"Hinata, remember to add in the porcupine quills before you stir it five times clockwise," patiently reminded Suga.

"Er, right," Hinata laid down the stirrer and picked up the quills. Suga was teaching him how to make a Boil Cure, a potion that was known for its many ingredients and was favored by Professor Irihata on first year exams.

"So, why exactly does it matter what order you throw in the ingredients?" asked Hinata. "They're all getting boiled down anyway."

"Excellent question," answered Suga, causing Hinata to smile at the praise. "Certain ingredients need a bit more time to let the magic seep in. For example, if you threw in the quills after stirring, then the magic would already be mostly ingrained in the potion and the quill's properties wouldn't mix in quite right."

Suga smiled. "That's just the basics of it. You don't get into more of the theory behind potions making until fifth year. Interested in being a potions master, Hinata?"

Hinata scrunched his nose. "I think I'll be good. I'll just ask Kageyama if ever I need a potion. He loves them."

Suga's smile grew. "Well, every class always seems to have a few potions naturals." He paused. "Speaking of Kageyama, how is Quidditch going?"

"Awesome," responded Hinata enthusiastically. "We have our next game this weekend. Me and Kageyama have been practicing like every night." He smiled, somewhat abashed. "Akaashi had to come out and stop us last night or we'd have forgotten our homework."

"From what I saw in your game against Ravenclaw, the team has definitely improved since you've joined," commented Suga, leaning down to look at the pink smoke coming off of the cauldron. "A bit dark, but still a success.

Hinata beamed.

"I think it's time to finish it off. Wave your wad like this, Hinata." Suga made a slightly tricky wand movement that Hinata struggled with but eventually imitated.

"The Slytherin match is Saturday, right?" asked Suga as he helped Hinata bottle the potion.

"Yep," confirmed Hinata. "Me and Kageyama have this new move that's going to be so cool. I start of on one side of the field and then it's like SWOOM and BAM and then I can get the ball. But, Kageyama's super excited about this other thing that Futakuchi is calling 'The Decoy Strategy'. I think it'll be alright but it won't be as cool as the first thing."

Suga nodded along even though he was pretty sure he only understood about half of that. "Listen, Hinata. You should be careful in the game. Slytherin is...well," Suga sighed, "my House doesn't exactly have a reputation as a nice team."

Hinata waved his hand. "Bokuto already told us that they were angry about the House Cup match last year. But, I'm sure that we can still win with the new moves we've been working on."

"That isn't exactly what I meant," said Suga. "Just, promise me you'll all be careful, alright?"

Hinata shrugged. "I promise."

ooooooo

Tsukishima Kei narrowed his eyes. "Is something wrong?"

Tsukishima's best friend looked up from the porridge he had been staring at for three minutes straight. "Hmm? No! Of course not, why would you think something is wrong?"

Tsukishima glared as he watched Yamaguchi's eyes dart from side to side.

"You mean other than the fact that that's the third time you've zoned out just this breakfast?"

"Er, yeah, other than that," Yamaguchi answered before shaking his head. "I mean I, ah, just haven't been sleeping well. You know we've got that big Potions test coming up, right? I'm...really stressed."

Tsukishima nodded, thinking this through. "Would you like me to help you in Potions? I've gotten O's on the last three assignments."

"No, no," Yamaguchi hastily reassured. "I'm sure it will be fine. I just need to study more to make sure I've got all the terms down. Nothing you need to worry about, Tsuki."

"We can always go over Potion terms tonight," Tsukishima offered. "The library should be fairly empty on a Friday night."

Yamaguchi shook his head. "I can't tonight. I'm meeting with some of the guys from my dorm."

Tsukishima thought he heard a trace of anxiousness in Yamaguchi's voice. He restrained a frown. "How are things going in Gryffindor? Still too loud?"

Yamaguchi gave a bark of too loud laughter. "Yeah, things definitely aren't quieting down…"

A suspicion was gathering in the very back of Tsukishima's mind.

"Are you getting along with the other Gryffindorks?" he asked mildly.

