Okay, this is the new instalment of Aiji. I hope that this doesn't feel like too much like a filler and backstory chapter, I did try to start the action going. Let's see what you guys think. Meanwhile, I hope that I've fleshed out my OCs (Lythiel, Daphne, and Sally-Anne) enough. Not to mention that I hope Aiji's "voice" is likeable enough. Here's to hoping they aren't going in the Mary-Sue direction. So, if you lot would give me some feedback on this area, I would be estremely happy.
Aiji: Of course I'm likable! I'm the damned protagonist, if they didn't then why are we gettin' so much positive feedback?!
Lythiel: Some stories become famous not because of the protagonist, but because of impressive side-characters.
Daphne: (preens) Well, I am quite the personality!
Sally-Anne: Yeah, your narcissism has a life of its own.
Aiji: What Sal said. I'm just as charismatic as big brother you know!
Yuusuke: Weeeeeellllll, you're doin pretty good imoutou
Aiji: See!
Yuusuke: But you've got a long way to go to reach my level! (smirks)
Aiji: Why you--
As you can see, the characters also want to know, if only to settle this troublesome internal dispute.
All kidding aside, I'll try to update as much as I can in the summer. I'm starting my last year at university in the Fall and that means... tun-tun-tun-tuh! Senior Project and/or Thesis! Since I'm a double concentration senior, I'll have to do one project/thesis on theater and another on writting. Chances are, I'll probably write a novella or something and maybe I'll do a performance. So, as you can see, come Fall, I will pretty much do other projects. I probably won't even be able to work on my fanfics on and off the school year like I usually do. Sorry guys, but real life and my original characters are going to take the front seat the second September comes.
And on that jolly note, on with the story!
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"So this is why you're late," calm, placid, impassive, serene, take your pick of adjectives, that's what Aiji's voice sounded like while gazing at the mid-coital forms of Slytherins Miles Bletchley and Norma Meeks.
Of course, Aiji was anything but calm as her cracking knuckles warned Bletchley of his punishment for ditching Quidditch practice for sex.
Bletchley and Meeks blanched, jumped away from each other and started searching for their clothes. "H-h-h-ow did you find me?" Bletchley stammered. It was no use lying as that would only make Aiji all the more vicious.
Aiji threw a frilly pastel yellow pair of panties at him, "This was stuck on the door, dumbass!"
Bletchley caught it, barely, and handed it to Meeks, "Uh, Norma, this is yours." She snatched it from his hand and stuffed it into her robe pocket. Gawking, terrified, at Fighting "King" Urameshi, Meeks didn't dare move to call attention to herself. No way was she making herself a target to Slytherin House's currently scariest 11-year old, not even if her fuck-buddy's life was on the line.
"Get the fuck out," Aiji ordered her. Meeks dashed out the door like a gazelle chased by a lioness.
She turned her furious eyes to Bletchley, "Next time, whichever girl you pounded to the wall is going to watch you get the shit beaten outta ya by a kid."
Bletchley gulped, he never would've thought that there'd be someone worse than Flint or Snape to be caught in these circumstances.
"Clench your teeth," was the only warning Aiji gave as she punched him.
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The Slytherin Quidditch team ceased their training at the sight of a very ticked off Aiji dragging a bloody, whimpering, banged up Miles Bletchley. Aiji dropped Bletchley in the middle of the grounds, flung a broom at his stomach, and barked "Get to a post before I nail your head to my wall."
Flint, Montague, Pucey, Higgs, Derrick, and Daphne didn't even bother to wonder what their Keeper did to merit such violence on his person. Obviously, the reason he skipped must not have been a good one for Aiji to go Muhammad Ali on his ass. Although, it couldn't have been that bad since there were no broken bones. Feh, served the idiot right for ditching them. And getting caught.
As soon as Bletchley was on a post, albeit leaning on his broom to support himself, Aiji joined the others with a smirk that would've prevented sharks from eating her out of professional courtesy. "So, this wanker thinks he's good enough without practice that he can shag while we train our arses off." At her words, the team aimed their bloodlust at their helpless teammate.
On second thought, Aiji didn't need to break his bones immediately. "Is that so?" Flint was normally the one who opposed Aiji and her decisions, a last stand to keep his position as Captain and top dog among the team. Even though it usually ended with a bout, either in Quidditch or brawling, and Flint getting his ass kicked, it was still more of a resistance than everyone else in the team.
For Flint to agree with Aiji, that was a death sentence in and of itself. Bletchley gulped as Daphne and Derrick tightened their grips on their clubs. Montague, Higgs, Pucey and Flint were almost breaking their brooms from the pressure of their taut hands. Aiji had the manifestation of a ferocious tigress behind her as her eyes sparkled with malice.
"N-n-now, mates, there is no need for that!" Bletchley squeaked, "I won't even so much as look at Norma… Oh, shit… MUMMY!!!!!!"
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Lythiel and Sally-Anne didn't look up from their books – Alchemy: Art or Science? by Tranquility Leambre and Les RoisMaudits: Le Roi de Ferby Maurice Druon, respectively – as Aiji and Daphne slammed the dorm door with more exuberance than necessary.
As it was a Saturday, the Quidditch team had taken advantage of the relatively sunny day (as sunny as it gets in Northern Scotland) and practiced from 10 to 4. Aiji had demanded the extra training hours after she deemed the team "weak" after the first meeting. To further prove her point, she had out-flown each, and every, player through sheer physical strength. Hence where their favourite tomboy got the nickname "Monster Strength Urameshi." Go figure.
By the end of the first week of Aiji and Daphne's acceptance at the Quidditch team, Aiji had become a de-facto Captain and trainer. Flint fought with her to keep his position and only tolerated her training methods because of their phenomenal results. The rest of the teammates respected, and maybe feared, her. Daphne cursed that she wasn't exempted from the "brutal, inhumane, and bloody bonkers" training just because she was a reserve.
One of the requirements for the Quidditch team was that they all charm their clothes to weight 10 kilos more than normal. "Sentimentally traditional training, I know," Aiji had commented once, "but it works." Of course Aiji, being the impatient nutjob that se was, wore 50 kilos extra and was planning on making the team add another 10 next term.
Of course, that was the least of the team's worries. For example, Higgs' speed had improved drastically after Aiji pulled the honey and bees trick on him while making him catch the Snitch… on a CleanSweep 4.
After watching that particular session, the newly retired Bole had said, "Never been so glad to have broken my arm in my whole life."
Of course, that was nothing compared to the time when Aiji noticed that the Slytherin team had abysmal teamwork. Their greatest strengths seemed to be brute force and underhanded methods. That was all well and good, but against a team with solid collaboration whom also possessed those traits, the Slytherin team would lose. No matter how much everyone protested that none of the other teams would have those qualities, Aiji wouldn't budge on the issue.
If there was one thing that Aiji had learned as a Reikai Tantei, was that a solid team can make all the difference between victory and defeat. She knew that if it weren't for the impressive teamwork between Yuusuke, Kuwabara, and herself on Tarukane-teme's mansion, it would've taken them longer to get Yukina out of that hellhole.
Aiji was well-aware that she wasn't a natural team-player. She worked like magic with Yuusuke-nii, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei because she trusted them with her life. The session was also for her own benefit, to force herself to work well with others.
