An: This chapter refused to be written! It took me forever to get it out so it's a little shorter than I had originally intended but I do have plenty going on in this chapter so I hope you like it! I've been working hard for you people! I'm sick as a dog and I'm still getting this out within a week. I hope you're grateful. Of course I'm joking. I love this story so it's not that big of a deal getting a chapter out even when I feel like shit. If anything it helps me concentrate on something other than being sick.
Chapter 5
Saturday morning found the seven Narga children out next to the Forbidden Forest passing a quill around as they wrote a letter to their mother. Of course they were writing in Parseltongue so that no one else would be able to read it. Especially since they were telling her about the fake Harry Potter. After their letter to their mother, which was eight pages long, each child taking up a page and then an extra page that they shared, they wrote letters to Ilno and Nol.
"Alright, now that we have those done… is there anything anyone wants to say that they don't want to say in front of Draco?" Ryuu asked as he looked around at his siblings.
Rikka and Kiko exchanged a look before leaning forward. "Weasley's rat. It tastes wrong." Kiko said as her Ball Python, Sagi, hissed in agreement from her shoulders.
"What do you mean? How does it taste weird?" Lissana asked with a slight frown.
"It doesn't taste like a rat." Rikka said with a frown. "It tastes… well it tastes human." Her Ball Python, Kinoyuki, made an angry little hiss from Rikka's lap. "It's all kinds of wrong."
"A rat that tastes human. That is wrong." Ryuu agreed with a slight frown.
"What should we do about it? Let one of our pythons eat it?" Kiko asked.
"No. That would be stupid. And it could hurt Sagi or Kinoyuki. You should tell your head of house. Let her know that something's wrong with the rat." The most human of the siblings said.
"And how are we supposed to do that?" Rikka asked with a frown.
"Tell her that Sagi and Kinoyuki are acting weird around the rat." Hino suggested. "Obviously you can't tell her that you're the ones that know something is off about the rat."
"Alright. We'll do that. Get her to do something with the rat." Kiko agreed as Rikka nodded.
Zissa looked around at everyone while chewing on her lip. "Has anyone else felt uncomfortable having legs for so long?" She asked.
"I have. My legs… they itch all the time." Shiko said while rubbing at one of her legs.
"Mine feel sore." Hino agreed while stretching out one of his legs.
"Mine just feel like they're going to turn back into my tail any second. I have to be careful every time I go to bed." Kiko complained.
"Well, I've been fine so far." Rikka said while looking down at her legs.
"Me either." Lissana told them with a curious look.
Ryuu looked at his Naga siblings with a slight frown. "We need to find a place for you guys to let your tails out." He looked up at the castle. "Thing there's a place in the castle?" He asked while looking back at them.
"I would be surprised if there wasn't." Lissana said while frowning a little bit. "I mean it's so big." She looked up at it. "Hardly any of the castle is actually used. So we have to be able to find a room we can use." She insisted.
"We will find a room." The green and blued eyed boy promised. He couldn't understand what they were going through but he could at least try and help them.
"Thanks." He smiled at his brother and patted his shoulder. "It's almost lunch guys. Let's head back. Besides we need to meet up with Draco before we start exploring."
"Malfoy." Ryuu and Shiko said at the same time. "Dray would be pissed if someone he didn't really know called him by his first name." Ryuu explained.
"Fine. Malfoy. But if you're still friends with him next year, which I'm sure you're going to be, I'm calling him by his first name." Hino insisted.
"Whatever you say Hino. But you're the one who'll have to tell him that." Ryuu said with a smirk as they gathered all of their things and headed back to the castle.
"I'll take these to the Owlery." Kiko said while holding up the letters. "I'll be back." She grinned before darting off to the Owlery.
"Can anyone say hyperactive?" Shiko muttered with an amused smile as they all walked into the Great Hall, making them all snicker in amusement.
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They broke off from each other to head to their house tables. When Ryuu and Shiko sat down next to Draco he looked up at them curiously. "Have some good quality family time?" He asked curiously.
"Yep. You ready to go exploring with us after lunch?" The mostly human boy asked curiously.
"Of course. It should be fun." The blond said while eating his lunch. "Maybe even a little dangerous." He sounded a little sarcastic so Shiko leaned around her brother and grinned wickedly.
"Of course it'll be dangerous. We're going to places no one has been to in years. There could be traps or we could all end up breaking our legs and have to drag ourselves to the Hospital wing." She told him with a wicked look.
Draco paused in his chewing as he looked at her he swallowed and frowned at her. "You're awful. You know that right? And the school wouldn't be that unsafe. I mean… it's a school. We can't be the first kids to ever think of exploring it. They would have dismantled anything really dangerous."
"Well, the Headmaster did tell us all to avoid the third floor unless we wanted to die painful." Ryuu said thoughtfully. "So there could be other dangerous things in the school."
The other boy looked between the two siblings and then let out a heavy sigh. "Hanging out with you people is going to get me killed isn't it? Or at least give me a heart-attack or something."
"Or something." They agreed with vicious grins.
"I'm starting to think I chose the wrong friends." He grumbled halfheartedly to himself.
"Well, look at it this way, at least your school years won't be boring." The blue and green eyed boy insisted while wrapping an arm around his friend's shoulders.
"Right, because dying before I turn eleven is so exciting." Draco said sarcastically while rolling his eyes.
