*Headdesks* Yeah… Hi guys, how's life? Mine's changed a little. I graduated (spring) and moved temporarily to Belgium (fall) and somewhere in between I had writer's block and a complete lack of inspiration. But now I could start to write again. This is really ridiculous.

Disclaimer: (you can probably guess the tune)

Money money money,

I'm not getting,

anything at all.

Sorry for the time jumps and the slow progress…

Hermione was running her hands down the spines of the books in the Black library. Walker… Walker… There hadn't been many Walkers around. It certainly wasn't an old pure-blood family. Some records mentioned Walkers, but more extensive research had yielded no results. Walker, nor Reklaw could be found from the Hogwards records. But she wasn't very surprised; it was after all a palindrome. She had decided to approach her research from a different viewpoint. The transfer students had been there as well. She recalled seeing a symbol of some kind in some of Carrie's items. A decorated cross. She only needed to find a context for the cross, which would then lead to the key for the rest of this mystery.

She had to tread carefully. She still didn't know if they were allies or enemies or what was between them and Reklaw.

It was Christmas now, though. It was a season of celebration.

XXX

Carrie felt distinctly beaten up. It was by no means a new feeling, but this time it seemed worse than normal. She was decidedly avoiding about thinking the level 4. It had been very creepy looking. No diagram or picture she'd ever seen could compare. Damn it was ugly. Stop thinking about it. Think of that cute scientist intern in the HQ.

Except the guy was really an idiot. Damn it. She decided to look at Gary instead, though the sight left much for the imagination. He was covered with bandages. The damn winged baby did a number on him. She wondered where Nick was. Possibly enjoying a Christmas meal.

She'd barely noticed it was Christmas. When normally she'd spend it with her parents, this wasn't exactly the first holiday she'd spent on a mission. Things just cropped up sometimes.

There was candy on the bedside table. It tasted sweet. Not like the ash it normally tasted like.

XXX

Severus had surprisingly good jokes. Mostly they were about broken bones and the various ways one could fix them, but it wasn't as is Kal didn't appreciate them. Luckily the body of a Noah could take ridiculous amounts of damage. THE Noah, actually. A massive familial killing spree, not necessarily committed by himself, does wonders for status.

He eyed the expanse of food in front of him, wondering how much he should eat. Clearly others were stuffing themselves silly, but he technically ate the same amount as a snack. Decisions, decisions.

He too started stuffing himself stealthily. Snape began ignoring him the second he did. Kal pretended to be unaware of the reason. Nick was much more productive to tease anyway. Snape was more like entertainment.

XXX

When Umbridge saw the pair appearing through the Great Hall doors, her suspicions about Reklaw soared skywards when she noted the close association with the former Death Eater. She noted this new development in her mental checklist of "ThingsthataresuspiciousaboutReklaw" . She also distinctly glimpsed at the serene countenance of the Headmaster. He seemed to have relaxed from his almost unnoticeable fidgeting. It was nearly as interesting as the sudden leave of the Potter boy and his friends. From her sources she'd only found out that they had left in a hurry, as in panic. She had a feeling it had something to do with the rumor that a half-dead man had been found inside the ministry. Nevertheless, she would have to make her displeasure known to the Headmaster.

XXX

The days after Christmas the castle was slowly covered in snow. The thick white blanket luckily covered all remains of the fight and all evidence of footsteps having ever been made. It allowed Nick to relax and continue the vigil beside his friend's beds. The castle was so silent, it was almost ridiculous. The recovery of Carrie and Gary was steady and it was expected they would recover before the spring semester started. It brought a sense of security to Nick. Their mission was safe and they would be able to have their long overdue conversation with Reklaw mostly in peace. Though the lack other of students could encourage Umbridge to keep a closer eye on them. It would make having a private conversation with him nearly impossible.

Nick wondered if there were any places where there wasn't a danger of being overheard in the entire castle. These wizards, despite their inherent need for secrecy, seemed to have no such qualms within their own community.

Outside seemed like the best option so far.

XXX

The remainder of the vacation passed relatively peacefully. There were no new attacks, since the lack of students made the school an undesirable target for any Dark Lords with automatic weapons of mass destruction. Kanda was rediscovering the folds of the cloak with practiced efficiency. The contents had changed drastically after the momentary shedding of disguise that his host had done. The worlds had gained a sharper edge, whereas before they had been soft and muted, like his host. There had been facades and illusions that defied Kanda's ability to understand. That had partly made the worlds so interesting. But now there were less illusions and more honest traps, sometimes with painful consequences. It was clear that his host recognized this in himself and was wary of letting Kanda linger too long inside the folds. Despite how he termed Kanda as a menace to his clothing, it was apparent that he didn't want his "pet" to die either. For appearances sake, Kanda always protested a little and his host would only smile in a vaguely distant manner.