So what did she do? Well, she tied herself and the team, amid mutinous glares and death threats, and then coated them all with rabbit blood courtesy of Slinky the house-elf. Upon her signal, Transfiguration genius sixth year Slytherin Dermot Hoggins transformed three pebbles into hungry wolves. Naturally, this exercise – if you could call it that – forced the team to work together and make decisions on short notice.
Since their wands were nowhere near their persons, the entire team, minus Aiji, wanted to make a run for it. Aiji, on the other hand, had wanted to wrestle the wolves into submission. Throughout the… ahem… disagreement, Hoggins took perverse pleasure at watching five of his pureblood tormentors at his mercy. Though he did feel bad about the terror Daphne and Pucey had endured, still. It was all for the team's own good.
After the "Transfiguration Incident," as it came to be known, Snape had a little talk to Aiji about toning down her unorthodox but effective methods. It went something along the lines of: "If they die, I'll have to answer to angry parents and lawsuits. In which case, I will personally slit your throat open." Succinct and to the point. Personally, Aiji thought his irritation towards her stemmed from speeding up Flint's recovery after the hazing incident. It wasn't her fault that Pomfrey refused to completely heal his broken arm.
Of course, after that, the Slytherin team had all the motivation in the world to perfect their teamwork and any other areas that they lacked. No way were they giving Aiji any cause to bring out the big guns. Nuh uh, no way.
Thankfully, the strategizing was left to Marcus Flint as Aiji was more of a think on her feet kind of player. Much to his frustration, he noted that the team wouldn't need to use 6/8th of the underhanded tricks than usual. Aiji's training had more than toughened them up; it'd made them faster, stronger, and much more resilient.
Aiji knew that boredom was to blame for her training methods worthy of Genkai. There wasn't much to do in the castle except homework, study, fly, Quidditch, gossip, read, play pranks, play wizarding board games, and hang out. Hailing from a large city like Tokyo, Aiji was used to being able to move about whenever she wanted to wherever she wanted. If she felt like going to the arcade, she bloody well went to the arcade. If she felt like taking a walk in the park, then she'd smell the plum blossoms at Ueno a couple of stations away.
Hell, there wasn't even a wizarding version of Shibuya nearby! The closest thing was Hogsmeade, and that was a hybrid between a quiet little resident town and a modest tourist village.
Having that freedom taken away from her made her restless. Since she didn't apply that energy into schoolwork, Quidditch training and training her friends on reiki were the focus of said energy.
Sally-Anne most definitely understood and sympathized with Aiji's plight. As Lyon is the second largest urban area in France, Sally-Anne had also grown up used to living in a big city and the freedoms it provided. She certainly preferred her mom's home in Rue des Pierres Plantées than her dad's small mansion situated near Bedfield, no matter how much money the latter was worth.
Although, just because they all knew the cause, didn't mean that they had the cure. Lythiel had a hard enough time trying to get Aiji to study, but she was determined to make the Eurasian at least pass her classes.
As Lythiel's zeal allowed her to finish all of her work ludicrously early, it gave her more time to study extra materials and to badger her friends into finishing their own work.
"You do realize that Potions essay on fifty uses of cyclamens is not going to write itself," Lythiel stated while turning a page. That was an obvious jab towards Sally-Anne and Aiji.
Sighing in a resigned manner, Sally-Anne bookmarked her page, placed it on her portable desk, and then took out some parchment. Some of it was blank; some was filled with her curvy handwriting. She passed the latter to Daphne, who did the same. Then they both sat down on their own portable desks and chairs and started writing.
Both girls had a system going on: Sally-Anne would do the Charms, Transfiguration, History of Magic, and Defense Against the Dark Arts essays while Daphne did the Potions, Herbology, and Astronomy ones. They'd then switch essays and re-interpret the other's work, in a lesser standard of course (to avoid getting caught).
Aiji had nothing to trade the girls with, as they were indeed keeping up their side of the bargain by teaching her some harder spells in order to later experiment them with reiki. Besides, Lythiel was, for all intents and purposes, Aiji's own tutor. A tutor that believed that having the answers handed on a silver platter was ineffective to learning something.
Aiji didn't have anything to complain about, as Lythiel helped her translate her essays, Aiji used the oral translation charm less and less, and her written English ameliorated over-time. Besides, the girls had long-ago figured out how to hold and keep Aiji's attention: make it as similar to a fight as humanly possible, and you've got one hooked Urameshi.
Daphne was easily the most bloodthirsty out of the quartet, second only to Aiji, of course it was easy for the eldest girl to teach Aiji a thing or two about vicious plants and insidious potions. Lythiel mostly stuck to facts, but her enthusiasm and vigor energized Aiji enough that she remembered ¾ of Lythiel's explanations (which was saying a lot). Sally-Anne, surprisingly, was the one who had the easiest time relating anything to Aiji, including the one subject that was classified as boring for Hogwarts students: History of Magic. Sally-Anne was a good story teller, she took advantage of the material she was given and made the best of it. And with subjects such as the Goblin Rebellions, Werewolf Riots and Exoduses, and Mermish Mass Murders (just to name a few topics); Sally-Anne didn't even need to embellish or exaggerate to keep Aiji interested.
Aiji could never figure out how Binns could make such fun history sound about as exciting as watching grass grow.
"Let's just get this over with," Aiji grumbled.
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To say that Yuusuke was angry would be the equivalent of saying that Albus Dumbledore was a relatively smart man.
"What do you mean the real locket is in an unplottable mansion?! Hell, what the fuck does unplottable mean!!" he snarled while holding Koenma from his collar.
"Basically it means that it's impossible to enter the mansion as the magic wards will keep anyone, but the people keyed to it, out." Michiko drawled as if Koenma wasn't being manhandled. "Although, we could get in by blowing the place to kingdom come, but then there's the problem of finding the damn thing through the rest of the surviving junk."
"You forgot to add the human police, inadvertently or not, running interference," Kurama reminded everyone.
"Then start explaining how we're gonna get in there, toddler!" Yuusuke demanded his captive. "Unless if you want us to blow the place up and disguise ourselves as coppers, there's no way we can get the fucking locket!!!"
"If you'd stop shaking me, I'd be happy to tell you!" Koenma managed to bellow through the shaking. Yuusuke complied and glared at him impatiently.
"There is a way in there," Koenma said. "Currently, Number 12 Grimmauld Place is empty save for Kreacher the insane house-elf." Koenma cut off Yuusuke before his way too trigger happy detective could get any ideas, "There are officially four people that can open the mansion for us, although one of them has precedence over the others and isn't likely to let two of those people in."
"Stop stalling Koenma, get to the point already," Yuusuke said.
"The person who can help us is Sirius Black," Koenma then shut his eyes and waited for the onslaught.
He wasn't disappointed.
"WHAT!?" Yuusuke punched a hole through Koenma's desk. "There is no way in the Three (censored) Worlds that I'm going anywhere near that (censored) (censored) (censored), unless if it's to kill him!!!"
"Yuusuke, it's not what you think!!" Koenma tried to placate his apocalyptic detective.
"What the hell don't I understand!? This is the same guy who went and betrayed Aiji's parents to that fucked up snake. He's probably planning my baby sister's death even as we speak, that—"
"Sirius Black is innocent!!!" Koenma shouted over Yuusuke's tirade. Surprisingly, the words got through the rampaging boy's brain.
