Disclaimer: I still do not own Harry Potter or 07 Ghost; the people I hired to steal and transfer the rights to me have not gotten back to me yet.
AN: I am starting to veer slightly away from cannon in a few discreet areas. This story will be centered on Hariel. While we all love Teito and if you've read the manga you've seen were things have gotten with out the resistance, I want to see what I can reasonably tweak with a resistance in place.
That's not to say Hariel won't be interacting with Frau and Teito later, he will but there are just some places that it would stretch things a little too much with Hariel there as well as Capella. (and I happen to love the cuddly Capella).
Though I am toying of the idea of Hariel catching a ride to Carl-sama's base near the Raggs palace, I am thinking of having Hariel liberate or according to Carl-sama (steal) all the merchandise (slaves) aboard the ship minus the Raggs twins, I can't mess with those two they have a set purposing he manga and I don't know enough to tweak them yet.
Word count for the story its self this chapter is 3960 words! Enjoy!
.-.
Chapter Two: Of Bishop Examinees and Murderous Beginnings
In the week since 'The Incident', as the run with Frau was dubbed, Hariel had settled in nicely to his temporary position in the church. He had made friends with the nuns, a few bishops, and examinees alike. He also had all the gossipers noted and was in their good books so anything remotely interesting or suspicious was bound to come his way. That way, he could investigate the rumors to find the truth. Other than that things were going painfully slow, it seemed that those who did know something were being very tight-lipped with the information. Added to the fact that church members did not partake of alcohol of any kind, the job was down right infuriating.
Hariel had a hard time keeping in the urge to go to the nearest wall and bang his head against it until there was a dent or he got a concussion, which ever came first. On top of all the tight-lipped difficulty, he was under cover as a sixteen year old; this was going to give him ulcers. He was nineteen damn it! Granted, he was an extremely mature nineteen-year-old. He had always been way too mature for his age. Having to care for ones self as a child tended to have that effect. Now he had to act like an average hyper idiotic teenager with nothing but food and hormones on his mind. Hariel was starting to regret ever going on this assignment.
Still, it did him no good to internally complain and sulk. Though it did make him feel slightly better, no, he had a job to do that was of vital importance. Finding out what had the military itching to invade the church was a huge deal. One that, for all the trouble it was giving him, he wouldn't trust to anyone but himself. The loud CLANG from the bell tower caught his attention. It was time for breakfast. Now he had to go brave the masses to eat. Joy.
Despite all Hariel's internal complaining about the job, he really did enjoy the church and the life he could have led there. In another life, he would have been happy to spend his days here as a healer. The friendly almost family environment spoke to the part of his soul fostered by his 'care' at the hands of the Dursleys; Hariel's want for a loving family.
It was something the Weasleys had only pretended to give him, save Fred and George. Something Anita and Claire for all of six months had given him unconditionally. The church felt warm and loving. The orphaned children were becoming like younger siblings to him and he an older sibling to them. Much to his chagrin and everyone else's amusement, many of the children had taken to following Hariel around like ducklings would their mother. As much as he hated to admit it, this place was growing on him at an alarming rate and once his mission was complete, it would be hard to leave.
Hariel had arrived late to breakfast and seeing the amount of luck he had, there was only one seat available. It was a seat next to an examinee. The kid was small, probably as short as he was. He had messy short brown hair and green eyes slightly darker than his own. Hell, if Hariel cut his hair the same length they could possibly pass as siblings or at least cousins.
Mentally shrugging, Hariel smiled to his seatmate and started in on his eye stew. Though the fish themselves looked disconcerting, the dish was very good.
"Pass the bread please." Hariel said to his seatmate. "Sure." was the muffled reply. The poor kid had some bread of his own in his mouth. Obviously, the kid was hurrying his breakfast to go cram text from the ridiculously long scriptures into his head. The exam was only a few weeks away, after all.
Thus began a silent meal between the two. Neither Hariel nor the kid wishing to talk as they had so many tasks to complete with almost no time to complete them. Or that was the case until one long blond haired examinee sat down on Hariel's other side.
"Hey kid you never told me you had a sibling," was said in lieu of a greeting to the two.
