Death Scythes and Dumbledore

Stein had packed everything essential into a small luggage bag and stood ready to go in the Death Room. Spirit was there, as well as Lord Death and his son, who was twitching a little, sweating and staring at Steins screw.

"There's no symmetry at all, it looks disgusting. Then there's the stitches on one half of his face. Only on one half..." Kid muttered under his breath looking at the meister. Stein decided to pretend he couldn't hear it. He was his bosses child and was at least making an effort to remain composed. Unlike a certain someone.

"oh Stein!" Spirit wailed, tears pouring down his face. "I didn't think you'd be gone for a whole year! I should have made more of the time we had, please forgive me!"

'Until yesterday you hadn't seen me for nearly ten years' Stein thought to himself quite perplexed. But then again most of Spirit's antics utterly confused him. That at least hadn't changed since they'd last met. Although, Spirit was usually a little more composed with this.

'Maybe having a child somehow makes you dumber.' Stein theorised staring at his former partners antics. It would certainly explain how Maka was so smart.

"Please pull yourself together before Lord Death notices" Stein said calmly, "We'll be able to communicate through the mirrors so it won't be a problem." Like magic Spirit leapt up, the tears gone and his suit once again immaculate.

"I'm fine don't worry." He said keeping his face passive, trying to be cool. Stein gave him a dry stare.

"Disgusting, disgusting asymmetrical garbage..." Kid continued to mutter under his breath. Stein gave a sigh,

'Maybe it's a good thing I'm leaving for awhile. This place looks crazy enough without me adding to it.' he thought.

"Hello there Stein!" Death said turning to look at the scientist. "I hope you've packed everything you need. I've just finished arranging your accomodation, you'll be staying with the Death Scythe in charge of Western Europe for the duration of your mission." Stein perked up at this.

He'd be staying with Justin Law? He'd never personally met the autonomous weapon, having left Shibusen before Justin had even entered. But it would interesting. The boy had become a Death Scythe at such a young age and without a meister even! It would be an interesting meeting for sure. The weapon who didn't need a meister and the meister who didn't need a weapon. Stein could hardly wait.

Death turned towards his large mirror.

"Justin? Justin are you there?"

Ping!

The noise sounded throughout the room as a short-haired blonde boy appeared in the mirror.

"Oh my Lord, you've chosen to speak to me! Please! Say your mighty words so that I may hear and obey!"

"Thank you Justin" Death began, "I need you to-" the childs face suddenly contorted in horror.

"My Lord, why can I not here your voice?! Have I displeased you?! Please speak to me!"

"Err, Justin..." Death quickly tried to point out before being cut off by the young Death Scythes wail of despair. Stein looked at the others concerned. Was something wrong with the mirror? Spirit's long suffering expression said otherwise. He pointed towards his ears, clearly exasperated. Confused, Stein looked back at Justin.

'You're kidding' Stein thought annoyed. There, lodged in the childs ears, were a set of earphones. Probably blaring loud music. No wonder he couldn't hear anything. Stein gave his screw a good couple of turns, causing the already forming headache to vanish completely.

'So glad I had this installed.' He thought as Death wildly gestured to Justin, trying to get him to take his earphones off. Finally the kid seemed to get the message as he took out the earphones to look at them all.

"Sorry about that. Sometimes I forget that they're in there."

"It's no problem Justin." Death said. "Now I know you're busy running the Western European branch but I need you to do me a favour." Justin nodded, his expression serious.

"Do you need someone executed sir?"

"No, no, no. Nothing like that." Death waved his hand idly; as if blowing away the question. "You see, Stein here will be needing a place to stay in Britain for the next few months. I was hoping you would be willing to accomadate him."

"Of course my Lord. It's the least I could do." Justin gave a small bow. "It would be a great honour."

"Excellent!" Death cheered as Justin faded from the mirror to be replaced by an inky blackness. He then turned to Stein, "Well then off you go. Now I'll be expecting monthly reports. Be careful and don't underestimate them. If I've learnt anything, it's that magic always finds a way to surprise people."

Stein nodded stoically although he was slightly peeved. He wasn't some one-star meister, he knew how to act and what to expect.

"I won't Lord Death. Good-bye everyone." Stein said simply before walking forward and into the mirror.

There was a strange sucking sensation. Almost like he was gently being pulled forward by the hem of his shirt. Then the next thing he knew he was stepping out of a mirror in a completely different place.

"Dr Stein it's an honour to meet you." A young voice said. Justin Law stood to the side of the mirror, looking up at Stein reverently. Although Stein knew Justin was young, he honestly hadn't expected him to look so young.

He was barely up to Steins shoulder in height and was wearing a black robe with a white collar. The kid stared up at him with admiration clear in his eyes; looking strikingly similar to the young meisters back at Shibusen. Stein was forced to remind himself that this child wasn't a mere one-star meister, but a Death Scythe and therefore worthy of respect.

"It's good to meet you as well Justin. I've heard an awful lot about you. I have to say I'm impressed." It wasn't a lie. Justin's record certainly was impressive. He was the youngest ever Death Scythe, utterly obliterating Spirits old record of eighteen. An achievement that Spirit didn't hold against the young blonde. Probably.

The boys eyes shone,

"You humble me with your praise." He spoke happily.

"Oh?" Stein gave him an inquisitive look. "And why is that?"

"You are Dr Franken Stein. The greatest meister to have ever graduated from Shibusen! You've created two Death Scythes, Marie Mjolnir and Azusa Yumi. And you've killed Witches without even weilding a weapon! Why shouldn't I be humbled?"

Stein gave his screw a couple of turns, feeling rather uncomfortable. He'd no idea that he'd become so well-known since he left Shibusen. Perhaps he could use that to his advantage. How far would Justin go to please him? A little poke here, a little prod there... He could find out so many things. What made Justin so special? Parting the young, delicate skin to expose the inner workings of his body. Then cut and divide it further to get into the soul. Oh he could find out so much...