"Come again?" Yuusuke's thunderous expression didn't leave his face. If anything, the only thing that was keeping him from wringing Koenma's neck was Kurama's firm hand on his shoulder.
"Perhaps you should explain the situation in very accurate details, Koenma." When Kurama suggests something with that cold smile on his face, it's usually a good idea to go through with his idea.
Koenma cringed. It was bad enough that he had one over-protective big brother to deal with, now he had to deal with the fox! 'I need a vacation.'
"Before you guys can ask, Reikai has strict rules about not interfering with humans unless if it involves different worlds coinciding with each other. As Sirius Black's admittedly tragic fate was all a part of human wizarding business, we left it as such. If it weren't for Aiji being a detective and a half-demon, and if Voldemort hadn't used Horcruxes, this messy business would still be considered human affairs—"
"Oi, beanie-sucker. Cut the excuses, we're not daddy-dearest. Just tell the damned story like it is," Michiko, who had been silent until now, said.
"Alright," Koenma sighed. "Sirius Black knew that he would be the obvious choice so he convinced James Potter to switch him with Peter Pettigrew. That way, Pettigrew would be the real Secret Keeper while Black would be the decoy. A simple, yet very effective ruse. It would've been successful except that Pettigrew wasn't loyal at all to the Potters."
"So the fucker told Riddle where to find the Potters and had a fall guy ready," Yuusuke said. He shuddered in anger as he thought of a life where Aiji hadn't survived the killing curse. 'She may be annoying, cocky, and a shit load of other things, but she's still my baby sister.'
"Right," Koenma said, "He was waiting for Black to chase after him to avenge his best friend's death and Aiji's sudden status as an orphan. Black did so and before he could get to him Pettigrew shouted, loud and clear, to the streets that Black had betrayed the Potters. Using the momentary distraction, Pettigrew blew up 12 normal humans with the wand he had hidden behind his back. He then cut off one of his fingers, turned himself into his rat form, and escaped to the sewers."
"I see, that explains it," Kurama said to himself.
"What do you mean, Kurama?" Yuusuke, already tense and barely keeping a firm hold of his outraged temper, all but barked at his companion.
Luckily, Kurama paid Yuusuke's outburst little heed. "I had found it odd that there was actually some kind of body-part from Pettigrew in the crime scene. After all, there was nothing left of the other humans, and they weren't the direct targets of Black's spell." Kurama sighed, "I didn't say anything before as I'm afraid my protective feelings over Aiji clouded my judgment."
"I'm surprised, though, that the supposed talentless bloke of the Marauders managed to become an Animagus." Michiko had already been filled in on the mission details and she had been lovers with many wizards. Of course, she was the one with the most knowledge over wizards, at least European ones.
"If it weren't for the other three I doubt he would've gone through with it in the first place," Koenma said. "The fourth Marauder, Remus Lupin, is a werewolf. Since werewolves can't contaminate animals; Black and Potter had decided to become Animagi to keep Lupin company on full moons. Pettigrew just went along for the ride."
"Where is that Lupin guy anyway?" Yuusuke asked, "I mean, I can get why Black couldn't take care of Aiji, what with being convicted for a crime he didn't commit. But why didn't Lupin take Aiji in. Anyone would've been better than the assholes she got stuck with. Hell, the shithead left her in an abandoned alley. If I hadn't been there, Ai-chan would've died within the day or worse!"
"He's a werewolf. European wizards are prejudiced against them even legally," Michiko said. "They'd choose a human mass-murderer over even the most parental werewolf to take care of a kid. It's sad to see that some things don't change."
"He did go looking for Aiji the minute he heard she was missing," Koenma said. "He nearly went to prison for breaking both of Dursley's arms and legs. A certain Headmaster pulled some strings and kept Lupin out of prison. My guess is, he felt that Dursley deserved it."
"And Lupin had to do everything the old fashioned way since the Japanese magical government wouldn't let Dumbledore do a search to stay out of the European blood war," Michiko concluded, the pieces of the puzzle finally clicking. "Finding Aiji in a huge city like Tokyo would be like looking for a needle in a haystack."
"With all the scents mixing together, he wouldn't even have known where to start," Kurama agreed.
"He wouldn't have found anything, since we moved a couple of months after Aiji joined the family. Mom had found a cheaper apartment somewhere close to Mushiori City. We stayed there for a year, I think," Yuusuke said.
Yuusuke then stood up and looked at Koenma expectantly. "So, where are the disguises?"
"You're going to need more than that to infiltrate Azkaban, Yuusuke," Koenma said wryly. "Get Michiko to debrief you on Dementors, you might have to kill one or two to bust Black out of there."
"Is Black even sane?" Kurama asked. "From what I understand, convicts lose their sanity after a year of residing in that prison. Black's been stuck in there for ten."
"We've already checked, he's still sane. Well, as sane as anyone stuck in Azkaban can be. More pressing worries are that he's severely malnourished and weak. He won't be able to summon up the power to open the mansion for a while."
Yuusuke, with his typical bullheaded confidence, didn't see much of a problem with that. "Obaa-chan has more than enough room for him and Yukina-chan can heal him. The rest is making sure he eats and rests enough, right? Besides, after being stuck in the slammer, I'm sure Black'll appreciate the wide outdoors. Plus, no one's going to come looking for him there…"
Koenma and Kurama were looking at him with bafflement and amusement respectively. "What!?" Yuusuke demanded.
"Nothing, just didn't think you had enough brain cells to rub together to produce logic outside of battle," Koenma said with a wan smile.
"So you aren't just a lucky fool, maybe there is something resembling strategy inside that mind of yours." Kurama teased.
"Shuddup," Yuusuke scowled. "Just because I'm not Mr. Perfect like some people doesn't mean I'm a complete knuckle head."
"I never said that," Kurama announced with his innocent smile (completely fake).
"Dirty rat," Yuusuke playfully punched Kurama's arm. "Speaking of rats, any idea where I can find Pettigrew? I wouldn't mind having a … word with him"
Koenma began coughing nervously, "Ah, well you see… since Pettigrew turned into a rat, he's been registered as one since then. And, well, do you have any idea how many rats there are in the UK? Much less the world?!"
"In other words, you have no idea where the (censored) is at." Yuusuke deadpanned.
"Perhaps you should rectify that Koenma. We wouldn't want Aiji-kun being spied on by an innocent looking rat, would we?" Kurama, once again, politely suggested.
Alright, folks, who is suicidal enough to go against Kurama's wishes?
Not Koenma, that's for sure. "It'll give the newly recruited ferry girls something to do."
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Pansy Parkinson dreamed. Dreamed of a not-so-distant future where she would be Lady Malfoy and her Drakie-poo would show her the love she was entitled to have.
He would be as handsome as his father, with a few of his mother's features to distinguish him from the older man. Stormy grey eyes would only sparkle for her, twinkle only for her, darken only for her... see only for her.
He would cherish her, love her, and bathe her with nothing but the most tender of emotions. His aristocratic mouth would ravish hers, his tongue dance with her own pink appendage, smoke would fill her nostrils… Wait, what!?!
Pansy bolted awake, coughing at the black smoke that filled the dorm. Out of the corner of her eye, she noted that Millicent, Stacie and Morag were having the same problem.
