A/N: to my knowledge, there are no sex-changing Saotome's in this world. But there is a perverted Clow Reed…
Thanks to Dragon Man 180 for a couple of ideas.
(Read 'Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds' by Sokai, story id 2502930)
Card Captor Harry
by Shadow Crystal Mage
Card 24, The Sleep: End Of School, Start Of Hell(?)
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I wish her well and covet her money. Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, not me. I covet their drawing skills. Both are used here without their owners' permission. I'm not doing this for money, so please don't sue me.
(Read 'Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds' by Sokai, story id 2502930)
Harry managed to keep his face smooth all the way until the door behind him thudded shut. He managed to hold out until all the footsteps–Aunt Petunia's light and fluttery one and Uncle Vernon's thundering one– faded away. Only when he couldn't hear them anymore did he let himself go.
Sitting down on his trunk– which for the first time ever, the Dursleys had allowed him to keep his school stuff in his room– as Keroberos flew out from under his jacket (the very same jacket he'd first taken to hiding under so long ago in Diagon Alley), he threw back his head and let out a loud laugh, which he quickly stifled by clamping his pillow over his face. The pillow was pretty musty after almost a year of not being washed, but he didn't care. He was laughing too hard.
"Those are your relatives?" Keroberos exclaimed, aghast.
Harry clamped a hand over his mouth. "Keep it down, will you?" he hissed at his Sun Guardian, while still fighting down snickers himself. "They might hear you!"
The look on Uncle Vernon's face when he told him he had a convicted criminal– an escaped convicted criminal– for a godfather had been interesting, to say the least. He just wished he could see the look on Aunt Petunia's face when she found out…
Just as he was considering pulling out his Cloak and The Through, there was a loud cry from downstairs.
Harry started snickering all over again. Keroberos rolled his eyes at his charge.
Looks like Aunt Petunia just found out…
Unstrapping the Card holster from around his arm– it was starting to get sweaty– Harry reached into his robes, pulling out the Clow Cards and fanning them open in his hand. He knew that they could hear him. However, what he had in mind was something better off done face to face. Running his finger through them, he stopped at a particular Card. Hmm… she hadn't been out in a while…
"Kero, keep an eye out for my relatives, will you?" Harry said as he pulled the Clow Book from the small of his back. He'd have to thank Winter again for the harness she'd made. Who knew she was so handy? Hermione had ruined him, making him think she was the only smart girl around. "I don't want them walking in on me."
"If they do, just erase their memory," Kero said, flying to the door and placing one enormous ear on it. "It's a simple wizard spell…"
"Yeah, 'Obliviate'," Harry said as he put the Cards back in the Book. "I know. Had a wannabe-bishounen-uke try and use it on me last year. Backfired on him pretty bad."
Harry paused thoughtfully, his hand poised to put back the last few Cards back where they belonged. "Come to think of it, what did happen to that Fab Five reject?"
Somewhere in St. Mungo's, Lockhart sneezed, and had no idea why.
Shrugging, Harry put the thought of his most testosterone-challenged teacher out of his head as he looked at the Card he hadn't put in the Book. Reaching up around his neck once more, he pulled out the Key.
For a moment, Harry starred at it. Had it been only a year ago– no; less- less than a year ago that he had first seen this, hanging before him…
From the lock came a sphere of light, which flew over to Harry and hovered in front of him. "Take it," Keroberos said…
"Harry?" Kero said, turning slightly to look at him while still keeping an ear on the door. "You okay?"
Harry shook his head. "Yeah. Just got a little lost on memory lane," he said, still looking slightly wistful. "Remember Diagon Alley?"
Kero gave him a strange look. "Yeah, I remember. Why?"
Harry shrugged. "Just thinking how simple things were then," he said. "No Lee, no professors, no prefects. A Card hanging around every corner. Capturing them as simple as taking them out to lunch." He sighed in nostalgia. "It was a simpler time…"
Kero rolled his eyes, snickered a little. "Just get on with it already," he said. "I haven't got all day"
"Sure you do, Kero," Harry said. "After all, I can't feed you here, so you have nothing else to do. Absolutely nothing."
