Mei Lin Li was not happy. Yesterday she got the news she had been dreading for years...an engagement to someone she couldn't stand.

The only way out of this was to find someone of higher standing than the rather high-class pure blood family they were giving her to when she turned fifteen.

Unfortunately any boy her age she could marry were either already taken, complete jerks, or gay.

So she was in a hard place...until she remembered Syaoran spoke of another who might be more tolerable than the one she was stuck with.

Eriol Reed was unattached, not gay, and from what her cousin said was actually quite tolerable.

And more importantly he was was a magical, not a mundane like they wanted to marry her to. She would hate to hide her powers from her husband!

Clow Reed heard Syaoran's problem. Mei Lin was a friend of Sakura's and she would hate to see her unhappy with someone she didn't like.

However Eriol was smitten with Tomoyo. The two had a shared love of cosplay, among other things.

Fortunately there were ways around that, ways that some people might frown upon normally but were perfectly acceptable if handled right.

Plus Mei Lin already knew Tomoyo. The question would be if she would mind sharing with the girl.

The Matriarch of the Li clan was amused. To use the older laws against the elders... Clow had clearly not changed one bit.

Having a mistress wasn't illegal, but it was frowned upon by some. However in this situation it was the perfect way to outfox those senile old men.

Mei Lin would be Eriol's wife in China, but his mistress everywhere else. Tomoyo (and things were looking very good that Eriol would fall for the girl) would be his mistress only in China.

And since the two not only knew about each other, but even tolerated the other girl's presence, this could work out for everyone. The only issue would be Eriol...though from what she'd heard of his personality it wouldn't be much of one.

Mei Lin, when told of the solution Clow had come up with, had been perfectly fine with it. She liked Tomoyo, and in a perfect society would have moved to Japan just to hang out with her and avoid the elders. She didn't mind sharing, or in the case of Tomoyo being turned into a dress up dummy. What girl didn't like playing dress up?

Because of the unique nature of the contract, Mei Lin was sent to Japan so that she and her future husband could bond. In separate rooms of course.

The second Mei Lin saw Tomoyo, Eriol saw something that the other adults had clearly missed. The two obviously happened to like each other as more than friends.

Tomoyo openly admitted she was bi, as her feeling for Sakura were more than just friends or even cousins. However since Sakura was clearly in love with Syaoran, that had left her the odd girl out.

Until Eriol showed up. Eriol had told her when she admitted her preferences that love was love, no matter what form it took so long as there was consent between both parties.

So the idea of being with Eriol and Mei Lin was too good a chance to pass up, plus it meant she would remain close to her best friend.

And with that, things began to settle down a bit in Japan. Mei Lin hung out with both Eriol and Tomoyo, as she cared for both equally. And if they girls became overprotective after Eriol told them of his past, well he said nothing.

Two years later...

Eriol was bored. He aced all his magical classes in Japan, and had been even offered to skip ahead. But he couldn't do that without abandoning his friends in the lower levels, most of whom were having trouble with the basic homework.

Friends don't abandon friends. That was his motto, ever since he realized that staying in Japan would lead to him actually having friends his own age.

So he stayed in the same year as them and read up on the higher level spells during classes with the teacher's permission. The others knew what he was doing to keep the peace, but the fact he had openly declined an invitation to insure that they didn't have too much trouble with homework had them grateful.

Eriol was simply a nice person.

Looking up, he saw another owl. He double checked the date and grimaced.

It happened every year. Hogwarts would try to rope him into their school when he wanted nothing to do with Europe if he could help it.

However Clow had been firm. Eriol had to spend one year at Hogwarts once he turned thirteen, if only so they could claim the vault legally.

Stupid backwards laws.

On the plus side, most of his group would be joining him and he could have Spinel scare the hell out of the English.

Most parents would have told him no, he wasn't allowed to unleash a fully-powered Sun guardian on a school of unsuspecting English.

But this was Clow Reed, known troll and pain in the ass when he was in the mood. Spinel and Kero were perfectly safe around young children, plus they were familiars. So long as they didn't switch to their smaller forms, the teachers wouldn't know that the children were messing with them.

Besides, how often did the sun guardians get to wander around in their true forms instead of their plushy ones? And in full view of everyone?

There was also the rumor that Hogwarts was starting to get back into it's game. Recent ranking had put them in the bottom twenty, which was a vast improvement considering they were in the top ten worst.