"Eh?" was the double and simultaneous reply. The blonde gave the two a look. "This is your older brother, isn't he, kid? Why don't you follow him around instead of me?" He asked a slight smirk on his face. "He is the same height as you; shortness must run in the family." (1)
While the newly dubbed Teito was swelling about to give a retort, Hariel took the chance to give a sharp verbal jab back. "Firstly, we are not related in any sense of the word. I am an orphan and every member of my family, save myself, is dead. Secondly you are one to be talking, Mister Oak, as from the experience I have had dealing with your family, all of them except one were narcissistic bastards, Lady Oak being the only one to gain any of my respect. I guess the family arrogance and idiocy passed on to you as well. Such a pity."
Without giving the brat the chance for a reply, Hariel grabbed another roll and stood from the table. "If you'll excuse me, I have a lot of work to do so behave yourselves kiddies!" With an innocent smile, Hariel walked away from the pair ruffling several kids' hair as he went inciting playful squawks of indignation from the kids.
.-.
It didn't take Hariel long to feel bad for the things he said to the Oak brat. Sure, he was being a pain but insulting someone family was a low blow. Hariel had, in this life, only sunk so low on four occasions, now he could count sinking that low on five. Though he felt bad for doing it, the Oak child had opened himself and his family for jibes of that sort while bringing up his family as well as Teito's. He had no idea what Teito's family was like or if he even had one, but for him an orphan whose only living relatives had treated him like scum for something he could not control, his family had always been a sore spot. The people at Hogwarts had learned quickly not to make jabs at Harry Potter's family due to his volatile reactions. While as Hariel, he had mellowed out considerably, that was the one thing that hadn't and most likely would never change.
It seemed like things after the rather explosive morning were going to continue as normal. The infirmary director had been delighted with the quality of the herbal remedies Hariel had created and much to his chagrin, put Hariel in charge of helping the younger apprentices with their medicine making.
After an hour of working with them, he understood why. The man had been practically leaping with joy after assigning him to teach his younger apprentice brethren, he assumed it was so he could work on something else; how very wrong that was.
They were absolutely horrible. They were worse than Neville Longbottom and Ronald Weasley working together on a highly explosive potion. Needless to say, their herbal remedies were more likely to kill you than heal you. Hariel was getting a headache. This was going to be a very long day and he had the distinct feeling that Snape was laughing at him from beyond the grave, the vindictive bastard!
It was only after one of the students presented with a cut balm that was absolutely lethal that he called it a day, assigning the children a twenty-five page essay on the proper steps and herb usages of medicine and why it was absolutely necessary to get them right to be handed in for grading to the head healer. The man couldn't yell at him for that, after all Hariel had never learned to read in this world.
As far as everyone was concerned, he was illiterate. Something he admittedly needed to work on. Maybe he could ask one of the nuns or one of the older bishops for some help with that. It was a blow to his pride but the written language here bore no resemblance to English or any other written language he had seen in his original world.
Also it was rather important that he as the resistance leader be able to read. He couldn't keep relying on Guren to read the reports to him. Life was short and the lives of soldier and resistance members alike tended to be cut short by a couple of decades as it was.
It was some time after lunch when the commotion in the church began. If the rumors were to be believed a woman infected with a kor had come seeking help from one of the bishops. Sure enough, the gossip turned out to be true this time.
In a side room, a large gathering of fully fledged bishops, apprentice bishops, and examinees alike were gathered around one assistant Arch Bishop Bastien who was using his healing zaiphon to exorcize a kor from the young woman. The exorcism was completely successful. Bastien used his healing zaiphon to exterminate the kor with out hurting the young woman at all. It was a perfect exorcism, a testament to the man's skill, dedication and mastery of both his zaiphon and his bascule. To his credit, Bastien just smiled up at the observers. "That concludes class for today. Those with questions may stop by my room later." With that, the man turned and left the crowd to disperse.
The only ones staying for the moment, it seemed, was Teito and Hariel. Teito, seemingly from amazement at what he had just witnessed and Hariel, his duty to take the patient up to the infirmary to nurse her back to health from the damage to kor had done to her body while inhabiting it.