"WH–!" Harry was able to grab Kero and clap a hand over his mouth before the inevitable exclamation. He gave his Sun Guardian an annoyed look.
"Do you mind?" he said, half-annoyed, half-amused. "The point of you being here is to keep my relatives from finding out about you guys, not so they can find out."
Keroberos nodded frantically, and Harry let him go.
"What do you mean you can't feed me?" Kero hissed.
Harry tossed the Key into the air and caught it on the way down. "Give me a minute and I'll explain. And keep an ear out for my relatives, will you?" Harry could still feel them downstairs, but he wanted a backup in case he got distracted.
Keroberos, still twitching over the fact he might not be fed all summer, resumed his post as Harry held the Key out in his hand. The Card Captor remembered the first time he spoke these words…
Harry faced the approaching shadows, Key in hand. Just what the heck was he doing?
Sighing, he raised the Key in his hand and began to chant…
"Key of power, show me your true form," Harry intoned, his eyes closed, mind lost to memory as a golden circle of light began to glow at his feet. "I, the one to whom you are bound, command it! RELEASE!"
Harry always liked this moment. The words he used to summon the Sealing Wand from the Key meant so much more to him than any spell he'd ever learned in school. He never tired of the wind that always seemed to pick up as the Key changed form. The way strange wisps that surrounded it as it changed, which now reminded him of how the Cards dissolved. The way the muted, dull brass of the Key turns into the shining red of the Wand.
However, as Harry grasped the middle of the Wand and plucked it out of the air, giving it a brief unconscious twirl, he realized he's never going to get used to that bird's-beak head.
Moving towards the bed, Harry bends over slightly to pick up the Card he left on top of The Book. Taking it between two fingers, he flicks it into the air with a practiced gesture with one hand as he pulls back the Wand with the other. "Mirror Card!"
Wind rose once more as the head of the Wand arced through the air, striking The Mirror Card dead center. At once, the Card began to dissolve, becoming a giant mirror that rose before Harry. Through the glass, he could see The Mirror Card's sprite, a moment before she slid forward, passing through the surface as if through water, and coming out a perfect copy of Harry.
Harry had time to put down his Wand before he suddenly found himself at the receiving end f a very enthusiastic hug. "Master!" Mirror said in his voice. "It's been so long!"
Twitching slightly, Harry tried to look as heterosexual as possible as he did his best to subtly extricate himself from Mirror's arms– not an easy task. "Um, Mirror, could you please change into a girl? This is kind of creepy."
Mirror blinked, his brow crinkling slightly as a mild ripple passed through her. Harry breathed a sigh of relief as the body pressed against him suddenly acquired the soft curves he'd become used to, if grudgingly. "Is that better, Master?" Mirror said, her now-female voice a soft whisper of his own.
"Much," Harry said, now feeling properly straight. He made a note never to hug Ron.
"So," Mirror said, loosening the hug slightly but still hanging around Harry's neck, looking him in the eye. "What did you want to explain to Master Keroberos and myself?"
Harry took a moment to thrash his brain after pulling it out of the gutter– he was not a narcissist, darn it! Mirror did not turn him on!– before gesturing that Mirror take a seat in his bed. Harry remained standing, pacing slightly as he kept one ear to the door, a part of his mind on keeping track of his relatives, and another on the part at hand. "All right," he began. "Now that we're living here, there are a few things you all need to understand…"
By the time he finished his explanation on the Dursleys– how they hated the mere mention of magic, how they didn't like him very well (or at all), how Dudley liked to beat on him, etc.– Keroberos had a properly aghast and indignant look on his face. Mirror was looking murderous.
On the grand scale of things, the Dursleys weren't so bad. Vernon and Petunia didn't beat him, although they did nothing about Dudley picking on him. The food they gave him, while small, came regularly, unless they were punishing him. They clothed him, and had sent him to school, despite all their bellyaching about it. And while they didn't love him, they at least tolerated his existence. And as for the chores, they made him do it because they couldn't have Dudley do it. After all, Aunt Petunia worked at the house too.
Harry had realized he could do much worse than the Dursleys after accidentally finding those articles on child abuse at school. At least he wasn't chained to anything, wasn't sexually abused, not punished without– in the Dursleys' minds– cause, and they let him out of his old cupboard when he was younger. The resulting pain they caused him was mainly because they were blood relation, and very much didn't want to be. There's nothing like not being loved by your own family.
