AN: This is my first fanfic so please be nice and don't flame. ;)
Disclaimer: If I did own Harry Potter and any other possible crossovers, would this really be a fanfic? Not to mention I'd be stinkin' rich.
Chapter One: Beginning
"All right, everyone. We'll be landing in a few minutes. Now, do you remember what to call me while we're in Japan?" Hadrian Jamison Potter-Black, newly dubbed Natsui Aoi, quizzed his youthful charges.
In response, eleven young voices answered in slightly different versions of his address here in Japan.
"Aoi-niisama!"
"Niichan!"
"Niisama."
"Ao-nii!"
Aoi smiled indulgently at the antics of his 'siblings'. After making sure that those who had fallen asleep during the long flight were awake and aware, he settled back into the plush first-class seat and gradually tuned out the excited chatter of his companions. His thoughts involuntarily drifted back to when he had first gained knowledge of him having eleven eleven-year-olds under his custody and care (AN: pun unintended.). He had been experiencing a myriad of emotions then: shock, surprise, doubt, fear, elation. You name it, he felt it. But now... he couldn't imagine being without any one of his 'siblings'.
~flashback~
"You've got to be joking."
Magical Theorist, Alec Nevis frowned and adjusted his horn-rimmed glasses, trying to ignore the humor radiating from his companions, as he replied simultaneously. "I assure you, milord. This is no joke."
One of the room's occupants chucked briefly. "He wouldn't know how to."
The patient ran a hand through raven locks that had extended to the small of his back during his comatose phase in a manner reminiscent to the awkwardness of a father who had just discovered after the birth that his wife had one or two extra babies squeezed in her womb.
Ah, the irony of that analogy.
"So I CLONED my best friends unknowingly?!"
Ah, here comes the panic.
"You may not have known it, but your magic did, Lord Potter-Black," Nevis explained.
"Explain to me again how this is possible," Lord Hadrian Jamison Potter-Black demanded, not even bothering to correct the use of the lordship title that he had always despised. Nevis sighed in exasperation on the inside, but hey, at least he was getting paid good money for his job.
"During the Final Battle," he ignored the wince the patient displayed at the reminder, "witnessing the loss of your friends in one fell swoop must have triggered your magic towards You-Know-Who, completely erasing him from existence. At the same time, although you lost consciousness after your offensive final attack, we presume that the magic in you recognized your grief, your emotional and mental trauma and your disbelief in their deaths, so it acted in accordance with your wishes, conscious or otherwise. As no magic in the mortal world can ever bring back a loved one from the plain of death, it instead made a replica, right down to the personality, blood and magic."
"Okay... how would that be possible? If it was possible, wouldn't others have done it, too?"
"Normally, it ISN'T possible, milord. However, we do have to take into account that your magic measures on par with Merlin and Morgan le Faye, so it wouldn't be as impossible as it seems. In your case, at the very least."
"Why are all of them eleven? Shouldn't they be at the age that I - last saw them?"
"We can only speculate that your magic recognized the age eleven as when you yourself were still blindly innocent and thus aged them thus. At eleven, you did not know or care about the politics and conflicts pervading the izarding World, and thus reverted them back to that age of innocence."
"And what is the Ministry going to do about this?" Hadrian turned to one of the other occupants in his private room. Newly sworn in Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt.
"Nothing, if that's what you want."
"Nothing? There's no way that something like this wouldn't be regarded as Dark, and you're telling me that they won't do anything?" Hadrian scoffed contemptuously.
"Hey, the whole Wizarding World owes you big. No one is about to persecute you. Although if it comes down to it, they'd probably ask you to take custody of the kids, seeing as they are technically 'your children'. Heck, even the Queen herself wouldn't dare say anything about it, without dire consequences."
"On to the financial side of things, Lord Potter-Black," the goblin representative from Gringotts spoke up, "we have to deal with the inheritance for the children."