The idea that they were alone was broken by a voice. "Oh my, I see you're busy studying, Teito-kun!" A voice said.
A quick glance at the others in the room them to be the three bishops Hariel had seen so often. Bishop Castor, the tall brown haired man with glasses and the maker of the evil doll from last week. Bishop Frau was the tallest he was blonde and an almost legendary pervert. The third bishop, Labrador, Hariel had only met in passing in the gardens all in all Hariel's opinion of this Bishop was the highest. At least the man wasn't responsible for evil work ruining dolls or a pervert who had mistaken him for a woman. Yes, by far, bishop Labrador was his favorite.
With a mental shrug Hariel proceeded to pretend to ignore them while checking on his soon to be patient's vitals. Though eavesdropping on them turned out useless for the moment as when Teito asked a question about how Bastien had exorcised the kor. Bishop Castor went into an explanation of the different types of zaiphon and how they were utilized to fight or exterminate kor.
As their discussion ended, Hariel's theory was proved that eavesdropping on that conversation had turned out completely useless. Minutes after they left, other apprentice healers came to help him take the women up to the infirmary.
Though the conversation he had overheard had been trivial, at best, it did give him a slight clue. It was highly unusual for three fairly high ranking bishops to have such a close relationship with one examinees, and if the gossip was to be believed, and he had gotten it from the source the sisters Libelle, Athena, and Rosalie who had not only been there at the main incident in question but various other incidents as well.
The undoubted truth was the boy Teito was in truth a runaway combat sklave. On top of that his best friend had been killed in front of him. Not so unlike Cedric dying in front of him during the third task. Hariel truly felt for the kid.
It was also after Teito's arrival that kor incidents in the church grounds, which before were unheard of, have started to occur on a regular basis. What was it about this Teito kid that attracted kor to him like bees to honey. Also was this in anyway related to the military's scrutiny and seeming infiltration of the church? One mere combat sklave wasn't worth the trouble the military was going through. The lines were being blurred. What would the church have that both the military and kor were after? It seemed it could be the child Teito, but it could be so much more than that. It was times like these that Hariel would kill to have a Ravenclaw at his side to help him puzzle it out. The pieces were coming together, but he was missing a large piece of the puzzle, the piece that made all the clues make since. Without that one piece, you could see the connection but it was like trying to see through mud. Completely and utterly pointless.
He could ponder this mystery later however. Now he wanted to catch up to Bastien-sama (2). The man seemed to be a competent, as well as kind, teacher. Also, he was one of the older members of the clergy and less likely to laugh at his illiteracy as apposed to the younger generation.
Hariel caught the man as he was leaving the library. "Um, excuse me, Bastien-sama?" Hariel called in a for once truthfully timid voice.
Bastien turned towards him and smiled kindly. "Yes how can I help you, young man?" He asked. It was then Hariel was struck with a heavy wave of embarrassment. He had never been good with asking people for help. Another trait from the Dursleys' so ingrained in him, it would likely take decades of his now very long life span to get out of his system. "Um, well, Bastien-sama, I was wondering if…well… I was wondering… Do you know someone who could teach me to read?" Hariel all but blurted out, leaving him, a proud young man, red with embarrassment and suddenly finding his shoes very interesting.
Hariel half expected to hear laughter at his question but when he heard none he looked up. Bastien was smiling kindly at him. There was no distain or condemnation in his face, just a gentle understanding of his plight as if he had seen many others in his situation before.
"I'm sure, young man, I can find you a teacher. In fact, when neither of us is busy, I can help you." Bastien offered with the same kind smile on his face. He turned to walk away but paused and turned back. "By the way, what's your name?" Hariel was speechless for a moment before he found his voice.
"H-Hariel, Bastien-sama, my name is Hariel, and thank you!" was Hariel's startled but grateful reply.
"Alright see you tomorrow afternoon at three in the library, Hariel." was all that was said.
Hariel stood, stunned for a moment, before the first true smile in months graced his face. He was going to learn to read! Hopefully, it wouldn't be overly hard. Though he had accomplished many things after coming to this world, being able to read was not one of them. For some, it wouldn't seem like a big deal, but for Hariel it was not only the promise of being even more independent, nor the promise of being able to take the Resistance even further with this knowledge. It was a matter of personal pride to him. He was starting things to better this world, but with this step, he was bettering himself in the process as well.