Harry had basically resigned himself to all this, knowing that living with the Dursleys was a delicate balance. And as for the love, well…
But Kero had never heard about this from Harry until now. And even though he'd been created at a time when it was normal to treat people like that, it usually wasn't done unless the person was a lowly servant, or the relatives were really big asses. Thus, he was properly outraged.
Mirror, however, had been raised with lots of love and understanding, first by Clow, then by Harry. Even though Clow had been a perverted pervert, he'd loved his Cards, raising them like a good parent (anything they might have picked up from him– like French-kissing techniques– was purely unintentional). And Harry? Well, he was Harry. Compared to Clow, he was an indulgent, tolerant, overly doting, easily pleaded with, overly loving parent. Under the two of them, the Clow Cards had picked nothing up but good values, lessons in acceptance (encounters with Lee not withstanding, since they knew her inner worth anyway, and that Harry respected very deep down), tender loving care, and good habits (again, the unintentional corruption from Clow not withstanding).
Naturally, the Cards loved Harry very much, and cared for him deeply. Is it any wonder that Mirror– and the other Cards, probably– was looking murderous?
After his explanation, Harry found himself in the very unlikely position of having to defend the Dursleys to keep Kero and Mirror from doing unpleasant things to them. Kero was of the firm opinion that they should all be made to live in the cupboard under the stairs, while Mirror simply wanted to make them suffer (it can be assumed that the other Cards felt the same way).
For the first time in his life, Harry was worrying about the Dursleys' well-being…
Still he couldn't help but listen– just a little bit, mind you; he was still a good guy– to some of the things Mirror was saying she and the other Cards would do to them given half a chance. Because despite the defending he did– he was still reeling from that– he did want to get a little revenge too…
----------------------------------------
Harry had a few days before his dear cousin arrived home and he didn't waste a moment of it. After getting Keroberos and Mirror– who was representing the Cards in this little matter–to grudgingly let go of their idea to have the Clow Cards do horrible things to Harry's relatives– without his planning and permission, anyway (at that, three identical evil grins had graced their faces)– Keroberos settled in Harry's closet, hiding inside an old birdfeeder of Dudley's (how or why Dudley had a birdfeeder at one point in his life was a mystery). Thankfully, the Dursleys didn't want to mess with Harry's stuff, so Kero's little hideaway was safe. Harry's biggest problem was feeding him to keep him quiet (that part of the explanation seemed to have gone through one big ear and out the other). He barely had enough food for himself as it is! For a moment, he wished he had The Sweet Card. Of course, if he was making wishes…
Anyway, while Dudley was gone, when the other two Dursleys were asleep, Harry snuck into Dudley's room, picking the lock like the twins had taught him. He had Sleep keep an eye out to keep the two unconscious– politely ignoring the fact that Sleep spent her time kicking their noses as they slept– as he furiously typed nearly a year's worth of fics and uploaded it to his account (nearly every first review he got was from Winter saying 'FINALLY YOU UPDATED!'). He also printed out a year's worth of updates on the ones he was following (fortunately, Dudley was too dumb to notice his 'magically' disappearing ink and paper).
When Dudley finally arrived, he was promptly told about Harry's convicted mass murderer godfather and joined his parents in their newfound wariness. When the diet sheet showed up, however, Harry immediately called for backup. Along with the food from Hermione, Hagrid and Mrs. Weasley, Winter had sent him some energy bars and freeze-dried foods (she said her aunt had sent it to her for him after Winter had told her he needed help).
There was also a letter in the mail addressed to him detailing the benefits of Tibetan meditation techniques to control the body's urges. The pictures of stick-thin, nearly dead-looking old men were very disturbing. Apparently, Winter had told Lee about his problem and sent her his address in hopes she'd help him.
The Slytherin fruit-loop still managed to get under his skin from halfway around the world!
Unfortunately for Harry, Lee wasn't around to get back at.
Quite fortunately for Harry, Dudley was…
----------------------------------------
It began one morning…
"Rise and shine, Dudley-kin– AAAHH!" Aunt Petunia screamed.