"Inhe - what? They aren't the originals, so does any inheritance still apply?"
"Yes, although this is an unprecedented case, as the Gringotts Council of Goblins have ascertained after a long meeting that as all of them have free will and are not under yours or anyone else's will, as well as having the physical and mental capabilities of their 'originals', yes, it does still apply. We've decided to file the children as the children of the 'originals', and since they're all underage and orphans, in a sense, you've automatically assumed the role of proxy for them in all matters related to financial, as well as for those with titles such as young Master Malfoy and Longbottom."
Hadrian sighed, his annoyance and confusion identifiable to everyone present. He visibly pulled himself together and calmed himself with Occlumency, something that had been very useful durign the war. "All right, I want you to establish trust funds for all of them, with the limit of 5000 pounds in Muggle currency per month converted to Wizarding currency. Their trust funds are to be supported by my personal vaults, until they come of age, where they will then inherit their own vaults, which is to be built up not only by interest from their old vaults but also by any interest from my vaults, divided equally into eleven portions to be distributed to each vault until they are of age. Seal their old vaults in the mean time. Same goes for the Longbottom Manor, the Malfoy Manor and any and all properties belonging to them, which they will take charge of when they are of age. As for those with nobility titles, seal those, too. I will use my own titles, so don't worry about that. Additionally, I want to rewrite my magical will to include them so expect me to drop in sooner or later."
He turned towards Kingsley. "Now, Minister, I'd like to take them all into custody and I will have someone from Gringotts to deal with that issue, later. As Hogwarts is no longer on the map, so to speak, I will have them all taught and trained by myself, home-schooled. I need to register with the Ministry about that, I believe. And I want to start a life somewhere else, away from England, so we'll deal with that soon enough. As of now, I will appoint Gringotts Council Head, Ragnok," he addressed the goblin representative in the corner, "and Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, as my co-proxies for votes in any policy change or whatever the Ministry wants to bother me with. I expect nothing but seamless co-operation with each other and only if you have conflicting opinions about any one particular issue are you to seek me out."
"Now, then," he said, turning to the previously forgotten Nevis, "Mr Nevis, what are the conditions of my siblings?"
~flashback ends~
In his coma, his 'siblings' had been in their own comas too, sustained by his magic as their own magic, a mixture of their original magic and the residue of his adapting to each other and the new bodies. It was a few days after his waking up that he did a Blood Adoption for all of them, which slightly changed their appearances and made them truly his family. It was the naming part after the ritual which had frustrated him. He hadn't wanted to give them the names of his friends, as they were, however alike they may be to the originals, their own being. He had adamantly insisted that they each have new names, singular to themselves. He, more than anyone else, knew how fragile the psyche of a child was, and didn't want to insult or hurt them by addressing them their old names, which made them truly just replicas. No matter what the magic theories said, they were themselves. Moreover he hadn't wanted to treat them as replacements for his friends, thus leading to the brainstorming of their names.
~flashback~
"All right, although they explained that my magic, fused with the residual magic from your previous selves created you as replicas, I won't call you by your old names. No matter what the technical explanation is, I see you all as your own selves and not simply replicas. You are your own being and I won't degrade you by giving you your old names. I will give you your own names after the Blood Adoption. Although the ritual makes you my children," here Hadrian almost choked on the word, "I want you all to see me as more of an older brother rather than father. Don't start thinking any of you are not good enough to be my kids," he nipped the notion in the bud, noticing the self-deprecating looks that often came up since they had been explained to that they were only replicas, "but sixteen is much too young to be a dad, although 'sweet sixteen' parties probably made many moms and dads."
The girls blushed and the boys laughed while Madam Pomfrey, his personal healer since Hogwarts collapsed, who was to do the ritual, admonished with a 'Harry!', and the tension was released.
