The Magic of the Cards

Chapter Two: The First Card

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Cardcaptor Sakura

Author's Note: And to think I was worried this chappie would be too short! Thanks to everybody who took the time to review, alert and fave! Please enjoy the new chapter!

As it turned out they didn't get much explanation out of Kerberos because after taking a few sips of tea and a large bite of cake he suddenly remembered that he could try and track the cards with the help of the strange book they'd come from.

So Sakura took both him and the book up to her room and left them to float and glow in peace while she and Harry rushed around putting the dessert things they now had no time for away and starting on preparing dinner and tomorrow's lunches before Toya got home from work.

Harry set Sakura to making the rice and handled the more complicated tasks himself, deciding to saddle everyone with a western style rolled omelet rather than trying to make a good sweet omelet under pressure and thanked anyone who was listening that a cabbage and beansprout stir fry was about as simple as it could get and didn't require much of his attention.

Truthfully his head was reeling from the blatant displays of magic he'd just witnessed and he suspected he'd be pretty much useless for the rest of the night. Sakura was much the same, he noted as he reminded her for the umpteenth time that she needed to wash and season the rice before she put it in the cooker.

It was a welcome distraction for Harry when Toya finally got home from his part-time job.

"I'm home," he called from the doorway.

"Welcome back," chorused Harry and Sakura on autopilot.

"Something smells good," he said making his way into the kitchen.

"We made stir fry and rice," said Sakura brightly.

Toya shot Harry a vaguely alarmed look, "You didn't actually let her cook did you?"

"Don't be so mean!"

"Sakura made the rice and I did the rest," said Harry reassuringly.

"Hey!"

"It'll be ready soon but you have time to get changed if you want," said Harry taking the pan off the stove and giving the veggies a quick stir.

"Alright, I'll be down in a sec."

"Sakura can you get the plates and set the table?"

"Sure," said Sakura, hopping up onto the footstool so that she could reach everything, and bustling around the table with almost forced looking cheer, shooting an anxious glance at the stairs.

"What is it?" demanded Harry when she did this for the tenth time, serving up a good portion of stir fry for each of them and putting the extra portions away in the fridge for Fujitaka and lunches.

"Well what if nii-chan sees or hears Kerberos?" hissed Sakura.

"Kerberos is being quiet and what possible reason could Toya-nii have for rooting around in your room?" asked Harry, "Stop flitting around, you're making me anxious now."

"Sorry," said Sakura, sheepishly, "But you seem to be taking this all really well, Harry, I'm a little more freaked out."

Harry paused a bit at that. Sakura had never given any indication that she could see or sense the spirit of Nadeshiko but Harry could see her and he was pretty sure that Toya could too, even though the older boy had never come right out and said anything. That combined with a few very strange accidents over the course of his years with the Dursleys and even, less often, after that had given him a firm belief in all things magical and supernatural, but that seemed like a little too much to try and explain to Sakura, who was already very clearly overwhelmed.

"Well, I guess I'm just more adaptable," said Harry vaguely instead, setting the, now full, plates out on the table.

Sakura made a face at that non-explanation but Toya's arrival for dinner saved him from any more probing questions.

"Thanks for dinner you two," he said sliding into his usual seat.

"Let's eat," said Sakura, clapping her hands together briefly and digging in with gusto.

"How was work?" asked Harry, following her example at a more sedate pace.

"Not bad," said Toya, pouring himself a cup of tea from the pot Harry and Sakura hadn't had the chance to make much headway into, "I was at the convenience store today for the afternoon shift and we got nothing but brats buying things like candy and melon bread. What about you? How was club?"

"Good," said Harry with a shrug, "I got to kick the senpai which is a nice change of pace."

Toya snickered a bit, "Good for you squirt," he said reaching over to tug on the end of Harry's braid.

"What about you, monster?"

"Me?" said Sakura, around a mouthful of rice, "School was good, practice was normal, nothing really exciting happened. I'm done, thanks for the meal!"

"Geez, what's with you and the speed eating today?" asked Toya taking a sip of tea.

"I've got things to do!"

"And where are you taking that pudding?"

"I've got to study so I'm gonna eat it in my room, okay?"

"Whatever," muttered Toya.