"Hmm?" asked Yamaguchi, absently biting his nails. "Oh, um, yeah. Actually, I've been hanging out with some of the older students. They're really, ah, cool!"

Silence fell over the two for a long moment before Yamaguchi realized Tsukishima hadn't responded.

"What about you, Tsuki? Are you getting along well in Slytherin?" questioned Yamaguchi, obviously making a concentrated effort to refocus his attention.

Tsukishima shrugged. "They're alright. The older students tend to leave us alone and the ones in my dorm are fine enough," he frowned, "well, except for Lev. Onaga and Kuguri are both quiet so they're easy enough to room with. Lev's loud and usually a disaster; but, I think saw Professor Irihata talking to him the other day so maybe there's still some hope."

Yamaguchi smiled. "Who knows? Maybe you can become friends with Lev."

At seeing Tsukishima's disgusted face, Yamaguchi let out a laugh. Tsukishima noted he had seemed to calm down more.

"Don't even joke," Tsukishima told him. "Honestly, I'm not sure how he even got into Slytherin. He's all ambition, no cunning."

Yamaguchi tilted his head and looked thoughtful. "It could be he's just cunning in other ways." he gave a shrug. "Or maybe the hat put him in Slytherin so he could learn the cunning to match his ambitions."

"Or maybe it's an old hat and is bound to make at least a couple of mistakes every hundred years," posed Tsukishima, raising an eyebrow.

"Don't blame the hat just because you hate your roommate," chided Yamaguchi with a smile.

Tsukishima smirked and the two went back to their food. Tsukishima was just about to ask Yamaguchi if he was planning to go to the Quidditch game when he noticed his friend look up and his eyes widen.

"I have to go and talk to some people about...a thing," Yamaguchi said, quickly packing up his bag. "I'll see you at lunch."

Tsukishima nodded, internalizing his confusion at the abrupt exit. He watched as Yamaguchi went to the entrance of the Great Hall and pulled another student with spiky hair over to talk. The two plus a bald headed Gryffindor left the Great Hall. A few seconds later, a tall Gryffindor that looked to be at least a fifth year followed the three.

Tsukishima narrowed his eyes.

ooooooo

"Yamaguchi! We're going to miss breakfast," Tanaka whined, once the four had gotten back to the Gryffindor dorms and into the second years' dorm room.

"Who cares about breakfast?!" Yamaguchi near yelled. He lowered his voice to an intense whisper. "You guys are keeping a dragon in your dorm room."

"Just an egg right now," Noya commented absently. "It shouldn't hatch until sometime over the winter break."

Yamaguchi was not reassured and Asahi was looking panickedly at the egg as if it might hatch early.

Yamaguchi folded his arms. "You told us last night that you'd give us answers today."

Tanaka gave a sigh and looked to Ennoshita, still sitting on his bed. Ennoshita gave him a glare that clearly communicated 'you got yourself into this, you get yourself out'.

"So," Tanaka began. "Last summer, Noya and I were going through Diagon Alley."

"My parents and Tanaka's uncle stayed at the Leaky Cauldron to talk and let us shop alone as long as we stayed together," Noya added.

"And we were totally planning to stay in Diagon Alley," commented Tanaka quickly. "But...well…"

"Knockturn Alley has cooler stuff," finished Noya.

"You two went to Knockturn Alley by yourselves!" asked Asahi alarmed.

"Weelllll, I mean not for very long," answered Noya, looking slightly abashed.

"Yeah," agreed Tanaka. "I mean if we were gone too long, my uncle and Noya's parents would have gotten curious."

Asahi looked like he wanted to comment further but Tanaka waved him off.

"Anyway," Tanaka continued. "So we were in Knockturn Alley, completely minding our own business, when we saw…"

"A poacher," Noya said with a note of deep disgust.

"Exactly," Tanaka replied. "Anyway, we watched him for a bit and saw that he was trying to sell off this dragon egg."

"Probably took the whole nest from some poor dragon mother," said Noya darkly. "Just to sell it to some spoiled pureblood."

Tanaka nodded. "Anyway, then the poacher got into a fight with the owner of the store he was in front of"

"And the table got knocked over" Noya explained.