'Oh no no no,' Stein gave his screw a couple more turns. 'Nearly got ahead of myself there. I have to be more on guard. I can't let something like that happen while I'm on my mission.'

Stein gave Justin what he hoped was a comforting smile.

"That's kind of you to say. Now what information do you have for me?"

Justin nodded, slipping quickly into business mode.

"Follow me. I'll brief you about what I've found out."

Justin turned to leave the room through a door on the opposite side of the room. As Stein followed him out he took the opportunity to study his surroundings.

The room they were in currently had no windows only a large ornate mirror from which he entered and a big black door to which he was heading to. The wallpaper was black and covered in cartoon skulls and there were pictures hanging on the walls of Death and Shibusen.

Clearly this rooms only purpose was to contact Lord Death and Justin had no problem showing Death that he was a fan. Looking down Stein noted the large rug in the centre of the room. A rug with a large skull on it.

Ok so Justin was a big fan.

That wasn't a problem. Teenagers needed role-models didn't they? It probably wasn't anything to worry about.

As they left the room Stein got a sense of how large Justin's house was. As a Death Scythe in charge of half a continent, Justin certainly wasn't poor. This was clear by the size of the hall in which the two entered. It wasn't as large as Spirit's but it was far more barren.

Two floors were visible with a grand staircase leading up to the second storey. The whole second floor was visible as a balcony overlooking the ground floor. The whole effect would be very grand if it wasn't for the lack of any decoration whatsoever. There were no paintings or pictures, no wallpapers or posters, nor were there any colours or carpets. The drab wooden floor was the most notable decoration that Stein could see. Even the walls were a sort of dirty white colour. It was sterile. Lifeless. Stein looked at Justin with a hint of worry.

A fourteen-year-old lived here alone? For how long?

"Is this your place then?" Stein questioned, keeping his tone casual.

"Oh yes. I was given it when I was assigned to this area." Justin replied cheerfully. Stein filed that away. He'd been living here all alone for a year now. It must be terribly quiet. No wonder he played music all the time.

Justin led the scientist across the hall and into a kitchen-like area. There was a bit more colour here due to the windows but not much. The whole house looked barely lived in. Justin sat down at an old oak table. It was piled high with numerous books and files lying open, their contents strewn all over the surface. Stein sat down opposite him, putting down his suitcase. Justin pulled out a few pieces of paper sorting them out.

"Sorry about the mess." He quickly apologised, "I've been quite busy with management. I am in charge of the Western European branch of Shibusen." He stated the last part with emphasis; as if to remind Stein of the fact.

"It's alright. This is why I use a computer. It makes things far easier." Stein said. The Death Scythe looked interested,

"I'll look into it." Justin rifled through a few more files before finding the one he needed.

"Ahhh, here it is." He handed the sheet to Stein. "This is information on the interview you need to pass to become a teacher at Hogwarts."

"Hogwarts?" Stein asked, thinking he'd misheard.

"That's the name of the school you'll be joining." Justin replied with no hint of humour whatsoever.

"Of course it is."

"I've also been doing my own research in the past few months. That way you won't have to go in blind." Months? Well that confirmed Stein's suspicions that Death had been planning this for quite some time.

"Anything crucial I should know?"

"They refer to themselves as wizards and witches. Although from what I've seen so far they are very different to the Witches we're used to fighting."

"How so?" Stein questioned leaning forward and linking his fingers together, studying Justin intently. If the Death Scythe was put off by this he didn't mention it.

"For one thing, their magic seems less inherently destructive. They use magic for a large variety of purposes. Housework, protection, that sort of thing." Stein nodded.

"What about their souls? Do they know Soul Protect? Is that why we're only recently finding things out about them?"

"Well I don't have Soul Perception so you'll have to find that out for yourself. They didn't feel any different from ordinary humans. Or muggles as you'll have to get used to calling them." There was a little smile in the corner of Justin's mouth. It appeared he, like Death, found the word rather amusing.

"Judging by their newspaper; they seem rather proud and arrogant, although that's just my opinion." Justin continued. "They seem rather dismissive of non-magical people,"

Stein looked grave. That could be serious. If they were a threat to world peace then they'd have to be removed. Who knows what sort of damage an unknown community of Witches could cause?

"How'd you find all this out?" Stein asked. Justin seemed surprisingly adept at information gathering. Here the kid looked rather smug,

"I walked right into a magical shop and took quite a few things without them noticing. Their protections don't do much when you're expecting to see something there." Stein raised an eyebrow at that, not quite understanding. But then again, Death Scythes were essentially magical weapons. Maybe that helped in some way?

"I also got a few books for you to read." Here Justin leant over and shoved a few rather large and old-looking tomes at Stein.

The scientist rifled through a few of them;

Hogwarts: A History,

An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe,

A History of Magic,

Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century.

Stein had much reading to do before his interview if he was to successfully pass himself off as an adult wizard.

"This seems almost too easy." Stein commented stacking the books on top of one another. "They're not suspicious of you are they?"

"Oh no." Justin said, "the woman at the counter was really polite. Kept calling me muggleborn since I didn't know what a galleon was." Here his brow wrinkled in confusion, "I thought it was a kind of ship and she laughed at me." Stein was taken aback at that. They seemed like very trusting people if they didn't suspect Justin of anything. Maybe there wouldn't be as much of a danger as he thought.

"What do you know about Hogwarts?" Stein asked Justin.

"It's apparently Britain's Wizarding school. And is located somewhere in Scotland." He answered looking back over his notes.

"What the only one?" Stein questioned. Justin nodded.

