Professor McGonagall remained standing tall behind her heavy mahogany desk, her sharp eyes behind square spectacles tracking Kenzo's retreating figure until he vanished behind the door, before shifting her gaze to Daphne, who stood frozen in place.
The silence in the classroom felt heavy, lingering with the scent of burnt wood and cold metal—the atmospheric remnants of a transformation that shouldn't have been possible. McGonagall had taught Transfiguration for decades and seen thousands of gifted students, but that interaction had made her brow furrow in genuine concern.
She reached for her quill, but her fingers hovered over the parchment, hesitant.
"The passive nature of silver..." McGonagall murmured, her voice barely a breath. "That isn't a theory from any first-year textbook. It isn't even taught at the N.E.W.T. level."
She glanced at the needle Daphne had left on the desk. It still radiated unstable energy—proof of pure ambition forced into matter.
The Professor realized one thing: Kenzo wasn't showing off. He was teaching. And even more shocking, a Greengrass, famously haughty and guarded, appeared truly shaken by those few words.
In the corner of the room, hidden by the shadows of a dark, ancient bookshelf, Zetsu grinned wide. He watched McGonagall's burgeoning suspicion and Daphne's growing obsession.
"Father certainly knows how to plant seeds in fertile soil," Zetsu thought, his black-and-white fingers typing rapidly into thin air. "One Professor growing wary, one Snake beginning to be lured. The plan is running smoother than a Stark algorithm."
McGonagall finally began to write, but it wasn't a tally of House points. She penned a short note intended for the Headmaster's office.
"Albus, we have an anomaly in this year's intake. Mr. Otsutsuki displays a mastery that defies our academic logic. It seems the rumors are true; he is the physical embodiment of an ancient family reputation for extraordinary talent. His power isn't merely learned; it flows in his blood."
Meanwhile, Kenzo walked calmly through the corridors, ignoring the excited chatter of Michael and Terry. The three of them eventually made their way to the Great Hall for lunch.
Kenzo's steady stride was suddenly interrupted by a spirited voice calling his name from behind.
"Hey, Kenzo!"
Hermione hurried toward them, her Gryffindor robes fluttering in the corridor breeze as she clutched a copy of Magical Water Plants of the Mediterranean to her chest. There was a spark in her eyes—one far brighter than when she struggled to explain the difference between Dittany essence and Asphodel powder to Harry or Ron in Herbology.
For some reason, Hermione always felt a warm, calming wave whenever she was near Kenzo. While she valued her friendship with Harry and Ron, there was something about Kenzo that made her feel... different. With Harry and Ron, she often felt like a governess monitoring two small children to ensure they didn't cut Mandrake roots incorrectly; near Kenzo, she felt she had met an equal—or perhaps, someone operating on a much higher frequency.
Kenzo stopped and turned slowly. The corner of his mouth quirked up ever so slightly upon seeing her. "You seem in a hurry, Lion," Kenzo said in a low voice meant only for the four of them.
The nickname made Hermione's step falter. Lion. It felt far more intimate and meaningful than just 'Granger'.
"I-I was looking for you!" Hermione said, slightly out of breath, trying to hide the flush on her cheeks. "I heard what happened in McGonagall's class. Altering the molecular structure of silver without a magical flash? Kenzo, that's supposed to be impossible! Even Professor Sprout said that magical plants need time to change their cellular form, but you did it to inanimate matter!"
Kenzo looked at Hermione for a moment, his gaze steady and intense. "Books only tell you what has been discovered, Lion. Not what is possible."
Hermione was stunned, her lips parting slightly. Those words, paired with that specific nickname, deepened her admiration. Together, the four of them entered the Great Hall.
They had just taken their seats at the Ravenclaw table—with Hermione still standing nearby, reluctant to leave for her own table—when the usual lunch-time roar was suddenly shattered. The enchanted ceiling turned pitch black; thunder cracked violently, despite the clear weather outside.
From a swirl of dark clouds, a magnificent creature dived down: a Thunderbird. The creature was massive, with two pairs of wings that pulsed with pure electrical energy. Each beat of its wings created a boom of thunder that made students duck in fear.
"Steady, Zeus," Kenzo said softly.
The majestic creature folded its wings, which still crackled with electricity. Zeus was a 15th-birthday gift Kenzo had given Tony six years ago. Back then, Kenzo had been too lazy to think of a gift for a man as narcissistic as
Tony Stark. Eventually, he decided to take a creature from the Otsutsuki family's "forbidden collection"—a place where beasts thought extinct for centuries lived in peace.
Tony Stark, the genius who had just rocked the world with his hologram prototypes (which had received indirect technical assistance from Kenzo's energy research), initially viewed Zeus as "illogical." However, Zeus's haughty and grand nature proved a perfect match for Tony's ego. Tony fell in love with the bird, and Kenzo quickly regretted the decision because his brother now had a "tool" to send noisy messages whenever he pleased.
As Kenzo's fingers touched the metal tube on Zeus's leg, a holographic projector inside activated, projecting the image of a young, brilliant, and supremely confident Tony Stark.
The Great Hall fell into a stunned silence as the genius began to speak. His voice was crystal clear, carrying a confident and slightly sarcastic American accent.