"Well, if you die in an exciting way…" Ryuu didn't have a chance to finish because the blond grabbed the back of his head and shoved it into his pasta. "ARGH!" He cried out in surprise when he realized his head had become part of the meal. "DRAY!" He wiped of his face and turned to glare at his friend who was humming as though nothing had happened. "I'm going to get you for this." He hissed. "When you least expect it."
Draco looked at him and then shrugged. "Worth it. You were acting like a prick." He told him.
The mostly human boy grumbled to himself as his sister was cackling like a madwoman. "You'll suffocate if you keep laughing like that." He told her while wiping his face off and scraping the red sauce out of his hair. "I'm going to need to go back to our dorm and clean up before we head out." He said with a scowl.
Shiko took her wand out and cast Scourgify at him. "There. Now you don't need to go back to the dorms." She said with a cheeky smile.
"Where did you learn that?" He asked his sister with a raised eyebrow.
"I taught myself. It was in our book and it's not that hard." She said with a shrug. "I'm not a slacker bro. You should learn it. You know, in case Draco decides you'll look good with a mashed potato hat." She said with a grin.
Ryuu looked over at the blond who was grinning a little to himself. "Don't even think about it Malfoy! Or I will be forced to hex you into next week!" He told him with a glare.
Draco raised his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay. I get it. Not thinking about it." He promised.
"You better not." Ryuu grumbled while turning back to his food, after switching out his plate for a new one.
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After they all finished their food the seven Narga children and Draco met up right outside the Great Hall doors. "So… where should we start?" Hino asked with a grin as he looked around at all of them.
"Well, I think we should start from the top and work our way down." Lissana said while looking around at all of them.
"So then we'll be in the dungeons last?" Draco asked with a frown.
The Ravenclaw girl looked at him curiously. "Well, we don't know how far down the dungeons go. It would be better if we go floor by floor, going down, that way when she do reach the dungeons we'll be able to at least get out by going up a floor." She explained, making the blond blush a little in embarrassment.
"Alright. Well, if we're starting at the top… then we better start climbing." Kiko said while nodding to the stairs. "Let's just hope the stairs don't change too much and let us get to the top quickly." She then started sprinting up the stairs, making them all groan at the pace she was setting.
By the time they reached the Astronomy tower, the highest point in the school, even higher than the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw towers, they were all panting and sweaty. "She's not allowed to be in the lead anymore." Draco wheezed, he was the most winded of them because he hadn't done a lot of exercising before school because wizards and witches, for whatever reason, didn't seem to believe in exercising. Ryuu and them had at least done things like weapon training and were used to hard workouts.
"A little running won't killed you Dray." Ryuu told him, already catching his breath.
"Tell that to my lungs." The blond groaned, looking like he wanted to fall to the ground but his pride not letting him. So instead he had his hands on his knees and was huffing like the Hogwarts Express as it got ready to leave the station.
"Unless you have asthma or a heart condition, it really won't." He said while smacking his friend on the back, making him fall flat on his face. After a few moments of Draco not moving Ryuu crouched down and grinned at him. "Comfy?" He asked playfully.
"Shaddup." He muttered, seeming to be quite content with where he was.
Snickering to himself Ryuu turned back to his siblings who were all looking around the room to see if they could find anything interesting. "Anyone find anything yet?" He asked curiously.
"No. But that's to be expected. This room is still used as a classroom after all." Rikka said with a shrug.
"Yeah. Any secret in here would have been found years ago." He turned to look at Lissana who had a piece of parchment out and was drawing on it quickly. "What are you doing Liss?" He asked while peeking over her shoulder. It turned out it was a detailed drawing of the room they were in, but it was a map view of it. "Are you making a map of the school?" He raised an eyebrow at her.
"Well, we need to where all of things we're going to be finding are so that we can find them again." She insisted. "I'm going to be making a crude map on this," she pulled out a larger sheet of parchment, "and then I'll be making detailed drawings of each room, then when we're done I'll put it all together and make a full map." She explained making them all nod in understanding. "Then I'll duplicate the map so that we all have one."
"That sounds hard and complicated." Zissa said while looking over her sister's shoulder. "Can I help?" She asked.
Lissana smiled brightly. "That would be great Zissa. You're a good drawer so could you help me draw the rooms? We can take turns. I draw one then you draw one and go on from there?" She suggested.
"Sounds like a plan." She smiled at her sister.
"Alright. Next room?" Shiko asked while looking around. "I'll lead the way this time."
"Well, if Draco can drag himself off of the floor." Ryuu pointed at his friend who was still face down on the floor.
"I'm getting up." The blond grumbled while pushing himself up. "Let's go." He said while stretching a little bit.
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They spent the rest of the day exploring the top levels of the castle. They didn't find much, a lot of empty classrooms mostly but at the end, just as they were getting ready to call it a day, they stumbled onto a room tucked back into an alcove. The door was big, made of some kind of dark wood with metal sculptures of vines and leaves on it. It was definitely the fanciest door they had come across so far, and with all of the dust that was in the alcove they assumed it hadn't been disturbed in a long time.
They all looked at each other before Ryuu finally opened the door. Inside they found a staircase, which definitely surprised all of them. "So… going up?" He asked while looking at the others.
"One second." Lissana said as she was scribbling something on her parchment. "Okay. Now we can." She said while looking up and tucking her quill behind her ear.
They made their way down the stairs, which luckily had magical lights that lit up when they got close enough. "I wonder how long these lighting charms have been here…" Hino said thoughtfully.
"They kind of remind me of the charms in the Hufflepuff dorm." Zissa said with a curious look.
"Huh. Now that you mention it they do." He agreed.
When they reached the top of the stairs they all paused and looked around in surprise.