~flashback ends~
Although he truly did see them as themselves, he hadn't wanted to erase his friends completely. They were like their children, that he had a role in fathering, although the notion of sleeping with Hermione, Ginny or any of the rest of them, made him feel like he had just committed incest. Hence he gave them names reminiscent of their most prominent traits when his friends were still alive.
Hermione became Athena, named after the Greek goddess of knowledge. She loved her new name as she strived as much for more knowledge as her predecessor did, although it caused her endless frustration when her other siblings cut short her imperious name to simply 'Thena'.
Ron was re-named Philotes, the Greek spirit of friendship. Although Ron was not exactly the best of friends that Hadrian could have had, especially during their second and fourth years, he (Philotes) could only hope that his namesake had truly blessed him with a loyalty that was deserving of his name and resembled the unwavering loyalty his original had grown, developed and displayed on multiple counts.
Draco Malfoy, who had been a spy during the war alongside his godfather, one Severus Tobias Snape, gained the name of Hybris, a god of pride, something that defined Draco to a tee, even after his loyalties had switched due to the deaths of his parents at the hands of the one they had claimed to serve.
Blaise Zabini, Draco's best friend and his constant confidante within the Deatheater ranks, was given the name of Vor, the Norse god of wisdom, seeing as he, although never as knowledge-driven as Hermione or Percy, could always offer the best advice and had taken up the post of Hadrian's personal war startegist when the war still raged.
Neville Longbottom, who had surprisingly become Draco's confidante and emotional anchor outside the Deatheater circles, was re-named Priapus, after the Roman god of gardens, something that had always struck Hadrian as uniquely Neville. It was a suitable name, seeing as Neville had been responsible for the cultivation of numerous plants used in potions which had been of valuable assistance during the war period.
Luna Lovegood, Hadrian's personal Seer and Neville's betrothed, became Fortuna, Greek goddess of fortune. Her words, although they always were slightly vague and mysterious, were always right and her replica, or Fortuna now, had gained the inherent Seer capabilties.
Ginny Weasley, meanwhile became Hestia, her namesake being the Greek goddess of fire, well-suited to her personality, a fiery, raging goddess, determined to protect those she loved and hurt those who had hurt them in turn.
The troublesome twins, Fred and George, or Forge and Gred, as they had always insisted, as they were de-aged, WWW came under Hadrian's management, as he was not only their investor, hence part owner, but also their current guardian, who had instantly hired them back as private researchers, testees and testers. Fred became Loki, Norse god of mischief, whereas George was Gelus, the Greek god of laughter. Hadrian had thought they were apt names as mischief without laughter was just cruel, and laughter without mischief was pointless - true Marauder's thought process.
Percy, who had burrowed his way into Deatheater ranks to become a spy due to his suspicions about the previous Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, and his Undersecretary, Dolores Umbridge about their alliances, by staging his rejection of his family, although he did eventually explain when Fred found him tortured almost to the point of insanity outside WWW after the Deatheaters discovered his true allegiance and was gladly accepted back into the fold, was given the name of Thoth, the Egyptian god of intellect.
Shijou became Clio, Greek god of history, as his fascination with history hadn't dimmed in the slightest, despite his current age of eleven.
Ryuu was given the name of Io, god of all dragons. Like his older brother, or well, maybe not so much older now, his dragon obsession did not lessen one bit, especially when Hadrian found a stray Dragonite, a smaller branch of dragons that was as big as a small toy truck, cuddling to him in the closet, where Io had attempted to hide him. As Io and the Dragonite had bonded, Hadrian didn't have the heart to tell the little boy to give him up to the dragon reservations. So thus the Dragonite was named Pegasus, as it was snow-white, a rare colour amongs dragons, or even Dragonites, and had feathery wings rather than the leathery ones that were inherent to most dragons.