Harry, downstairs preparing breakfast (which meant taking out the grapefruit and putting the knife next to it), ruthlessly pushed down his smile at the cry. Apparently, Rain's little surprise had been discovered.
"What the devil's going on up there?" Uncle Vernon groused, putting down his paper and going upstairs.
Harry set out the glasses and grinned widely in his privacy as uncle Vernon's cry of "You're still wetting your bed?" echoed down.
"Good work," Harry told the Clow Card hovering outside the window. "Next time, make it seem like he peed all over his room in his sleep too."
Rain gave him a thumbs-up.
----------------------------------------
Harry was inside, washing the dishes under Aunt Petunia's watchful eye, when Dudley, who'd been about to step out to join his gang of idiots, future lumps and convicts, suddenly gave a cry, followed by several more.
"Dudley-kins!" was Aunt Petunia's battle cry as she rushed out to do a Greenpeace and save a whale.
There were several more cries in Aunt Petunia's tone as Harry gave himself a moment to crack up, composing his face just in time after he heard the front door close. Calmly, he turned around and looked at his aunt and cousin with the most innocent look he knew– and since he'd been around the twins, that was saying a lot.
"Why do you have snow in your hair?"
Snow, Shot and Dash exchanged high fives in Harry's room as they heard Vernon screaming about young fools who had nothing better to do than keep snow in their freezers and attack poor innocent children.
----------------------------------------
Then there was the time Harry had been sent to the post-box around the corner and came back to the house to find the Dursleys staring at the ten foot-tall sunflowers and stalks of corn growing on their front yard…
----------------------------------------
"…and it took them two days to get rid of the things, and the neighbors wouldn't stop asking how such plants could get into their front yard without them noticing."
Harry allowed himself to look self-satisfied as he listened to the sounds of Winter's laughter. He'd managed to salvage a working touch-tone phone from Dudley's cast-offs, using an electronics book, some tools also found among Dudley's cast-offs (their presence was easier to explain) and wire to create a pirate connection that hooked into Dudley's DSL.
"And the best part was they really couldn't blame me since I was off on an errand, and I'm not allowed to do magic outside of school," Harry added, pleased with himself.
He could hear Winter shaking her head through the line. "You're incorrigible!" she said.
"Hey, they deserve it!" Harry said.
Winter, who'd been sent a letter via Hedwig explaining Harry's circumstances, giggled in agreement. "Can't argue with that. So, how's summer homework treating you?"
Harry grimaced. "I'm trying not to think about it. Honestly, why give us summer homework? It's against the principle of summer vacation."
"Oh, come on!" Winter said. "It's not that bad. One must never stop learning."
"Is that something they say around Ravenclaw?"
Giggle. "Guilty as charged. Oh, by the way, I've thought of some improvements I could do to your holsters. I think I can convert the mechanism to be activated by a voice command. I just have to test out the charm…"
Ah, life was good.
----------------------------------------
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world…Lee Fei grumbled slightly as she bent over her desk, various textbooks, notes and paraphernalia surrounding her as she wrote on a sheet of parchment, her head flicking to the side every so often to check her notes. Her aunt, in her humble opinion, was being totally unreasonable and illogical. Fei thought it was logical to assume that the Clow Book, the Sealing Wand, and the plushy– she was not about to dignify that toy with a name!– were drawing the Clow Cards to the Card Captor, creating the perfect environment to Seal them. Her aunt seemed to agree. However, if that were the case, why did she declare that Fei couldn't go back to England until she'd finished all her homework?
Between training with her cousin and Wei and reading the fics that Raijinkage the Writer-Sama and Tsuki no Tenshi had finally updated, it would be a wonder if she could finish her homework before the end of July.
For a moment, she wondered if maybe she should cut down on her reading to get her homework done faster,and immediately backed away from the thought at Warp Nine. No way was that happening!
Sighing, she went back to the essay she was supposed to be doing…
----------------------------------------
About a week after Harry's arrival, a day or two after the beginning of the diet regime, Harry quietly slipped out of number four, Privet drive, wearing one of Dudley's long-sleeved shirts. He'd already done the chores for that day, and No one would mind his disappearing. Why, they'd likely wish it was permanent!