A wolf's howl haunted the smoky dorm. The girls froze.
Another howl permeated the enclosed space. Shadowy figures appeared. Many more howls resounded as wolf-like shapes became more visible by the second.
"I-i-i-it's the Kwn Awn!!!" wailed Daphne, tears falling down her reddened cheeks. "They've taken Ly, Ai, and Sal!"
"T-t-t-t-t-t-the Kwn Awn!!" Pansy yelped. She rushed towards Millicent and hid behind the much larger girl. Despite the fear, Millicent stood and shielded Pansy from the canine messengers of Awn.
"EEEEEEKKKK" Stacie shrieked as she backed to the furthest corner in the dorm. Morag fell down and hid herself under the bed.
Soon the shadows took the shape of a tall humanoid figure. The wolves flanked the figure like an army to its general.
"A-a-a-a-awn?!" Millicent whimpered. The Celtic God of Death approached Pansy and Millicent. Pansy was clutching at the back of Millicent's nightgown, for once paler than Draco. "P-please, milord Awn!" Millicent pleaded, her knees shaking, barely holding her up. "Please, we beseech you, spare us!! We're too young to die!!!!!"
Millicent shut her eyes as she slid to her knees, bringing Pansy down with her. Both girls bowed their heads and whimpered like wounded animals.
Daphne just couldn't take it anymore. She laughed.
"BWA-HA-Ha-hahaha," Daphne clutched her stomach, panting to get some air.
To Pansy, Millicent, and Stacie's shock; they all heard an exasperated voice sigh and say "Finite Incantatem."
The smoke cleared until there were only… cardboard cut-outs of wolves and Aiji holding Sally-Anne and Lythiel on her shoulders totem-style. Lythiel, who was sitting on Sally-Anne's shoulders, had a huge cape on her own that draped down on all three girls.
"You just couldn't hold the laughter in," Sally-Anne, who had casted the advanced smoke spells and the Finite, said with a wan smile.
Lythiel shrugged, smiling as she allowed herself to fall from Sally-Anne's shoulders to the fluffy and bouncy bed bellow. Aiji grabbed Sally-Anne by the hips and lifted her off, setting her down on the ground in front of Aiji.
"Y-you, you, you, you," steam was coming out of Pansy's ears like a kettle. She was so angry, she didn't have words to describe the despicable girls in front of her.
"Ah, ah, ah, Parkinson," Sally-Anne smirked, "If I recall correctly, you once said everything goes on the morn of Samhain." She made a show of thinking by placing her hand under her chin, "In fact, didn't you say that right after you had locked Daff, Ly, and I in that rather small closet for hours last year?"
Daphne was still rolling on the floor. Lythiel was also giggling on the bed. Aiji looked as if she was going to join Daphne on the floor and Sally-Anne held a camera with a triumphant smirk.
Millicent stood and made to tackle Sally-Anne for the camera that supposedly held incriminating photographs of Pansy's fear, but a pillow punch (courtesy of Aiji) stopped her short. Aiji smirked, "Happy Halloween!"
Too bad Millicent and Pansy will never know that the wizarding camera was never used.
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"What religions are there in wizarding England, anyway?" Aiji had asked after the prank was done.
"Most muggleborns or half-bloods follow the three monotheist religions. There are also some that follow Buddhism," Lythiel had answered. "But the majority of the purebloods all follow the Old Ways or paganism as you would call it. I believe the so-called Slytherin Princess just demonstrated the very healthy respect Anglo purebloods tend to show towards our Death God and his messengers."
"So that means I'm not the only polytheist around here," Aiji said.
"I take it you follow Shinto?"
"Yes and no. I mean, I believe that the Shinto gods exist, but I'm also convinced they're out to get me and are not as benevolent as they are portrayed," Aiji said with a wry smirk. Then she smacked her own forehead with a groan, "And I can't believe the words "benevolent" and "portrayed" just came outta my mouth." She glared at her three friends, "This is all your fault." Hiei was laughing at her, Aiji just knew it.
"Your eloquent future self will thank us someday," Sally-Anne said. Turning to Lythiel and Daphne, she asked about what the rest of the Slytherins were expected to do on Samhain. Aside from the pranking that one usually did on mischief night, even though that was more of a muggle custom, really.
"It depends on what religion you follow and to what extent you believe in it," Daphne finally added her two cents in. "For example, Lythiel over here is an agnostic Celtic pagan, so she doesn't really celebrate much of the holidays."
"Oh, so since I'm an atheist I don't have to join in," Sally-Anne confirmed.
Daphne was the only one of the Silver Quartet, as they came to be known, who was going to celebrate Samhain. She was a Celtic pagan who was less agnostic than Lythiel.
"So what are you going to do on Samhain?" Aiji, the only on who had zero knowledge of the wizarding pureblood traditions, asked.
"The basics of it are that Daphne will dance in a circle with a fire in the middle. After that she's going to pray and think of dead loved ones or ancestors. She'll then dream about them and supposedly converse with them in the dream world," it was surprisingly Sally-Anne who answered.
"There are some extra variants I'll add since I am a part of the Morrigan branch, but that is the jist of it," Daphne said. "How did you know?"
"My dad follows the Old Celtic Ways. Learned a thing or two watching him," Sally-Anne said.
"That's pretty neat though, talking to loved ones in dreams," Aiji smiled. "If I believed in that, I'd definitely join in." 'Wouldn't mind talking to otou-san again, maybe even add James-tou-san and Lily-ka-san.' Then she remembered the gods she did know existed and thought better of it. 'Nah, Enma and the toddler are enough to deal with as is. No way am I pissing off another set of gods.'
So there the girls were: sitting at the Great Hall with all the Hogwarts students, stuffing their faces with the fabulous dinner the house-elves had cooked up.
The plan was that Daphne would go with the rest of the practitioners of the Old Celtic Ways at 11 pm to a special room in the dungeons near the dorms. Aiji, Lythiel, and Sally-Anne would keep her company until she had to go. Afterwards, the rest of the girls would get their beauty sleep.
"Hey, we have a match tomorrow! Are you lot going to be awake enough that early?" Aiji had asked her team. Daphne, Derrick, Flint, Bletchley, and Higgs were all celebrating Samhain.
"There is a thing called naps. We use them when we have Astronomy classes. I'm sure we can also apply them on Samhain, Beltane, or any other holidays such as these," the sarcasm rolling off Flint's tongue didn't bother Aiji. If anything, she thought him a more tolerable person when he used his brain to make up a witty retort.
"And here I was worried that Montague, Pucey, and I would've had to rescue you lot from fainting mid-air. Pity I can't be your beloved knight in shining armor," Aiji snarked back. She had made it her personal goal to egg Flint into attacking her. The results always made her feel better.
A hand on her shoulder interrupted the pleasant flashback. "Aiji, if you don't cease smirking like that, Flint is going to start wearing a Kevlar vest and accuse you of plotting his untimely death," Sally-Anne wryly commented.
"Why would I wanna kill him when he's so much more interesting alive? He's like a favorite chew toy," Aiji smirked sinisterly. A couple of rows on the left, Marcus Flint shuddered, looked around, and couldn't quite convince himself that someone was not out to get him. "One that squeaks."