"And the egg slid off," added Tanaka.

"And landed right in front of us," finished Noya. "It was fate. We had to save the egg."

Ennoshita pinched his nose and sighed.

"How did you hide it from your parents?" asked Yamaguchi.

"Oh, that part was easy," Noya answered, waving his hand. "They don't check our school stuff too closely ever since we tried to start a Flobberworm nesting community."

"But why did you bring it to Hogwarts?" questioned Yamaguchi with a hint of desperation.

"Because we're going to raise it, of course" replied Noya as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Asahi had gone a few shades too pale. With a trembling voice, he asked "you two want to keep and raise a dragon in your dorm room?"

Yamaguchi had reached a conclusion. "You two are insane."

"Obviously, we wouldn't raise it in the dorm room," Tanaka replied, offended.

"Yeah, once it hatches, we can move it to the Forbidden Forest," explained Noya. Noya and Tanaka high fived.

"That's...that's a terrible plan?!" yelled Yamaguchi. He whirled around to face Ennoshita. "Why did you agree to this?"

Ennoshita sighed. "They can't move it."

"What do you mean they can't move it," demanded Yamaguchi.

Noya took on an educational tone. "Once a dragon egg has started gestation, it cannot be moved to any great lengths until hatched. To do so would greatly endanger the gestating egg." He finished in a tone that heavily conveyed that endangering the dragon would not be an option.

"I didn't find out about it until after they had started the gestation fire," explained Ennoshita. He glared at both Noya and Tanaka. "If I had, I would definitely have informed Daichi or Professor Takeda."

"You two are going to get expelled," stated Yamaguchi with a kind of mournful finality. "We're all going to get expelled just for knowing about it and not informing anyone."

"No one's going to find out about it," Noya reassured, looking slightly guilty.

"Yeah, if Daichi hasn't found out yet, then I guarantee no one else is suspicious," Tanaka answered.

"Once it's two months old, we can move it from the dorm room to the forest and then, even if they do find out, it's not like they can prove we're the ones who brought it," Noya explained logically.

"What are you going to do if someone hears a newborn dragon," asked Asahi, furrowing his brow.

"Oh, don't worry about that," answered Noya. "After you found out last night, we set up like twenty silencing charms all around the dorm. We're working on booby trap ones today."

"We probably should have set them up earlier when we were trying to manage the fire," commented Tanaka, ruefully.

Noya shrugged. "Live and learn."

"We're doomed," said Yamaguchi, sitting heavily on the floor. "We're all doomed."

"Listen," said Noya, sitting on the floor next to him. "Even if-for some reason-we do get caught, Tanaka and I will take the full blame. The worst you'll get is a few months of detention for not immediately telling a teacher. And," Noya gestured to the egg, "look at her, we couldn't let her be snatched up by some rich wizarding lord, who would probably only chain her up so he could show all his rich friends his exotic pet."

Yamaguchi sighed. "Fine, I'll keep your secret."

Noya and Tanaka beamed and started eagerly thanking him. Yamaguchi, in an oddly Tsukishima-like moment, could already feel he was going to regret this.

"Oh, by the way," Noya asked. "Are you interested in egg sitting?"

Yep, he was already regretting it.

ooooooo

"Do you think we can really trust him," Iwaizumi asked as the two friend walked to the library late Friday night.

"No," answered Oikawa, keeping his voice at a harsh whisper. "I emphatically do not think we can really trust him. Koushi Sugawara is without a doubt the sneakiest asshole I have ever met and I'm in Slytherin."

Iwaizumi raised an eyebrow and gestured for Oikawa to continue.

Oikawa sighed. "He's too quiet. I've lived in the same dorm with him for two whole years and I still don't think he's told me anything about himself other than his name. Also, he looks way way too innocent for anyone who get sorted into Slytherin which means he has to be hiding at least something. Case in point, listening in on us from behind a curtain. Why? Was he waiting to hear something?"

Iwaizumi shrugged but didn't comment.