Oh, who was Harry kidding? They've been dreaming of him permanently disappearing before they even met him!
A quiet stroll was all Harry really wanted to have that day as he let his feet to go where they would. He wondered if there was anything worth buying at the import store today. At the very least, there'd be a years worth of new manga he'd like to pick up. Fortunately, he'd saved the money he'd taken from Gringotts earlier that year, which he knew would be more than sufficient to buy what he wanted.
For a moment, Harry allowed himself to dwell on an idle daydream on what he'd do if he wanted to run away from the Dursley's, something he'd taken to doing after the little incident last summer. He'd take his stuff, of course, as well as Hedwig. The Cards were a no-brainer, as well as Keroberos. And then… what? Go to Diagon Allley and buy a magic, space-defying trunk? Various books detailing spells he shouldn't be able to learn yet? Perhaps a new identity? Some magical means of leaving the country? And all provided, probably, just because he was the Boy-Who-Lived and had waved an obscene amount of money under someone's nose, never mind there were probably a hundred and one laws against it, as well as a ton of bureaucratic paper work. Then what? Get training to be able to fight Voldemort on his own? At thirteen?
At that point that Harry broke down laughing at the absurdity of his musings. Just because he managed to buy one incredibly-powerful-magic-book-not-a-book at Diagon Alley– for two Knuts, no less!– didn't mean he'd be able to again. Heck, besides this, all those other old books had been useless biographies, dry philosophical texts, and a book by someone named Lina Inverse that supposedly detailed spells that anyone off to save the world ought to know.
Right. If it were that easy, Voldemort would have died a lot earlier.
Hmm, he wondered if any Slayers figurines had become available at the store. He could use a cute little Amelia…
----------------------------------------
Harry allowed his steps to take him to the park, which was empty this time of day. People wouldn't start frequenting it regularly until later on in the summer, so for the time being, he had the place to himself. At this hour, the gate wasn't locked, so he merely strolled in, plunking himself down on one of the swings. One swing was scraping against the ground, doubtlessly broken by Dudley's gang. At the rate they were going, there'd only be one swing left by the time Harry was fifteen.
Pushing off, Harry allowed the constant, repetitive motion to relax him as he closed his eyes. A week and still no sign of Clow Cards, other than the ones he already had. That was good. He didn't even want to think about what could happen if they popped up. Still, he did anyway. Images of witch hunts, mass destruction and possible expulsion graced is mind.
Still, despite that, he couldn't help but feel impatient. It was like standing under a grand piano that was supposed to fall and not being allowed to move from the spot until it did. It was really annoying. He almost wished a Card would pop up so he'd be allowed get out from under the piano. Of course, once the first one fell, it would start raining pianos…
Idly, Harry wondered if Rain could make it rain pianos and snickered at the thought.
Kicking as high as he could, Harry waited until he'd reached the apex of his flight before allowing himself to fly off the swing, landing on his feet as the momentum caused him to stubble a couple of steps forward. Turning slightly, he looked at the swing nostalgically. He used to love doing that. Back when he was younger, it was the closest he could get to flying. Well, that was before he learned about Quidditch…
Deciding that now was as good a time as any to go to the import store, Harry began to walk towards the gates, passing the little sandbox as he went.
Without warning, the sandbox suddenly attacked.
----------------------------------------
Back at Privet drive, Keroberos was adjusting his mirror to provide the best possible view of himself. Thanks to Harry's electronics book, the wire, tools and a salvaged bulb, his little birdhouse shelter now had electric lighting.
As he lay down on his bed– salvaged from a really old plush toy of Dudley's– Kero felt a bit of energy in the distance. For a moment, he stood up, gauging it before he lay back down. Harry could take care of it. He always did…
----------------------------------------
Harry, at that moment, wasn't sharing the sentiment. He'd managed to bolt after the first tentacle of sand whipped around his leg, but after the second and third, he'd fallen and began to get dragged towards the sandbox. Reaching towards his neck, Harry fumbled for a moment with one hand as he tried to pull himself forward with the other, leaving furrows on the ground. It might have been funny if it were happening to anyone else.
