Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater or Harry Potter

Chapter 4: Maka

"How are you in the girls' room?" Hermione asked, her face a mask of complete surprise.

The man with the evil on his soul smiled. I wanted to run and push my new friends out of the way, but there was no way I could defeat him without Soul here. I also had to keep my cover. He wasn't hurting them yet. I would just have to keep my eye on him. "I asked McGonagall to take down the barriers for a few minutes so I could surprise Ginny," he explained.

"She actually agreed?" Hermione said, indignant and surprised now.

"I was surprised too," came the explanation.

"Well, we better get out of here soon before the barrier comes back up," Ginny said, taking the man by the hand and leading him to the door. That's when she saw me. I gathered my composure and smiled at the obvious couple. They went right by me and went down the stairs. I wanted to follow them, but I knew I couldn't, not right away. Not without looking suspicious.

"Who was that?" I asked Hermione when they were out of sight. I was ashamed that my voice was a little shaky when I spoke.

Hermione looked at me in shock. "You don't know who he is?" I shook my head. "He is Harry Potter. He defeated Voldemort, and the only one to survive the death curse once, let alone twice. He is rather famous amongst the witches and wizards here in England."

I looked after him. How was it that we were supposed to protect this Harry Potter, but he had an evil attached to his soul? Why was that there? Did he turn to the path of the demon when he defeated the other evil? Did he want what Voldemort had? Yes, keeping an eye on him would be for the best. I might have a chat with the headmistress about this, too.

"Huh, I knew our small town was known not to care about outsider information, but it is ridiculous to have never heard about that," I said, shaking my head. "I wonder what else the Elders have kept from us." The other girls from the Academy gave me a funny look. Luckily, Hermione was only looking at me.

Hermione shrugged. "It was the biggest news just about ever in the wizarding world if that's anything to go by. They might be keeping a lot from you."

I sighed in faux exasperation. "I knew it," I said quietly, and left the room. I hoped it sounded like we had trouble where we from, rather than I was trying to gain information on her friend. Tsubaki went after me.

"What was that all about, Maka?" she asked as we walked down the stairs.

"I think this Harry Potter may be one of the followers," I said in an almost whisper. "He had some sort of evil on his soul, but it wasn't a Kishin egg. That doesn't mean anything, unfortunately. The evil was still there; it just hasn't consumed his soul yet."

"You can't be serious!" Tsubaki exclaimed, almost too loud. She seemed to realize this and lowered her voice. "Isn't he one of the people on the list?"

I nodded. "I don't know why he has that evil on his soul. I plan to talk to McGonagall about this. Until then, I will keep an eye on him," I explained.

"And that's why we are going downstairs? To find Ginny and Harry?" she asked. I nodded again.

"I need to get Soul first, though," I said. "Just in case." I know I could have used Tsubaki if worse came to worst, but since Soul was my weapon partner, I used him better than anyone else. Besides, it was easier to resonate souls with him than Tsubaki.

She nodded. "I can get…Blake to come too," she said, hesitating to say her meister's new name.

I smiled. "That would be perfect," I said as we walked up to the guys' door. I knocked and Soul answered.

"What's up?" he asked in his normal bored tone.

"I think I found a follower," I told him. "Mind getting Black- I mean Blake for Tsubaki?"

"Hey Blake!" Soul called over his shoulder. "Let's leave Kid to his studying. I think we can handle one follower on our own."

Black Star soon came into view. "Let's go!" he cried, pulling Tsubaki along down the stairs. I rolled my eyes at Black Star's enthusiasm for fighting. He had obviously overheard the conversation between Soul and myself.

Soul and I followed them at our own pace. When we finally reached the last step of the tower, we saw Tsubaki trying to keep a hold on her meister, telling him to calm down and stay put. We moved to a darker part of the room, lurking in the shadows to stay out of view.

"Where is this follower?" Soul asked.

I saw him sitting in one of the comfy chairs, sitting across from Ginny, but they had pulled the chairs very close together. "He's the one with Ginny," I said, trying not to make it too obvious that I we were all staring at him.

