Holy hell, I can't believe you all stuck with me for... hoshit, THREE MONTHS. AND STILL I'VE BEEN GETTING A FLOW OF REVIEWS. I just cannot believe how amazing you all are, if it was ME, I'd slap that late author upside the head with a big fat get writing, bitch!

No, I'm really glad that you're all so understanding, though. Blame education. The other day I worked steadily for 7 hours and STILL couldn't finish all my homework. Yeah, I know, whiiiiine whiiiiine but it does make it hard.

Well, currently Miss Skitty is nowhere to be found, and I want to get this chaptre up as I don't know when I'll next have time, so excuse any grammar/sensibility errors you may find, we'll get around to fixing them soon enough~

Be forewarned, this chap's a bit angsty D:

~|\/|~

Sora had noticed quite early on that fighting against Heartless was a very methodical process- sort of just slash hack slash, turn, hack slash hack, turn, hack slash stab, turn, and so on with the occasional Cure or elemental spell thrown in. It was almost mindless, fighting the Heartless.

Not so with Nobodies.

Maybe it was because of their ability to turn into actual human shapes, maybe because they were just supposed to be all around smarter than Heartless, but with the middle-and-higher-class Nobodies especially, he found that the battles were a lot more intricate. They had an idea of when to dodge, for one, and were sensible enough to look for openings in his stance.
It was probably better for him to practise against Nobodies anyway, just in case-

Sora squashed that line of thought. They're not going to come back. They're not, he reassured himself, sprinting after the silver form as it slithered down the line of the train. Donald and Goofy were doing their best to contain the other students inside their train compartments, but they soon enough had a taste of how difficult it was to keep a bunch of excited magical teenagers in one place when they would really rather be in another. Sora heard a rather scratchy shout and something about how human toes were much less durable than webbed feet, and almost laughed out loud.

Look at you, Sora. About ready to stab some poor creature in the gut, and you're laughing. He shook his head. Where were all these deep thoughts coming from?

"Goofy, Donald! Forget about the other kids, I need you up here!" he shouted, not even bothering to look over his shoulder; Goofy at least would pick up on it, he knew. He glanced into the startled faces blurred by the compartment windows and his own speed. Sora wouldn't allow these people to get hurt for something he had done wrong.

Even as he was bringing down the Keyblade upon the first Dusk, he stumbled and almost missed his mark as a few familiar voices caught up with him.

"Hey, you guys! What-"

"What the hell is going on here?"

"Ron, this isn't the time for-"

Sora narrowed his eyes, gritted his teeth, blocked out the sound, and studied the group of Nobodies scurrying down the corridor about twenty feet away from him. "Glide," he muttered, and leapt up into the air, high as the ceiling would allow, executing a perfect flip and shooting after them. A jerk of his arm, and one of the bodies dissolved. A downwards slash took out two more. His feet touched the ground, and instantly he was back up in the air, leaping right after the Dusks who did the same. Yes, he decided, while with Heartless it was a systematic annihilation, with Nobodies it was almost like a... dance, his movements only hampered by the tight spaces and the fear of smashing one of those compartment windows. He thanked whomever was listening that the nearby students had the sense to stay inside.

"Sora!"

Uh-oh. Donald only used that particular tone right when he was about to get clubbed from behind by-

"Stupefy!"

He blinked in shock along with the silver-and-black creatures surrounding him as one of their numbers fell to the ground in a faint. No disintegration, it just fell. For all their intelligence, the other Nobodies couldn't stop natural curiosity and shuffled around him, giving him ample opening to destroy them.

He dropped to the ground, the Keyblade disappearing, savouring the chance to get a good look at his enemy for the first time.

~|\/|~

Harry was breathing rather heavily considering he had only cast one spell. His wand was thrust out in front of him, and he barely noticed as Sora easily dealt with the rest of the silvery things. He was focused entirely on the creature that had almost taken out the other boy.

"Nice reaction time, Harry," Goofy muttered from a few feet away, and Harry couldn't decide if he was joking or not. He just seen the thing leap... seen Sora fail to turn around... even though he had no idea what the things were, he had been nearly as frightened as when he had received the news of Hermione's Petrification all those years ago.

He lowered his wand and stepped forward uncertainly. "S...Sora?"

"You okay, mate?"

Harry turned and was surprised to see that Ron had been addressing him, not the Key-bearer.

"I, uh... yeah, I just... I dunno, I panicked."

Hermione shook her head. "Honestly, you and your hero complex..." But he could tell she was just as unnerved about it as he was.

