"English"

"Japanese"

"Parseltongue"

Chapter 9 - Getting Serious or Grim Defeat

Dumbledore sent all of the Gryffindor to the Great Hall, followed shortly by the rest of the students, who had no idea what was going on. "The teacher and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle." He addressed the students as the other teachers left room. While he was talking, the members of Team E met over in a corner. "I'm afraid that, for your own safety, you will have to spend the night here." He continued. "I want the prefects to stand guard over the entrances to the hall and I am leaving the Head Boy and Girl in charge. Any disturbance should be reported to the immediately." He then looked at Percy, "Send word with one of the ghosts."

Kurahashi looked at Kaede and asked, "What's going on?" Kaede shook her head. "The Painting-" Maehara started to explain but stopped when Dumbledore started speaking again. "Oh, yes you'll be need..." With a wave of his wand, the four long tables lined themselves against the walls and hundreds of soft purple sleeping bags appeared on the floor. "Sleep well." he said as he exited the room.

As soon he he was gone the Gryffindor students started telling the others about what had happened. The entire Great Hall was filled with noise.

"As I was saying," Maehara continued, "according to the Peeves ghost, or poltergeist or whatever, Black was mad when the painting wouldn't let him in so he tried to tear her up." "Why didn't he see him? We had been playing close attention." said Kaede. She was looking down at her hands in disappointment. "No, we were playing." said Karma. He was siting with his back against a table and his hands behind his head.

They turned to him with expressions ranging from shocked to enraged. "Are you all going to look me in the eyes and tell me that you were being serious." He smirked at them. "We've been goofing off and anyone who says otherwise is lying to himself. It's hard to take it seriously without Koro Sensei or Karasuma Sensei to push us." Nagisa looked up at them and said, "It's easy to forget that we aren't dealing with Koro Sensei anymore. This is a person that will probably kill us if he finds us."

They took a moment to think about that. "I thought that Hogwarts had safety precautions." Chiba pointed out. Karma shrugged his shoulders and Megu said, "According to the textbooks it does. There are charms that protect the school from entering through magic, including things like Apparating." Nakamura pointed a finger at her, "What about the Dementors? I thought that they were guarding every entrance." Black must have slipped past them" Offered Nagisa. Okajima rubbed the back of his head and said, "This guy must be crazy good."

"I actually found out something interesting." Karma said. The rest of the team turned to him again. "Black was friends with Lupin in school." "The teacher?" asked Muramatsu. Karma nodded, "Yeah, and even after school they kept in contact." Itona looked at him curiously, "Are you implying that Lupin let him in?" Karma shrugged his shoulders. Megu had a hand to her chin, "It's worth an investigation." Karma turned to Nagisa and said, "You're closest to him. Use whatever you have to to get information." Nagisa looked uncomfortable but nodded anyway. "While you do that, there are some other things that I will investigate."

"Should we go out and help look for the Fat Lady?" asked Hayami. Masayoshi shook his head, "No, it looks like their keeping a close eye on everyone. Besides, the painting report to the teachers so if we're caught we'll get in a like of trouble." Nakamura nodded, "Remember the lessons that Bitch Sensei taught us? It would be really bad if someone figured out that we were assassins." "Keep you second blade hidden." added Kaede.

"The lights are going out now! I want everyone in their sleeping bags and no more talking!" Percy ordered. The members of the team split up and went their separate ways, to their own houses. After he said that, the candles all seemed to go out at once, leaving only the light from the stars of the enchanted ceiling and the shimmer of the ghosts that would pass by them.

Nagisa moved close enough to Potter and his friends to listen for anything that might happen, hoping that he would find out if Potter actually knew anything. Several of the other Gryffindor Team E members also moved as close as they could without drawing suspicion. He pretended to be asleep, listen and waiting for something to happen.

Hayami was facing Chiba across the hall. It was a little embarassing to be sleeping so close to him, but it was also comforting in a way. She had closed her eyes and listened to people whispering around them. Every now and then a prefect was come over to someone and tell them to be quiet.

After a while she hear Chiba whisper, "Hayami, are you awake?" She looked at him and said, "Yeah, I'm still up." "That room is great but..." He sighed. She knew what he meant. There wasn't anyway that they could practice shooting how they wanted; there was only enough room to practice at close range. "Karma said that we shouldn't shoot in the forest because of the centaur but I wonder if practice from the roof." she suggested. He bit his lip and said, "Only if we are still playing our game."

They both went silent for a while again until she said, "Do you really think that Lupin Sensei helped Black?" He shrugged his shoulders. "It's possible. Karma is hiding something but I guess that he'll tell us later. He put Nagisa in a hard position but if anyone can find out it's him." He didn't need to tell her the reason why. Nagisa gave Lupin Sensei almost the same look and he did Koro Sensei. But Nagisa could do it, they both had faith in him.

The Hufflepuff Head Girl came over to them and said, "You two need to be quiet now." "I'm sorry." Chiba said to her. "Goodnight." He said to Hayami. "Goodnight." she returned.