Finally tugging off the Key, Harry ran through the incantation faster than he'd ever had in his life, the glow was brief, and Harry immediately proceeded to try to wack the sand off his legs. The sand crumbled a little and he was able to pull off one leg, but the ones on his other leg merely tightened their grip, continuing their relentless pull.
Trying futilely to slow himself down with his free leg, Harry gripped the Sealing Wand between his teeth as he pulled up his right sleeve, revealing his Card Holster, the Cards securely fastened. Pressing the proper buttons caused the Cards to fan open. Harry took out a Card.
He was almost to the sandbox when he threw the Card into the air, slamming the head of his Wand into it. "SWORD CARD!"
Tendrils of magic surrounded his Wand, reforming it into a slim, narrow blade. Without thinking, Harry slashed down twice, severing the tendrils of sand as they wrapped around his leg. Kicking off, Harry rolled backwards before settling to his feet, his Sword up and ready.
The sandbox fairly exploded, particles flying all over as sand overflowed, pouring over the edge as it began to flow towards Harry. More tentacle-like tendrils lashed out towards him as he started backing away, his Sword-given instincts helping react effortlessly to the attacks.
"All right, Sand Card," Harry muttered, slashing wide as he tried to discourage the tendrils from potentially reproducing a scene out of a henticle. He wouldn't put it past Clow Reed to somehow teach his impressionable little Cards to do something like that! "What to do, what to do…"
His mind cast back to the Fight he'd had with 'Gaara' in The Create Card's fic-world. While not exact, this situation had lots of similarities. Now, what had he done again…? Oh yeah!
Harry deactivated Sword as he took a couple of big steps back, keeping an eye on the sand and hoping he didn't trip over anything. "Rain Card! Snow Card!"
Two snaps of the Wand, two flashes, and the small cloud riding Sprite and the taller yuki-onna look-alike both materialized before him. "Rain, douse the sand! Snow, help her!"
The two split off as Harry leveled his Wand at the sand. "Aguamenti!"
Harry's blast of water was a lot more effective against the sand than Sword was. He wished he still had his Create Card powers, though. Having a water-based bloodline limit would have made this so much easier…
Still, a fire-hose blast is still pretty darn effective.
Harry's blast kept the sand at bay as a small rain cloud materialized above the sandbox, dousing anything Harry couldn't reach, while Snow began to slowly chill the sludgy mixture. While it wasn't as fast as the bloodline limit had been in The Create Card, it was the best Harry could do, since he didn't happen to know any spells for freezing things (he was tempted to start chanting in ancient Greek, but figured that even if the spell did work, he really didn't want to be frozen himself).
Eventually, the three of them managed to freeze the sand in place. It was difficult going until Rain had the brilliant notion of having Snow dump snow on top of the sand. After that they just had to wait until everything froze over.
"She's not hurt under there, is she?" Harry asked as he, Snow and Rain waited, watching the enormous pile of snow dumped on top of the sand.
"'Her'?" Rain repeated. Snow looked at him, one eyebrow raised in amusement.
"I'm simply going by past precedent," Harry said, sitting down between the two Cards on the swings, far from the sand. "With the exceptions of Time, Shot, Firey, possibly Shadow, and the non-anthropomorphic–" "OOH, big word!" Rain exclaimed. " –Cards, all of you have been female– which really makes me wonder about Clow Reed. So it's sake to assume Sand is female. Than again, I could be wrong. But if a giant raccoon appears, I will be very much surprised."
"Giant raccoon?" Rain said.
"She'll be fine," Snow said. "Besides, you had Thunder electrocute me, and I'm still here, after all."
Harry fidgeted in his seat slightly. "Uh, yeah, sorry about that."
Rain, unseen by Harry, rolled her eyes, knowing perfectly well that what Thunder had used to 'electrocute' her was barely as bad as a static shock.
Snow waved a hand negligently. "Don't worry about it. Um, I think our Sand-cicle is just about done."
And indeed, it was. When Harry had Snow shove the snow away, a pale, frozen sand sculpture was revealed, looking like some kind of final boss from out of an RPG.
"Is it over?" Harry said warily, his Sealing Wand held before him in both hands, ready to swing at a moments notice.