"There are only eleven wizarding schools in the entire world." He explained eyes back to his notes. Stein made a mental note of that. It was good news, since it meant that there couldn't be too many wizards and witches running about that Shibusen wasn't aware of. Shibusen itself had eight branches, so they couldn't be that outnumbered if they brought in their reserves...

Stein shook his head. He was getting carried away. Things weren't that dire yet.

"Anything else pressing I need to know?"

Justin nodded, "Yes. The Headmaster of Hogwarts is a man named Albus Dumbledore. He is considered to be one of the most powerful wizards to have ever lived and the most powerful wizard alive now." Here Justin looked straight at Stein, "He will be the one interviewing you next month." Stein froze for a moment before holding his head in his hands.

He had to be kidding. His first real interaction with a new kind of magical human and it was going to be with the most powerful one alive?! He was going to have to study hard. On the plus side though, if he could fool Dumbledore then it probably meant he could fool the rest. Not to mention that if he failed and was ousted as not a real wizard he could try negotiating on behalf of Shibusen. Although Death certainly wouldn't be pleased...

"The interview will be taking place in a town called Hogsmeade. In the Three Broomsticks Inn." Justin read carefully off of one of his notes.

"Where is the town?"

"Near Hogwarts. Lord Death is granting you permission to use his mirrors for transport on this occasion." Justin said with amazement. He was still new to all of this. Stein reminded himself. The boy was young, he'd hardly been in his position for a year.

"Ah good. Although I hope he gets the right mirror this time. Last time something like this happened I had to rescue some students who were in way too deep over their heads. I came out of a mirror in the middle of a store and frightened a young couple." Stein remembered it rather fondly. Fortunately the students were still alright by the time he and Marie arrived. The Witch was easily dealt with.

"That must have been difficult." Justin chuckled. Stein gave a long-suffering nod.

"Anyway, I should get settled in."

"Of course!" Justin immediately stood up. "I'll show you to your room."

The Death Scythe escorted Stein up the stairs and through a hallway until they reached the room.

"This is it." Justin declared opening the door.

Stein looked into the room, it was decent. A window, a bed and even an en-suite bathroom.

"Thank you Justin" Stein said gratefully, putting down his suitcase then depositing his new books on a nearby desk. "I can take care of myself so there's no need to worry. Just go about your business as usual while I'm here" he finished trying to reassure the young teenager.

"I will sir. You won't have to worry about me," Justin replied. "If there's an emergency I sleep-"

Stein held up a hand,

"I think it'd be better if I don't know where you sleep." He interrupted.

'Makes it less tempting for me to dissect you in your sleep.' Stein thought to himself giving his screw a couple of clockwise turns. Justin looked confused for a second before brushing it off.

"Alright then. I've also got a training room down in the basement if you ever need to use it." He quickly mentioned. "I'll see you later then." Stein nodded absentmindedly as Justin closed the door behind him. A training room? That would be very useful. Some of his skills had rusted somewhat since he last had a major fight. Stein clenched his fist. It would be a very interesting month for sure.


Stein ducked under one of Justins arm blades then dodged another before a well-executed Soul Menace sent the young boy tumbling away head-over-heels. Justin regained his balance and stared at Stein, silently planning his next move. Twisting the screw in his head Stein took the opportunity to view his sparring partners soul.

It was certainly large. A bright blue and black, with what looked like castle turrets? No a large guillotine decorated with upside-down crosses marking the sides.

How appropriate.

Stein had some time ago asked the boy why he had no meister. Justin had promptly transformed, answering Steins question. How the hell were you supposed to wield a guillotine?

Stein was also becoming concerned that Justin's introverted nature, along with the fact that he wasn't pushed at all to interact with others his own age might have affected him somewhat. Despite that however Justin was passionate and extremely loyal to his perceived God. And he had such a powerful soul for such a young age. The boy must have trained himself relentlessly.

What the boy did next took Stein off-guard. He unhooked the cross he kept around his neck and began to pray.

"Oh blessed Lord Death, you who dwell within Death City..." Stein filtered out the actual words only to gasp at what was happening to Justins soul. His wavelenth was becoming larger! His soul swelled up to over twice its usual size and seemed to glow with power.

'Uh oh' Stein thought realising Justin was preparing a powerful attack.

"In the name of the great Lord Death!" Finishing his prayer Justin showed his arm-blade towards Stein. It was glowing brightly.

'Shit!' Inwardly cursing himself for gawking at the boys wavelength instead of just dodging, he thrust his palms out, Stein got ready to block or die.

"Law Abiding Silver Gun!" A white energy beam, the shape of Justins blade, shot out of his arm and almost instantly reached Steins palms. They clashed together in a shower of white and yellow sparks as the two attacks fought for supremacy.

'Incredible. Such a strong attack...' Stein thought excitedly, digging his feet deeply into the ground so as not to get blown away. 'Truly what you can expect from a Death Scythe.'

Even after almost a month of living with the boy, Justin still managed to find ways to surprise him.

'However, still not good enough.' Increasing his own wavelength through his two hands, Stein then twisted them together. Justins attack shattered like glass and Dr Stein almost fell forward from the sudden loss of momentum. Justin stood there, a look of shock on his face.

'I have to end it now while he's still stunned!' In a burst of speed, Stein literally vanished before Justins eyes, appearing right in front of him, his hand charged with yellow energy.

"Soul Menace!" Adapting his wavelength to one that would be the most damaging to Justin's soul, Stein slammed his palm into Justins stomach; causing a shockwave, doubling the boy over and making blood leak from his mouth. It even caused his earphones to fall out. Stein let out a breath of relief. He stood up slowly as Justin crumpled before him, clutching his stomach in pain.