Soul peeked over at him. "He doesn't look like a follower of an evil wizard," he said.

"There's something else," I told him. "This is Harry Potter. He is on the list of people we need to protect, but I swear there is something on his soul that is evil. I can't really describe it, but it's definitely there. I'm sure Kid would say the same thing if he saw it."

Soul looked at me now. "Are you sure it isn't something else?"

"Positive."

"One of us should go to McGonagall, then," he said.

I nodded in agreement. I looked over to Tsubaki and Black Star, who obviously wanted a fight. "Maybe we should send Tsubaki and Black Star to go," I suggested. "Black Star looks like he is about to punch the guy in the face."

Soul chuckled at this and agreed. I leaned over to the other meister and weapon duo. "Okay, so you guys are going to go talk McGonagall, alright?" I told them. "We need this resolved quickly, and you are the fastest runner, Blake. Soul and I will keep an eye on him."

Black Star smiled cockily. "Of course I am!" he said quietly and left Soul and I standing there, Tsubaki trailing after him.

"What's next?" Soul asked once Tsubaki and her meister were out of sight.

"We wait to see if he does anything," I told him. "Hopefully, they don't leave this place for somewhere more private. He nodded, and we were silent, simply watching the couple from our hiding spot.

It felt like an hour before Black Star and Tsubaki got back. Tsubaki just shook her head and made a gesture that said "follow me" once she walked up to us. We reluctantly did so. I didn't want to leave Ginny alone in the hands of this Harry Potter, but if Tsubaki thought it was alright, then it should be okay.

We followed her up in the guys' room, closing the door behind us. "McGonagall told us that Harry is not an evil person. She is completely sure of this. She told us that Voldemort hit Harry with a spell when he was an infant, and the Dark Lord somehow left part of his soul in Harry, a Horcrux she called it. Anyway, she said that even though the Horcrux had been destroyed with Lord Voldemort, there was probably a faint imprint left on Harry's soul, and that is why you thought he was evil. Nothing to worry about."

I took this all in. Was that even possible? I had never heard of such a thing, but I suppose it could be possible. Still, I don't think I would let Harry too far out of my sight for a while, just to be sure.

"Now that that's settled," Soul said. "Maybe we can introduce ourselves to the guy. I mean, we do need to protect him still."

I nodded. "You coming too, Kid?" I asked.

He looked up from his book. "Oh, I suppose I should," he said, closing the book.

We headed back down to the common area. We met Harry and Ginny on their way back down the stairs. "Hey Ginny!" I said a little awkwardly. "Who is this?"

She blushed a light shade of red and said, "This is my boyfriend Harry Potter." She in turn introduced all of us to him.

"So are you going to Hogwarts, too?" Tsubaki asked kindly.

"Oh, no!" Harry said. "I already have a good job within the Ministry of Magic."

Tsubaki smiled and nodded like she understood. I didn't though. Soul and I were still enrolled in the DWMA even though he was a death scythe. Then again, I did want to be a three star meister, and I'm sure Soul wanted to be a three star weapon. Still, you would think he would want to get his last year of schooling out of the way. I would.

I was still bothered by this Harry Potter's soul. It seemed too convenient that McGonagall had an excuse for the evil on his soul. I think that is why the next words that flew out of my mouth were so cruel sounding. "You didn't think you had to learn anymore, or something?"

The only ones who didn't look at me like I was crazy were Black Star and Soul. Black Star didn't care enough about what was going on around him to notice, and Soul could read my soul wavelength. He knew I was still suspicious of Harry. "Maka takes school very seriously," Soul explained my attitude. "The fact she is even away from a textbook right now is a miracle."

I wanted to glare at him, but I refrained, simply because I knew he was saving my butt right now. "It's true," Kid said. "Maka is very studious."

"So you're like Hermione then?" Harry said.

I gave him my best fake smile, though it wasn't very good. "I guess. We just met the other day, but I can tell already that we will be good friends!" I said a little too enthusiastically.