She turned over to see that the Headmaster had entered and began talking with the Potions teacher and the Gryffindor Head Boy. She couldn't hear what they were saying but she could see Nagisa was close enough that he should be able to hear. She would have to ask him later.
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The next day, everyone seemed to be talking about what had happened. Much to the Gryffindor's dismay, the Fat Lady had been been replaced by Sir Cadogan and his small gray pony.

He spent a lot of time thinking up impossibly difficult password that changed a couple of times a day. He also challenged people to duels. One day Masayoshi, being frustrated with him accepted his challenge. Unfortunately they couldn't duel because one of them was in a painting and the other was not.

Muramatsu was walking down the hall, feeling happy about his new discovery, when he saw Okuda walking alone with her arms full of books. He walked up behind her and said, "Check this out." She turned around quickly, looking slightly surprised. "What are you talking about Muramatsu-kun?"

She followed him to a painting of fruit. Me smiled brightly at her and tickled the bottom of a pear. It swung outward slightly. He led her inside to an enormous kitchen with low counters. Elves were working all around the kitchen.

"You like Karma right?" He asked mischievously. She blushed a little and he continued, "I bet that he would appreciate something sweet. These guys would probably help."

At the same time, Harry was having a problem. Everyone was watching him like a hawk. He had just been called into Professor McGonagall's office. She had told him that he would have to be watched while practicing for the upcoming Quidditch match.

When he finally got away from everyone for a moment he heard something that sounded a little off. "It is cold outside." "OK, but just for a little while. I have classes."

Around the corner he saw Nagisa was looking down at the windowsill. "You have to be quiet and still during class, no one can know you're there." Harry walked up to him as the little grass snake was looking up at Nagisa.

When he approached they both looked up at him. "There are many rumors about you, Harry Potter." "Oh, I see." Harry resonded. Nagisa looked shocked. "You speak parseltongue?" "Um," Harry said, "you do too, right?" Nagisa nodded shortly. The snape slithered under his shirt and Nagisa said, "This guy is cold so I told him that he could warm up with me for a while." They walked together to their next class.

The weather had been getting worse lately but that didn't stop him and his team from practicing. Suddenly, during their final training session before the match against Slytherin, Wood, the captain of the team, told them that Slytherin was trying to throw them off. Now they were up against Hufflepuff and they're new Seeker, Cedric Diggory from year 5 because Malfoy was still faking his injury.

Nagisa walked into his Defense Against the Dark Arts class trying to think of how to get the information out of the teacher. He was one of the first people there because he was planning on sitting in the back. Snape was in the front of the class.

It was a little unexpected but he thought that maybe Lupin wasn't there yet and Snape was just there to mess with someone. Granger asked about it when she arrived and he told them that Lupin was sick.

Snape started talking about the basics of Dark Arts and why they needed to defend against it. He was just a few minutes in when Potter came running in.

"Sorry I'm late, Professor Lupin. I-" he started as he came in. "This lesson began ten minutes ago, Potter, so I think we'll make it ten points from Gryffindor. Sit down." Potter gave him a stubborn look and said, "Where's Professor Lupin?" "He says he is feeling too ill to teach today," Snape looked oddly pleased with this, "I believe I told you to sit down?" Potter still didn't move. "What's wrong with him?"

Snape looked weirdly excited."Nothing life-threatening. Five more points from Gryffindor, and if I have to ask you to sit down again, it will be fifty."
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At the same time, Karma was finally certain that he was right. He had to skip history to test of his theory but he was sure that it was going to be worth it. Besides, Bins wasn't going to notice whether he was there or not. He walked down the hall on the first floor.

He knocked on the wooden door to Lupin's office. "I'm sorry, I feeling quite unwell. Unless it's an emergency please come back later." Karma smirked and leaned on the door. In a hushed voice he said, "I know something important about you." He waited for Lupin to react.

Karma could hear some shuffling around before the door opened lightly. As he did Karma pushed the door open and walked in. "Excuse me!" the Professor exclaimed. Karma walked to the table and slouched in one of the chairs. Lupin looked tired and completely worn out.

"Are you a werewolf?" Karma asked point blank. The Professor looked taken aback but Karma pushed on. "I suspected that you were for a while now. So here's the thing, if you tell me you are then I'll know I'm right. If you tell me you're not then I'll have to dig deeper."

Lupin looked defeated as he sat across from him. "You're right, I'm a werewolf. What now? What are you planning on doing with that information?" Karma didn't really care about that but it was a good way to get the upper hand. He leaned back and looked toward the ceiling, "I have a serious question and I really wanted you to be honest. I don't really think you're going to lie to me but I wanted you to know that I do have ways of getting any information that I need." He said, burying the threat. Lupin looked at him curiously.

Karma smiled darkly and looked him in the eyes. "Why didn't you report Black?" Lupin narrowed his eyes, "I didn't know that Black was here until everyone else did." "I mean before that. You kept in contact after school right, are you telling you had no idea?" Lupin scaled at him. "I think that you should leave now." Karma smirked and continued, "He killed Pettigrew and the Potters, right? I thought you were all friends. Does that mean that your friendship with Black was more important that they were."