With a spring in his step, Hariel headed back towards the garden. He could dwell on the future later, for now, the infirmary had a shortage of cut balms and cold remedies and he'd be damned if the infirmary master wouldn't want twice the amount as usual after seeing his skills. With that, Hariel headed, once again, towards the gardens, grumbling good-naturedly about lazy head healers and their slave driver ways.
.-.
-Later that night-
Despite the exciting start of the day, the night seemed to have lulled into a calm. Though, that did not mean Hariel wasn't on alert. First, it was his assigned shift to run the infirmary; second, he was here as a spy, and a spy must never fully relax while on a mission.
Hariel was starting to respect Severus Snape more and more with what the man had gone through with. Third, and most important, with both kor and the military interested in what ever they were in the church, no one was safe. The aura around the church was darkening by the second; he could feel it. The flowers, his confidants, were whispering to him. Their whispers were full of fear and things of evil times to come. The flora and fauna (3) were always the first to know everything; only fools did not heed their warnings.
His fears were proved not long after when the two examinees he had met earlier in the day came barreling in with one of the repentant criminals, Aldo, in their arms. "Healer! He collapsed! He was fine one minute, then grabbing his throat and drooling, and then he collapsed!" Hariel paled helping the two boys get the man in bed. The symptoms they had described were congruent to poison. Sure enough, the evidence was conclusive Aldo had been given a poison that took a few hours to activate in the blood stream. After an hour of frantic working, Aldo's condition had been stabilized.
By that time Arch Bishop Jio, Assistant Arch Bishop Bastian as well as the infirmary head were there with the two boys that had brought Aldo in. After making sure Aldo was alright, Hariel turned and gave an abbreviated bow.
"Sirs, master (4), Aldo was the victim of a slow acting poison that centered on the asphyxiation or smothering of the victim. His symptoms were drooling, swelling of the airways, and constriction of the throat muscles. He is now in stable condition and should be alright with in the hour. However this was no accident. The poison Aldo ingested was of a professional grade. If he had arrived a minute later he would be dead." Hariel said in a forced calm tone. It would be an out right lie to say he wasn't shaken from the turn of events.
On top of everything, he now had to worry about murder attempts. Hariel, with shaking hands, handed over his notes and observations to the head healer who confirmed what Hariel had said. After thanking the boys for saving Aldo's life they were dismissed and the two bishops left while the infirmary head told Hariel to take the night off to calm his nerves.
It was shortly after while Hariel was walking down the hall when he passed the two bishops from earlier that day, Bishops Labrador and Castor. "Young man, can you wait a moment, please," called a gentle voice. Hariel turned to see Bishop Labrador beckoning him over. "You were the one who diagnosed and treated Aldo, right?" The man said in a gentle voice. Hariel nodded silently. "Is it true it was poison?"
Hariel looked the man in the eyes. "Yes it was a deliberate poisoning… things were not as they seem." was Hariel's quiet reply.
Bishop Castor looked down at Hariel, his glasses glistening. "Apparently they aren't, but the poisoning isn't all you are referring to is it?" was his reply.
Normally Hariel would have played dumb and gotten out of the situation as quickly as he could. However, his instincts, which were always right, were telling him to come clean to these two. They felt safe, and had a purity to their aura that couldn't be found at all in human beings. They were the exact opposites of what that military man had felt like all those months ago. They felt light, pure and good as opposed to heavy oily and evil.
"No, it's not. Though things seem calm here, there is subtle turbulence underneath the calm exterior. For the first time in history, kors are specifically targeting the church or to be more exact something or someone, or even both. The same can be said for the military. They have their eyes set on this church and something here in, when it is a major law that the military and the emperor himself stay out of church affairs. A dark evil is stirring the winds whisper of disasters and the plants speak of terror and danger." As Hariel paused in his monologue, he glanced at the two bishops who, while not looking at him, were listening avidly.