"And..." Oikawa fiddled mildly with his robe cuff. "Maki and Matsu told me he comes from a really snobby pureblood family so he probably hates me already." Oikawa sighed before Iwaizumi could comment. "Unfortunately, we don't really have a choice on whether or not to trust him. He heard us talking and, now, if we want to get anywhere with Sora, we have to let him in."

Oikawa shot Iwaizumi a smirk. "Besides if he works along with us, he implicates himself just as much as us. He can't tell on us."

The two entered the deserted library and immediately spotted Suga beside a shelf dedicated to Potions making. He gave them a wide smile, causing Oikawa to restrain an eye roll.

"Well, don't you look refreshing," commented Oikawa. "Ready to look into the dark dirty details of our dear professor?"

"Always," replied Suga and led the two back to the far corner of the library where a study table sat, hidden between the shelves. The three sat and Suga quickly cast a Muffliato Charm.

"It never hurts to be prepared," Suga commented with a shrug. "So, where were you two thinking of beginning?"

"Wait," said Oikawa. "How do we know that we can trust you? Why should we let you in on this if we don't know you're going to run to a teacher the moment you get something incriminating?"

"You mean beside the fact that I didn't give you a choice and I already have something incriminating?" asked Suga.

"Pft," Oikawa bluffed. "If students got in trouble for disliking a teacher, than everyone one would have detention every weekend."

"I think it goes a little bit beyond disliking when you're accusing him of endangering the castle," commented Suga mildly.

Oikawa and Iwaizumi continued to look at him for an answer.

Suga sighed. "Well, largely because I agree with Oikawa about his motives. It doesn't make sense why he would chose to teach at Hogwarts this year. His credentials have never shown an interest in teaching and, in fact, I'm pretty sure he prefers jobs that are always on the move." Suga tapped his chin thoughtfully. "The public relations benefits don't seem to be a major appeal either. As Oikawa mentioned, he hasn't been in the news significantly more this year than he was previously. Also, based on interviews, Sora has never seemed to much like press attention. I heard that he's turned down Witch Weekly's Most Eligible the past three years before accepting. It's not like we have anything particularly special going on at Hogwarts this year. It just doesn't make sense why he'd abruptly go from world traveling to teaching at a school, even one as prestigious as Hogwarts."

Oikawa seemed somewhat appeased that at least one person valued his questions on Sora's motive. Iwaizumi wasn't convinced.

"And that's it?" he asked. "You just thought it was weird he wanted to be a school teacher?"

Suga held Iwaizumi's stare a second longer before giving an awkward grimace.

"And…" admitted Suga, "my parents were friends with him in school."

"And that's suspicious, why?" questioned Iwaizumi.

Suga gave him a bland look. "My parents don't know very nice people." Suga said in a tone that warned against further discussion.

An awkward moment passed before Iwaizumi shot a look to Oikawa. "Well, Oikawa, you started this. How are we going to go about investigating a professor?"

Oikawa sighed and pulled out a slim book from his school bag. "I started by looking up Sora's school record when he was at Hogwarts. The library keeps a copy of every student to graduate since sometime in the 12th century. Sora graduated roughly thirty years ago from Slytherin, played as a Beater on the Quidditch team, served as Dueling captain in his seventh year, and was middle of the rankings in every subject except History of Magic and Defense."

"What about after Hogwarts?" asked Suga.

Oikawa grimaced. "That's where I need some help." Reaching in his bag, Oikawa pulled out a second much heavier book. "This is one of the recall books the school keeps for old copies of the Daily Prophet." He flipped it open.

At first glance, the recall book appeared like a heavy bound tome with surprisingly blank pages.

Oikawa tapped his wand on it. "Pull articles featuring Sora Takara."

The boys watched as the pages immediately filled with print and pictures mirroring that of a Daily Prophet spread.

Iwaizumi let out a low whistle. "That's a lot of articles."

Oikawa shook his head and flipped to the front page of the book. He pointed to a line in the middle of the page.

"Volume One of Seven?!" demanded Iwaizumi. "There are seven volumes worth of articles about him?"

"Oh my," breathed out Suga. "No wonder you needed help."

