Lunar New Year Ⅲ

The Great Hall falls silent as at the front of the staff table, Professor Dumbledore rises and says, "I welcome you all to the celebration of the Lunar New Year!" His brilliant blue eyes twinkled from behind his half-moon spectacles. "I have the great pleasure to introduce Izuki Sato of the Hogwarts Board. Mr. Sato has humbly agreed to speak in honor of the Lunar New Year!"

There are muffled groans from various students at Dumbledore's announcement that quickly die as Mr. Sato rises to his feet. Izuki Sato is a slender, average-sized wizard. His sleek, ebony-colored hair is pulled back into a sleek top knot. His dark-colored eyes are almond-shaped, and his skin is cream-colored. Yet there was an air of solemnity as he stepped forward. The entire student body is transfixed by the proud, solemn Japanese wizard.

Mr. Sato came to a halt in the middle of the Great Hall and pressed his hands to his side. Mr. Sato slightly titled the upper part of his body as a sign of salutation (Ojigi). It was not a deep bow as it was to young students and not as a sign of respect or the conveyance of another deeper emotion.

Only a few students respond back and among those is Joon Chang, a short, dark-haired Ravenclaw in his 7th year, (and the future father of Cho Chang). Although the largest surprise came from Rowan, who rose to her feet and bowed in a traditional Japanese feminine bow by clasping her hands in front with her eyes down. Her bow was deeper at the waist in a sign of respect to Mr. Sato.

Mr. Sato's eyes crinkled with pleasure at noticing the few students still practiced the old ways in this land. Their parents must have properly taught them. Still, a gleam of surprise and pleasure did appear at spotting the proper bow from Rowan Prince. The girl resembled her grandfather, Reginald Prince greatly as did her twin brother.

Mr. Sato straightened properly and surveyed the Great Hall. "Please permit me to tell, the ancient tale of ages past," he said before removing his wand from his sleeve. "Long ago, before the spirit and mortal world split, there existed a Great Spirit known as the Jade Emperor," he recounted and with the tip of his wand, he painted the very scene before all the awestruck eyes of the students.

A glittering portrait appeared before them revealing a powerful ruler with a long beard sitting on a glittering throne overseeing an impossibly vast world. "In his quest to rule the Jade Emperor made many enemies," Mr. Sato said showing glimpses of fierce and impossible battles with dangerous foes.

"The Jade Emperor knew that he could not protect his subjects alone and sought allies. After much thought, he sent a powerful envoy to seek out 12 allies. The envoy sought out many powerful figures in the realm but only a few spirits gathered and heeded the call of the Heavenly Gate. The weakest among the spirits, a rat was aided by the Ox to cross an impossible river, but with such cunning, the rat arrived first before the Ox. The tiger and rabbit came next," Mr. Sato murmured showing the scene of a tiger and rabbit fiercely fighting before the Heavenly Gate with the tiger defeating the rabbit and reaching the Heavenly Gate first.

"Then the Dragon and the Snake," Mr. Sato said showing a fierce flying fire breathing Dragon in the sky followed by a large slithering serpent that emerged from the river and happened to greatly resemble a Great Horned Snake.

"Then came the Horse, the Goat, and the Monkey," Mr. Sato paused. "Yet a vile powerful enemy arose from the land barring the path of Spirits intending to present themselves before the Heavenly Gate as allies." There are gasps of woe and shock from the younger students who intently stare at the painted scene hanging above them.

"Yet a courageous cat arose to the challenge," Mr. Sato gravely said as a small dark cat with gleaming yellow eyes can be seen emerging from the woods in the enchanted scene. "The cunning cat spirit knew no fear and waved his paw at the vile enemy beckoning the enemy in the challenge. Furious at the audacity of the cat's challenge the vile enemy accepted the challenge from the cat and began to attack."

"The battle grew fiercer," Mr. Sato explained as the painted scene began to show a battered, wounded small cat. "Yet in the cat's hour of need, the Rooster, the Dog, and the Pig arrived finally." Hope begins to appear on the faces of the younger years. "Seeing the vile enemy distracted, the Rooster, the Dog, and the Dog did not halt and safely slipped away to the safety of the Heavenly Gate, before firmly shutting the door behind them."

Gasps of shock, dismay, and indignity can be seen on many students' faces at the abrupt betrayal of the Cat, especially among the cult cat-loving Slytherins. "Unable to stay his hand any longer, the Jade Emperor arose from his throne and struck his foe gravely injuring the enemy. The Jade Emperor's enemy heavily wounded fled leaving behind the fatally injured cat," Mr. Sato quietly recalled as many of the students looked sad at the tragically beaten body of the cat with some of the students even quietly sniffling at the tragic sight.