"Granted, he's not the most pleasant bloke, but I doubt anyone deserves the constant torment," Daphne said. "Unless if your name is Smith or McLaggen."
"Jeez, if you've got that big of a beef against them, why don't you just kick their asses and get it over with?"
"Of course not. That would be bullying and therefore degrading myself to their level," Daphne imperiously announced, "Most importantly, I haven't found a way to deal with the little sods in a way that the Professors can't deduct House Points, give me a detention, or expel me."
"Are you feeling alright, Lythiel? You've barely touched your food," Sally-Anne said, slight concern coloring her voice.
Aiji and Daphne immediately snapped their attention to Lythiel. It was true, Lythiel hadn't really eaten much nor had she contributed to the present conversation. Two big oddities. Ever since Aiji started training the girls, they all forgot about asinine diets and ate everything that tasted good and filled their stomachs up. They'd loose any extra pounds in training, so it wasn't an issue. As for the second anomaly, Lythiel could never pass up the chance to scold the Aiji and Daphne when they weren't discreet about their maniacal tendencies.
"What's wrong with your stomach?" Daphne immediately spotted Lythiel's hand rubbing circles on her abdomen. "Do you need to see Pomfrey?"
"No, I'm fine. My stomach's just been bothering me for a bit."
"Been bothering? Since when," when Daphne uses a mothering and commanding tone, one does not argue with her. Or lie to her.
"Since two hours ago," Lythiel, defeated, knew that she couldn't lie to Daphne now that the other blonde knew that she was discomfited. "It wasn't that bad before, but now the pain has started spiking up a bit."
Aiji focused her enhanced sense of smell on Lythiel alone. Now that the rest of the distracting smells weren't masking her friend's scent, Aiji noticed that there was an extra metallic smell on the girl. It was familiar, and it intermingled with Lythiel's natural scent that it was almost unnoticeable. 'Huh, if I didn't know any better, I'd say that I'm smelling… blood… Oh shit!'
Aiji abruptly stood up and grabbed Lythiel. Walking briskly, ignoring Lythiel's protests, and hearing Sally-Anne and Daphne following, Aiji ran to the closest bathroom.
"Aiji! What in Awn—"
"You're bleeding."
"WHAT!?"
"I have enhanced senses. I smelt blood on you. Therefore, you are bleeding."
"Shit, we have to get her to Pomfrey!" Daphne exclaimed.
"Right, and what are we supposed to say? "Oh, Madame Pomfrey, Ai smelt blood on Ly, do you think you can look into that?" Not bloody likely," Sally-Anne lost her casual eloquence in her panic.
Further discussion was interrupted as the girls entered the bathroom. Aiji instantly found an empty stall and entered it with the rest of the girls. It was a bit of a tight fit, but since they were all small eleven year olds, it was manageable.
"Strip," Daphne commanded.
"What?" Lythiel squawked.
"You're bleeding somewhere we can't see, you have to get rid of the clothes so we can ascertain where the bleeding's coming from and fix it," Daphne elaborated.
"But I'm fine! Sure, my stomach's had better days, but I don't—"
"Quit being so stubborn and strip," Sally-Anne said. "Now let's get this troublesome act done with so we can take care of you. Trust me, seeing you die of blood-loss is not my life ambition."
Aiji let out a bark of laughter, "Oh, so that's what was wrong! Shit, man, I'm sorry. I couldn't tell where the blood was coming from with all those scents at the Great Hall. Guess I panicked and assumed the worst."
"What?" Lythiel said, "Aiji, my love, if you wouldn't mind elaborating? I've just spent two hours in great pain, and then ten minutes believing I was about to die, so SPILL!"
"The bleeding's natural," was Aiji's flippant reply.
"How can bleeding of any kind be natural?" Sally-Anne grumbled.
"The kind that comes once a month for every female," Aiji deadpanned.
Sally-Anne's eyes widened as she caught on to the implication. Daphne and Lythiel, however, were still in the dark.
"At the risk of sounding like a dumb blonde, and therefore enforcing the stereotype," Lythiel said with a wan smile, "can you please spell it out?"
Aiji took Lythiel's hands into hers and said with mock elation, "Congratulations! You're a woman!"
Sally-Anne took pity on the girls and decided to translate, "What butch over here means is that you're having your first period."
"Oh," Lythiel mumbled, shell-shocked, "OH!"
Daphne chuckled with a self-deprecating smile on her lips, "Well, this is embarrassing! I have two moms and I don't even notice that one of my best friends is suffering from menstruation cramps."
"I've lived with a mom whose PMS could scare even demons away," Aiji said. "If anyone should be embarrassed for not figuring it out sooner, it should be me."
"Wait, let me just make sure…" Lythiel muttered as she unbuttoned her robe and pulled her skirt up. She didn't have to sit down on the toilet to see the red stain on her knickers. Lythiel blushed, humiliated.
"You're lucky it didn't stain your skirt," Sally-Anne commented. "I don't suppose that the Hogwarts bathrooms have vending machines for feminine hygiene."
"You mean that muggles sell extra thick knickers in public restrooms?(1)" Daphne asked. "That's… not a bad idea, actually."
"No, they sell pads and tampons," Sally-Anne said. "Before you can ask: pads are disposable, well, bits of plastic cloth you put in your knickers. They, err, um, absorb the blood so it doesn't stain anything. When the pad is full of blood, you take it out and, well, replace it with another," Sally-Anne practically shouted the last part. She was as red as a lobster and couldn't look at her friends' eyes.
"Jeez, Sal, it's just pads and tampons! There's nothing embarrassing about 'em. I mean, it's not like you're talking about having sex with your lover," Aiji said. She then turned to Lythiel, "Tampons are sorta like pads, only you put them in you and the blood never leaks out of your vagina."
Lythiel opened her mouth but no sound came out of her. She was too mortified to say anything. Daphne and Sally-Anne were also in a similar predicament. Aiji rolled her eyes.
"Okay, let's make this simple. Just nod or shake your head to my questions, 'kay Ly?" Lythiel nodded. "Okay, I have some pads and tampons in my trunk," at her friends' questioning looks, she added, "'ka-san put them in just in case I ended up being an early bloomer. Anyway, do you want me to go to the dorm and get some for you?" Blushing, Lythiel nodded. "Do you want to try using a tampon?" Lythiel shook her head vigorously with a disgusted look on her face, "Yeah, didn't think so. So I'll just bring the pads?" Lythiel nodded, relieved.
Aiji then started grabbing a generous amount of toilet paper. "Ai, what are you doing?" Sally-Anne asked.
"Put this toilet paper in your panties, Ly. Just because you haven't stained your skirt and robe yet doesn't mean you won't," Aiji said as she examined the amount of paper that she took. "This should hold you 'till I get back."
Lythiel took the paper, still blushing, and mumbled with a bowed head, "Not that I'm not, err, grateful for the help but, um, d'you think you could…" she gestured to herself and the door.
"Oh, right, sure!" Sally-Anne said, happy to get out of the awkward situation, "Come on, Ai, Daff, let's leave Ly to her privacy!" She grabbed Aiji and Daphne by the arms as she rushed out of the stall.
Daphne was considerate enough to close the door behind her. "You know, considering how many times my moms complain about periods, you'd think I wouldn't be embarrassed by now," Daphne slapped her hand on the stall next to Lythiel's.