The main thing was that they didn't know what these creatures did. While they were perfectly fine against opponents with wands, because they understood them,these things acted purely animalistic- and it didn't look to be the sort of fight where you aimed to disable first. No. Sora was determined to kill the things, and when they realised that, they returned it in full. At least, that's what it looked like to Harry. And to be honest, nothing scared him more than that complete need-to-destroy mindset. There was no room for negotiation or anything.

It was almost like being around Voldemort. Harry shook his head. These things were scary, but nowhere near as bad as that man.

"Alright. Crisis over. Now, what the bloody hell is going on here?" Harry had rarely heard Ron sounding so pissed off. He must have been upset by it too.

Sora wiped his hands, though there appeared to be nothing on them, and stood up. However, instead of heading over to where Harry and the others stood, he made a sort of hand gesture at Donald and Goofy, who both nodded, and the three of them immediately began checking around in compartments.

"Everyone alright in here?"

"Any injuries?"

"Everybody okay?"

"No, we're not okay! What the hell was that just now?" A curly haired brunette boy followed Sora after a moment. "One minute everything's fine and dandy, then all the sudden you're running 'round the place with a giant key-"

"And where did those things come from, huh?" a tallish blonde demanded, her robes already on. "They couldn't have just climbed into the train, there isn't a way in besides the doors!"

"You three seem to know what's going on-"

"This is absolutely insane-"

"Please, everybody!" Harry ran a pinky through his ear; Sora could apparently be very loud if he wanted to. Said boy raised his hands and waved them a bit, and Harry noticed with some amusement that his head didn't quite reach above the blonde's. "If I try to explain it to everyone now, it'll take all night. I'll talk to your principal-"

Hermione coughed. "Headmaster." Sora continued on as if nothing had happened.

"I'll talk to your headmaster before the, um, feast thing, and I'm sure between the two of us we can figure it out."

The brunette muttered something sounding rather like "Figure what out?" but begrudgingly returned to his compartment along with the others. Sora sighed, running a hand through his wild spikes.

"Guess we got even more explaining to do, oh joy..."

~|\/|~

The six of them gathered around the Nobody that Sora had gingerly dragged back to the train compartment. Even knowing just what it was, Sora couldn't exactly call it ugly- it wasn't like the Heartless, all dripping black and misshapen versions of normal people. He decided he much preferred the bright silvery-grey of the Nobodies to the drab colours most Heartless came in. It's probably because Nobodies are supposed to be souls as well as bodies, and Heartless are just like dead hearts... He surprised himself with his insight sometimes.

"So this is a Nobody, eh?" The brunette looked up in surprise. Hermione was the one who had spoken, studying the unconscious form with interest. He chuckled at the expression on Ron and Harry's face, something along the lines of, That's our Hermione, always the first to figure everything out. Almost like Donald, or Kairi when they had all been together. It was odd, how easily he compared his own friends to this trio.

"You guys must have some special magic... we hadn't heard of any attack that could stop a Nobody without killing it before this," Donald put in thoughtfully. "Could I see one of your wands?"

The three wizards exchanged cautious glances, Ron handing his over uncertainly. "Just, uh... be careful not to think real hard when you're holding it, okay?" The duck-turned-human laughed unexpectedly.

"Maybe we should let Sora hold it, then, he'd have no problem with that!" Goofy immediately burst out into ill-concealed giggles, while Sora took a moment to catch on.

"Wait a minute, that's... hey!"

An unmistakable pout formed on his face as the two wizards tried and failed to muffle their own amusement, and just like that, the uneasy mood was broken.

"Anyways..." Sora shot an irritated look at Donald, but they both knew he didn't really mean it. "Yeah, this is a Nobody. Your kind of magic must be a lot different from ours, though..."

"Why do you say that?" Hermione was giving him a calculating look, and Goofy stepped in for him.

"It's nuthin ta get worked up over, just that we've only ever been able to, uh, disintegrate the Heartless and Nobodies. Not just knock them out."

Sora nodded enthusiastically. "Right. And, I mean, not that we would wanna keep them all around... but it kinda gives us a disadvantage if we can't ever even get a close look at them."

"Unless they're like Axel," Donald put in, and the three as one flinched,

~|\/|~

"...ust hear that t... name?"

"They look alm... about it. See his face?"

"I had com... gotten about him though. What are... with him if... back?"

"Can we be re... in here?"

"Would you like t... test it ou... you?"