"Good work." Stein complimented, taking a cigarette out of one of his pockets and lighting it. "Had I not been getting back into shape that would have been very difficult for me to do." He helped the injured boy up who didn't react to his words at all.

Stein's eyes narrowed. "You certainly deserve your position. I haven't had a fight like that in years." Yeah, there we go. That brought a slight smirk to the teenagers face.

"Maybe I'll surpass you soon." Justin said as he leant against Stein and the two began hobbling back towards the basement entrance.

"Don't get ahead of yourself." Stein lectured, "You've got years yet before you're on my level. Your body is still growing, you're not at your physical peak yet."

Justins basement was, rather like the rest of the house, unnecessarily large. A huge stone-led room filled with open spaces, training dummies and large boulders. The lighting was fantastic. It was almost like being outside from how well the huge place was lit. It was unlikely Justin made this himself. Probably from the previous Deathscythe who lived here before they were killed.

Eventually they reached the kitchen where Stein sat the boy down. Already Justin's powerful wavelength was repairing the damage he sustained from Stein's earlier attack. He'd be perfectly fine in a couple of hours. Stein sat down in his own chair opposite to that of Justin's and let his body relax.

"Dr Stein?" Justin spoke up suddenly, slumping back in the chair he was dumped on. "Isn't your interview tomorrow?" It was in fact. Tomorrow Stein will be travelling to the Three Broomsticks Inn where he'd be meeting the most powerful wizard alive.

"Yes. Don't worry, I've read the books you gave me. I'm pretty sure I know enough about their world to pass the interview." Stein took a long drag on his cigarette and breathed out slowly, relaxing into his chair.

He'd learnt an awful lot about the history of Wizarding. Hogwarts itself was actually older than Shibusen, which had taken Stein by surprise. At about 1000 years of age to Shibusen's 800. It was also around about this time that the Wizarding World began to withdraw from the muggle world and began to hide in secret. This was due to the increasing amounts of persecution and distrust the muggles seemed to have for the magical-folk.

This was also suspiciously close to around the time when Asura descended into madness and Death was forced to fight and imprison him. There was no mention of them in these texts, meaning that the existence of the Great Old Ones was unlikely to be common knowledge. Or that the Wizarding World simply hadn't noticed anything strange occurring at the time.

'There probably wasn't enough time for them to be affected as deeply by the madness as the normal humans were.' Stein reasoned to himself. 'No wonder they didn't notice anything except for the sudden increase in witch and wizard persecutions.' Other than that, Stein had noticed a few other things.

As befitting magic users, they had a much longer life-expectancy than that of normal humans such as Stein. Apparently the average life-expectancy of a modern witch or wizard was roughly 137 years. While there was the occasional wizard who would live for a few hundred years, this was more of a phenomena than an expected standard. Even this was, of course, nowhere near that of the Witches Stein was used to fighting. Some of whom could live for over a 1000 years without much trouble or even aging visibly at all.

'It's rather unfair.' Stein thought annoyed.

Justin's initial observations also seemed to be proving correct. Unlike the Witches, wizardkind tended to use magic for more diverse purposes. He'd come across a 'Flame-freezing' charm in his studies that reduced what should have been a painful and deadly burning to a mild tickling sensation. There were charms, jinxes, curses and hexes, all of which with many different purposes from doing the dishes to causing your snot to sprout wings and attack you.

Incredible potions for a variety of effects, such a love potion as well as one that made you lucky. They didn't seem to be succumbing to the Sway of Magic like the Witches did. Although there were a few.

Notable dark wizards such as Gellert Gindelwald and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named ('And I thought Death-the-Kid was a bad name to have.') were examples of when the Sway of Magic affected normal wizards and witches. Although as far as Stein could see their whole society seemed rather benevolent.

Young wizards and witches were taken in and trained in order to control their magic, a practice both Stein and Death would approve of, even when in rare cases magic seems to appear out of nowhere in muggle families. Perhaps exposure to magic at a young age or in utero caused a child to develop their own? The human body was amazingly adaptable. No-one knew that better than Stein. Perhaps he should look into the matter further...

A sudden chiming, the solemn ring of Jusins doorbell, disrupted Steins focus. Justin made no move to answer, his earphones were back in place, making him dead to the world.

Stein stood up to go answer the door. It was highly unusual. The whole month he'd been staying here Justin hadn't had a single visitor. They were supposed to be incognito. Stein walked towards the front door pondering, 'Who on earth could possibly know where they were?'

Opening the front door quickly answered that question.

"Oh," was all the scientist could say.

"Ah my good friend Stein!" Tezca Tlipoca greeted happily. He grabbed Steins hand with both of his own and shook vigorously. "It's been far too long since we talked, am I right?!" He then laughed uproaringly as if Stein had said something backbreakingly hilarious.

"Ah Tezca. I'd say it's been too long, but we both know that'd be a lie." Stein said dryly.

At this comment the man wearing the bear mask began laughing even more outrageously. Clutching his belly with glee the man yelled,

"Oh how I missed your wit!" Walking forward into the house and calming himself down he asked,

"So where is my good buddy Justin?! I hear he's playing host while you're on your secret mission!" Stein inwardly groaned.

Did everyone know?! So much for the secret part.

"Yes, he's in the kitchen. Funny, I didn't know you two were aquainted." Tezca just chuckled, thankfully much quieter than before.

"I've been mentoring the young one ever since he was assigned here a year ago. It isn't easy being a Death Scythe after all. The poor boy seemed so lonely all the time I thought I'd step in." The eccentric man explained.

Stein could easily believe that. Justin did seem rather lonely. Playing his loud music all the time, living in a large empty house, such little interaction with anyone besides Stein himself. Lately even that interaction seemed to be happening less often as Justin spent more and more time either working or in his Death Room doing who knows what, while Stein prepared for his mission.