"All of this is… gardening stuff." Shiko said while blinking at all of the stuff in the room. "Old gardening stuff but still…"
It was all covered in a lot of dust but nothing had rusted or broken yet, so they all assumed there had to be some kind of spell on all of it. At the other end of the room there was another door, this one made of a light wood and covered in sculptures of flowers and other plants.
Hino walked up to the door and opened it. "Wow…" He said while blinking at the garden that was in front of them. It was a little over grown but it was huge! And there were so many plants. They looked up and saw that they were outside. "It's a garden on the roof…" He said while blinking in surprise.
"But we didn't see it from the Astronomy Tower." Rikka said with a slight frown.
"It probably has some kind of cloaking charm or something on it so that it can't be seen." Draco said as they all stepped out into the fading light.
"It looks like it needs some help. It's rather overgrown." Zissa said with a slight frown as she looked at all of the plants.
"Well, you could help it Zi. You are a good gardener after all." Hino said while patting his sister's shoulder, making her blush a little bit.
Ryuu grinned a little as he saw Lissana drawing like crazy as she walked around. "Well, I think we did good today. I mean we found this garden. Even if we didn't find anything else."
"It's going to take all year until we reach the dungeons at this point though." Draco said thoughtfully. "This is only the second floor we checked." He reminded him.
"I know Dray. But we'll get there eventually." He said while patting his friend's shoulder soothingly. "Besides, isn't it better to know that we found everything rather than missing something?" He told him with a cheeky grin.
"I hate it when you're right." The silver eyed boy grumbled.
"We all do." Hino said while rolling his eyes.
"Well, stop being wrong and I'll stop being right." The blue and green eyed boy said with a slight smirk.
"You arse." All but Zissa grumbled at him.
"Why thank you." He said while grinning at them. He looked up at the setting sun and then at his watch. "We should head back. Dinner is in about an hour or so." He told all of them. "And I think we all want to take a shower, at least I do." He wrinkled his nose a little bit while pulling his sweaty shirt away from his body.
"Tell me about it. I'm ready for a nice long shower. Though a bath would be even better." Rikka said with a mournful sigh. "I have to go months without a good soak." She complained.
"You're not the only one." Lissana reminded her.
"Think we could find a secret room that has a bath?" Kiko asked curiously as they were making their way down the stairs back to the castle proper.
"I'm sure we can find something." Ryuu reassured his sisters. "I mean think about it. A school this big can't not have baths somewhere." He told them as they made their way down the halls.
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They all parted to head to their own dorms and Shiko had skipped ahead of Ryuu and Draco. She claimed she didn't want to be seen with two sweaty boys, Ryuu just thought she wanted some alone time. Not that he blamed her, everyone needed some time to themselves.
"So Dray, doing better after that run up the stairs?" He asked his friend playfully.
"Actually I am." Draco frowned thoughtfully as they walked. "You and your siblings are in rather good shape."
"Yes, well, before we came to Hogwarts we were learning martial arts. So we like to stay in shape. We've slacked a bit this week but I at least practice my stances and forms every night before I go to bed and every morning right after I wake up." The blue and green eyed boy explained.
The blond hummed thoughtfully. "Could you… perhaps teach me a little of this stuff? It never hurts to be in shape and when you broke Weasley's nose it was quite spectacular." He said, trying to seem nonchalant.
Ryuu threw an arm around his friend's shoulders and grinned. "Of course I'll teach you Dray. What are friends for?" He asked playfully. "We'll start tonight."
"Tonight?" He asked incredulously.
"Yes. I'll teach you some of the basic stances and have you practice those. The sooner the better." He told him. "And then we'll work on building up your endurance. We'll do running in the mornings, that way you can actually keep up with all of us as we run around the castle. It'll take a while, but I think I can turn you into a fighter yet. Or at least bulk you up a bit." He said with a grin.
"Oh shut up." Draco said while rolling his eyes. "I'm not a complete push over you know."
"Whatever you say." He said with an amused smile.
The silver eyed boy shook his head as they entered their dorm and made their way to their rooms. "You're going to teach me everything you know about fighting." He insisted.
"That's gonna take a while Dray. But I'll do it." Ryuu promised. "And along the way I'll also learn all of your secrets." He thought with an amused smile as they parted to go to their respective rooms to each take a shower.
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The next week passed much like the first with the added fighting lessons to Draco and Ryuu's schedules, and of course when Shiko found out about them she insisted on 'helping' teach Draco. Though the blond argued that she just liked beating him up, which Ryuu didn't dispute.
Their exploration of the castle was going well too. Along with the secret roof-top garden (which Zissa seemed to have adopted as her own) they found a sitting room that had big comfy couches and chairs, a fire place, and a door that led to a balcony that over looked the lake. The girls had all insisted on naming the rooms they found, so this room was dubbed the 'Lakeside Sitting Room', of course the three boys just rolled their eyes at this, but they didn't say anything. They also found what appeared to be a room that had been used for dueling, which they called the 'Dueling Chamber', and they had found an old, unused, room that had a large, bathtub in it. The tub was so big it could fit all five of the girls in their Naga forms. They had called this room that 'Narga Bath Room', bath and room being two different words because it wasn't a bathroom, it was just a room with a bath in it. Most of the other rooms they had found didn't have anything too spectacular in them, they were just old classrooms that hadn't been used in years.