Sakura poked her head back into the kitchen suddenly, "Harry, don't forget you promised to help me study," she said pointedly.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," said Harry waving her off.

He finished off the last few bites of his dinner and stood from the table, "I'm done, so I'm gonna go help Sakura before she explodes from impatience. Can you get the dishes?"

"Sure. Thanks again for dinner, squirt, and if you guys need help with anything I'll be in my room studying," said Toya.

"I'm not a squirt," Harry shot back, grabbing his own pudding from the fridge and heading upstairs to his cousin's room.

"Sakura, I'm coming in," Harry said with a perfunctory knock on her door.

"How's it going?" he asked his cousin and the little floating lion.

They both let out huge gusty sighs.

"That well," said Harry shaking his head, a rueful smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as he settled himself on the edge of Sakura's fluffy pink and yellow bedspread.

"I can't locate any of the cards except Windy, it seems like they're concealing themselves from my senses, I won't be able to tell where they are until they start seriously using their magic, and even then some of them are powerful enough that I would have to be right on top of them at the time."

"Why is it so important that you find the cards anyway?" asked Sakura innocently, spooning off a sliver of her pudding, "I mean don't get me wrong it's sad that they're lost but you make it sound really important that you find them quickly so…"

"The cards contained in this book are Clow Cards," Kerberos explained with a seriousness that belied his cute appearance.

"Clow Cards?" said Sakura slowly, having some difficulty wrapping her tongue around the unfamiliar English words.

"That's right," nodded Kerberos, "The magical spirits contained within the Clow Cards are very powerful and they were sealed away to prevent them from causing mischief and mayhem. The cards were created by a powerful sorcerer named Clow Reed, and each one is alive, but they like acting on their own and normal forces just aren't a match for them. That's why before he died Clow Reed bound them to the book and placed me inside the front cover to guard them and keep their power contained. Now that the seal is broken I won't really be able to control them, they need a master to keep them contained after all, but I'm better than nothing."

"Wow," said Sakura passing her spoon over so that Kerberos could have a bite of pudding.

"Well, in any case, first we have to find them all," he said, "That's why, you're coming with me!"

"What? Me?" protested Sakura, "Why me?"

"Wasn't it you who scattered the cards by invoking Windy's spell?"

"Well yeah," agreed Sakura reluctantly, "But isn't it your job to make sure they stayed sealed away?"

"Well, it might have happened that I accidentally fell asleep," said Kerberos sheepishly.

"Fell asleep," said Harry incredulously, "For how long?"

"Eh, around thirty years or so."

"Thirty years," parroted Harry.

"And you call yourself a beast of the seal," grumbled Sakura.

"You don't understand how boring it is being trapped in a book, okay? Stuff happens!" Kerberos protested.

"So those loud scary noises were just you snoring away," she teased.

"Enough about that, never mind," said Kerberos, "The fact that you could even open this book and wake me up means that you have at least some magic in you."

"So?"

"So I need your help!" cried Kerberos, "I'm stuck in this borrowed form and I don't have enough magic to subdue the cards on my own, I need a magic user and you opened the book and bound the Windy, so you're it."

"Wait a minute," Harry cut in, not liking where this was headed, "You said these cards were really dangerous, right? So why does it have to be Sakura that helps you get them back? Wouldn't it be better if we just found an adult sorcerer?"

"Yeah!"

"Like I said," sighed Kerberos, "Sakura has already bound the Windy so she's already involved, there's practically no other choice, and I bet the Key would accept her without a fuss, watch. Sakura, go stand over there for a second."

Obediently Sakura got to her feet and took a few steps back from her desk, watching the proceedings with curiosity. All of a sudden Kerberos and the book began to glow again and the magic circle printed on the back of the cards flared under Sakura's slippered feet, kicking up a comparatively soft magical wind.

"Key of the Seal," intoned Kerberos, "A candidate has come forth who would form a contract with you."

"Wait!" Harry insisted, "What's going on? What are you doing?"

"Just relax kid, I'm only giving Sakura the key, it's not dangerous," said Kerberos with a grunt, "Now be quiet, I'm concentrating here!"

A small orb of light rose from the lock on the Book of Clow and, squinting from his position on the other side of Sakura he could see that inside there was indeed some kind of weird looking key. That didn't make him feel any better about the whole situation though. He might not have been quite as overprotective as Toya but Sakura was like a sister to him and he didn't like that she seemed to be being swept along by this glorified plushie and his magic cards into a potentially dangerous situation.