"Looks like it," Rain said, moving her cloud a little higher to get a better look.
The ground shook.
Harry immediately started backing away. "That can't be good…"
That was when the ground erupted in sand.
----------------------------------------
Winter Moon loved her summers. It was bliss, pure and simple. Except for the times she had to go out to buy groceries, pick up packages and browse stores, she got to stay at home. If she was lonely, Jenny was right next door to talk to, and her aunt would call occasionally to hear from her and find out if she was all right.
Still, it got kind of lonesome living by yourself. As Winter sat in front of her computer, either reading or writing, she wondered what Harry and Fei were doing. She hoped they were all right…
----------------------------------------
Harry hated multi-stage bosses. Really, you spent so much time and MP and HP and items whittling them down to size, and just when you thought you could kick back to watch as they died screaming, BOOM, they come back bigger, with more abilities, deadlier spells and more HP than ever before. He'd consoled himself with the knowledge that this didn't happen in real life. After all, Voldemort wasn't likely to suddenly pull a 'more powerful, kickass form' on him if they ever fought.
He was half right.
"I hate multi-stage bosses," Harry grumbled as he used a combination of Jump and Dash to play 'keep away' with Sand's new giant tentacles. The frozen portion he, Snow and Rain had spent so much time and effort making was now resting on the top of the pile of sand like a demented crown. Said two had been dismissed a while earlier– without their kiss, which Harry knew he'd be paying for later– when Harry realized freezing was no longer an option.
Well, at least it wasn't Voldemort pulling out a second form.
Dismissing Dash to conserve energy, Harry pulled out another Card as more sand-ticles started to swarm him. "Windy Card!"
The sprite manifested in time to create a tornado-like shield around Harry, blowing apart the particles of sand as they tried to encircle and, for all he knew, do perverted things to him (damn Clow Reed). Harry pointed in the general direction of where thee body of Sand seemed to be concentrated. "Windy, RASENGAN!"
The wind construct struck true, sending sand flying all over the place as the ball of wind began to grind into the huge mass.
"Windy, DETONATE!"
The Rasengan construct exploded, ripping the main body of sand apart in a burst of air. The tentacles shuddered, giving Harry an opening to jump over them as Windy took care of any that reached too high.
"This is getting repetitive," Harry said as he touched down a safe distance. He looked sideways to Windy. "Got any ideas?"
Windy tapped her lips thoughtfully, absentmindedly sending cutting waves of air at the tentacles of sand reaching for them. Harry wondered if he could get her to develop that into something like Temari's Kamaitachi. She already had the Zankūkyoha down pat…
"Well…" Windy mused, ignoring the damage her element was inflicting behind her. "You could ask Earthy for help. This is more her thing…"
Harry didn't notice the sand twitch and slow down, as if pausing. He thought, and dismissed Jump. Pulling out another Card, he flicked it into the air, ignoring The Sand's shudder of horror. "Earthy Card!"
What followed was something he'd never have imagined happening in a hundred years.
"SAND!" Earthy yelled as soon as she was solid. "Get down here! Now!"
Harry raised an eyebrow as the entire mound of sand seemed to twitch, shrinking in on itself. Windy was looking smug, her face practically screaming "Ain't I great for having such a good idea?".
"I'm counting to three," Earthy said threateningly. "If you're not here–" she pointed in front of her " –when I get to three, there will be… consequences."
There was an even bigger twitch.
Earthy raised a finger. "One…"
Yet another twitch. The demented crown fell off.
Another finger. "Two…"
The tentacles were now waving frantically.
"Thr–"
"ALL RIGHT, ALL RIGHT, I'M COMING!" a voice suddenly cried.
The sand body seemed to vaporize, dissolving into the air as so many particles. In a whirl of silicate, a Clow Sprite appeared right where Earthy had pointed, looking very pouty. "Bully," she said, glaring at Earthy.
Sand was, as Harry correctly guessed, female, with long, straight hair, a large, oval red jewel on her forehead, and, for some reason, a headphone-like headband. She was wearing vaguely Arabic clothing in sand-tones, which matched her hair quite nicely.