"Be quiet, all of you. Check to... that Nobody's still able to... what they're doing."

"Ah, M... just arrived and already...?"

"He's right, Larxene. Shut up."

"Come on, g... we can't get... never be out of here. Would you like that?"

~|\/|~

thoroughly confusing their companions.

"Wait, I missed something. Who's Axel?"

More uncomfortable glances were exchanged. Hermione gently prompted them. "You guys, I don't think it will help us anymore to keep secrets from each other.

Goofy looked at the ceiling, Donald looked at the floor, and Sora looked out the window and sighed. "He was just a friend. Well... he wasn't at first. But he was good. He's dead now."

~|\/|~

"Serves the little...ight."

"Axel? Good? These... kids, he must've... to their faces."

"Almost makes you... the lot of them."

"But they trusted...that could be... to us."

"But just... that they aren't wrong?"

"Don't... me laugh."

~|\/|~

The statement had affected Harry especially deeply... not just the statement itself, but the look on Sora's face as he said it. Their was sorrow, to be sure, but the other boy seemed unnervingly accepting of the fact that his friend was dead. If Harry lost someone like that... but he had, and it had been people he had hardly known, even if he was blood-related to them, and it had been so long ago, and he was still so shaken up by it. Not for the first time, Harry wondered what these three had gone through.

"A friend," Hermione had spoken up after a moment's contemplation. "But he was a Nobody, wasn't he?"

Both Harry and Ron turned to her sharply. She glanced at the both of them before continuing. "You said that he was the only Nobody you'd ever gotten a close look at, didn't you? But how was he different from these?" She nudged the form on the carpet with a foot.

Sora was curled up on the seat now, looking moody. Goofy awkwardly patted his shoulder, while Donald addressed Hermione directly. "He was different. We've explained about the Organization already..."

"Right," Harry put it. "They seemed almost human, I think is what you said. But then they were still, erm, emotionless? Something like that?"

"Nobodies don't have hearts, as a rule," came Sora's muffled voice. He rested his chin on his knees and blinked slowly. "They all want them, though, that is- was the goal of the Organization. And some of them tried to deny that lack of a heart. Axel was one of those. He made friends with... with another member, and it sort of... it almost gave him his heart back, almost. And he decided to help us." Harry missed the slight confusion etched across Donald's face as Sora spoke, but took note of how hesitant the other boy sounded.

"And the other member? Did you know him?" Hermione asked sharply, and Harry was about to ask how she knew it was a 'him,' when Sora sighed even more heavily than before and hung his head. "He's my Nobody."

Hermione nodded in a rather satisfied way. "I would ask if he's safe, but I think if you had a dangerous counterpart running loose still, you would have told us." Sora grinned halfheartedly, rubbing at a spot on his upper chest. Goofy nudged him, and he glanced at his hand with a surprised expression, slowly putting it down.

"But, so... yeah. It doesn't really matter what Axel is or was or how we knew him, because he's gone now." Hermione hesitated before lowering her voice, and Harry leaned in without really knowing why.

"How did he die?"

Sora's eyes began to mist over, and Harry thought that that might have been the only stupid question Hermione ever asked. But the other boy didn't seem to mind. He wiped at his face, attempting to make it look casual. "He... I was just, just kind of in trouble. And he stepped in. Saved my butt, y'know. I guess he put a little too much into it."

Harry could tell there was more to it, the real fuel to whatever could make Sora look that downhearted, but he decided that, for once, the Golden Trio had done enough prying.

"Let's change the subject, guys." Sora gave him a weak smile.

"I think that's a good idea."

~|\/|~

Sora shook his head furiously. Almost all of his prior sadness was gone now, and he was in a heated argument with the witch sitting across from him, the subject of the argument being the Nobody lying between them.

"I just don't understand it, Sora, you seem like such a compassionate person! Why do you absolutely have to kill this creature?"

"We've told you, it's not the same as killing," Donald growled, a heavy scowl etched upon his pale features. "They're already dead, and it's really doing them a service to-"

"But they're obviously so much weaker than you! And like this, it's practically slaughter!" Hermione's hair was frizzier than usual, and her cheeks had flushed with emotion. Harry shook his head dazedly. Hermione was his best friend, of course, but he really couldn't understand her views on a lot of things.

Ron was obviously feeling the same way. "C'mon, Hermione, give it a rest. It's not like they can be reasoned with, right?" Goofy nodded, an apologetic sort of expression on his face.