It was good that the older Death Scythe was looking out for him, although...

"He's never mentioned you." Stein said, keeping his tone neutral. "You'd think he would have if you two were as close as you said."

Tezca's reaction was, as to be expected, over the top. He leapt into the air in shock,

"What!?" He yelled and clutched at his head-mask in horror. "But he's such a nice person! He always listens to what I have to say and never judges me about it. He's very accepting and I consider him a friend! How can he not have mentioned me once?!" Although he was yelling Stein could tell there was no real anger in the mans voice, just slight frustration.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Stein motioned towards the kitchen where Justin was currently residing. "He's right through there." Tezca ran through, his arms making exaggerated running gestures as he sprinted into the kitchen.

"JUSTIN!"

Stein took another long, and much needed, drag on his cigarette and closed the front door before following the Death Scythe at a much more sedated pace. When he entered the kitchen Tezca was sitting in his seat looking across at Justin chatting the poor boys ears off.

"And so when Enrique -he's my meister remember when I told you about him?- showed the poor woman her new haircut and she FREAKED! Hahahaha! You could hear her scream for miles!" He clutched his belly, laughing good-naturedly as Justin continued to stare at him blankly. When Stein entered the kitchen, Justin glanced his way, making Tezca turn to face him.

"You know for Shibusen's greatest meister you sure are slow!" Tezca said teasingly to him. It was impossible to tell his facial expression under that bear mask of his but Stein got the impression the man was grinning at him.

"I'm only slow when I want to be." Stein replied, "Justin can attest to that." Justin smiled,

"Oh yes, only a few minutes ago we were sparring and Stein soundly defeated me! It's clear I still have much to learn about being a Death Scythe!" He was shouting for some reason... Oh yeah, he put his earphones back in earlier.

"Why Justin, you're rather talkative today." Tezca noticed, leaning forward. "And you seem to have become good friends with Dr Stein as well." Justin said nothing. He just stared at the man blankly. Stein raised an eyebrow.

"How come you never mentioned me Justin?" The man asked, before putting a finger to his mask in thought, "I guess you just wanted to remain professional in front of Stein. Yes that makes sense." He held up his palm, "No need to explain my boy, I understand completely!"

It suddenly made sense to Stein, why Justin never mentioned Tezca.

It was so obvious he almost slapped himself for not realising it. Justin could read Steins lips when he spoke, meaning he could still understand the scientist when he had his earphones in. Tezca's mask covered his entire face though, meaning...

Tezca continued to chat at Justin while the boy remained utterly blank, occasionally glancing at Stein in confusion. Stein had to stifle a chuckle and walked over to the boy.

"Justin take out your earphones." He ordered, patting the boy on the shoulder. Tezca stopped dead in the middle of whatever it was he was saying.

"Huh?!" He asked.

Justin blinked for a moment before doing so.

"Why did you want me to take them out?" Stein gestured towards Tezca.

"Are those earphones?" The man asked curiously. "Why what a fantastic invention! How long have you had them? What kind of music do you listen too Justin? I honestly prefer headphones but each to his own I suppose."

"W-what...?" Justin seemed utterly overwhelmed by the strange man.

"I'll let you two get acquainted." Stein said before making his way out of the kitchen door and towards his room. There was no way he was staying near Tezca for too long.

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Tezca asked before it suddenly clicked for him. "Wait! You've been wearing those the whole time-" The door shutting cut him off as Stein began walking up the stairs towards his room. Taking another final drag on his cigarette before throwing it away, Stein sat down at his desk and continued his studies for the interview tomorrow.


Later that evening, as Stein made his way down he saw Justin at the door along with Tezca.

"It was nice to hear you talk to me for once Justin." The man said happily clasping the boy's hand in his own. "I can't believe I never noticed it before."

"That's alright." Justin replied and, much to Stein's shock, smiling at the man.

"I look forward to seeing you again Justin, farewell!" The man waved as he walked out of the door.

"I'd like that. Goodbye." Shutting the door, Justin then leant against it and gave a loud sigh as he relaxed somewhat.

"It went well I presume?" Stein asked, making Justin sigh again.

"He's... a lot to deal with. But... I did enjoy talking with him." He finished after some thought.

"That's good." Stein said.

It was important the boy talked with some people at least; in order to keep him stable. Tezca could, surprisingly enough, provide that stability. Despite what Justin seemed to think, a God could not provide the same support that a friend could. Stein knew that all too well.

If it hadn't been for his friends, Marie and Spirit in particular, eventually even his fear of Death wouldn't have been enough to hold his madness in check. No, in the end it had been his fear of disappointing them. Disappointing those who trusted in him, until eventually that fear of disappointing them morphed into a different fear. The fear of losing their friendship. With that strength, Stein would gladly fight against his madness until the day he died.

"Maybe with enough time, you two will actually become friends, although it will certainly take some time. Now, I have a long day tomorrow, so I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

Having finished speaking, Stein gave a small wave and went back into his room, ready for whatever trials tomorrow would bring. Justin stared after him for a moment before smiling to himself and going off to his own room. Perhaps he could skip evening prayer just this one time.


Stein sorted out his labcoat so that he looked somewhat formal. He gave his screw a good couple of clockwise turns, he didn't want to dissect the man during the interview. That sort of thing could affect his chances of getting hired. After sorting himself out, Stein made his way downstairs and back towards the room where he had first arrived here. It looked exactly the same as he remembered, skulls and Death memorabilia everywhere. Stein checked his watch, it should be time any minute now...

Ping.

Ah there we go. The mirror grew dark and the familiar form of Death appeared.

"Yo! Dr Stein, how've ya been?! Are ya' ready for the interview?" He asked just as bubbly as usual, almost bouncing up and down with excitement.

"Yes Lord Death. I've been preparing myself extensively." The scientist replied dryly.