Hologram Tony: "Test... Kenzo? Listen, you annoying handsome brat, I've had Happy search every library in Washington D.C. for you, but you weren't there. I even looked for you in the New York Public Library—nothing!"
Tony rubbed his face in the hologram, looking exhausted but still fashionable with sunglasses perched on his forehead.
Hologram Tony (Cont.): "I figured you were just looking for references on magic or some other weird stuff you do—though I've been doing the same lately—but you were nowhere to be found! Thankfully, your father told me you went to 'Hogwarts.' Otherwise, I might have done something crazy to find you, like hacking British weather satellites just to get your coordinates."
Tony smirked—a classic, narcissistic victory grin.
"Congratulations on the new school, Kid. Be the best, or I'll have Rhodey pick you up in the fastest military jet you've ever seen just to give you a private course at Stark Industries. Regards from Stark the Charming."
The hologram flickered out with an elegant mechanical beep. Zeus, the Thunderbird, let out a sharp screech that sent small sparks onto the table, as if agreeing with his master, before soaring back toward the enchanted ceiling and vanishing into the fading clouds.
Reaction at the Ravenclaw Table
Hermione: (Breathless, eyes wide)
"Washington? New York? Kenzo... did your brother just say he had someone search every library in two major cities just to find you?"
To Hermione, who held libraries in the highest regard, the idea of someone having the resources to scour libraries across state lines was both insane and magnificent.
Michael: "And who is Rhodey? A military jet? Kenzo, does your family run the American government? And... 'Stark the Charming'? He's really full of himself, isn't he?"
Kenzo simply sighed, looking slightly embarrassed. He folded the red-and-gold metal tube and tucked it into his robe pocket.
Kenzo: "I told you, Lion. He's just a man with too much free time and an oversized ego. I should have just gotten him a tie instead of that bird. At least a tie can't make narcissistic announcements in front of the whole school."
Meanwhile, Severus Snape stood frozen.
He didn't make a sound. No points were deducted; no cold insults were hurled. However, his jaw was visibly clenched. To Snape, the name Stark was no longer just a name he saw occasionally in the Muggle newspapers he despised.
The name now represented a famous narcissist whose brilliance could make anyone envious. Snape looked at Kenzo with a complex gaze; a bitter feeling rose as he realized Tony's life was seemingly perfect—young, genius, wealthy, and most unsettling of all: fully backed by the Otsutsuki family from the shadows.
To Snape, this was a new kind of threat. A threat of pure intellect and resources that he couldn't brew in any cauldron. He didn't see Kenzo just as a student, but as a representative of a modern world power creeping into the ancient walls of Hogwarts.
Snape gave one final, intense glare—a silent warning—before turning with a sweeping motion. His black robes billowed like a giant bat's wings as he strode toward the High Table without looking back.
Michael: (Whispering shakily) "Kenzo... I swear, Snape looked like he wanted to blow something up, but he couldn't."
Terry: "He didn't even speak. That's way scarier than when he's angry."
Kenzo remained calm, looking at his plate as if the lightning storm and the death stare were merely minor interruptions to his lunch.
Kenzo slowly sipped his pumpkin juice, ignoring the hundreds of eyes still fixed on the Ravenclaw table. He glanced at the large clock on the wall, then at Hermione, whose knuckles were white from gripping her Herbology book so tightly.
"It's time," Kenzo said simply, standing up. "Let's go."
Hermione: "Where? I mean—classes are over for the day, aren't they? And I think... I think I need to write to my parents to ask if they've heard of 'Stark Industries' in the Muggle news. Your name feels familiar, Kenzo."
Kenzo: "The Library, Lion. I don't want you spending your time guessing things you can read directly in international archives. And Michael, Terry... stop shaking. Snape won't eat you as long as you don't mix Hellebore into your pumpkin juice."
The four of them walked out of the Great Hall, which was buzzing again with student gossip. As they passed through the large double doors, Kenzo felt a pair of sharp green eyes watching him from the Gryffindor table. Harry Potter looked like he wanted to approach, but was held back by Ron, who was busy describing how "mental" that lightning bird was.
Behind the Dusty Bookshelves
The Hogwarts Library was much quieter. The scent of old parchment and melting wax offered a sanctuary from the chaos of the Great Hall. Kenzo walked straight toward the general reference section for the outside world—a section rarely touched by wizard-born children.
He pulled out an international economics magazine from the previous year and handed it to Hermione. The cover featured a handsome young man with a cocky smile standing in front of his private jet.
Magazine Headline: "Tony Stark: The Genius Heir Changing the Face of the American Defense Industry."
Hermione: (Reading rapidly) "Oh my god... he really is your brother? 'MIT graduate at seventeen'? 'Created an autonomous navigation system'? Kenzo, this... this isn't just being smart. This is a technological anomaly!"
Kenzo: "He is an anomaly. That's why he's narcissistic. He feels the world moves too slowly for his brain. Much like how you feel Harry and Ron are too slow to understand magical plants."
Hermione blushed, but quickly refocused on the text. "But it says here the Stark family is pure industry. There's no mention of... Otsutsuki."
Kenzo: (Looking out the window at the gathering mist) "Because the Otsutsuki family doesn't wish to be mentioned. We prefer to be the shadows that ensure machines like Tony stay on the right track. My father saw potential in Tony, and Tony saw a challenge in my family. It's a troublesome symbiosis."