"B'lieve us, if there was a way to talk to 'em, we woulda figured it out by now. It's only the human-shaped ones that can really reason an' stuff." Harry was still trying to place what sort of an accent he had now, something like an American cowboy, sort of, maybe mixed with Australian. It was funny, the little details that he latched onto. He decided to finally step in, addressing the agitated witch beside him.

"Don't forget that this thing almost killed Sora." This remark seemed to subdue Hermione slightly, and she sat down, looking sadly at the creature.

"It just seems wrong to me, is all."

Sora sighed. "It took me a little while to get used to the idea, too. But you gotta understand, the Keyblade is special. It sort of... unlocks them, if that makes sense."

Harry resisted the urge to do the sort of 'bwuh?' that would be characteristic of Goyle.

Donald gave the distinct impression of a large bird smoothing down his ruffled feathers. "Well, I don't think there's really a lot of people that would want their bodies to turn into that after they die. It's the same way that killing Heartless frees the hearts- this frees the bodies."

Hermione nodded in a rather distracted way, and sort of half-sighed. "So... there's really no way around it?"

"Not if we want to destroy it in the best way possible."

She sat back. Harry suspected this was the only sort of 'permission' the rest of them were going to get, and told the other four so. Ron sniggered as Hermione made to protest, but they were both silenced as Sora stood up, cracking his neck and sticking his hand out. It looked silly for a moment, but then, in a slowed-down version of the last two 'Keyblade summonings' as he was told they were called, bubbles and tendrils of light wrapped around the other boy's hand. It was really quite pretty, he noted, and watched with interest as a dark key-shape materialized, starting from Sora's hand and building its way outwards. The other boy twirled it around once- probably a habit, Harry thought- and then, with one controlled thrust, the gothic-looking key had buried itself in the centre of the creature's chest. He felt Hermione flinch next to him, but he was too interested to take note of it.

As slowly as the Keyblade had appeared, the Nobody disappeared. Its body almost seemed to ripple, and it simultaneously faded and frothed into some sort of black smokey substance. The whole thing took about five seconds. A few stray grey wisps floated upward, and then the thing was gone. Hermione let out a breath next to him.

Harry tilted his head at her. She had a curious expression on her face. "How do they die like that?"

Sora blinked. "What do you mean?"

"To be honest," Ron began, "I'm confused too. You said that was the body left over, right? I get when you say those other thingies-"

"Heartless," Hermione put in exasperatedly.

"Yeah, those things- you say they don't technically have bodies, so I get that they would disappear. But all the ones like this, where do their bodies go?"

The other three were staring at them, looking just as confused as Harry felt. "But doesn't everyone die like that?"

Whatever answer they were expecting, this wasn't it.

"I mean, unless the Heartless get to you first and eat your heart, then your body stays-"

"But that's impossible!" Hermione sounded almost hysterical. "You're telling me that when you die, there's nothing left behind unless you get eaten by some monster? That makes absolutely no sense!"

Harry could understand why she was upset. It wasn't enough that Sora and Donald and Goofy had arrived bringing tidings of these evil things, they had decided to bend the laws of science too. But it wasn't really worth arguing over now, he thought. "Hermione, relax. Different, uh, planets, dimensions, worlds, whatever, different rules, okay? It's alright." Ron rubbed her back uncertainly.

"Let's just get our robes on, guys. We'll be there soon, I think."

~|\/|~

"I don't like these clothes," Sora complained for probably the fifth time as they were making their way towards the castle, tugging hopelessly at his tie. "How are you supposed to fight in these? And look at this castle, it's probably bigger than Disney castle! It might even be bigger than Hollow Bastion! If there's one place I really would rather be able to fight in, it's this place- and I can barely walk in these shoes! How do you cope with having so little toeroom? This whole thing is ridiculous, I can't believe I, of all people, have to go to school-"

"Sora!" Donald finally snapped. "We're all three of us uncomfortable. Just try to deal with it for now, okay?"

Sora fell silent, glaring at no one in particular. Donald knew very well that he was only complaining so much because of how this place set his nerves on end- he'd bet his left butt cheek that his two friends felt the same way.

Harry must have picked up on his feelings. "Don't worry, Sora. Hogwarts is the safest place in- well, anywhere, really."

Ron gave a small cough. "Unless Voldemort's involved, but I mean, that only happens about once a year so we should be okay for a few-" A look from Hermione made him fall silent.

Sora wasn't convinced. "How is it kept safe, exactly?" He directed his question at all three of the wizards and tried to imagine that he hadn't seen that gigantic tentacle shoot out of the lake just a few moments ago.