"So, Harry," Tsubaki started, "what do you do in this Ministry of Magic?"

"Well I am in the Auror Department within the Ministry," he explained, slowly dragging his eyes from me to Tsubaki. He was obviously confused about my strange behavior. Not that I cared. Kid and Tsubaki started to question him about his job, but I walked away, making an excuse of being tired. Tsubaki, Black Star, and Kid could handle him if something happened. Soul followed after me.

"Ok, what's up?" Soul asked once we were out of earshot. "Why don't you trust that Potter guy?"

I sighed. How could I explain it? "Just because McGonagall comes up with a half-ass answer about why he has evil on his soul doesn't mean we can suddenly trust him!"

"You think McGonagall was lying about Harry?" he asked, shocked.

"It seems so convenient, can you really blame me?" I asked, starting to get frustrated.

"Yeah, but why would she lie to us about something so important?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Maybe she doesn't want to believe it herself!" I nearly exclaimed. I tried my best not to, though. We were in a hallway full of dorm rooms. "I mean this is the guy that defeated their Kishin! I wouldn't want to think that of anyone who saved me too!"

Soul thought this over. "You do have a point," he said. "I still think we should give him a chance, though. It might be true, and we don't want to attack him unnecessarily. That would most definitely not be cool."

"So, what do we do then?" I asked, knowing he was right.

He gave me a sharp-toothed smile. "We watch him like a hawk and make sure he isn't up to something," came his response.

I smiled back at him. "That's not a bad idea," I said. "I guess a little bit of my genius has rubbed off on you after all."

He rolled his eyes, but he was still smiling. "Whatever, Maka," he said. We were standing outside his room, and his hand was on the door handle.

"When are we going to start watching him then?" I asked.

"Well, I did overhear him say that he is going to be staying a few days here at Hogwarts to be with Ginny," Soul said with a widening of his smirk. "How sappy-oof!" I hit him in the stomach. "Anyway, he gets to stay in my room with Kid and Black Star since we have two extra beds."

I brightened up at that. "You can watch him then," I said. "When he leaves, we will be able to leave campus and make sure he isn't doing anything shifty then too. I feel like I'm in a mystery novel!"

Soul rolled his eyes again. "Sure," he said in a sarcastic tone. I decided to ignore him. "I'm gonna go to bed now. Night, Maka."

"Night, Soul," I said as I started making my way up to the girls' room. I was distracted though. I was like the heroine of my own novel; it was like being in a dream. Once I got to my room, I realized sleep might not be so easy. Hermione, Liz, and Patty were all still up here and talking about girl stuff. "Are you guys not going to see Harry?" I asked them.

Hermione's head shot up. "Oh shoot!" she exclaimed. "I forgot he was here!" I guessed she had wanted to let Ginny and Harry have a few moments to themselves but got lost in conversation once more. She ran out of the room.

"Are you guys not going to introduce yourselves to him?" I asked the Thompson sisters. "He's going to be here for a bit."

Liz shrugged. "It's getting late," she said. "I think it's about time to get ready for bed, right Patty?"

The younger sister yawned and nodded. She didn't even bother changing out of her uniform before flopping onto her bed. I couldn't help but giggle a little at her exhausted state. I soon followed suit, though in my pajamas. I guess we could practice with Wand another night. I crawled under the covers and fell into a welcome sleep. My dreams, on the other hand, were not so peaceful. I kept dreaming about this Harry Potter and his evil soul.

Two nights later Soul and I were on guard duty for Hogwarts. We had the mid shift, which I could tell already was the worst. We had to get up in the middle of the night and go back to sleep after scoping the entire grounds for approximately three hours straight, only to go back to bed and wake up in another three hours or so. More likely than not, I would not be able to go back to sleep. Once I woke up, it was hard for me to go back to bed.

