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Recca Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter Thirteen

An Appreciation Omake/Sequel

By Aleh

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A.N.: Thanks to Janana, Typhonis, and Minako for help brainstorming.

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"Abbott, Hannah!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

The aftermath of Recca's confrontation with the Sorting Hat had provided the two pranksters with more than enough time to set up their planned prank. In fact, it had given them enough time to play off eachother and take the prank much further than they would have otherwise.

"Baggins, Frodo!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

The absurdly short kage bunshin that answered the call was proof of just how far they'd taken things. McGonnagal's stern lecture probably would have been more effective if she had been more understanding of the fact that Recca didn't care about tradition and did care about the possiblity of his best friend's wife being raped. It also would have probably been more intimidating if the teacher had treated him as the trained assassin he was rather than the schoolboy she thought him to be.

"Bones, Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Of course, just creating a bunch of kage bunshin wouldn't have been enough on its own. Minato was carefully orchestrating a genjutsu over the entire Great Hall, one which would effectively prevent anyone from noticing the fact that the Hat wasn't really sorting the fake students.

"Boot, Terry!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

Through some luck, the "new students" were effectively invisible to the enchanted piece of haberdashery. They'd had a plan in place to handle potential misbehavior from the hat, but were pleasantly surprised to see that it wouldn't be needed.

"Brocklehurst, Mandy!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

Recca, for his part, had taken the liberty of "modifying" the class register in Professor McGonnagal's hands. The fact that the professor hadn't noticed even though she'd been busy yelling at him at the time was a testiment to either Recca's skills as a ninja or McGonnagal's obliviousness. Recca was firmly convinced that it was the latter.

"Brown, Lavender!"

"GRIFFINDOR!"

Mikan, meanwhile, was staring intensely at Recca, an expression of utter shock on her face. Recca figured that her frantic, repeated whispers of "Which one?" had distracted Hermione at a critical moment -- it was the only explanation he could think of for Hotaru's sister not recognizing their impersonation of the main character of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Hotaru had joked about how much of a bookworm her sister was, after all...

"Bulstrode, Millicent!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

Recca zoned out for a while, but then it was time for one of the big ones. Recca figured that someone would figure out that a prank was being played... especially since he had lifted the "image" for the transformation from an old Disney movie.

"Emrys, Myrrdin!"

Mutterings broke out throughout the Great Hall... mostly over the "child's" long, grey beard. Recca sighed and nearly slapped his forehead in disappointment.

"RAVENCLAW!"

And then it was time for a real student again.

"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Of course, not every decision was instant. "Finnigan, Seamus" took nearly a minute.

"GRIFFINDOR!"

Knowing who was next from having read -- and memorized -- the class list Professor McGonnagal was calling names from, Recca started paying serious attention. Giving the Hat a pointed stare -- and enjoying its momentary gulp -- Recca gestured his acceptance of what was coming.

"Granger, Hermione!"

Of course, she had to spoil it by nearly running to the stand and slamming the bloody thing eagerly onto her head.

"GRIFFINDOR!"

Somewhere in the crowd, a red-haired boy groaned. Recca momentarily glared at him, but was quickly distracted by something far more important.

"Granger, Hotaru!"

"GRIFFINDOR!"

Recca gave her a reassuring smile as she sat down next to her sister, quickly recieving a warm acceptance from her table. Knowing Hotaru, he figured that would last until she firmly refused to "play Quidditch" with the rest of her class.

He also figured that fifty cows per bully would be enough if things got out of hand.

"Grey, Gandalf!"

Hermione's eyes bugged out as she finally noticed that something was decidedly... odd... about the ceremony. The grey-haired, long-bearded "child" who was being Sorted was something of a hint.

Of course, the "Hat" took less than a second to decide where to send him.

"RAVENCLAW!"

Recca tuned out the Sorting for a bit, content to wait for their next planned prank.

"Inverse, Lina!"

"Bloody Hell! Getmeoffgetmeoffgetmeoff!" After a moment, "Lina" removed the "Hat", only for it to send her to Ravenclaw and mutter about it being grateful that it wouldn't have to sort anyone like her again.

"Kamen, Gekkou!"

This one had actually one of Minato's. He'd created a "student" who wore a white turban and wrap-around scarf for a mask in conjunction with white-rimmed sunglasses. The yellowish "moon" on top was to help further the reference to an old Japanese television series which he had apparently discovered and felt needed appropriate mocking.

The ensemble looked utterly absurd when taken in conjunction with the Hogwarts uniform.

"GRIFFINDOR!"

Then Recca had to one-up his old friend.

"Kamen, Kekkou!"

"Get some clothes on this INSTANT, young lady!" shouted Professor McGonnagal, outraged at what was revealed when the "student" wearing the red, bunny-eared mask stepped up... and her gait revealed what was... or wasn't... underneath her Hogwarts cloak.

Needless to say, chaos once again reigned throughout the Great Hall.

Recca, however, just fell over, clutching his sides and laughing. Mikan searched through her robes and pulled out a packet of popcorn before sighing.

"You wouldn't happen to have know any cooking charms, would you?" she asked one of her neighbors. "I am afraid that some of my orders are beginning to make sense..."