"That's good to hear. Remember to try and act like one of them. I picked you because I believe that you can do this. Good luck Stein, we're counting on you." And like that the image of the Grim Reaper vanished to be replaced by a black mirror. Experienced at this, Stein started by leaning forward and poking hs head through.

The mirror came out into what looked like a public lavatory. There were empty toilet stalls and urinals. Checking the coast was clear Stein stepped forward.

Bang!

'Ow...' Looking down it turned out he was coming out a mirror located right above a sink.

Ignoring the pain in his knee, Stein carefully climbed over the sink and into the bathroom. Behind him the mirror returned to it's normal colour, reflecting the back of Stein's head.

He cautiously opened the door and took a peak outside. He was in a cheerful-looking place. Lights hung from the ceiling, a warm fire was kindled in the corner and there was a righteous hum in the background as patrons drank and laughed and talked amongst themselves. What was interesting was the attire of the people in question. They were all wearing robes of some description along with quite a few pointy hats.

Pointy hats...really? It was surprisingly stereotypical. He gave his screw a couple of turns. Looking at their souls yielded something interesting. None were any larger than that of a typical humans. They were a darker shade of blue however.

Where normal human souls were a light blue colour, like the sky on a sunny day, these were a darker shade, like the sea. The colours also varied among people, some darker shades and others lighter shades.

'It must be related to their magical power' Stein theorised.

A Witches soul was a dark purple colour whereas these wizards and witches were all different shades of blue. It was rather pretty to look at.

He idly wondered what it would look like when one was strapped to his table. Unable to move, he'd bring the scalpel down. Beautiful shades of blue mixed with wondrous reds and blacks!

Stein gave his screw a couple more turns to be on the safe side. He refused to think about it. He was stronger than that.

He straightened and walked out of the bathroom like he'd only popped in there for a moment. He walked straight to the bar where a young woman was serving drinks. As her latest customer turned away to return to their friends he spoke,

"Excuse me Miss?" She turned towards him and froze. Her eyes turned quickly to the screw in his head and the stitches across his face and his clothes. Stein ignored this with a practiced ease and contiued politely. "I'm looking for a man named Albus Dumbledore. I have an appointment with him soon and I don't want to miss it." Immediately the womans countenance warmed at the mention of Dumbledore's name.

"Ah, you must be the young man he mentioned he'd be interviewing. You...err...certainly look different to the other candidates." At Steins questioning glance, she quickly backtracked. "Younger...I mean. The other ones I saw seemed over fifty."

That was bad. If Stein was going to be getting the job he was going to have to go against some experienced competition. Death had made him look good on paper, but against those who were twice as old as him that would only carry him so far. Stein sighed. Sensing his distress, the barwoman's countenance went straight from awkward to kind,

"Here it's alright. Take a seat. Tell you what, you can have a Butterbeer on the house." Before he could say anything she had waved a stick in the air almost absentmindedly. He watched as a glass behind her floated under a tap, upon which it was filled with some golden substance. The glass then floated in front of him and sat there; just inviting him to drink it.

"Dumbledore is busy interviewing one of the other candidates upstairs as we speak. When she comes down I'll tell you. In the meanwhile, please sit down" The witch seemingly pulled a barstool out of nowhere and Stein, politely obliged her.

"That's very kind of you miss." Stein said happily. He decided playing the nervous new teacher angle might help him here.

"Please call me Rosmerta." She giggled, clearing what little dust was on the counter with a flick of her wand. Stein saw this and inwardly marvelled at the usefulness of such a thing. He took a slight sip of the drink. It tasted of a somewhat watered down version of butterscotch. It wasn't unpleasant.

"My name is Stein. Thank you for the drink, I've come a long way."

"Ah, where are you from?" Rosmerta questioned, leaning forward and looking interested.

"I came from America." It wasn't a lie. Death City was in Nevada. Rosmerta's mouth formed a perfect 'o'.

"Wow! You've come far. You must really want that job." Stein nodded. Time to see if he could insert some of his newfound knowledge into the conversation.

"Yes. I took a portkey to get to Britain of course. I then stayed with a friend for a couple of days before flying all the way here by broomstick." Stein kept up his friendly facade whilst studying her soul carefully for any traces of disbelief.

"That must have been a long trip. You should have used Floo! I keep telling them this town needs a reliable public hook-up but they say 'No. It's too close to Hogwarts and you can always just apparate in if you need too'." She shook her head in annoyance and put her hands on her hips, "I swear, some of those Ministry Officials are just the worst. Don't care about anything other than themselves they don't."

As she chatted on with Stein nodding every now and then when appropriate, he inwardly smiled. He appeared to be fitting in quite well. It looks as if the store Justin bought those books was reliable after all.

'Perhaps the meeting won't be as tense as I thought' Stein comforted himself, glad things seemed to be going his way for once.

The witch Rosmerta seemed very talkative and was utterly taken in by his nervous foreign teacher persona. Her soul, being untrained, was easy for him to read. Her personality, her current emotions, everything was laid utterly bare before him. And she didn't even know it. Unlike the Witches he fought, they seemed utterly unaware of the soul itself. Not only did they not seem to know Soul Protect, they also didn't seem to know how to mask their soul at all. Thus leaving their feelings bare for those people with a skill at Soul Perception to read. People like him, Stein privately chuckled to himself.

"What do you know of Professor Dumbledore then?" Rosmerta asked kindly.

'It seems the bar isn't too busy today' Stein noted as she was still conversing with him.

"Well, I only know what I've read really." Stein admitted, adding just the right touch of nervousness and hesitation. "Tell me, what is the man actually like?"