Things picked up a little on Wednesday when the children received letters from their mother and their friends from back home. It was mostly normal stuff, telling them what everyone was up to. Though Ryuu's letter told him about the ordeal at the bank and how the goblins would be repossessing anything that his parents had owned. It also told him about how she had told Remus who he was a dear friend of his deceased birth parents and how the werewolf would be more than willing to tell him anything he wanted to know about the people how had died for him.
There were a few arguments with Weasley, luckily none of them ended with physical violence, or maybe it was unfortunately? Potter was mostly an observer, but he did sometimes speak up for his friend and he did a lot of glaring.
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"She hasn't done anything yet!" Rikka complained while throwing a rock as hard as she could into the lake. "The rat is still there and it's really starting to annoy me."
It was Friday, after classes, and the Narga family was sitting out by the lake talking. "Perhaps you should put more pressure on her?" Hino suggested.
"How!?" She asked with a scowl. "We told her our snakes were reacting badly around the rat and she asked us a few questions, we even made a point of telling her that they didn't act that way around the rats we fed them."
Kiko nodded in agreement. "So how are we supposed to make her do something?" She asked with a scowl of her own.
"Hm… well you could try to do something about it." Ryuu suggested.
"But what?" They both asked.
"I've been doing some research." Lissana said, catching all of their attention. "And I think the rat might be an animagus. It's the only thing that makes sense. So really it's a person in the form of the rat. Like how Professor McGonagall is a cat animagus."
"You really think so?" Zissa asked curiously.
"Well, it's the only thing I can think of." She shrugged a little bit. "Here." She pulled a book out of her bag and showed it to them. "This is the spell that will turn an animagus back into their human form. It's actually fairly easy, it just takes a little bit more power than most wizarding spells. I'd say about as much magic as some of the more complicated Parselspells we've done." She explained.
Both of the Gryffindor girls pulled the book closer to themselves and looked over the spell and started doing the wand motions and muttering the incantation under their breath. "So… we just cast this at the rat? And if it's not an animagus?" Kiko asked.
"Then it won't do anything. So there's no harm if I'm wrong." She explained. "Though I don't think I am wrong."
"Of course you're not. You do too much research to be wrong." Shiko said with an amused smile. "So the rat probably is an animagus." She turned to Rikka and Kiko. "Be sure to reveal the rat in front of everyone. That way no one can argue with you."
"How exactly are we supposed to explain how we came up with the rat being an animagus?" Kiko asked with a raised eyebrow.
"The truth. Tell them that your sister, the one in Ravenclaw, suggested using the spell because she though that might be the reason your familiars were freaking out about the rat." Ryuu said with a shrug as he dipped his feet into the water. "When you're lying it's always good to put in some truth, makes it harder for people to discern the lie." He told them with a sage like nod.
The other six all exchanged looks before shoving him in the lake, making him cry out and lurch out of the cold water. "What the hell!? What was that for?!" He yelled while wringing out his clothes.
"For acting like a prat." Hino said with a grin.
He narrowed his eyes at them before smirking. "Well, I guess you guys won't mind getting wet, now will you?" He asked while drawing his wand. All of his siblings' eyes widened before they turned tail and ran. "Get back here you cowards!" He yelled while storming after them.
Zissa was the slowest because she was the smallest, but she made up for it with her exceptional dodging skills, so Ryuu didn't bother going after her. But Lissana was a different story. She was fast, like those Muggle runners, but she generally ran in a straight line, making her the easiest target. He pointed his wand at her and was about to cast a water charm that he'd read about at her but she made a sudden turn, making her skid a little in the process, Ryuu doing the same as he followed her. But unfortunately she had turned right into Professor McGonagall.
Both the professor and student made slightly strangled sounds as they fell to the ground. Ryuu barely avoided running into them and then stared in shock and a little bit of horror.
"What," the professor said sharply, "is going on here?" She asked as she pulled herself up and then helped Lissana to her feet.
"Ah… sorry Professor. My siblings and I were playing down by the lake and I got pushed in. I was just trying to get a little harmless revenge." Ryuu said with a sheepish smile. "We didn't see you there. I'm sorry."
She looked over his damp appearance and then down at Lissana who was blushing and looking down in shame. "Well, as long as it was all in good fun and no one was hurt." She waved her wand and Ryuu, causing him to dry up immediately. "But do try to look where you're going next time." She told them sternly.
"Yes Professor." They both chorused before running off again, heading back towards the lake where their siblings were waiting for them.
"That was close. We're lucky it was McGonagall." Hino pointed out while watching the teacher head back towards the castle. "Can you imagine if you'd run into Snape?" He asked.
"Professor Snape isn't so bad. He might have taken points away to keep up appearances but I think he would have given them back in some way or another." Ryuu insisted.
"I guess… You probably see a different side of him since you're part of his house so I'll take your word for it." The Naga boy agreed.
"Now…" Ryuu clapped his hands together, catching his siblings' attention. "Revenge is mine!" He cackled evilly and pointed his wand at the lake. "Levitate." He hissed and then dumped a good amount of the water onto their heads, making all of them scream at the cold water. "Ah. Revenge is so sweet." He said with a grin.
"Merlin, this is cold!" Kiko cried while shivering a little bit.
Before any of them could get too warm Ryuu pointed his wand at them and hissed a warming charm that warmed them all up. "I'm an arse but I'm not cruel. I know better." He reassured them. "Though I suggest we all head in, it's better if you all get out of those we clothes." He grinned. "I'll see all of you at dinner!" He then turned and ran back into the school. He heard angry yells and footsteps behind him so he booked it to the dungeons.