Lupin slammed his hands on the table, "Shut your mouth. You know nothing about that." His face was red with anger. Karma raised his hands in mock defeat. "OK, you're right. I wasn't there so I don't know." Lupin seemed to relax a little, although he was still very anger he didn't look like he was going to attack him, so Karma continued, "Nagisa is one of my close friends and he looks up to you. I didn't want to trust him to someone that might betray him." Lupin seemed to relax considerably at this. Only part of what he said was true. "Anyway," Karma continued, "you seem tired so I'll leave for now, I'll talk to you later."

As he let himself out of the room he smirked. Lupin had told him what he needed to know. Now he had to figure out why Lupin was defending Black though. He clearly was upset about the death of his other friends but he either didn't know why Black did it or there was another reason that was harder to find. "I wonder where Okuda is..." he wondered out loud as he walked through the halls.
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That night Nagisa, Masayoshi, and Maehara had all been paroling the forest all night during the heavy rainfall. When they returned through the window Nagisa headed down to the common room before changing like the other two. He was still troubled and needed some time for himself.

He hadn't been there for long before he had heard someone coming down the stairs. He didn't really have time to hide before a sleep Harry Potter entered the room. Potter saw him and looked a shock.

"Were you out?" Potter asked. Nagisa decided to tell im the trust. "Yeah, I had something to do." Potter looked like he wanted to ask why but didn't. "Um, Potter, good luck today." said Nagisa as he started to walk away.

"Nagisa, wait a moment will you." Potter called to him. Nagisa turned to him. "Why do you call me by my last name?" Potter asked him. Nagisa looked at him for a moment before saying, "Sorry, where I am from it is polite to call someone by their last name until you get to know them well or until they say you can call them by their given name." "Well, you can call me Harry." Potter offered. Nagisa smiled at him and said, "OK, I will." before walking up the stairs.

Later on the day, almost all of the school went out to the Quidditch field for the match. There was only a few exceptions. About half of Team E was either in the forest or around the field. Chiba and Hayami were stationed on the roof of the castle with guns, ready for anything that might come up. Kaede and Nagisa were sitting close together near the middle of the stands, close to the most empty part of the stands.

They sat really close together, to try to stave off the cold. Had it not been raining so heavily Nagisa would probably have fallen asleep on her shoulder.

About halfway through the match the captain of the Gryffindors called a timeout. After a brief meeting they when back to the sky. While they were playing, Nagisa felt like something was wrong. He turned to see a large black dog on the top of the stands. There was something ominous about it, the lightning made it seem worse.

He stood and started moving closer but as he did it slunk behind the stands to get down. Kaede moved behind him but he turned to her and said, "I'm going after it. Tell others about this."

He jumped over the side and used the cloth to keep himself from plummeting to the ground. He saw the wolf starting to sprint away. As he ran after it, he started feeling weak and cold but he fought through it and continued after it.

He followed the dog to a tree that the student had called the 'Whomping Willow'. The dog moved into a hole that was under the roots of the tree. Nagisa, ignoring the branches, continued following the dog.

Unfortunately, he didn't see the branch that hit him in the side of the head. Everything was suddenly blurry and the world started going dark. The last thing that he saw was a large branch coming at his face.
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Sirius didn't know why this kid was chasing him but he had finally escaped. Just before he had gotten back into the Shrieking Shack he saw something that made him stop. The Kid that had been chasing him had been hit with a branch. If he didn't do anything his head would be crushed.

After turning back into his human form, he ran up and grabbed the kid by his cloak and pulled him into the path leading into the shack. The kid was completely out of it. He decided that he was going to make sure that he was OK before returning him to the castle. At the very least he would stop the bleeding.

He didn't have the right medical supplies to really help him but he took some of the tattered curtains, tore then into usable strips and started wrapping them around the kid's head. He didn't expect his eyes to start to flutter open.

He looked confused for a moment and grabbed onto his sleeve. "What's going on?" he said in some other language. "It's OK, calm down for a second." He tried to calm him down. He had hoped that he wouldn't be seen. He had thought that this was a good place to hide but now he was going to have to find somewhere else.

Suddenly, kid's eyes became very focused. "You hit your head, I'm going to wrap it up and sent you on your way." he tried to say in a nonthreatening way.
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Back on the Quidditch field there was a lot of commotion. A large number of Dementors had come onto the field. Kurahashi was leaning over Masayoshi, who had passed out after coming to close the Dementors.

During this time, several members of Team E had come back to meet up with everyone else. Kaede ran up to Karma and shouted, "There was a suspicious dog in the stands so Nagisa ran after it but he didn't come back yet." She had already told most of the others. "Which direction did he go?" Karma asked. Kaede pointed in the direction of Hogsemeade.

Karma turned to the team and said, "Megu, Maehara, Terasaka, and Muramatsu come with me. Everyone else make sure that people are safe here." He then turned to Nakamura and said, "Please find Chiba and Hayami and tell them to come and find us."

The five of them started to run toward the direction of the village.
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I was going to try and give everyone equal time, as much as I can, but this turned into a Nagisa heavy episode. Sorry about the cliffhanger but I have to keep you on your feet somehow, right? In all fairness, he didn't get much sleep and the Dementors were also slowing him down.