Things at Hogwarts seemed to have quieted down a little in the last week. Apparently the 'Holiday Season' madness was over. Even so, habit had brought Sanzo to a vacant classroom in an isolated part of the castle so he could get some reading done
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He quirked an eyebrow at Sanzo's relatively violent disposal of his cigarette, but he supposed it was good that the monk was making use of the ashtray, rather than the covers of any of the nearby books. "I'll have to ask you for that spell for finding missing socks," Hakkai said lightly. It'd probably make things much easier, whenever he had to go back home and go back to doing the laundry. "I expect that would make sense. There must be some sort of interference caused by magical things, then -- or perhaps the Sutras are special cases."
Chuckling softly, Hakkai shrugged his shoulders in resignation. "I apologise, I didn't mean to seem like I was babying you or anything of the sort." He blinked a few times at Sanzo's question and his candid curiosity, before he replied, "Ah, the usual things students do in school, I expect -- studying, mostly. It's not often that one gets the chance to learn magic, so I'm taking advantage of the opportunity." Pausing, he flashed Sanzo a bright smile and added, "And I've been knitting those scarves, too. Why do you ask?"
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Sanzo looked somewhat amused by Hakkai's answer. "I'm not sure studying is something students usually do in school, at least judging by some of the students at the temple. They seem to want to avoid studying as much as possible." His brow furrowed as he tried to remember what scarves Hakkai was talking about. Deciding it probably wasn't important, he went back to reviewing his notes, and finally found the spell he'd been looking for.
He shrugged in answer to Hakkai's question. "Just curious." He wasn't surprised that Hakkai was making the most of his time at Hogwarts.
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He laughed when Sanzo talked about the students at the temple. "Well, yes, I suppose you're right. I've always had, ah, atypical studying habits, I suppose you could say, in that I actually have some." He smiled teasingly, just to show he was joking. "It's nice to be doing something academic, at least. I think it's a nice change of pace, don't you? Or have you gotten tired of it? You've been here longer, after all."
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Sanzo tapped his pen on the table, momentarily distracted by the idea. "It made me wonder, if we walked out of the gates and just went east, would we end up at home, or in some China we don't even recognize?" He realized he was looking out the windows, as if he could see the answer from here. He shook his head and turned back to the books.
"I suppose it's a nice change to not have a bunch of idiots expecting me to take an interest in every stupid detail of running the place." He glared at the stack of notes in front of him. "I'd be enjoying it more if I thought I was actually making any progress."
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Hakkai frowned as he considered the idea, and he said slowly, as though still trying to think it out, "Do you suppose, then, that we're in something like a parallel universe? I suppose it would make sense, given how amazingly different everyone's respective homes are. That would mean that Hogwarts is some sort of nexus point, wouldn't it?" He stopped short before breaking into an ostensibly cheerful smile. "My, it sounds like something out of a science fiction book."
He glanced over at Sanzo's notes, and he looked a bit impressed by how much work he had done. "I'm not sure, that rather looks like some progress to me," he replied, gesturing towards the stack. "Have you not been able to find anything of particular use, then?"
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He gave a short laugh when Hakkai indicated his research. He resisted the urge to fling the pages off the table and instead he flipped through them for Hakkai's benefit. "Simple spells that didn't work." Flip. "Spells that require some rare ingredient." Flip. "Requires a complicated incantation or ritual." Flip. "Requires a certain phase of the moon, or an eclipse, or some planetary conjunction." Flip. "Looked promising, but there's some parts that I can't translate." The rest of the pages fell onto the stack. "And so on. And that doesn't include the ones I didn't bother to write down, like the ones that require sacrificing a human, or an animal."
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He noted Sanzo's obvious frstration with a slight frown -- probably one of sympathy, rather than disapproval. "My, I see your research has been rather extensive." Falling silent for a second, he said, "Some of those still seem like they would be worth a try, at least. For instance -- ah, just how complicated were those spells and rituals you mentioned?"
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Sanzo stifled a sigh as he pulled several pages out of the pile. Hakkai was trying to help, and as much as he hated to admit it, he probably needed it. If nothing else, it would help to have a second set of eyes looking it over. "Some of them weren't really that complicated, they just take a long time. Like this one." He pointed to one of the spells. "You have to set it up and let it sit for forty-nine days, and the object has to remain stationary the whole time. I can't be sure the Sutra isn't being moved around."
He pulled out another page with a spell that took up the whole sheet and continued onto the back. "This one looked interesting, but it takes three people to cast it. The incantation has to be chanted in alternating phrases that overlap, and you have to have two people lighting various candles in a specific order while the third does the wand movements." Sanzo pushed the whole stack away from him and reached for his cigarettes again. "Sometimes I think it would be easier to go back to searching on foot."
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Pausing to look over the other page Sanzo had pulled out, he read over the spell carefully and said brightly, "How convenient for us that we just so happen to have three people." He continued to examine it, not looking up as the monk moved to light another cigarette, but he did offer an amiable smile. "If you do decide to go off on your own again, please do let us know in advance." He glanced up for a second, before turning his focus back on the spell. When he spoke again, his tone was dry and amused. "Gojyo, Goku, Hakuryu, and I could keep you company, that way. I'm afraid it won't be so easy to just leave us behind, next time."
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He finally managed to light his cigarette, only to have Hakkai make another ridiculous suggestion. He glared at Hakkai through the smoke. "Absolutely not," he said flatly. "The last thing I'd ever want to do is take Goku and Gojyo on a road trip." He could just imagine that. Goku whining for food every mile. Gojyo wandering off in search of his favorite hobbies every evening. Not to mention Hakkai's 'suggestions' about excessive smoking and drinking. Hakuryu would be certainly be useful, but the dragon wouldn't go without Hakkai, and Hakkai wouldn't go without Gojyo. And unfortunately Hakkai was probably right about not being able to leave Goku behind again.
"There might be a spell with a shorter duration. I don't honestly remember." Sanzo pushed the stack of pages over to Hakkai. "Feel free to read through them." At this point, all of the spells were running together in his head.
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He stopped to consider it for a short moment. "Maybe." He laughed lightly and shrugged his shoulders. "In any case, if something gets out of hand, I'm sure the three of us are capable of handling it ourselves. And if not. . . ah, perhaps it wouldn't be amiss if we decided to use our time now to familiarize ourselves with locating the Hospital Wing."
Setting aside the spell he was currently holding so he wouldn't lose it in the pile of papers, he started flipping through the pages. The monk tended to take careful notes, from what Hakkai had seen, and he wondered if that meant that Sanzo actually enjoyed doing this sort of paperwork. "Oh, I'm not so sure," he said absently, half-distracted by looking over the numerous spells. "Personally, I think the trip with the four -- ah, sorry, five -- of us would be a fun experience." He stopped going through the spells and smiled. "We could meet new people, and the four of us could use the time to get to know each other better, don't you think? We rarely ever talk, these days, and you're always so busy. . ." Hakkai trailed off, and while he said it with a straight face, he was probably joking. Probably.
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Hakkai was still stuck on the road trip idea, but Sanzo was looking a little bewildered. "You want us all to talk? About what? What would you want to know?" As soon as he said it, he realized he'd left him self open. Well, he didn't have to answer. He gave Hakkai a sharp look, still wondering if he could be serious about the idea. " You know all Goku would want to talk about would be food."
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