Once he was in his common room he didn't stop until he was safely in the boys' dorm. Then he let himself laugh as he headed to his room. Before he could reach the door Draco came walking down the hall with a raised eyebrow. "Why did your sister just run into the common room soaking wet and cursing your name?" He asked curiously.
"Oh, no reason. I just dumped several gallons of lake water on her and the rest of my siblings." He said with a grin as he opened his door. "And before you say anything, they pushed me into the lake first." He defended.
The blond rolled his eyes. "Well, she's steaming mad." He told him.
"Yeah. I figured that much out for myself." Ryuu said with a snicker. "I do believe I've started a war with my siblings. Six on one. Should be interesting… I need to keep my eyes in six different directions."
"They're going to tear you apart." Draco pointed out.
"Oh, I know. Don't worry. I'm not an idiot, Dray. I know they're going to tear me a new one. But the looks on their faces… it was worth it." He insisted with a grin. "But I'll let them get their revenge. Then in a few months I'll get them back. And thus the cycle will continue."
The other boy raised an eye brow. "When does it stop?"
"Hm… until our mother makes us." The mostly human boy said with a slight shrug.
"Must be fun…" He mumbled thoughtfully.
Ryuu looked up at his friend and tilted his head slight to the side. "Would you like to help me get them back in a couple of months?" He asked.
Draco's head snapped up from where he'd been examining the floor. "No I… couldn't I mean that's a sibling thing." He said with a shake of his head, causing his hair to get all mess up.
"Not really. Our friends, Ilno and Nol would often times get caught up in these pranking wars, that or they joined in later because they thought it was fun." He corrected. "So you could join in if you wanted to. It'll be fun."
The silver eyed boy considered the offer for a few moments before running his fingers through his hair. "Well… it does seem fun…"
"Then it's settled! You're on my team." Ryuu wrapped and arms around his friend's shoulders and smiled. "Well, I'm going to take a shower and get changed before dinner. Even if I'm not wet anymore I still feel dirty from all of that lake water." He said with a slight shake of his head. "I'll be out in a bit."
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The next day Rikka and Kiko had come up with a plan to reveal the rat, and they had it planned for first thing in the morning so that everyone would be there to witness it. Kiko stroked Sagi's head as he rested on her shoulders. "Are you sure you're okay with this?" She hissed at him worriedly.
"I'll be fine. Besides, if someone tries to step on me I'll just become too big for them to." He insisted.
"I'm still worried… be careful okay?" She hissed with a frown while scratching his chin.
"I will. I promise." The two girls watched as the snake slithered up the stairs to the boys' dorms. They were both sitting in the common room in front of the fire with some books in front of them to make it seem like they had gotten up early to study.
"Everyone is going to hate us." Rikka said with a thoughtful look before smirking. "Oh well." She shrugged a little bit.
"Hush." Kiko said as they waited.
It took a little bit but finally they heard, "AH! Scabbers! Leave him alone you bloody snake!" There were a lot of crashing sounds and more shouting from Weasley and others.
"Alright." Rikka murmured to Kinoyuki, who then slithered up after the other snake.
"AGH! Scabbers!" People were coming downstairs to see what was wrong, and then they watched as the rat came running with Sagi and Kinoyuki close behind it with all of the first year Gryffindor boys following close behind them.
The two Narga girls jumped to their feet and pointed their wands as people scrambled out of the way of the animals. Both girls cried out the spell just as the portrait slammed open and McGonagall came running in, another student had probably gone to get her when chaos ensued.
Everyone watched in surprise as the rat, Scabbers, turned into a short, somewhat pudgy, balding man. The two snakes that had been chasing him hissed and slithered around him, making him very nervous and jittery.
"Peter Pettigrew?" McGonagall gasped while falling back in surprise, her eyes wide.
"We told you there was something wrong with that rat Professor." Rikka said, her and Kiko still pointing their wands at the man.
The woman looked at the two girls and then the two snakes that were still hissing at the man and keeping him away from the other children. She pulled her own wand out and cast a stunner at the man. "What is going on?" She asked while looking at the two girls who were putting their wands away and then over at Mr. Weasley who looked pale and a little sick to his stomach.
"You weren't doing anything about the rat, Professor. We were worried about it so we talked to our brothers and sisters about it." Kiko explained.
"Lissana said she was pretty sure that the rat was an animagus, meaning it could be extremely dangerous if not taken care of." Rikka continued.
"So we learned the animagus revealing spell and took things into our own hands." Kiko finished. "We're sorry that we didn't say anything, but we didn't think you would believe us." She said as Sagi slithered up onto her shoulders, Kinoyuki doing the same with Rikka.
"You… why I never…" She looked at the crumpled form of Peter Pettigrew and let out a sigh. "Ten points to each of you for taking initiative. But I must warn you from doing something so reckless again. This could have gone very wrong in many ways." She told them.
"We understand Professor. It won't happen again." Kiko promised while Rikka nodded in agreement.
Professor McGonagall nodded a little bit and then turned to the stunned man with a frown on her face. She knew the implication that the man being alive meant. She levitated him and started heading towards the portrait entrance. "I'll answer questions later." She turned to leave but then Ron seemed to snap out of his daze.
"Wait!" He cried out while stepping forward. "What… you're not even going to punish them?! They set their snakes on my pet, even if he was an animagus they didn't know that!" He insisted.
"Mr. Weasley, they had reason to believe that your pet wasn't what he appeared to be. And I do not believe they would have let him be eaten if they were wrong. Right girls?" She asked while eyeing the sisters.