A squeak came from the same stall and stopped Aiji from leaving the bathroom. "Who's in there," Daphne snarled. "Are you spying on us!?"
"Like they're going to answer when you're pissed off," Sally-Anne said.
Aiji didn't bother with pleasantries, she just went up to the stall and said, "If you don't come out and tell us why you were spying on us, I'll drag you out myself."
"You wouldn't!" the girl on the other stall said.
"Wanna try me?" Aiji dared her, "Now be a good girl and tell us why you stuck around when Ly was having an embarrassing moment. Just so you know, this ain't much blackmail material!"
"It isn't?" Sally-Anne whispered to Daphne.
"I'm not trying to gain blackmail material! I was just sitting here, minding my own business and you lot barged in and started having that extremely awkward talk next door!"
"Granger, just get out of the stall already," Sally-Anne drawled. "This is awkward enough as is without talking to you over the door."
"How did you know—"
"I didn't, you just told me," Sally-Anne smirked. "I overheard Patil telling Weasley that you haven't left the bathroom since classes ended. Also, your voice sounded like it was close to our age. I added it all up and came up with an educated guess."
"You know, it's moments like these that you scarily remind me of Kurama-nii," Aiji said.
"So, what do you say Granger?" Daphne simpered, "Either you can face us or we break the door open, your choice."
"Fine!" Granger opened the door. It didn't take long for the girls to figure out why she had been reluctant to leave the stall. Her cheeks were red, not only because of the embarrassing discussion she overheard, but because of crying. Her eyes were puffy and red, with tear marks trailing down her cheeks.
Aiji and Daphne instantly felt guilt claw at them. Aiji always felt uncomfortable watching anyone cry. She always let Keiko or other more empathic people deal with the wailing party while she ran for the hills.
Daphne, on the other hand, felt the need to comfort sobbing parties, unless if she felt they deserved it. Her arms twitched in reflex but Daphne restrained herself. She doubted that Granger would welcome any attempt to soothe her after Daphne had all but bullied her.
Sally-Anne, however, felt no such guilt. 'Oh merde!! She heard me explain about pads like it was nothing! Okay, okay, this is fixable. I mean, she doesn't know about my family so it's not like she'll comment on it as strange. But, what if she does talk about it to someone!? Okay, breathe, what is one thing that Granger is known for besides her know-it-all attitude and her love of books?' Sally-Anne franticly grasped at straws. 'Her kiss-arse attitude? No, that won't work. She's only like that with the professors. Besides, I'm a kiss-arse too, so she could use it against me.'
"Who made you cry?" Daphne asked with surprising sympathy.
"That's none of your business!" Granger shouted, "And who says I was crying? I wasn't!"
'That's it! Her pride!' Sally-Anne could've kissed Daphne for inadvertently giving her the answer. "So you weren't sobbing in the bathroom since classes finished. You were just… admiring the differences between muggle and wizarding loos, or some other excuse," Sally-Anne smiled as she bargained. "And we weren't having a very embarrassing discussion about Ly getting her first period; Ai, Daff and I weren't talking about feminine hygiene; and we were just conferring about a prank or something."
"Remind me to make you into my lawyer," Aiji said, glad to avoid a mushy crying scene.
"I think that Sal just summarized what is going to happen," Lythiel stated as she stepped out of her stall. "We are all going to leave and head for our own dorms. In which case, Aiji is going to give me a pad and I will change myself in the privacy of my loo. Epona knows who else will come here."
"Great, so we're all in agreement?" Aiji grinned, "Let's… oi, d'you guys smell that?"
"Not all of us have an enhanced sense of smell, Ai," Daphne said.
"Dude, I can't believe you're not smelling this. It stinks like a cocktail of rotten eggs, old socks, tar, expired fish, and rotten cabbages!" Aiji plugged her nose with her fingers. 'I'm not going crazy, right Hiei-nii? My nose ain't malfunctioning!'
'It's not, the troll isn't close enough yet for the girls to notice the smell,' Hiei responded immediately. He was calm, he knew that Aiji could beat the troll easy, but a little caution wasn't going to hurt anyone, aside from the troll that is.
'Troll!?'
'Yes, a certain professor let it in. He wanted whatever's at the third floor corridor.'
'Shit, guess that means I gotta investigate it later, huh?'
'First you have to get rid of the troll. My advice? Cover your nose, your sense of smell will hinder you more than help you.'
'Gotcha. And thanks, Hiei-nii.'
"Ugh, actually, forget what I said," Daphne cried as she too covered her nose. "This reeks!"
"I think I'm going to be sick," Lythiel choked out. Granger and Sally-Anne nodded in agreement.
The sound of thundering steps instantly sent alarm bells on the human girls' minds. "Get behind me, guys," Aiji ordered as she cancelled her strength repressors by a bit . She then had the same power-level as Yuusuke when he fought in Tarukane-teme's mansion.
Granger opened her mouth to object but Daphne had clutched her arm and dragged her to the back of the loo. Lythiel and Sally-Anne were already there, wands out.
With a bang, the troll had torn the bathroom entrance door off its hinges. With its height reaching an impressive 10'2'', the troll made a frightening and intimidating figure. The club it used to smash a wall only added to its menacing appearance.
Granger screamed and pressed herself to the wall. Sally-Anne's eyes darted to and fro, looking for a way out. She may have trust in Aiji's strength, but even she couldn't possibly take on a Mountain Troll head on, right?
"Don't make any sudden movements," Lythiel whispered as Daphne stepped on Granger's foot to quiet her.
Granger's scream had given the troll a target. Or rather four targets pressed to the wall.
"Don't even think about it, asshole," Aiji snarled. "How 'bout I make a deal with you: you leave and I let you live."
"Ai, now's not the time to act cool and tough," Sally-Anne whimpered.
The troll growled stupidly. It aimed its club in Aiji's direction and struck. "Aiji!" "Move it, moron!" "Reducto! Shit I missed!!" "Oh God!"
The club smashed into splinters the minute Aiji's fist went through it. Daphne's Reducto had missed the club, but had struck the troll on the shoulder. The troll roared at the discomfort and the loss of its weapon. "Yeah, what're you gonna do about it?" Aiji taunted the troll, cracking her knuckles.
"Aiji," Lythiel, amazed that her friend was still alive, called out. "We should make a run for it while we can!"
"You guys do that, I'll handle ugly here," Aiji said. She didn't have to look back to know that her friends were looking at her with horrified amazement, "Don't worry, if I can destroy his club, I can bash his head open."
"Watch out!!" Sally-Anne's warning came at the right time, as the troll tried to punch Aiji. Aiji jumped to the ceiling and used it to propel herself to the troll's face. "Take this!!" her fist broke its nose. The force of the punch knocked the troll out in one go. It fell to the floor and caused a miniature earthquake from the force of the fall.
Aiji landed softly near the troll. She strolled casually towards it and nudged it with her foot. It didn't even groan from the pain. 'Did I kill it?' Aiji wondered with dread.
Great, how was she supposed to explain how she had killed a Mountain Troll, of all things, with only one punch?
'Don't worry, it's just unconscious,' Hiei supplied. 'You might want to get out of there. Snape, McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout, and Quirell are close. Don't worry about the third floor, Quirell's empty handed.'