"I just don't think it's a good idea to be there too much." Some things should be left lying.

XXX

Christmas vacation was finally ending. It had never occurred to Umbridge that maybe the last peaceful moments of the vacation should be treasured. Instead, she decided to begin her campaign against Reklaw for real now, starting with Snape. She knew precisely what was in the file the Ministry had about the man, but she wasn't entirely sure if it would be of any use. Snape had Dumbledore's backing and his word had weight. Bringing up his past as a Death Eater would be of no use. But she had something which she couldn't say for Reklaw. She speculated during the long days in her office that Reklaw could be someone from the few lost years in Snape's file. She also supposed he could be a connection of Dumbledore's, since that particular group was far and wide. But really, Reklaw seemed to get along with Snape way too well. In her opinion a "former" Death Eater would be paranoid to a fault and incapable of forming normal bonds. Thus Reklaw could only be someone from his circle of friends.

She would start by forcing him to help her in her endeavor to make a file of Reklaw.

XXX

Harry was not especially glad to hear about Snape teaching him anything more than Potions. Why the hell not Dumbledore instead? The whole situation was excessively unpleasant. It really stung, to be betrayed like that by his headmaster and then set with his least favorite teacher. He couldn't say though, which hurt more.

But he could ignore that for the moment, as Hermione suddenly appeared to his shared room with some books from the Black library. She'd suddenly started explaining to him about religious symbols and their variables, probably drawing on her education in ancient runes a little as well. Harry was not entirely sure why and asked her why it was relevant. She paused as if to gather strength from the gods and then started taking Harry through the situation with Reklaw.

"So we have a new teacher, that basically teaches us practical muggle studies and self-defense. And at the same time we get three transfer students from some school I've never read about before. And almost immediately this tension between them develops, taunting and those kind of small things. Don't tell me you haven't noticed how he sometimes treats them during lessons?" Harry stared blankly, causing Hermione to sigh in exasperation. At this point Ron entered the room, demanding to know what they were talking about. Hermione explained again and received an equally blank look from him. Nevertheless she continued. "I tried looking for Reklaw and Walker in the library here, because it has a large take on pure-blood families but I couldn't find anything at all. Well actually there was a branch of Walkers but they died of like four centuries ago, so it can't be that. But then I thought about looking it from the transfer students side. I remember that on Carrie's trunk there is this really ornate cross that is also on some of her other items that don't exactly look any school issued. I made a sketch of it. It's rough but it'll give you an idea." Ron suddenly interrupted her.

"What do you mean, us?"

"Well of course you're going to help me; there are a lot of books we need to get through, if it even is here. So I collected some books from the Black library. We can't exactly take them with us to Hogwarts so we have to look through them here. I'll go back to the library now and try to look some more." She promptly left the room, muttering to herself about the possibilities.

Harry and Ron were left alone in the room, staring each other in horror. When they finally absorbed the monumentality of the task a whimper was left out of their throats. Harry could swear the painting in the corner was sniggering at them.

XXX

When Snape came out of Dumbledore's office, just having found out about his little extra assignment, his first route took him to the Astronomy tower. Despite the fact that it was beyond freezing, he quietly contemplated on his distasteful new project. There were so many things that could go wrong with this little idea. He simply loathed the idea of spending any more time in the same space with Potter and dwelling into his thoughts definitely qualified as an even more unattractive idea. He had little interest for the brat's company beyond what was necessary and he was perfectly aware that the brat shared his sentiments. He toyed with his wand a little, casting a spell to warm himself up. He might dwell mostly in the dungeons, but that did not mean he didn't need to get out of there sometimes. Apparently someone else though the same.

"Is that fresh air you're breathing?" Severus barely kept himself from flinching and turned purposefully slowly. Just to spite. His new acquaintance was not disturbed the least.

"Perhaps. Or alternatively it may be just cold. Why are you lying on the roof?" A pause. "Covered in snow?"

Kal smirked above him in a conspiratory manner. "I'm waiting something to happen. I have a feeling our dear colleague the Toad is planning something. " Snape looked at him blankly for a moment. The Toad? Then it suddenly dawned to him. He pursed his lips in an effort to reign in his amusement. He succeeded as well, he wasn't the best spy for nothing.