Still he didn't want to interrupt in case something went wrong with the magic again and they ended up losing the key or something, so he scowled watching as the key came to hover in between Kerberos and Sakura and started to spin wildly in its little orb of light.

"Surrender the wand, and grant her your power. Release!"

At Kerberos' shout the key elongated in another burst of light to reveal a staff a little bigger than Sakura's cheerleading baton with a top that put Harry in mind of the head of a bird.

"Sakura!" called Kerberos from somewhere on the opposite side of the light, "Take hold of the staff!"

Reaching out Sakura closed her hand around the haft and almost at once the burst of magic was contained again and Sakura's room was once again bathed in the artificial light from the incandescent bulb overhead.

For her part Sakura still seemed confused as to what was going on. She gripped the staff in both hands though, unconsciously holding it close to her chest.

"There we go," said Kerberos smugly, turning back to Sakura's pudding, "The birth of a true cardcaptor!"

"What!" exclaimed both Harry and Sakura.

"Didn't I just say relax?" said Kerberos around a mouthful of pudding, "You both are so high-strung. The Key and the Wand have both accepted Sakura as their mistress now, and it will make it much easier for her to channel her magic and use the cards she captures."

"But I haven't agreed to be a cardcaptor!" protested Sakura.

"I don't see what all the fuss is about," said Kerberos, scowling, "You opened the book, you let the cards out in the first place, you have the magic power needed to capture the card, the Key is now yours, and you've already commanded the Windy, you've got to be the one."

"Look," said Sakura seriously, "I understand that this is really important and I know you think I'm special or something, but Kerberos, I seriously, absolutely know that I can't do this! I don't know anything about magic or spells and this is dangerous— I'm just an average fourth grade student you know!"

"You worry too much," said Kerberos with an airy grin, "No matter what anyone else tells you magic is fundamentally about having a strong will and good instincts, everything else is background noise. You wouldn't have been able to do all the things you've done if you weren't worthy, and of course you're not going to be in this alone, I'm going to help you every step of the way."

"You'd better," growled Harry, "Since this is mostly your fault for not doing your job."

"Will you lay off!"

Harry ignored the small creature's waving fist and turned to Sakura.

"If you're really going to do this, I'll help too," he told her, snaking an arm around her shoulders, "I don't know what I can do but you won't have to be alone."

Sakura's big green eyes welled up with moisture and Harry thought for one alarming moment that she was going to cry but then she just laughed and threw her arms around his neck.

"Thanks Harry, you're a good brother."

Harry flushed right up to the tips of his ears but hugged her back awkwardly, "Yeah well, you're a great brat sister so—ow, hey!"

"M'not a brat!"

Harry winced at the sudden throbbing in his shin and felt a moment of acute sympathy for Toya, Sakura might not look like much but she had quite a kick on her.

Just then the wind pick up, again, and sent their clothes and hair swirling around them, loose papers from the desk scattering to the four corners of Sakura's bedroom.

"Wow, what a strong wind," commented Sakura moving over to her open window.

"Sakura!" cried Kerberos excitedly, bounding over to the window from the desk, "That's a Clow card, look!"

Harry quickly joined them at the window and craning his neck he was able to see the shape of the huge bird, glowing with blue and white feathers gliding low over their neighbourhood and kicking up high winds with every stroke of its powerful wings.

"It's huge," said Sakura, wide-eyed but leaning forward to get a better look.

"It's probably the Fly card," said Kerberos, hopping onto her shoulder.

"The Fly?"

"What do you mean probably? Don't you know?"

"I haven't seen the true forms of all the cards. They were created first you know and some of the tool-type cards were always bound to an object form!"

"There are different types of cards?" said Sakura.

"Of course, but I'll explain about that later, right now we have to go after the Fly!"

"Eh! Go after it!"

"Of course!" the little stuffed lion asserted, pushing Sakura towards her door, "This is a gentle breeze compared to the kind of destructive winds that the Fly can call up with those wings, even if it isn't specifically designed to be an attack card that doesn't mean it's not capable of doing extreme damage!"

"But I don't know what to do!"