'Thanks three-eyes,' Aiji mentally sighed in relief.
"Whoa," Granger breathed, "How did you do that?"
"Amazing what happens when you're a master martial artist," Aiji said dryly.
"Somehow, I don't think that the professors will accept it at that," Sally-Anne said. Then she remembered all of the unfortunate events that happened to any one of Aiji's enemies. "Never mind."
"You're saying that as though we will get caught," Aiji said, rummaging through her pant pocket. Taking out a miniature version of her mace, Aiji pointed her holly wand at it and muttered, "Engorgio."
The mace returned to its normal size, startling Granger who had never seen it up-close.
"Just out of curiosity," Lythiel started with a nervous tick on her eyebrow, "Why didn't you use that against the Troll in the first place?!"
"Wasn't necessary," Aiji shrugged as she got into an odd sort of batting position in front of a bare wall, like a baseball batter. "All I needed was to knock it out. In this case I need a hole big enough for all of us to fit."
"Wasn't necessary? WASN'T NECESSARY?!" Granger shrieked. "You nearly gave us a hart attack by fighting that troll barehanded and you say that a weapon was unnecessary!?"
Aiji felt Lythiel, Daphne, and Sally-Anne glaring at her, likewise promising retribution for scaring them.
"You lot can give me the sermon later, preferably when we aren't about to be discovered by the profs with an unconscious troll." Without waiting for a response, Aiji swung her hips, lashing her upper-body to the wall. The mace smashed and broke the wall, creating a decent sized crater.
Taking out her wand and pointing it at the mace, Aiji mumbled "Reduccio" and changed it back to its puny size. Stepping into the corridor, Aiji called to the girls, "Let's go. I don't know about the Gryffindor dorms, but ours are a long way from here."
The girls nodded and followed, though Granger was the most unsure and kept sneaking glances back at the bathroom. She seemed to be moving mostly on auto-pilot, following the rest. Her eyes, when not looking behind her, trailed at Aiji's figure almost as though she had never seen anything like her before.
Sally-Anne noticed it first, as did the rest. It would do nobody any good to be linked to the troll. Sure, Aiji might be suspected, since she was probably one of the few students who had the physical capability to beat a troll. But, the Slytherin motto hung in their minds. "Admit nothing, deny nothing, make counter-accusations."
Their female 5th year prefect, Melinda Phetrine, had, after all, warned them that the rest of the school was liable to blame almost any slight to the Slytherins. As unlikely as it was for four first years to take another first year hostage and bring a troll to school, it'd still be in the grapevine because said first years were Slytherins.
Lythiel took out her own beech wand and used the "point me" spell to take them to the Slytherin dorms. Aiji opened her senses for any living beings that might see them and took suggestions from Hiei. Daphne was subtly checking up on everyone, making sure no one was hurt, Aiji in particular. Hence why Daphne all but hovered over the shorter girl like a shield.
Meanwhile, Sally-Anne was thinking of ways to silence the "weakest link." Granger was a certified rule-abiding goody-two-shoes. Unlike Sally-Anne, who was merely teacher's pet and charmer, Granger would feel compelled to tell the truth to the professors. Especially if she felt that she did nothing wrong.
'Let's see, she's a know-it-all and likes to rub it in people's faces that she knows something. Probably a reaction to being new to this world and wanting to prevent others doing the same to her or worse… She's obsessed about following the rules, as strict as McGonagall, very preoccupied with how the professors might view her…'
Sidling up to Granger, Sally-Anne commented, "Let's just hope that none of the professors find out we were there with the troll. I mean, for all that we know, we might be accused of being the ones that let the troll in."
Granger jerked as though she'd been slapped, "That's preposterous! How can five first years like us bring a mountain troll to school?!"
Making a show of snorting, Sally-Anne continued as though her friends weren't giving her questioning glances, "Oh, come on, Granger! Any idiot can trick a mountain troll into doing what they want, it's common knowledge. Besides, there were five of us, four among us being close friends, in the bathroom. One or two students could be written off as victims of circumstances, but five? To an outsider, it'd look like we brought the troll in here for x or y reasons, realized the panic we produced was counter-productive, and tried to do damage control."
Hermione's lips trembled, the (sincere) conviction in Sally-Anne's features and voice was as credible as the reasoning. Indeed, had Hermione herself been one of the professors, she would have raised more than an eyebrow at the situation. But, still, her teachers knew her to be a serious student! And what about innocent until proven guilty? Surely they wouldn't…
"When you think about it, we are almost the ideal suspects," Sally-Anne continued, studying Granger's expression. Just a bit more… "I mean, you and Ai would be considered to be the perpetrators upon first glance."
Bingo.
"What is that supposed to mean!?" Granger, red-faced, snarled at Sally-Anne.
"Not too sure about you," Aiji flippantly entered the conversation, "But in my case, everyone knows I'm something of a violent maniac. The Profs might think that Daff, Ly, and Sal tricked the troll to enter the school because I wanted to wrestle it or something since we can't go to the Forbidden Forest."
Hermione opened her mouth to refute that ridiculous… on second thought, from what she'd heard of the rumors and from what she'd seen with her own eyes, Potter would do something like that.
"Alright," Hermione conceded, "I'll admit that explains why Potter would be falsely suspected. But why would I be suspected as well?" Hermione glared at Sally-Anne all the while ignoring Aiji's grimace at her un-chosen name.
"Simple," Sally-Anne smiled as she aimed for the kill, "You're always trying to show everyone up with the knowledge you've accumulated over the summer. Clearly, you feel that even though you are a muggleborn you are not inferior to everyone else who's had a head start over you, so to speak. Therefore, it is easy enough to guess that you have something to prove. Prove that you are just as good a witch as any other pureblood child, maybe even better. The profs might assume that you brought the troll here to prove you can take it on with only minimal instruction, therefore proving you are better than everyone else." At Granger's glare, Sally-Anne amended, "I'm not saying you are, but others would perceive it that way. Especially Professor Snape. He already considers you as an "insufferable know-it-all," his words not mine."
Hermione faltered upon hearing her Potions Professor's name. Yes, as much as Hermione hated to criticize a professor, he would paint her in that horrible light. In class, he'd always assume Hermione and the other Gryffindors were guilty of anything and everything. As far as he was concerned, you were guilty before proven innocent. Even though Hermione always tried her best and was among the better students in Potions…
Seeing that her words were getting to Granger, Sally-Anne decided on her coupe de grace, "And, really, I don't feel like being expelled from Hogwarts just because I was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Next time, we are so taking the trip to the dorms, no matter how far they are."
At the word "expelled," a word worse than death in Hermione's book, Hermione all but snarled, "They can never know we were at the bathroom!"
Daphne, Aiji, and Lythiel found it slightly scary how Sally-Anne had Hermione Granger, one of this year's brightest students, dancing to her tune like a marionette.
'This must be how Son Goku felt at the Buddha's hands,' Aiji sweat-dropped.
"What bathroom?" Sally-Anne asked, perfectly somber. "In fact, what are you doing so close to the Slytherin dorms?"
"I never saw or heard you in the bathroom," Hermione affirmed, "Likewise, you never saw or heard me."
"You know the "point me" spell?" Aiji asked. Hermione nodded and was about to perform it but Aiji stopped her, "Hold off on it for a moment. Count to twenty, Peeves should be gone by then."