"Well that isn't exactly unexpected. She does not exactly like me, so of course she is going to suspect something is going on." Kal raised a brow, looking somehow strange when framed by the whiteness of the snow. "So it isn't just me she dislikes…" He stood up on the roof and Severus had to jump aside to dodge the snow that fell. Kal jumped down, not slipping at all on the icy surface of the stone floor. Severus suddenly noticed that he was surprisingly close, almost uncomfortably so. The mist of his breath hit Severus right in the face.

"But that's not what's bothering you, is it?" He didn't feel especially warm, even though logic dictated that in the freezing temperature around them he should be feeling some warmth radiating from him. He didn't. He pushed it from his mind.

"No. It is related to our esteemed headmaster." He ground out, as his bad mood returned. He was almost tempted to take his frustration on Reklaw. He had a nagging feeling it wouldn't work.

Kal didn't ask him to elaborate but instead started fashioning a pile of snow into a vaguely human shape. Severus opted to stay out of childish activities but could at the same time feel his annoyance ebb away. He vaguely noted the famous bowtruckle climbing out from the folds of the same odd cloak and joining him in his scrutiny of the snowy work in progress. After few minutes there stood a surprisingly life-like sculpture of Dumbledore on the battlement of the tower. Reklaw turned, satisfied with his finished product.

"So would you like to accompany me to dinner, then?"

The abrupt change of subject was almost welcomed. Severus could only agree. They turned towards the door, Reklaw going first. Severus was almost inside when he suddenly stopped and backpedaled. Reklaw was left holding the door open when Severus quickly crouched and started making a big snowball. He took extra care to make it as icy and hard as he could. He then turned and measured the distance, smirking.

The snowball hit the miniature Headmaster directly to the torso, tipping it over the edge and on to the yard below.

Severus could admit in all fairness to feeling a little better now.

XXX

On the final evening in the Black house they were are eating dinner together when Harry suddenly had an idea about their little search. They were seated side by side all three of them, arguing for once about homework and not about rosaries, when Harry suddenly asked a general question from the room.

"Does anyone know anything about this professor Reklaw we have at Hogwarts, Hermione was just curious about him." The conversation around the table ceased suddenly, as everyone suddenly gained contemplative expressions, except for Hermione who was silently fuming about being used as an excuse.

"I don't think there is much actually. Dumbledore just showed up one day and announced that he'd hired an extra teacher to teach the children much needed life skills or something like that. Didn't even tell us his name. So it's Reklaw then. What's his first name?" Harry frowned at this information. Just where had this guy come from then?

"Isn't that a bit strange? So he just hires some random person to teach." So Harry might have felt a little vindictive towards Dumbledore right now.

"I'm sure he has his reasons. Now eat your dinner, you are still too thin." Mrs Weasley interrupted and decisively changed the subject. But Sirius wasn't done yet and asked for the first name again.

"Oh, it's Kal, I think. That's what he's called." Lupin suddenly started hacking up his tea.

XXX

It was the last day of vacation and the students were returning from their no-doubt tense Christmas vacations. Dumbledore could in all honesty admit to being one of the primary instigators of the public feud and felt sorry for the children but truth had to be told, no matter how painful. If only other people would understand this.

He was watching out of his office window, waiting for confirmation from the wards that Harry and the others had returned. When the confirmation came, he waited calmly for Tonks to appear to report about the situation. When she finally did, she was accompanied by Lupin who looked like he had something to say. When Tonks dutifully reported about the journey he stayed back, fidgeting. When Tonks was getting ready to leave and was waiting at the door Lupin informed her that there was something he needed to discuss with Dumbledore and yes she could go ahead. It was only after closing the door that Lupin turned towards the desk completely and actually thought about what he should ask. Dumbledore looked at him, smiling over his spectacles. Remus decided to go with his original plan.

"About this new teacher of yours… Where did you find him?" Dumbledore cocked his head speculatively.

"I take it you've met him before?" An uncertain nod. This was a slight surprise to Dumbledore, especially if they were talking about the same person. But then he remembered the cloak. Of course.

"Well I must say he's a good teacher, like you were. He has especially taken a shine to our three transfer students, though I can't imagine precisely why." But Lupin clearly remembered Dumbledore saying in the past that these three people weren't really students at all. But if there was a connection between them…

Lupin wasn't yet ready to pursue that particular train of thought so he left it as such. He'd need more information about the situation before he could jump to any conclusions. Thus he bid good day to Dumbledore and hastily left the castle before that many students could recognize or remember him. He had a mission to do anyway.

…and the slashy undertones to Kal and Severus just keep writing themselves without my permission.

So again I apologize for the ridiculously long wait. I'd like to thank all the reviewers for their efforts, I really love you guys. I shall go hide behind the fruit screen now.

Au revoir.