Deeming it the right time to drop the proverbial bomb, Hariel continued. "The humans can not sense any more than a faint under lying feeling of dread, but that's only if they are overly perceptive, so to the majority of them it goes unnoticed. To nonhumans such as myself, the two of you, and Frau," Hariel noticed stiffening in their frames at this, "It is like thick smog, inescapable." He glanced at the two before turning to go back to his duties. "Beware for these days, the walls have grown ears and nowhere and no one is safe."
With that, Hariel continued on his way. Hopefully, his instincts were right. This would hopefully lead him to the final piece of the puzzle. What Hariel would find out much too late was this would open a can of worms for him. Hariel might not be Harry Potter anymore, but the Potter luck still stuck to him like glue.
.-.
* With Ayanami*
(5)
The Black Hawks were reclining on a couch in their common room while Ayanami sat across from them, as stoic as ever. While they seemed totally relaxed, Hyuuga was excited; Aya-tan was planning something again!
"Aya-tan, I bet you're thinking of doing something fun again aren't you? You are such a tease! Poor Teito Klein's got a scary enemy now, as does my new toy that's at the church as well. So what are you doing next?" asked Hyuuga with a happy demeanor.
Ayanami was just as impassive as ever. "I've already set my plan into motion," was his stoic reply.
.-.
* At the same time at the Church*
Things had taken a definite turn for the worse. Aldo, who quickly recovered from his poisoning, had volunteered to guard the gate that night. The man was found a mere hour later brutally murdered by Sister Rosalie. He was covered in and surrounded by bloody words, written in zaiphon, and were carved into his chest. Hariel, who had rushed to the scene with the rest of the medical staff to see if anything could be done, was beyond shaken.
The flowers were screaming in fear. This was only the beginning of the terror; the worst had yet to come. More than just murder was in the works. The time of evil and danger, the flowers were warning him and all else who could hear them, was almost here. One thing was certain however; Hariel needed to finish his work at this church and get out of here as soon as possible. It wouldn't do to be captured. He wanted to be long gone before the military got the go ahead to invade the church.
Hariel needed to speak to those three bishops tonight.
.-.
*With Ayanami *(6)
Ayanami smiled darkly, knowing that the body had already been discovered. With a wicked red gleam shown brightly in his eyes, Ayanami said to seemingly no one, "Sweet Dreams…"
.-.
End Chapter Two
AN: Ok this is the beginning of the whole Bastien thing. I did take some license last chapter and introduce of the Frau dolls early but I needed a way to introduce Hariel to the cannon characters with out being overly intrusive. This is also where I will start to move a little bit from cannon, mainly stretching some thing to fit Hariel in. No major changes will be made but I do need to get Hariel in with out completely butchering the entire story. But things will change a bit with Hariel. Don't worry Hariel won't be super powered in any way shape or form. From what I have seen wandless magic in Harry Potter is damn near impossible and it takes year for those able to do it to Master it. Hariel has been using wandless magic for about three and a half years and he only has first year magic down pat.
I have a poll up that will be up until the Twenty Third of April (by American standards) It is in regards to how important Ayanami thinks Hariel is I.E his obsession level. Because we all know Aya-tan is obsessive.
Though count on it that Hyuuga really wants to get his hands on Hariel if, for no other reason, than to have a new toy. Hyuuga likes anything that catches his attention and Hariel, with all his mysteries, has nearly all Hyuuga's attention.
Ok on to the footnotes!
(1) Teito and Hakuren are at this point far from friends they are still in the insult/ provoke him state of mind in regards to each other, they will however become friends in the next chapter or the chapter after that.
(2) Bastian's personality is similar to Labrador's (for those who have not finished anime or read manga skip to the next note!) At this point we don't know he's using dark magic to control kor and his aura is suppressed to the point that the ghost can't sense him. This plot point does have a reason don't worry
(3) Flora- plant life
Fauna- animal life
You can tell a lot about what's going on why watching these two. For example animals run before tsunamis and head to higher ground. Etc
(4) Yet again this is in reference to master and apprentice not master and sklave.
(5) Taken from anime dialogue (episode 12) the only thing added to it is the bit about Hariel
(6) Dialogue taken directly from cannon dialogue (episode 12)