Hermione gazed suspiciously at Aiji, "How do you know that?"
"Let's just say that I've been tracking his movements ever since that paint-ball fiasco," Aiji grinned. Hermione though that Aiji had placed a tracking charm on the poltergeist, but Aiji was just using Hiei's Jagan to keep an eye on him, no pun intended.
"You certain you don't want one of us to stay here until it's safe to move?" Daphne asked.
"No, it's fine, I, I'll be fine," Hermione said. It's hard to feel anything but friendly to someone that had just saved your life in one way or another.
Hermione just stood there, blushing, unsure, "Thanks." Whether she meant gratitude for the advice, the offer, the discretion, the cooperation, or the save, Aiji didn't know.
"See you tomorrow then," Lythiel, the most socially awkward of the quartet outside of her friends, smiled. "Hopefully, the professors will be too busy with the troll to notice any missing students."
Hermione nodded, then smiled, "You should run to your dorms, I'll be fine thanks to A… Aiji's warning."
Aiji smiled, "Good luck."
The quartet departed and made their way to their dorm. Dodging and ducking the ever-watching eyes of the paintings, the girls made it to the dungeons with no one the wiser and time to spare. "Rise of the Dark!"
Tiamat pushed her painting to the side, but hissed an amused, "you've been missed."
At Aiji's grimace, Sally-Anne correctly deduced, "I take it that we better have an excuse ready?"
"If you don't mind, we'd like to hear it now," said Melinda Phetrine, startling them. Behind her was her tall male counterpart, Kazutoshi Shinmei, who for once wasn't amused. Their sixth year colleagues, Nasrin Adel and Ezven Holic, both looked like they wanted to strangle the girls right there.
"Peeves," Lythiel blurted out the first thing on her mind.
"Peeves?" Ezven echoed, silently demanding an explanation.
"Yeah, Peeves," Aiji said, "See, Ly here's going through her first period," she started, hoping that propriety would cease the interrogation. Aside from the blush on Melinda's cheeks that matched her hair, there was, surprisingly, no reaction. "So we kinda rushed to the dorms to get some pads or something."
"But Peeves had intercepted us and started teasing Ly about it," Sally-Anne said. "He was following us around so much that Ai here lost her temper—"
"And used that wicked mace of hers on Peeves," Daphne said. "We kinda lost track of the time since we traded off on beating him up with the mace and spells!"
Lythiel nodded, not saying anything.
Kazutoshi smirked, "That's an entertaining, if unorthodox, cover story to tell the professors, especially since Peeves has probably been up to some mischief. Now, where were you four, really?"
"And please tell us you were nowhere near the troll," Nasrin said, pinching her nose to ward off a headache. 'Too bad they're only eleven, otherwise we could just play it off as them doing what every horny teenager does in a boarding school.'
"Troll? What troll?" Lythiel asked, the perfect picture of confusion.
"Did Parkinson put you up to it?" Daphne asked.
"Just because we made her think that Awn was going to take her soul this morning," Aiji said.
"Ai, I don't think that's helping our case," Sally-Anne said.
"That was you?" Kazutoshi let out a cackle. "Next time you want to scare the princess, do it at a decent hour, will you."
"Shinmei!" the other three prefects scolded him.
"She's an early riser," Aiji shrugged. Out of all the prefects, she liked Kazutoshi-sempai the best. He was the most likely to let her get away with things, if only for the entertainment she wrought.
"All joking aside," Kazutoshi said, all of a sudden serious. "Where were you lot when Quirell made his heroic entrance and warned us there was a troll in the dungeons?"
"We realize that Quirell is completely inept as a teacher," Nasrin said, "but you all do realize that a troll, while mentally deficient, is still a dangerous creature?"
"We didn't even know there was a troll, we weren't at the Hall when Quirell supposedly announced there was one," Sally-Anne said, sticking close to the truth.
"This is what happens when you plan to prank annoying bitches," Aiji mumbled, purposefully letting the prefects hear her.
Clearly, the prefects didn't fully believe them, even though the planning to prank someone bit was credible.
"Um, may we be excused?" Lythiel asked. "Daff probably has to go celebrate Samhain soon, Ai needs her rest for tomorrow's game, and I really want to change."
"Ly really is having her first period," Sally-Anne said while blushing.
Ezven signaled to Daphne and pointed to the left, "Go to the Common Room and find Flint. They'll be going soon."
Daphne gazed at her friends worriedly but left, all too glad to leave the interrogators.
Nasrin then grabbed Lythiel's shoulder and gently led her in the direction of the first years' dorms, "Go get changed and wash yourself. I'll pass you a potion if there's any pain."
Gazing at the two remaining girls, the prefects all waited for them to spill.
'Divide and conquer,' Sally-Anne and Aiji noticed.
"What? It's not like we planted cherry bombs on the toilets," Aiji snapped.
"I should hope you have more finesse than that," Kazutoshi grinned.
"We do, otherwise, Parkinson would not have bawled like a baby this morning," Sally-Anne drawled.
Ezven, with his quiet and stern presence, wouldn't let some things go, "That still does not prove that you weren't there at the Great Hall. It's your word against whoever can accuse you."
"Look, others will accuse you lot of bringing the troll in here because you're Slytherins," Melinda said. "We need to know why you weren't there at the Great Hall and where you were to make counter-arguments."
"They weren't at the Great Hall," Morag McDougal said as she entered. "Saw them leave before Quirell barged in, about ten minutes before. Too little time for them to even get outside the wards. And they couldn't have planned it before since yesterday they were with me, preparing for this morning's prank."
Good ole Morag. Her need to avenge her purloined book had led her to conspire with the quartet against Davis and now she was giving them an alibi in return.
"We left the Hall because Ly wasn't feeling good," Aiji pressed on, "Her cramps were bothering her. Of course, we figured out what it was after we left the Hall and found an unused classroom for her to rest."
"Now that I believe," Kazutoshi said. "See girls, the trick to creating convincing alibis is to keep things simple."
Ezven and Melinda looked like they wanted to argue but Kazutoshi interrupted them, "It's late, and Urameshi-kun has her first game tomorrow. It'd be pretty embarrassing to lose just because our new beater's too tired to hit properly."
"Thanks, sempai," Aiji chirped. "Let's go Sal."
Sally-Anne nodded towards the prefects, "Have a good night." The girls left for their dorms and some actual rest. Aiji promised herself and Hiei that she'd scope out the third floor after the game.
They didn't notice that when the prefects left for their duties, Kazutoshi lingered at the entrance with what looked like a communicator on hand. Grinning, he closed the flap, put the devise somewhere inside his voluminous robes, and left. He waved at the air, almost as though there was someone else watching him.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(1) Since the wizarding world is pretty much behind the times in many areas, I'm going to assume that it's the same in this one. My grandmother (a whoopin' 85 year old) once told me an embarassing anecdote about washing her own menstrual blood out of her knickers when I bitched about the cramps. Apparently, until very recently, read: 50 years ago or so, women had to use extra thick wool knickers when they had their period. It was non-disposable and they had to wash the blood off constantly. Since the wizarding world wouldn't use something as modern as a tampon or pad, I'll just say that this is what girls use instead. Yeah, I prefer the new stuff too.