"Of course not, Professor. If nothing had happened when we cast the spell we would have called back our familiars." Rikka reassured her.
"Now, I must go. I'll come back later tonight to answer any questions." She repeated before turning and walking out of the dorm with Pettigrew floating behind her.
Weasley wheeled on the two Narga girls as they were cooing and smiling at each other's snakes. "What is wrong with you!? Your psycho pets could have killed someone!"
They both glared at him as their snakes hissed angrily. "They're not beasts Weasley. They're our familiars. They listen to us and love us. They're not going to do something that would get us in trouble or hurt someone if it's not to protect us." Kiko said with a scowl.
"Don't insult our familiars. That's as stupid as insulting our family. And believe me, we'll do more than just break your nose." Rikka hissed at him, making the redhead flinch back a little bit.
"You heard her." A redhead that looked older than Ron wrapped an arm around his shoulders.
"Ikle Ronnie-kins." Another redhead, who looked almost exactly like the first one, finished.
"Fred! George!" The youngest said while yanking away from them. "Whose side are you on?!" He asked angrily.
"Well, you're being a prat," one started.
"So not yours," the other finished.
"We deeply apologize."
"For our little brother."
"Please don't let his stupidity."
"Reflect on us." Each of them grabbed one of the girl's hands and kissed the back.
Rikka blinked in surprise and then blushed a little as she yanked her hand back. Kiko turned red but waited for her hand to be let go. "We'll try not to." The brown haired girl said as he sister rolled her eyes a little bit.
"Well, I'm Fred." The brother on the right, the one that had grabbed Rikka's hand, said.
"And I'm George." The one of the left said with a slight grin.
"Rikka." The white blonde said while crossing her arms over her chest.
"I'm Kiko." The other girl said with a slight tilt of her head. "It's nice to meet you."
"Sure. Whatever you say." Rikka muttered with a frown.
"Aw. Why do you seem to be so mean Rikka?" Fred asked with a slight pout.
She just glared a little at him. "I think she's a little… adverse to the name Weasley at the moment. That and you kissed the back of her hand without warning." Kiko said thoughtfully, making her sister scowl and shove her.
"Don't act like you know everything in my head." Rikka complained while gently shoving her sister.
The twin boys snickered a little as they watched the girls. "Just so you know-"
"Don't want to hear it, Weasley #1." The white blonde said to Fred. "I'm heading out. I'll see you later." She waved at her sister and then walked out of the portrait, the inability to change into her Naga form was affecting her just like the rest of her Naga siblings, even if it wasn't in the same way as the rest. She was getting more and more cranky the longer she was in her human form.
Kiko let out a sigh and shook her head a little bit. "Ignore her. She's just hasn't been sleeping well." She smiled apologetically to the boys. "I'm going after her. I'll see you later." She waved at the two boys and then hurried after her sister. They needed to tell everyone about how the plan had gone.
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After the Narga children talked about how the rat had been discovered to be Peter Pettigrew (which everyone in the school knew about by the end of breakfast) they headed out with Draco again to explore the castle. That day they didn't find much except for a locked door that no matter what they tired refused to open. They were planning on coming back later and trying again later but for now they were done with it. Though because they spent most of their time at the locked door they didn't find anything else.
The rest of the weekend consisted of conversation surrounding what came out in the papers the day after Pettigrew was discovered. It turned out that with the discovery of the rat, Sirius Black was proven innocent. The Ministry was stumbling over itself to try and make up for wrongly imprisoning the man (who was currently at St. Mungos seeing a mind healer). Ryuu had frowned when he had read about how Sirius had been put in Azkaban without a trial. It was stupid that they would do something like that but he supposed the human government was very poorly managed.
But it seemed everything was going fine. The rat wasn't upsetting his sisters anymore and the girls were all planning to go to the bath they'd found to finally transform back into their original forms and stretch. So he was feeling pretty good about himself. Not to mention Draco was doing pretty well in his marital arts considering it had only been a week. He picked it up really fast and was rather enjoying himself.
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Remus couldn't believe it. Sirius was innocent and Peter was the actual one to betray the Potters. He just… couldn't believe it. What he couldn't believe even more was when he got a letter from St. Mungos to come and get the man. Apparently he wasn't fit to be left alone after his time in Azkaban. Which of course made sense, no one would be in their right mind after spending ten years in that hellhole they called a prison.
He took a deep breath as the healer stepped out of Sirius's room. "He's doing very well considering how long he spent around the Dementors. I've seen men doing far worse after being then for a far shorter time. That being said, he is not ready to be on his own. He will likely have panic-attacks often along with nightmares. He's been out of touch taking care of himself for so long that it will be hard for him to get back to it. I would like you to bring him in bi-monthly for check-ups." He paused here and gave Remus a once over. "Are you sure you want to take him in? You don't have to. He can remain here and we'll do our best to get him back to normal."
The werewolf instantly shook his head. "No. I'll take him in. He's my friend, one of my best friends… I'm not going to abandon him in his time of need." He insisted.
The man nodded a little in understanding and what appeared to be approval. "Then you are free to see him." He then turned and walked away to leave the two friends to talk and try to catch up with each other in private.
Swallowing a little Remus opened the door and walked in. Sirius was lying in a bed looking like absolute crap. He was thin with dark circles under his eyes, his hair was to his shoulders and looked like it had been recently cleaned. But what was absolutely ridiculous about the whole situation was that the sick looking man was glaring at the hospital clothes he was wearing and muttering about 'all the bloody white' in the room. He couldn't help it… He burst out laughing. "Oh, Remy. Didn't see you there." The dog animagus said with the wolfish grin he'd always had. Even if it did look a little strange on his too thin face.