"You may Seal her now, Master," Earthy said, giving Sand a look. Sand kept on pouting.
Harry hesitated. "Um, you know, I won't if you don't want me too," he said, speaking directly to Sand.
Earthy blinked. Sand's head snapped up in astonishment, finally knocking the pouty look off her face. Windy facefaulted painfully out of the air.
"HUH?" the three of them chorused.
Harry shrugged. "Well, as long as she promises to stay out of trouble and not attack other people," Harry said, eyeing the sandbox. Sand had the grace to look uncomfortable. "I mean, I don't want to Seal you if you'll resent me for it…"
The two senior elemental Cards were looking at him like he'd grown a second had or something. Sand was boggling.
Harry shifted uncomfortably. "Would you three stop looking at me like that? It's getting uncomfortable."
There was a moment of silence…
----------------------------------------
"So she was actually so embarrassed at how nice you were being that she asked you to Seal her?" Winter said in astonishment later that night.
Harry nodded, even though she couldn't see. "Uh huh," he said quietly, careful not to wake up the Dursleys. "Could you believe it? First time that's ever happened."
Winter whistled over the line. "Wow. Wait a minute, let me find my notebook, I've got to write this down…"
Harry groaned. "Can't it wait 'til the weekend, Win'? It's late, and I wanna sleep. I did just fight a Card that Gaara might have been proud of."
"Procrastinator," Winter accused cheerfully. "Which reminds me, have you done your homework yet?"
Again, a groan.
"You haven't even touched it, have you? Haaarrrryyyyyy…"
"I'll get to it, I promise!" Harry said.
"You'd better," Winter said warningly. Harry almost imagined it was Hermione at the other end of the line…
After finally putting down the phone, Harry sighed, and stared at his yet-unopened trunk. Well, he might as well see how much stuff he had to do.
Sighing again, Harry moved to touch his trunk for the first time that summer. He had a moment to feel something that screamed 'Clow Card' before the lid popped.
A pair of pastel yellow eyes stared straight back at him…
(Read 'Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds' by Sokai, story id 2502930)
–Complete…
(Read 'Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds' by Sokai, story id 2502930)
A/N: And so, Card Captor Harry, Season One, is complete.
So, lets see what the Card Count is:
Harry has a whopping twenty-three Cards. In order, we have: Windy, Mirror, Dash, Shadow, Jump , Wood, Earthy, Flower, Shot, Time, Dark, Light, Thunder, Sword, Rain , Float, Erase, Through, Glow, Song, Sleep, Snow and Sand. If you think you missed some, that's because they were taken between episodes.
Lee, however, has a grand total of fifteen Cards. In order, we have: Fight, Loop, Maze, Sweet, Little, Big, Arrow, Illusion, Shield, Fly, Move, Voice, Firey, Libra, and Cloud.
Finally, tailing the very rear, we have Winter with only one Card, The Create (which, thankfully for our hero, she can't even use).
Please know that this isn't good-bye, nor is everything over. Harry still has a few more cards to go through. No, this is just the end of an arc. Harry continues on! If fact, he's continuing in my upcoming story, Card Captor Harry: Hong Kong!
Anyway, here's a sneak preview from that story:
"Finally!" Harry wheezed, the Sealing Wand shaking in his hand as Shadow stood behind him, keeping the sprite he'd been chasing in place. "It's time to end this."
Solemnly, Harry raised the Sealing Wand above his head. "I am the Card Captor," he said, by way of introduction, "and I order you to return to your true form!…"
Harry paused. "Um, which Card is he?"
Behind him, Kero and Sleep fell out of the air as they facefaulted.
…
…
Heh, couldn't resist the Lockhart-bashing there in the beginning. Out of all the characters, he seems to be the one who gets bashed the least. I aim to correct that…
No offense to anyone whose story is close to the situation I've described. I'm not targeting anyone, so please don't flame me. I'm just pulling a Gexegee (of Organization VI) and poking fun at a popular trend.
Please review, C&C welcome. I would like to thank all the people who've reviewed this fic, the forty-one people who've put it in their C2's, and those who've put this under their favorites. Thank you, thank you for your support! Please continue supporting Harry in his new story…
This is the Shadow Crystal Mage, signing off…