"Giant squid," Harry put in helpfully, noticing what his attentions had briefly been diverted to. "Don't worry, he's nice."

"Uh huh. Looked about as nice as Darkside to me, but whatever you say..."

"Anyways," Hermione ground out, obviously tiring of the banter. "It's kept safe exactly the way you'd expect it to- there are so many enchantments, traps, guards- like the Squid- woven around it that it's nearly impossible for anyone to get through."

"Any wizard, you mean," Donald spoke up gruffly, and it wasn't at all reassuring to Sora that none of their companions made a move to correct him.

~|\/|~

However ominous Hogwarts looked from the outside, on the inside, it was nothing short of magnificent. Sora was quite sure that a few of the pictures had started to move around as soon as he stopped looking at them and that the suits of armour were as alive as the ones in Beast's castle. He briefly wondered if Hogwarts had the same sort of enchantment on it as Beast's did- perhaps that was one of the protective measures?- but the idea was pushed from his mind as a stream of silvery forms began coming towards them. "What-"

Hermione looked around at his outburst and saw the silvery people. "Oh. It's alright, these are just ghosts, Sora." Sora let out a noticeable breath.

"So they're like Zero, then." Donald nodded at him, and Sora could tell that the ghosts creeped him out as well. He saw Harry's eyebrow quirk as the other boy turned around, and anticipated the question.

"Halloween Town, you probably wouldn't know it, but there're lots of ghosts there. Zero's Jack's dog." Ron's interest, in particular, seemed caught.

"You mean they have an entire town for-"

"Ron! Here comes Professor McGonagall, be quiet!" Hermione hissed, cutting him off, and Sora threw the other boy a sympathetic look. He'd been in that position more than once.

They had by now merged with the many other clumps of students filing into the hall, all of whom were paying rapt attention to a thin, grey-haired lady who had just arrived. She didn't seem intent on addressing the group at large, however, merely waving them on impatiently and calling "Move along! Into the Great Hall with you, let's not block up the entranceway, please..." The group began shuffling forward again, but Hermione pulled the five of them off to the side.

"'Mione, what-"

She gave a stern look to her two friends. "Don't you think that, if the Professor isn't in here to make an announcement to the student body itself, she just might want to talk to us, and Goofy, Donald and Sora in particular?"

Donald rubbed his chin. "Your friends back at that, uh... house must have told someone around here about us by now, right?" Sora chuckled at Donald's halting description of the Weasley household.

"Oh, I'm sure they have. If McGonagall doesn't want to talk to you about the Sorting, she probably is gonna take you to see Dumbledore." Sora was about to ask what the heck a Sorting was when the topic of their conversation made her entrance.

"I assume you three are Messrs. Donald, Goofy, and Sora?" She peered down tiny circular glasses at the said trio, who nodded politely. Sora stepped forward.

"Yup, I'm Sora." He introduced Donald and Goofy, as Harry, Ron, and Hermione fidgeted next to them.

The professor glanced around, eyeing a few stragglers and barking out a sharp, "Enough dawdling, students, into the Hall!" Said students complied fairly quickly, and McGonagall turned back to the six of them.

"Now, I understand that the three of you are roughly the age of the fifth years here, but for convenience's sake, we'll put you in sixth year, with your newly found friends here." She flashed a rare smile at the young wizards-and-witch. Sora could see that Donald was about to protest the assumption that he was the same age as Sora, and silenced him with a hand gesture. McGonagall pressed on.

"However, that still leaves the problem of the Sorting." Goofy interrupted before she could continue.

"'Scuse me, ma'am, but nobody's really explained to us what a, uh, sorting is, yet." The dog-turned-human shuffled from one foot to the other, his big brown eyes fixed on the lady's face.

"Of course, my apologies, Mr. Goofy." She adjusted her glasses with one hand. "The Sorting is a method by which we decide which house you will be placed in." She obviously got that there still was little comprehension between the three newcomers and her. "Oh, houses. Ah, you see, a house is almost like... a team, a family team that you live with for the duration of your stay here." Sora's face brightened.

"We get teams? That's so cool! Which one's the best one? I betcha I'll get put on the best one." He flashed a grin around, completely sincere in his words. Beside him, Donald slapped his forehead.

"Mr. Sora, I think you may have misunderstood me. The Houses do compete against each other, but they are equal parts of one whole, at least in theory." She sniffed slightly. Sora heard Harry snort.