Remus swallowed again and then wrapped his arms around his last living friend from his school days. "Siri… I'm so sorry. I believed you were a traitor. I'm so sorry." He apologized while hugging the man as tightly as he dared.
"It's okay Moony. It's not your fault." Sirius said, sounding a little choked up before he pulled back a little from the hug and smiled. "You're looking good, mate. Really good." He told him.
"Thank you. You look like crap but I'm sure we'll have you back to your normal self in no time." He said while patting the man's shoulder. Even though he said that he was a little nervous… there had been some conditions to Sirius coming to live with Remus. Since almost everyone on their street wasn't human, except for a very few who were married to a creature, Valdir told him that he wouldn't risk the families that lived there. If Sirius couldn't handle living in piece with non-humans they would have to find somewhere else to live and Sirius would have to have his memory erased. Remus was almost positive that wouldn't happen but ten years in Azkaban was a long time and things could have changed.
"Hey! I'm just as fetching as ever." The man said in an overly dramatic way while flipping his hair comically.
Remus snorted at that. "Right. So 'fetching' you'll give children nightmares."
Sirius put a hand over his heart and made a pained face. "Oh Moony! Your cruelty! It's killed me!" He flopped back against the pillows and stuck his tongue out in a 'dead' manner.
He rolled his eyes and then smiled a little. "Well, Padfoot, I'm sure you want to get out of here." He picked up a bag he'd brought with him and held it out to the other. "I brought you some clothes. And don't complain about them. Be happy I'm being so kind." He teased as the other grabbed the bag.
"Well, at least you got my color right." Sirius said with a chuckle as he took out a black long sleeved shirt and a pair of grey sweatpants (all from a Muggle shop). "So where do you live anyways?" He asked curiously as he got out of the bed and stared changing.
"That's a surprise Siri. You'll know when we get there." Remus said with an amused smile, though he was a little pensive about all of this and just hoped it all worked out.
"Aw. Can't you give me some kind of hint, Remy?" The sick looking man asked with a pout as he pulled a cloak around his shoulders.
"Nope. Now come on. I still need to sign you out. Then we'll head over to my place."
"Oh alright." He grumbled, looking a lot like a sulking child.
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When he finally got Sirius signed out of the hospital they took the floo back to his home. He had asked Sessina to come over and meet Sirius first since she tended to do a little better with strangers than a lot of the others. He also (very apologetically) asked her to be in her human form at first so they could ease Sirius into it. She had understood and promised to have a meal ready for them when they came. Which of course she did.
Sirius literally started drooling when he stepped through the floo and saw the feast that was laid out on the table. There was ham, roast, steak and potatoes, vegetables of all kinds, there were also a couple of kinds of pie as well.
"Hi." Sessina said with a sheepish smile as she set another pie down (that made five pies on the table now). "I didn't know what you liked, I forgot to ask Remus before he left, so… I just made a bit of everything." She said while wiping her hands on the edge of her apron. "With a preservation charm it'll all keep for quite a while so at least none of it will go to waste." She smiled a little brighter as she looked at Sirius and held her hand out to him. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Sessina."
The dog animagus grinned widely as he shook her hand before turning to look at his friend. "So you went and got a wife. Good for you Remy! A real looker and it appears she's a fantastic cook!"
Remus turned red, along with Sessina. "N-no. Sessina isn't my wife. She's my neighbor. We're friends." He said while shaking his head.
"Oh…" Sirius looked between the two blushing people in the room. "Well, you both look like teenagers that have a crush on each other but haven't told the other about it yet. But that's just my opinion. Is that steak?" He asked while grabbing a plate and started to put food on his plate.
Sessina glanced at Remus at the same time Remus glanced at her. Their eyes met for a moment before they both turned a rather unhealthy shade of red and looked away from each other. "Are you sure you should be eating so much Sirius? Your stomach probably isn't used to so much food so fast." She told him.
"Aw. But it all looks so good." He complained. "I'll be fine." He insisted while waving it off.
"How about this. You eat a little bit every hour rather than shoving it all down your throat all at once?" She suggested while taking his plate away from him, which made him whine pathetically. "No." She set the plate to the side and made up a new plate for him, this one with much less food on it. "Don't worry. You'll get to eat more later." She promised.
Sirius pouted at her. "You're a mother aren't you?" He asked.
"Yep. Of seven little ones. So I suggest not trying to argue with me. I know all of the tricks." She said while setting the plate in front of him.
"Seven? Wow that's a lot of rug-rats running around." He said while taking a bite of ham she had placed in front of him. All other conversation was cut off at the moment as Sirius moaned at the wonderful taste and became completely consumed with his food.
Sessina and Remus sat down to eat a little as well, though once Sirius was done they had some business they needed to talk about. "Siri." Remus called to get his friend's attention. "There's something we need to talk about."
"What is it?" He asked as they made their way into the sitting room, away from the distracting food.
"We'll… it's the reason I'm able to live here in this house without worrying about my… little furry problem." Sessina smacked him upside the head when he said that and he yelped. "It's what we always called it when I was younger." Remus insisted while rubbing the side of his head. "You didn't have to whack me upside the head."
"Well, don't refer to it as a problem." She said while crossing her arms over her chest. "You know it's not a problem." She told him with a huff.
"Are you sure the two of you aren't together?" Sirius asked as he looked between the two.