Although as they would be living in a Muggle neighbourhood, Hadrian had put the little rascal under a Glamour charm to make it look like a large eagle, a companion to Hedwig, his own familiar, Pigwidgeon, Ron's owl, Buckbeak, who was also under a glamour to look like a normal horse, Aeroius, Draco's owl, Errol, the Weasleys' family owl, Trevor, Neville's toad, Hermes, Percy's owl, Crookshanks, Hermione's cat, and Salazar, a newly acquired familiar of Hadrian's who happened to be a Basilisk and also coincidentally the nestling of the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. Fawkes, who had bonded with Hadrian after the phoenix had overcome the grief over losing his Bondmate, Professor Dumbledore, became more or less the disciplinarian and mother of the batch of unusual nestlings.
His pensive mood was interrupted when a small hand tentatively tapped his shoulder gently. Aoi looked up into the brown eyes tinted with green at the edges belonging to Thoth. "Niisama, you seem a little pensive. Penny for your thoughts?" Aoi couldn't help chuckling at the straitlaced nature of the one previously known as Percy. True, when Percy had been older than him, the rule-abiding and disciplinarian character that he'd been so proud of had often irked him, but when the same attitude came from an eleven-year-old midget, the maturity was just cute.
"No, just thinking of our new home," Aoi replied, messing up the red hair that all the previous Weasleys had thankfully kept even after the Blood Adoption. "What do you think, Shitsuke?" he asked, addressing Thoth by his new Japanese name, meaning 'discipline' which definitely was in his nature. "Aren't you a little curious about our new home in Japan?"
"Well, curiosity is vastly overrated. Although I do admit to wanting to know more about our soon-to-be home," Shitsuke sniffed.
"Oh, stop being such a prude, Shi-chan," the only Weasley girl, newly named Hestia, snorted, giving her brother a shove from her seat behind the two, ignoring the sputtering coming from Shitsuke at the indignation of being called 'Shi-chan'. "Ne, niichan," she said, turning her similarly coloured eyes towards her eldest brother, "why did you choose Japan anyways?"
"Well," Aoi began, turning around in his seat slightly, so he could look directly at his red-headed sister, "Akka-chan, can you just imagine how the paparazzi would swamp us if we were to continue to stay in the Western world?"
The response he received was a disgusted snort. "Yeah, it'd be horrible."
"And you remember, we just randomly chose a place in the Eastern world."
This time, 'Akka' giggled, "I remember that. You just randomly opened the atlas to a random page and it was Japan." She giggled again, most likely remembering how affronted Shitsuke had been at the randomness of such a method of choice.
"But, niisan, why did you choose Tokyo?" this coming from Chishiki, or as Athena had named herself for their foray into Japan. The name basically translates into 'knowledge', a most suitable address for her as 'Athena' was.
"Yeah, and why-"
"A school for-"
"Rich brats?"
Needless to say, the only ones capable of making a simple question to relate to something like a fierce tennis rally were the newly renamed Nao (Loki) and Warai (Gelus). Before Aoi could say a word, one of his previously silent brothers offered his own opinion.
"Simple. We are all among the richest in our circles back in Britain and even in the wider world, we have footholds and bases in many industrial corporations that range from medical to information technology to children's goods, etcetera. By choosing the so-called 'Rich Brat School'," insert here the typical rolling of eyes, something that Saiki (Vor) so rarely did, that he had the others, except Aoi and his best friend who recently became his brother, gaping in surprise, "we have a better chance of remaining undetected."
"Uh… run that by me again?" came Yuujin's (Philotes) confused comment. It wasn't that he was stupid, no, but Yuujin was definitely not the brightest crayon in the box, which led to endless teasing and making fun of especially from the direction of Kenshiki (Hybris).
"He means, dumbass," Kenshiki quipped, ignoring the growl coming from aforementioned redhead, "that since we're so impossibly rich and perfect," he ignored again the incredulous and humored scoffs and snorts from his siblings, "if we hide in a little-known school, we'd most likely attract attention." At Yuujin's uncomprehending expression, Kenshiki sighed and decided to elaborate. "Think hiding a unicorn amongst thestrals. By hiding amongst those of our class, we'd be like a snake hiding in grass. It is our natural environment, and we know the ins and outs of it." Yuujin's expression finally cleared, showing his understanding.