"Practical experience is the best way to learn!"

"But why do I have to go in my pajamas!"

Harry followed them downstairs, taking a moment to thank anyone who cared to listen that Toya liked to study with his headphones in and the music cranked up to full blast, and joined Sakura in strapping on his protective gear and roller-skates. Kerberos seemed more concerned with harrying Sakura into action than anything and didn't have anything to say about Harry joining them struggling against the high winds and chasing after the huge bird wreaking havoc in their neighbourhood.

They caught up to it on the back road not far from the park and up close it was even more apparent just how much bigger the Fly card actually was. Although it was slender, and proportioned a bit like a swan it still rose above them by a good few stories arching its graceful neck to glare at them balefully.

"There's no way I can catch something that huge!" Sakura was quick to point out.

"There's no way we can fight something that huge either," said Harry.

"What's with you two?" demanded Kerberos, "Didn't I say that normal forces are no match for the cards? You have to use your magic, so, Sakura—"

Before Kerberos could complete his instructions the Fly sent them, well, flying through the air with one dismissive flap of its gigantic wings.

Harry managed to catch hold of a nearby tree for a second slowing long enough for gravity to take hold of him again and send him hurtling into a clump of bushes.

Crawling out and feeling the branches tug at his clothes and hair Harry craned his neck to look for Sakura, relieved to see that Kerberos had caught her midair and was lowering her safely onto the road. Relying on the protective pads he was wearing to save his knees and elbows from raw road-burns Harry hopped the divider and slid down the retaining wall and back into the street, landing roughly and quickly accelerating to stand next to Sakura.

As useless as that seemed at least he could try and put himself in between her and the Fly if it came down to that. And why had he even agreed, even a little bit that this was a good idea? He wondered to himself.

"Sakura, use your magic!" Kerberos ordered.

"How?" demanded Sakura.

"The Key! Call on the Key!"

Harry had no idea what that meant but Sakura, without hesitation, reached into her pocket and pulled out the weird magic key she'd received from the supposed beast of the seal earlier and held it out in front of her in the palm of her hand, her expression set. It was quite something to watch, the magic circle flaring up under her feet. Sakura just seemed to know what to do, the words to say.

"Key that hides the powers of the Dark, surrender the staff. I command you under our contract. Release!"

The Key transformed for the second time, elongating into the staff it had been earlier, and Sakura took hold of it immediately twirling it like a baton as the pulse of magic faded from the air. Her expression was set and for a moment it looked like she would actually get right down to business and capture the Fly without any more fuss—but then she realized she still had no idea about the logistics behind such an undertaking.

"Alright, Sakura," said Kerberos encouragingly, "That's it. Now, the Fly is attributed to the element wind so you should have no problems capturing it using the Windy, but we're gonna have to get in closer."

"That doesn't look like it's going to be a problem," Harry said watching as the Fly threw itself into the air unfurling its wings to their full span and diving right for them, "Hit the deck!"

Sakura reacted quickly ducking into a crouch with her arms coming up to protect her head. They were pulled along in the slipstream of wind for a few metres while the Fly rose, gathering momentum and circling around for another dive.

"It's coming straight for us!" cried Sakura.

"It knows what you are, it can sense your power," Kerberos explained quickly, "Of course it's gonna resist being captured again! You've gotta summon the Windy!"

"Here it comes!" Harry warned.

They ducked again but this time the Fly got close enough that they could feel the back of its ethereal primary feathers brush against them.

"Too close, we've got to get ahead of it so it can't dive right at us!" Harry called out putting some power into his legs as he sped down the road, Sakura following behind him automatically both of them pouring on the speed as they heard the high, angry battle cry of the Fly card.

"How are we supposed to do this?" demanded Sakura.

"You're the cardcaptor," said Kerberos, "You've gotta figure it out! Whoa!"

Caught in a strong updraft Kerberos was drawn inexorably up and away from what was quickly becoming the battlefield.

"I'll draw its attention," said Harry suddenly, a reckless plan slamming itself into place in his mind, "Call the Windy."

If the Fly was chasing the feeling of magic it probably couldn't tell which magic user was trying to capture it, and if that was true then it should chase him if he made enough magical noise. It was worth a try anyway.

On its next pass they came out of the residential area hurtling around a sharp bend and the Fly had enough room to glide along the road without crashing into things.