I figured most of these nights were going to be a waste of time. The school had no history of Kishin attacks during peaceful times, like this was supposed to be. Because of this, I simply walked around the grounds with Soul in my hands, rather than flying. I didn't really need to walk because I could sense almost all souls on the grounds with my Soul Perception, but I did it anyway for two reasons. One, I would be asleep on my feet if I didn't move. Two, it was freezing out, and my blood needed to be moving around. Ok, it was about fifty degrees out, but when you are used to the desert heat, it is freezing.

"You think we'll see any action tonight?" Soul called from his weapon form.

I yawned as we passed The Forbidden Forest. "Probably not," I said. "It is only our first night on guard, and Black Star and Tsubaki said it was dead out here."

"Great," Soul grumbled. "How long have we been out here?"

I looked at my watch before remembering it didn't work here because it was an electronic watch. Why was I still wearing this stupid thing? I sighed. "My best guess is a half an hour." Soul started grumbling some more, but I just ignored him. I knew he would probably complain most of our time out here. Not that I could really blame him. It was cold, and we were both tired.

Our first night of guard duty passed without incident, so we tiredly walked back up to the rooms. I woke up a very grumpy Liz and Patty from their sleep. I could tell they both wanted to kill me for waking them from their sleep. I quietly told them in the hallway about what happened on our shift, which was nothing. They nodded and went down the steps. I went back into the room, changed back in my PJs, and climbed into bed. It took what felt like forever for me to fall back to sleep, but I somehow managed to fall back into a deep slumber.

I woke very groggily to the alarm a few hours later. I groaned as I got out of bed. I got a strange look from Ginny and Hermione. "Aren't you usually up before us?" Ginny asked.

I shrugged. "I just didn't sleep very well last night," I explained. They both nodded in understanding. I didn't get pressured too much, though. It had been Harry's last night, and Ginny and Hermione went down to say teary-eyed goodbye to him. The rest of us said a simply waved him off.

Classes were fairly normal. I was more tired than normal, but I could still pay attention. I couldn't say that about everyone else, though. The only ones who were really awake during classes were Kid, Tsubaki, and me. Everyone else was in full on sleep mode (Soul and Black Star), or well on their way to falling asleep (Liz and Patty). I shook my head. I didn't know how they could sleep through class. Sure, the grades we earned here weren't going on our transcripts, but I still wanted to have good marks, even here.

I kicked Soul in the leg once class was over. He jumped up with a start. "Class is over," I told him. He reluctantly got up and followed me to our next class where he proceeded to fall back asleep. This is how the rest of the day passed.

That night, though, was somewhat eventful. Soul and I were making our rounds again, and that's when I felt it. The presence of a Kishin egg, heading straight toward us. I didn't know if it was one of the followers, but I didn't care. A Kishin egg was a Kishin egg. I hid in wait for it. It felt like an eternity before it walked close enough to our hiding spot.

I jumped out as soon as I could without it sensing our presence. I came out slashing at its face. It ducked just in time. I cursed under my breath. Its turn to attack. It tried to attack me with its arm, which happened to be a very sharp, serrated knife. I blocked the attack, pushing his arm/blade out of the way and put some space between us by flipping over it so it couldn't attack me as easily as before. Then, once I was sure it was distracted by my sudden disappearance, I jumped and slammed Soul into the Kishin egg's body with as much force as possible. Its body disappeared, and its ugly red soul was all that remained of it.

I was breathing heavily as Soul turned back into human form. He was drooling again, like he always did when he had a tasty meal coming. "It's all yours, Soul," I said as I caught my breath. He licked his lips and swallowed the soul in one bite.

"That was easy," he commented once he got the soul down.

I nodded. "It obviously wasn't a follower, either," I commented. "It had a knife for an arm; it was a demon weapon. Must have been a stray."

Soul nodded and transformed back into a weapon, just in case. We were on high alert for the better part of the rest of our shift. We realized after a while that we had just managed to get one of the random Kishin eggs running around Great Britain. Nothing else happened for the remainder of our watch. We did happen to tell Tsubaki and Black Star about it when we traded shifts. Thankfully, we had the first shift this night, so I was almost instantly out when I went to bed.