"Ah, now that would be telling." Rosmerta said teasingly. But then she leaned in like she was about to depart some great secret, "although he is much nicer than you probably think he is. That rule has always kept me in good stead with that man." She said this proudly, like it was an honour to personally know the great Albus Dumbledore. For all Stein knew it probably was.

"Really?" Stein put a touch of innocence and a bit of hopefulness in his voice. "That's a relief. I am a bit nervous to meet him really." That was actually true. If there was anyone who could see through his ruse it would be that man.

"Oh don't you worry you'll do just fine. Oh there she is!" She motioned to a witch who was making her way down the stairs. "He's done with that candidate." She seemed to hiss to herself, "Oh, she doesn't look happy" she mumbled to herself. "Anyway off you pop. He's in room 3-F." With those parting words Stein thanked her and quickly headed up the stairs.

In preparation for the interview Stein decided to act more natural. Putting up such a fake facade was unlikely to fool the greatest wizard alive. He would act like he normally would, hiding his madness of course, and play up that he was foreign. Who knows? The man might actually favour a bit of diversity among his staff. Quickly finding the room, Dr Stein knocked respectfully.

"Do come in" said a voice from the other side. Opening the door Stein found himself in a small bare room with a desk in the middle and an old man with a long beard seated on the other end.

"Ah, you must be Mr Stein." The old man stood up to shake his hand in a warm, friendly manner.

"And you must be the esteemed Professor Dumbledore" Stein said in his usual dry tone firmly grasping the old man's hand. He was rather tall with blue eyes that twinkled in a manner which made Stein uncomfortable. He had a long crooked nose, it had clearly been broken at least once in his life. He wore half-moon spectacles and was clothed in robes of a deep purple colour. As their hands retracted Stein took a quick peek at the man's soul.

Ah...now that was interesting.

It was a large, much larger than any of the other patrons in the bar. It just about encompassed his whole body and was a light purple colour. Also unlike the others, there were further details. Symbols and structures attached to it. Something you only see in souls very firm in their particular beliefs.

A strange symbol, a triangle with what looked like a circle inside it with a single vertical line going through, stood on one part. Along with many other ancient looking runes circling his soul, whose meanings Stein couldn't even begin to guess.

"Ah, do forgive me for sitting down" Dumbledore apologised, slowly sitting down. "I'm not as young as I used to be."

"And yet you still got up to shake my hand." Stein said, "I'm honoured." To his great surprise the old wizard chuckled.

"You are different to the others" he said with good humour and a hint of surprise. "When I read your name was Mr Franken Stein, I didn't expect the resemblance to be so uncanny."

He was referring to the novel of course, which was surprising since it was, as far as Stein knew, written by a muggle. Shibusen allowed you to sign up with whatever name you wanted. Stein had been with Spirit at the time and when the red-headed boy suggested the name Frankenstein since Stein always wore stitched clothes and had silver-grey hair. Misunderstanding him, Stein had then done exactly that.

The look on Spirit's face when he told him he signed up as Franken Stein still gave him chuckles to this very day.

"My parents weren't very imaginative." Stein deadpanned sitting down opposite Dumbledore. The old man's eyes twinkled,

"Ah yes, I can guess. When I was young I once knew a chap who was named Fartickles. He got quite cross whenever anyone reminded him of that fact." Stein smirked and relaxed a little. It was clear the headmaster was using humour to try and put him at ease. Strangely enough it was working.

"I'd imagine so." Stein agreed giving him a friendly smile.

"Now from what I remember your qualifications certainly are impressive; especially for one so young." Dumbledore complimented.

"Thank you" Stein responded sincerely.

"You may not be aware but I also received a letter of recommendation from your previous headmaster." Stein's eyes widened in surprise.

"My previous headmaster?" There was only one person that could be. Clearly Lord Death had put more on his form then he had been told.

"Why yes." Dumbledore observed him over his spectacles. "He seemed rather fond of you, describing you as rather prodigal in your subject. It's good that you find it important to cultivate a healthy respect for muggles. Personally, I feel we don't appreciate them enough. Sherbet Lemon?" He offered forth a small yellow sweet that sat there innocently in the palm of his hand.

Stein declined, not overly fond of sweets. The Headmaster quickly popped the sweet into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. Stein decided to go out on a limb.

"I've always found them rather like us." Stein said neutrally, his yellow eyes locking onto Dumbledore's electic blue. "Some good, some bad. Honestly there seems to be little difference." Something in Dumbledore's eyes twinkled at that, a vague interest perhaps or a silent agreement.

"But there are differences" The Headmaster stated, or was it question? Stein couldn't tell.

"Yes," here the scientist paused, thinking about it. He gave his screw a couple of turns absentmindedly as he thought. Dumbledore barely blinked at this. "We are far more easily tempted to do wrong."

Stein cast his mind back to his past experiences at Shibusen. Interacting with normal humans on missions, people who were weak. He could have done what he willed with them, torn them apart. They couldn't have stopped him. It would have been like fighting children. "When there is no fear of consequence, corruption takes hold." If it hadn't been for his fear of Lord Death, his fear of being placed on that dreaded list, he would have slaughtered without abandon.

"So fear is all that keeps people doing good? Fear is what keeps us separate from the Dark?" Dumbledore questioned in a strange tone.

"Not necessarily. I find that the bonds we make between each other are what define us. What we are willing to do to keep those bonds strong, what actions we take. That is what shows us who we truly are."

Stein wasn't an unrepentant murderer. Nature may have intended him to take that path, by gifting him with such a powerful madness, but he would fight against it with everything he had. He would fight against it for Marie, for Spirit, for Justin and even for little Maka.

"We can all be unbelievably dangerous if we choose to be. But it is that choice that decides who we are." Long ago Stein chose not to be a murderer. It was difficult, unbelievably hard at first.

