, making Toto lose his grip. “About the essay?” the Ravenclaw asked blatantly.
Toto nodded. “I can’t find anything about worm slugs.”
“Worm slugs? What’s a worm slug?”
“The ingredient for Cure for Boils…?” Toto said, his voice growing quieter and unsteady with each word.
The black-haired student sighed. “You need to look for horned slugs.”
The emphasis on ‘horned’ made Toto’s skin crawl. “What? Are you serious?”
“I just finished the essay yesterday. I think the ingredients for Cure for Boils are fresh in my mind.”
All sorts of doubts entered Toto. He scrambled for his notes and double-checked the instructions for the essay.
He leaned over to take a peek at Toto’s notes. The action made the black hair fall slightly, revealing the once-hidden blue eyes. “Why did you write ‘worm slug’ on your notes?” the Ravenclaw asked with a hint of amusement in his voice.
“I had trouble getting everything down, so someone helped me with the last two ingredients.”
“You didn’t use your Potions book?”
Toto shrank in embarrassment. “I thought the notes were right… It didn’t cross my mind to open my book. And, I might’ve left it all the way in the Common Room.” Hearing the simple question laced with curious judgment from the ‘wisdom’ student made Toto wish there was a spell that could make the earth swallow him whole.
The Ravenclaw's almighty expression wrapped into one of mild sympathy. “Hate to break it to you, but the person who supposedly helped you either lied or is also struggling with this essay. At least dried nettles are correct.”
“Oh…” Toto had no idea which option was worse—someone purposely sending him into agony or both people in agony. If it was the second option, Toto hoped the other student would be able to fix his mistake.
“I’m leaning towards the first option,” the Ravenclaw murmured.
Disbelief entered Toto. Why would anyone lie to him? Granted, the other student wasn’t a Hufflepuff, but that couldn’t have been the reason. Toto opened his mouth to inquire more but was cut off.
“You’re able to finish it now, right?” he asked.
“Yes. Thank you so much. Umm, I’m Totomaru Isshiki.”
The blank stare lasted for a few long seconds. Then, a small grin formed on the other’s face. “Ron Kamonohashi.”
*****
The warm weather slowly transformed into one of cooler winds and cloudy skies. It was like Mother Nature beckoned Toto and other Hogwarts students to spend their time outside. And Toto obeyed.
The entire weekend was spent fully exploring the school. From the Clock Tower Courtyard to the castle grounds, Toto traveled everywhere. The breeze through his hair and robe felt refreshing. Taking in the sights and finalizing a map of the grounds made him smile. It was his new home, and he wanted to make the best of it.
Walking along the stone path of the castle grounds, he spotted a few other students in the same vicinity. A small group of taller upperclassmen were standing around a rectangular box, holding a large dull-red ball. Another student was alone, leaning against the castle’s outer brick wall. Toto focused his attention on the lone person and recognized him.
Ron!
There were a few times since that night at the library that Toto saw Ron in passing. Although a moment never presented itself to fully thank the Ravenclaw.
Until now.
Slowly closing the wide distance between them, Toto made his way over. Once Toto was close enough to be within earshot of Ron, a shriek rose from the direction of those two upperclassmen.
“Hey, watch your head!” one of them yelled.
Toto’s head whipped towards the panicked sounds. His mind was barely able to comprehend that an object, flying in midair, set its target as Ron. Two legs moved before one mind.
“Ron! Look out!” Toto yelled.
For a split millisecond, a flash of Ron’s blue eyes appeared.
Then, black.
One blink. Two blinks. Three blinks.
The scenery changed. No more were the green grass and beige bricks of the castle. The bright sunlight shone down from large glass windows. Instead of being on his feet, Toto was flat on his back against a soft mattress. Turning his head to the left, blue privacy curtains surrounded him, the bed, and a tabletop. Turning his head to the right, Ron was sitting by the lower end of the bed. The blue eyes were obscured by the mop of hair, so Toto didn’t know if Ron was staring at him with curiosity, guilt, or annoyance.
“What happened?” Toto asked, propping himself up on his elbows to sit up.
“Bludger happened,” Ron answered.
One of the cons of being new to the wizarding world was that the vocabulary was as strange as ever.
“What’s a Bludger?”
“Basically, you got hit in the head with an iron ball,” Ron relayed as if he were talking about the sunny weather.
An iron ball?!
Toto’s eyes widened more when Ron continued. “Then the impact made you collide with the wall. I’m honestly surprised that you woke up this early.”
“How am I not dead?!” Toto exclaimed. The rise in his voice suddenly brought his attention to a headache. New or old, Toto wasn’t certain. A hand was brought up to feel his temple, but all he felt was cotton. A bandage was wrapped around his head. Careful not to disturb it, he gently lay back on the pillow.
“You should ask our matron that question,” Ron said.
He shifted in his stool to face Toto more directly. The intense stare (despite barely being able to see Ron’s eyes) made Toto want to throw the covers over his head.
“Selflessly putting others before you…” Ron muttered. “The Sorting Hat wasn’t lying.”
That comment was almost as confusing as the entire event. “Huh? Wait, how do you remember that?”
“I have a good memory,” Ron replied with a shrug.
“‘Good’ is a bit of an understatement! Do you remember what the Hat said to everyone?”
“Is that a shock? These are people we’ll be spending the next seven years with. Plus, its words about you caught my interest.”
Caught my interest? Toto silently repeated.
Although he was slightly afraid of the answer, Toto asked, “About what?”
“Muggle-born. Am I right?”
Against his will, his body tensed up. It wasn’t the first time anyone asked about the subject. Most were of genuine curiosity, simply wanting to understand how an entire group of people could live without magic. Then there were one or two students who were less curious and more snarly. “Ah… yes. Did someone tell you, or is it that obvious?” Toto asked.
“Never talked to anyone about you.” Somehow, that seemed more of an insult than anything else. “I only remembered what the Hat said after you shoved me out of the way.”
A wince escaped from Toto. “Sorry. Did I hurt you?”
“Well, I fell, but it’s better than getting hit by a Bludger.”
“I guess…” Toto still couldn’t understand if Ron was angry, thankful, or indifferent. The angle of being in bed, looking up at the Ravenclaw wasn’t helpful either.
The conversation died down. A silence lingered between them. Avoiding any further awkwardness, Ron got up from the stool, and his robe fluttered slightly.
“One of the nurses will be back soon. She’ll help you from here.”
“Alright. Thank you for staying with me.”
The small grin from that night at the library appeared once more. “Don’t die, Toto.”
A quick flash of panic filled his heart. “Die?” Then another realization hit him. “Toto?”
“Totomaru is too long.”
With that, the mysterious student left the hospital wing, never turning back.
Although it wasn’t the last time the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw saw each other.