At the mention of magical creatures, Ryuu (Io) piped up, "Hey, niichan, I've never been to Japan. Do you think they have a dragon reserve? What kind of dragons would they have? And, ooh, maybe they even have sea dragons rather than our kind?"
"I'm more interested in the famed Tokugawa treasure. They said no one ever found it. Just imagine, years of ancient, powerful history just waiting to be found… Hey, do you think the shogun used those Japanese magicians for warding the treasure? What were they called again?" came the enthusiastic voice of Shijou (Clio).
"Maho-tsukai," was Percy's answer.
"Onmyouji," Hermione immediately quipped.
The two looked at each other for a moment and then started a lively argument about which one was right. ("Maho-tsukai" means magic-users, so it's got to be them." "That's too general a category. The Japanese Imperial Court specifically made use of Onmyouji." "Onmyouji was only well-known for subduing evil spirits and fortune-telling." "Exactly, which makes them the best security measure.")
Aoi loved his siblings, really he did. But he was at his wits' end and almost at the end of his patience. He was about to shout to silence them, when his third sister, who had previously remained quiet until now, shushed them. Fuushigi (Fortuna) only ever spoke for two reasons: one, she had something totally inane and nonsensical to say, serving to annoy the hell out of everyone within earshot, or two, she wanted to say something so important that required your undivided attention, it usually being something along the lines of life-altering. Now everyone of her siblings glanced towards their sister, waiting with baited breath for her words, which could either be very stupid or very smart of them.
"Ken's (Priapus) sleeping," were the much awaited words, and indeed said boy, Ken or Kenjou, whom Aoi had just woken up two minutes ago, was back to a state of half-consciousness, his head lying on the shoulder of the person next to him, which just happened to be Fushigi. Only the odd mumble of "not sleeping" made them sure that he was at least partly awake.
"He has to wake up soon, Shigi-chan. We can already see the bare outline of the airport, so I guess we'll be landing in, at most, ten minutes."
Shigi nodded obediently in response to her eldest brother's words, and proceeded to shake awake the boy who had his head on her shoulder. It took a few tries, but Ken finally woke, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, as he sat up. "Are we there already?" was his slightly sleep-ridden query.
As the rest of his siblings continued to chatter on about inane things, alternating with making fun of the still sleepy Ken, Shigi being the only one trying to keep him awake, Aoi smiled, his mind already thinking about their new home, their new life and a new beginning.
OK. This is it for the first chapter. R&R to tell me what you think. I also welcome suggestions and ideas. Btw, here is the bare info about Harry and his 'kids' (giggle). I've also included their various aliases and their meanings. Btw, I've ranked them according to which month they're born, thus their rank in the siblinghood, except Harry. Since he's obviously not de-aged, he gets to be eldest.
Harry: Aoi (green) (oldest): July 31st
Ron: Yuujin (friend), Philotes (spirit of friendship, Greek): March 1st
Fred: Nao (mischief), Loki (Norse): 31 March
George: Warai (laughter), Gelus (Greek): 31 March
Blaise: Saiki (wisdom), Vor (Norse god of wisdom): May 5th
Draco: Kenshiki (pride), Hybris, think Neji pride: June 5th
Neville: Kenjou (humility), Priapus (Roman god of gardens):July 30th
Luna: Fushigi (mystery), Fortuna (Greek goddess of fortune): August 1st, since she was mentioned to be born in 1981
Ginny: Akka (red) Hestia (fire goddess, Greek): 11 August
Percy: Shitsuke (discipline), Thoth (Egyptian god of intellect): August 22nd
Hermione: Chishiki (knowledge), Athena (Greek): September 19th
Bill: Shijou (history), Clio: 29 November
Charlie: Ryuu (dragon), Io: December 12