Harry took a deep breath and focused. He'd seen a lot of magic done today, he knew that he had magic of his own and he kind of remembered what it felt like. It was enough. Something inside him snapped into place.

"Hey!" he shouted directly at the Fly, challenging it.

Wind flared up around his feet and he put on an impossible burst of speed zigzagging down the road with the Fly hot on his heels, Sakura forgotten.

That was until the moment his crazy cousin and pseudo-sister used the slipstream to force herself up the nearly vertical retaining wall on her roller-skates and did a neat flip in midair to land on the Fly's neck just before the shoulder joints clinging desperately to her staff and card.

"Sakura!" cried Harry and Kerberos as the Fly abandoned chasing Harry and climbed into the air gaining altitude and carrying them further and further away.

Harry skidded to a stop in the middle of the street his eyes wide with horror as he imagined about a hundred gruesome scenarios in the space of a few seconds.

Light flared in the velvet darkness of the night sky and above the Fly rose a vaguely female-shaped spirit that must have been the Windy. She wove through the sky, trailing long silver-gold bindings behind her. Circling the Fly in wide arcs she wrapped her bindings around the wings of the Fly, forcing the massive bird to bank sharply and then angling them for a rough landing a little ways up the road.

Harry and Kerberos were quick to rush forward, both thinking to help and protect Sakura, but Sakura had things well in hand herself.

Sliding off the back of the Fly she brandished her staff, her expression set as the Fly strained against the chains of wind holding it fast to the ground.

"Return to your power confined! Fly!"

A sound like the chime of a bell rung in Harry's ears and he watched as the Fly screeching in protest the entire time was forced back into card form solidifying and hovering in the air for a short moment before drifting into Sakura's hand.

Harry spotted the Windy too, the card dropping from the sky to promptly return to her mistress.

"You did it!" exclaimed Kerberos as Sakura sank to her knees in the middle of the street, "Nice work, Sakura!"

For her part the newly minted cardcaptor burst into tears, "I thought I was going to die!" she wailed.

Harry grinned a bit as he dropped down next to her and pulled her into a tight hug and ruffled her hair, "You were so cool back there, that was amazing," he told her, letting her bawl into his shoulder until she'd calmed down.

"The Fly," she read, examining the cards in her hand with something like disbelief.

"Well, now that the Fly is under your command, why don't you try it out?" suggested Kerberos, a slightly devious look crossing his cartoonish features.

"What can this do?" asked Sakura standing and helping Harry to his feet.

"Call on it and find out!"

Cocking her head to the side Sakura tossed the card into the air as though she'd performed the motion a hundred times before and slammed the point of the staff into its centre.

"Fly!"

At once the card began to glow and the staff transformed, elongating again, the wings at the head of the staff turning into actual feathery flapping wings.

Without so much as a by-your-leave Sakura dragged Harry up behind her on the transformed staff and as they rose effortlessly through the air leaving the rooftops and trees far below them, Harry couldn't find it in him to mind. Flying, he decided right then and there, was the best thing in the world.

"What did I tell you, you're a natural, you've got the instincts of a pro," said Kerberos looking far too pleased with himself, as they landed on the roof outside Sakura's still-open window, "I'll look forward to working with you cardcaptor Sakura."

"Yeah, me too," agreed Sakura, looking regal despite her pajamas and her wind mussed hair.

For a second Harry thought he could see an afterimage behind her of a woman in robes and armour with long hair and a staff clenched in her hands, but he blinked and it was gone.

"Ugh, we need showers," she said suddenly stumbling into her room with a decided lack of grace.

Harry couldn't help but smile a bit at that as he climbed in after her. Whatever else happened, their lives had certainly just become more interesting.

AN: Posting with only cursory editing because I've got an exam to write tomorrow and I should be studying, not writing fanfic! Will edit tomorrow.

So far the votes are in favour of not-a-cardcaptor Harry and this chapter reflects that but depending on what I decide to do he could end up capturing a few of the cards at a later date if that's something that you guys would like to see. Truthfully re-watching the anime is giving me yay!Sakura feels though so it seems unlikely...

Anyway, here's hoping you all enjoyed! Please take the time to leave a review and let me know what you think of the story so far! Until the next time!