"In his great mercy, the Jade Emperor healed the cat of his mortal wounds," Mr. Sato said the utter cheer of many of the students. Gesturing for the students to quiet down, Mr. Sato finally continued, "Yet despite the courage and cunning of the cat, the Jade Emperor could not break his vow. The cat had not entered the Heavenly Gate in time and therefore could not be counted among his allies." Many of the younger students are filled with hopelessness at the injustice, while others look plain murderous, especially among the cat-loving cult…

Mr. Sato explained. "But the Jade Emperor was fair and granted the humble cat nine lives," Mr. Sato recounted to the sighs of relief of the students, "and presented the extraordinary warrior cat with a magical name, Maneki-Neko meaning the Beckoning Cat. That is why to this very day, all the descendants of the Maneki-Neko have great luck and are each said to possess the nine lives just as their great ancestor had."

There were loud happy cheers from the student and especially from the cult cat-loving Slytherins. Terry and Regulus looked particularly pleased as did other cat owners throughout the Great Hall including Argus Filch. Why even Professor McGonagall seemed to have gained an air of importance since she was a cat animagus after all!

Mr. Sato motions at them to be silent as food begins to appear on their golden plates. "Much like Europe throughout Asia, each nation has its own traditions. In my own country, Toshikoshi Soba is a type of noodle broth to celebrate the entrance of the new year. There are the classical dumplings from China, Sweet Sticky Rice from Thailand, Teeokguk from Korea, and many more traditional dishes. Tonight, various traditional dishes will be provided along with more common and popular plates including Curry. Please enjoy!"

The students let out loud cheers and eagerly begin to eat, while others try a bit of this and that to determine if they enjoy the food. Rowan happily serves herself a plate full of food and uses the alternative offered utensils, chopsticks. She happily takes a bite of a delicious, filled dumpling and lets out a contented sigh.

Severus mutters something under his breath. "If James ever learned how to cook, I'm certain you'd marry him all on your own."

Rowan tries to glare but can't in the end. She wasn't about to deny that a chef was her romantic dream partner. It wasn't her fault that the way to her heart was through her stomach! She hurriedly stuffs her face to calm her heart. Yes, it was all because of emotional distress!

Terry loudly snickers while Sylvia pensively eyes Terry as if picturing him cooking. A moment later Sylvia visibly shudders as Tiffany mutters darkly, "You do know it would be the perfect way to murder you, Sylvia?" Sylvia wisely decides not to answer that as Bethanie passes Sylvia a sweet dumpling in consolation. There are simply some things that are better left unspoken.

Laughter, chatter, and the sound of silverware can be hard until at long last those fade away. Many of the students have round bellies, but the younger years had carefully held off from stuffing themselves with dessert after a chilling stare from Severus. Alas, the same could not be said for the other three houses. Those poor, unfortunate Prefects would be forced to accompany students to the infirmary and clean up any strewn bile.

With dinner finished the food disperses from the table as Mr. Sato rises once again. The red packets hanging on the wall shoot out and randomly land neatly in front of every single student at Hogwarts. "A red packet filled with money is given out to children by family and friends. It is also used as a simple fortune telling to tell what the New Lunar Year will bring."

The younger students happily open their red packets to find a knut, sickle, or a galleon inside. Rowan tentatively opens her own to find a bronze knut inside. She quickly glances over the table to see a silver sickle in Severus's palm. Severus openly smirks at Rowan at spotting the knut in her hand.

Rowan snorts and ignores her twin and glances over at Terry, who of course has a shiny glittering golden galleon in his hand. Tiffany had a silver sickle, but both Bethanie and Sylvia had a bronze knut. "I'm sure, it can't be that bad," Bethanie steadfastly said in a fit of optimism.

"Tch," Sylvia only loudly clicked her tongue at seeing Terry's ridiculous luck as usual.

After the student body quiets down again, Professor Dumbledore rises to his feet. "It has been a wonderful evening and we thank, Mr. Sato for humbly taking the time to guide us. And it is my great pleasure to present the Dancing Dragon Troupe followed by music and dance and fireworks at midnight." Loud cheers are heard in delight as a group of magical acrobats pour into the room with an enchanted magical dragon puppet roaring and dancing as they enter.

Even Rowan openly expressed interest in the magical acrobats. It would be nice to see what feats a magical troupe could perform. It was far better to think of what the Year of the Dragon would bring for a Dragon is a fierce beast devouring everything in its path …