Still, Eriol took his usual precautions and removed any spells before he even looked at it.

He took one look at the electives and started laughing. Evilly. Oh here was the perfect way to give that headmaster who dumped him off at that woman's house a heart attack!

Who better to teach the history of sorcery than Clow Reed himself?

Reed didn't pause at the sound of cackling, he knew his habit of pranks had rubbed off on the boy but when he saw the elective he knew what Eriol had in mind.

There wasn't any books listed, so they were likely trying it out for the year like they had so many other subjects. Unless they found a good teacher, it was liable to be dropped like most of the other 'new' subjects they were offering.

Some had stuck, like beginning alchemy and advanced runes, but most went to the wayside because the pure bloods had raised a real stink about it.

However they did now offer courses that allowed muggleborns to at least graduate after taking their 'A-levels' and getting into college. The number of students who had fallen into the homeless camps had dropped like a stone after they offered those.

Dumbledore grimaced as he looked at the new roster of teachers. It seemed someone was brave enough to come and teach at what was now considered one of the worst magical schools in the world. Many of the prospective teachers had laughed when he approached them with the chance to come and teach at Hogwarts.

Whoever was coming to teach... History of Sorcery had to be brave.

Dumbledore signed off on the man's contract, and checked the book he had listed. It was acceptable for new and advanced students. A few hours later he got a reply back... the new professor would come to the school on the train with his apprentices.

Now why did that handwriting look so familiar?

"Remind me again why we have to go to this school for a year?" whined Syaoran.

"Because otherwise those idiots in England won't fork over what Eriol and Sakura have legal right to as my heirs," said Clow patiently...before he added "Besides, I'll be in the school as well making Dumbledore too preoccupied to bother you."

"Dad took the position as the History of Sorcery teacher," said Eriol from the kitchen.

"What about Touya and Yukito?"

"I have them under apprentices," said Clow.

Sakura, Syaoran, Mei Lin, Tomoyo and Eriol would all be going in as new students while Yukito and Touya would be the 'apprentices' of Clow. It wasn't technically true of course... Touya was the one providing most of the power for Yue, seeing as how the two of them had bonded after the teen had offered up most of his magic to keep Yukito from disappearing. And Yue would follow Sakura into hostile territory.

"Besides... these English have no idea we're bringing in the two sun guardians...can you imagine the chaos we'll be causing with a lion and a panther that big in the school?" grinned Eriol.

Syaoran blinked, then a slow evil grin formed on his face.

"That is hilarious. Do we have magical cameras?"

"I know the potion that can make the pictures move," said Clow, a slow grin on his face.

"Is there any chance you could show us how to make our own familiars?" asked Syaoran with hopeful eyes. The look on the elder's faces if they saw him with a large familiar would totally be worth the magical drain he would have to deal with.

"What did you have in mind?"

"Dragon," said Syaoran immediately.

"Difficult. But I suppose we can make this a joint project, next to everyone getting their animal forms down," said Clow.

"I'm still not comfortable with her in that area," said Touya from his spot next to Yukito. He had his chair turned around and his head on his arms that were resting on the back of the chair.

"She has to spend at least one year at a European school in order to keep the English from trying to keep her and Eriol from getting their inheritance. It's goblin law, they have to come and claim it directly. Yue and Ruby will shadow them the entire time, along with their betrothed. And they know I'm active for the moment, so that will keep the English from trying to get their hooks into them as a 'magical' guardian. Though to be fair, since you are above the age of seventeen, you qualify as Sakura and Tomoyo's," said Clow.

"Why them?" asked Touya.

"Direct blood relation. Tomoyo is your first cousin isn't she? Eriol is legally my son, while Mei Lin and Syaoran come from my mother's clan. And Yukito is older than seventeen, so they will have to leave him alone...and that's before they find out he's a familiar bound to the Kinomoto family."

Though technically Yukito and Yue were regarded as Touya's mate, considering how close they were to him. As the Moon Guardian, Yue had the ability to shift genders if he wanted...the thing was he preferred being a guy. And Touya could care less about which he was.

"Now, as for our plan of attack..." said Clow with an evil grin. Yukito rolled his eyes, as did Kero. They were well accustomed to Clow's sense of humor. It only went from low to lower.