As cliché as it sounded, it was only because of the bonds he had made with others that he succeeded. They all saw something in him, something Stein himself to this day doesn't fully understand, but they saw something in him worth saving.

Dumbledore's eyes were no longer twinkling, instead they were a deep piercing blue colour. For the first time since he met the wizard, Stein was able to remind himself that this old man, for all his strangeness, was both powerful and wise beyond measure.

"My, my you certainly are different." He seemed to murmur to himself, before the twinkling was back and a kind old smile placed itself back onto the wizards face.

Stein inwardly tensed. He had let out a little more than he had intended too. He gave his screw a couple more turns, vowing not to let his guard down again around this strange old man.

"It's good you have such a strong sense of responsibility." Dumbledore said kindly. "As the muggle saying goes; with great power comes a great responsibility, I believe."

Stein chuckled, "It seems they're always a few steps ahead of us in that regard." They both chuckled a little. However neither took their eyes off of the other, both silently reassessing their first opinions of the other.

The rest of the interview passed quickly. In a calm manner Dumbledore questioned Stein on his experiences with muggles. Since he was posing as a half-blood -because being muggle-born wouldn't explain his fascination with muggles and being pure-blood could easily be found out via family treses- he explained that he had always wanted to figure out how muggles got by in their day-to-day lives without relying on magic. How they were so powerful without having a single drop of magical blood in their veins, and so on and so forth.

It was rather pointless since both of them had put up their boundaries. It had become obvious to Stein that they had both let slip more than they had intended to. Stein hadn't meant to express as much of his own personal views, whereas Dumbledore hadn't meant to show as much of an interest as he clearly did. Now the barriers were back up and they chatted with each other meaninglessly, each learning nothing.

About ten minutes later Dumbledore seemed to have silently reached some sort of decision.

"Yes, America tends to rely less on the instruction of pure-blood wizarding families." Stein said, putting his aquired knowledge to good use. It was clearly something Dumbledore already knew, but in the interest of politeness the man let Stein speak. "We're a less developed magical community, relative to that of say Britain, and some people tend to be a bit too lax in maintaining the International Statute of Secrecy."

"And what is your opinion on the matter?" Dumbledore questioned,

"I think that the muggles will find out eventually -they always do- and that steps should be taken in advance so that the initial coming together of our worlds won't be quite as world-shaking for them or us. When that will be is something I have little clue on" Stein finished rather pleased with himself. He was sounding convincingly like a wizard!

Dumbledore nodded,

"Yes, our previous muggle-studies teacher thought much the same thing. He'll now be teaching Defence against the Dark Arts this year and good luck to him." Dumbledore glanced at his watch. Instead of numbers there were planets and instead of two hands there were five.

"Oh Merlin, is that the time?!" He was actually surprised. "How it flies when discussing such interesting matters. Now, my Deputy will most likely be rather annoyed wih me for this, but I shall be doing it anyway." Dumbledore stood up.

"Professor Stein, please allow me the honour of being the first to say; welcome to Hogwarts." The great wizard smiled kindly, the perfect picture of a jolly old man.

Stein let his shock show on his face. He'd honestly thought he'd messed up at the beginning. He'd accidentally hinted that he was more dangerous than he should be! Yet he was still being hired!?

"Why...thank you. It's an honour." Stein admitted, also standing up in order to shake the wizards hand.

"An owl will be sent to you with all the necessary details of your employment." The great wizard began, "I look forward to seeing you on the 1st September, when term starts."

"Thank you sir. It was...pleasant chatting with you." Stein turned around to leave. He shut the door behind him and walked down the stairs. The bar was almost empty, only Rosmerta and a few others were still there.

Acting stealthily he quickly slipped into the bathroom before she could notice him and inevitably try to talk to him again. He ran to the sink and splashed some water on his sweaty face; his hands were shaking from restraining his desire to dissect the man. He needed a smoke, badly.

Stein quickly composed himself, there would be time for that later, and breathed on the mirror.

Raising a finger he quickly wrote: 42-42-564.

Ping!

The mirror glowed white, revealing Death's comforting presence.

"Yo, yo! Hello Stein! What's the news? How'd it go?!" Death asked happily, bouncing up and down. Stein let out a shaky breath.

"Mission accomplished. I've been accepted into Hogwarts as the new Muggle Studies teacher."

"Excellent work Stein! I knew you had it in you!" Death congratulated. "Now get some rest and tomorrow we'll discuss what else is needed to be done."

"Very well sir." Stein said, thankful for the break. The figure of Death vanished, once again leaving the mirror a pure black colour. Eager to leave, Stein climbed over the sink and into the mirror. After he had vanished the mirror returned to it's original properties.

Just in time for Professor Dumbledore to enter the bathroom.

"Oh, Professor Stein? Hate to bother you but-hmm?" Dumbledore paused, looking around the small windowless room. There was no sign of the man whom Rosmerta was sure had just entered the bathroom.

He waved his wand. To an ordinary man, nothing much happened. All that could be seen was an old man waving a stick in the air. He then muttered to himself,

"Not invisible, untraceable." He left the bathroom. "Madam Rosmerta -forgive me- but may I enquire as to the status of your anti-disapparation jinxes?"

"No need to apologise Professor." Rosmerta replied waving her wand. She then tilted her head as if listening to something. "They're all going strong Professor. Why do you ask?"

The powerful wizard stroked his beard thoughtfully,

"Oh no particular reason. Only, perhaps this year will be even more interesting than I thought it would be."

With that said, he bid good day to Rosmerta and strolled out of the Inn; where he promptly vanished.


A/N: So what do you think? Was everyone in character? Are you interested in the fic? If you have any ideas or comments, leave a review and let me know.

I'll be trying to update this once a week, but I have no set days due to my other fic taking up most of my time.

Hope you enjoyed, see you next week for the next chapter!