"Unless you count Slytherin."

"Mr. Potter, now's not the time." But the old lady's lip was quirked at Harry, and Sora doubted she really meant it.

"What's wrong with Slytherin?"

"Oh, nothing," said Ron, "unless you count the fact that they're a bunch of backstabbing, slimy traitors and gits-"

Sora flinched at his words, not really surprised when Goofy caught on. "Don't worry about it, Sora." He shook his head.

"I doubt they're really as bad as you think." The four witches and wizards looked at him in slight confusion, but the Professor cleared the moment with a business-like toss of her head.

"Mr. Potter, you, Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger go ahead into the Hall. Mr. Sora and his companions shall entre with the first years." She placed a hand on his shoulder, and surprisingly, Sora didn't feel uncomfortable at all.

~|\/|~

At first, the whole concept had seemed quite entertaining. Sora was no stranger to talking clothes, but the fact that this one could read minds? That was something new.

However, as the Sorting dragged on, and the line of tiny witches and wizards shrank entirely too slowly, he found himself losing interest rapidly. This Professor Dumbledore person had evidently decided to save the three of them for last in the Sorting, and they lounged at the back of the group for quite some time, examining every inch of the Great Hall. Sora heard whispers, probably about him, as the line moved forward, but he couldn't bring himself to care. The lady professor had said that Dumbledore was going to explain everything to the students here, so they could just be patient.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, there were no other First Years left. Not quite sure what to do, the three of them stood rather awkwardly off to the side as a very old man with very long hair approached the owl podium at the head of the Hall. He pressed one of the sticks- wands, Sora reminded himself- to his throat, and cleared it.

"Now that we are all happily Sorted," the old man, who had to be Dumbledore, began, "I would like to make a few announcements." The buzzing that had filled the Hall in the past quarter-hour died down.

"You may have noticed the presence of three new faces, faces which are not quite as young as our First Years." Sora saw a boy at the table closest to him pull a face of his own, a rather sarcastic looking one, at that.

"Gentlemen, if you would...?" He started as Donald yanked his elbow, realizing that the Headmaster had been addressing the three of them. A few people around the Hall evidently recognized them, for whispers started right up again as soon as they were visible near the Headmaster.

"Now, as you are probably all aware, there was an incident on the train this afternoon, an incident these three gentlemen were a part of. Do not think for an instant that anything was done by these young men to cause the incident- they just happened to know how to properly handle it, and be there at the right time." Sora struggled not to say anything- the guilt he felt right at that moment was crushing.

"All that needs to be said for now is this: for too long, we have relied on the idea that Lord Voldemort is the only one that can do our world any harm." The room was deathly silent, and as Sora exchanged a glance with Donald and Donald with Goofy, he knew the three of them had silently resolved to find out more about this man. "We are not in any danger at the present time. However, if there ever comes a time when we are in danger of something other than what we already know and fight, it is my understanding that these three young men will be here to assisst us." He stepped back. "Would you perhaps like to introduce yourselves?"

Sora shifted uncomfortably, but complied, stepping around the podium and forward.

"Alright, well... everything your princi- uh, Headmaster here said is just about right on the mark... so, yeah. My name's Sora, and I guess you can just think of us as exchange students for the year, right guys?" Donald and Goofy nodded. "And, to my left, this is Donald..." he thought quickly- Goofy was sure to be an unheard of name around here, "...and this is George." Thankfully, his two companions went with it. "So, um, I guess we get sorted or whatever now?" Public speaking was not his strong point, Sora decided. Luckily, McGonagall came to his rescue.

"Yes, that's correct. Now, Mr.... Duck?" Sora's eye's widened at the uncertain-sounding command- or he thought that was what it was- and he dropped to the ground, hands over his head.

The Hall fairly shook with laughter.

~|\/|~

"Poor kid... a dork."

"Don't act like...ion."

"We seem to be arr... ster, I wonder why...?"

"That means it's only... the traitor's turn."

"And then, we shall see..."

~|\/|~

YUS. As a reward for being such a patient audience, I gave you all more clucks for your bucks, as it were. In case none of you picked up on that reference, means I extended the chapter~ Holy hell, a whopping 5.5K, I really like to follow up on lateness by spoiling you 3

SO. By now I'm sure you can guess roughly what I'm about to say here, but I'll say it anyway! R-E-V-I-E-W-S! WRITING THEM KEEPS NUTSO FROM BEING A HOT MESS!... or something. I failed cheerleading club, can you tell?

~The Bad Nut