"We're not." They both said a little too quickly, making the dog animagus chuckle in amusement. "Anyway!" Remus said, trying to get the conversation back on track. "Back to the reason I'm able to live here despite being a werewolf." He said, making Sirius sober a little bit at the serious tone. "This street, almost everyone on it isn't human." He explained, making Sirius's eyes widen and then turned to Sessina with a mildly curious look.
She transformed back into her Naga form and ran her fingers over her tail a little bit. "Whoa." Sirius breathed and then turned back to Remus. "Everyone?" He asked.
"Almost. Except for a few humans who are married to creatures." He confirmed.
"And they don't have any plans to destroy the human race or anything like that?"
"Nope. We all just want to live in peace without the Ministry trying to kill us for breathing." Remus promised.
"Well, then, I'm cool with it." He eyed Sessina's tail. "Though it may take me a bit to adjust… by the way what are you?" He asked her curiously.
"A Naga. A half snake." She explained. "Six of my children are Naga like myself and my seventh child was adopted so he isn't a Naga. He also hasn't come into his snake traits yet. So he looks human."
"Huh. I thought Naga were really rare?" The Black asked, having been raised into a Dark family Sirius had quite a knowledge of dark spells and 'dark' creatures.
"We're not exactly walking around revealing ourselves to humans." The Naga pointed out and he nodded a little in understanding.
"Okay… well what else can I expect to run into? I don't want to seem rude when I meet all these people." He pointed out.
"You're taking this all rather easily." Sessina pointed out with a thoughtful look.
"Well, one of my best friend's is a werewolf and I know better than most how badly the Ministry can mess up." Sirius said, his face going serious at the mention of the government. "I'm not going to judge someone right away just because the Ministry say's their bad."
"It seems you've matured a bit." Remus said while patting his friend's shoulder a little bit. "Well, on the street there are other werewolves, Sessina and her children are the only Naga that live here, there's a couple of cyclops families, quite a few fey, some vampires, and no the vampires don't eat anyone, and a few other races sprinkled in here and there. Just don't stare at anyone or freak out when you meet them. As long as you do that no one will mind."
"Alright. I'll try." He hummed thoughtfully and then grinned. "So cyclops huh?"
The rest of the night went much like that for the three. They sat around talking and eating until they all decided to turn in for the night. Remus walked Sessina home (which got come catcalls from Sirius) and they all went to bed.
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Ryuu was happy to see that after his siblings had the chance to transform, they were all doing much better. They were happier and less uncomfortable which allowed all of them to focus better on their studies and other personal matters. Their search of the castle and Lissana's map were going well. They still hadn't been able to get the door they'd found to open but they didn't go back to it every day anymore just when they came up with something new to try to open it. When they'd tried to blow it up they realized why that was such a bad idea. It had knocked them all back and emitted a low rumbling sound that sounded distinctly like a warning, they assumed if they tried to blow it up again, the door would do more than just knock them down.
Other than that they had found a few more interesting rooms. One was a library that was filled with books that either weren't in the library at all or were in the restricted section. Some of the books were dark but not all of them, in fact the vast majority of them were grey magic, magic that walked the line between light and dark magic. They all rather enjoyed the books, they made interesting reads to say the least.
They had also found a room that could change into anything they wanted it to be. That by far was the most interesting so far and they had spent an entire day in there, making it turn into several different things, like a forest, or a room where all of the walls were bouncy. It had been entertaining to say the least and they thought that it could be rather useful too if they used it right. Though now they were getting rather close to the ground floor and hadn't found much else, a few private balconies but mostly empty classrooms.
"I assume there will be more in the dungeons. All of this is the main part of the school." Draco reminded them. "It was meant to be school so the secret passages and such wouldn't be so much here." Though they had found some nifty passageways that they would be able to use to get to their classes more quickly, they were a little disappointed with how little they had found so far.
Their classes for the most part were going well, all of them, Draco included, were getting the top marks in all of their classes so far. It was a close thing but Lissana was doing better than them simply because she had more drive to learn than the rest of them. There were times that the Granger girl broke into their little rank of highest scores and they all acknowledged how smart she was, especially having no prior knowledge of the wizarding world before coming to Hogwarts.
Ryuu got a letter from Gringotts a couple of weeks after they'd contacted his mother telling him that they had repossessed all of the items that had belonged to his birth parents and they had been delivered to his mother. The next day he received a letter from his mother telling him that he would greatly enjoy some of the items and that she would leave those in his room for him to look over when they returned for the Yule holiday.
An: So as I said at the top I've been sick so if you see any glaring mistakes please tell me! And on that note a special thank you to Magitech for catching that mistake with the months last chapter! I changed it from September to November. So thank you very, very much! And thank you to Voice of the Riders for that compliment about my Snape. I always hate when people have Snape either too good or too bad, that's just not how he is. So I put A LOT of work into him even though so far you've only seen him briefly. I also have a special shout out for Stasia Ravenclaw for giving me the idea of how to get Sirius out of prison early! Thank you SOOO much! You're a doll and I love bouncing ideas off of you!
I'd really like if you told me how you feel about the subtle, or maybe not so subtle, hints I've been dropping about Sessina and Remus. What do you think about those two finding happiness with each other?
Also, because I don't think I'll ever get around to mentioning it in the actual story, Ryuu does not wear glasses. The adoption ritual fixed his vision, so because he never needed glasses they didn't know that he would have needed them if he hadn't been adopted.
Oh jeez... I've been talking your guys' ears off... would that be accurate since you're reading? Well anyways! Rate and Review! Reviews make me very very happy!