"Not all of them are useful," explained Oikawa. "Some of them just mention him appearing at different events or just discuss him in passing. But, still…" Oikawa shrugged. "We'll have a lot to get through."

Suga came around to the book and started flipping through the pages.

"The library has a number of copies," Oikawa told them. "So we should all be able to-"

He cut off as a bang sounded from close by them followed by a swear.

Oikawa pulled out his wand and noted that Suga and Iwaizumi had done the same. Suga quickly cancelled the Muffliato charm.

"Who's there?" demanded Oikawa. "We already heard you so there's no use hiding."

A moment passed before a sheepish Bokuto emerged from the shelves, holding a book and followed by a cocky looking Kuroo.

The three lowered their wands.

"Ugh, what are you two even doing in the library on a Friday night?" asked Oikawa.

"We could ask you the same question," replied Kuroo, easily. "And with a Muffliato charm, too. That's some advanced magic, Sugawara."

Suga shrugged, unaffected.

"I was here to study with Akaashi," responded Bokuto, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head. "But, I think I might have gotten the day wrong."

"And I was here, accompanying my dear friend Bokuto and innocently checking out a book on Quidditch strategy," Kuroo said, holding up the mentioned book.

Oikawa let out a sigh. "Well, now, that that's been handled. We should all probably just-"

"But," Kuroo interrupted. "What should I see but two Slytherins and a Gryffindor acting awfully sneaky." He looked between Suga and Oikawa. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you two don't normally hang out together, right?"

Neither of the Slytherins answered.

"And, of course, as a concerned student, I took it as my duty to make sure nothing untoward was going on." Kuroo said, holding a hand dramatically to his chest. "And what do I find but the three choosing a table in a hidden section of the library and casting a Muffliato spell. Sounds like you three are trying to hide something."

"Oh, I can see where that was confusing," Suga answered with a sweet smile. "We're not trying to hide anything. It's just that well…" he shot Oikawa and Iwaizumi an apologetic look. "Professor Irihata asked me if I could tutor Oikawa and Iwaizumi in Potions since I'm top of the class in it."

"Hmm," mused Kuroo. "Convincing, except for the fact that Oikawa was best in our year the past two years running."

"That's why the secrecy," Suga quickly explained. "Oikawa was embarrassed that he's been struggling with the latest Potion's experiment."

"It's the stupid gillyweed," muttered Oikawa under his breath.

"Well, that would make sense," admitted Kuroo. "Since you all are being so honest, I guess Bokuto and I better fess up to something, too."

Kuroo reached under the study table and pulled off something stuck to the bottom. Oikawa looked closely but couldn't see anything more than a slight shimmer.

Kuroo tapped his wand to it. "Revelio"

A long pink string looking thing appeared in his hands.

"I might've levitated an Extendable Ear under your table," Kuroo confessed easily. He looked down at it. "Honestly, I don't know why anyone hasn't thought about using an Invisibility Spell on them before. Sure, there's a bit of a shimmer but virtually undetectable otherwise."

"Should've been a bloody Slytherin," muttered Bokuto to his side.

Kuroo looked at the three shocked faces.

"So, let's try this again. Investigating Professor Sora, are you?"

Another moment passed.

"No, absolutely not," declared Oikawa, who had apparently snapped out about it. "Not another person can find out about this. Merlin, at this point, I should have just sent a bloody missive to the entire school."

"If it helps I agree with you," put in Kuroo and Bokuto nodded to his side.

"What? Why?" asked Oikawa, his voice near cracking.

Suga gave an amused smile. "I think what Oikawa means is 'What made you two suspicious?'"

Kuroo shrugged while Bokuto and him walked around the table and took the remaining seats-ignoring Oikawa's glare.

"Nothing really specific for me," responded Kuroo. "Just a bad feeling."

"A bad feeling?" asked Iwaizumi, leaning forward. "That's all you're going with?"

"Weelllll," Kuroo drawled. "My bad feelings are a little bit more sensitive than other people's." He shifted in his chair. "My mom's a bit of a Legilimens, not a full one but she can hear people's thoughts as long as they're not concerning her. I didn't inherit the full gift, just get flashes of whether I can trust someone or not." Kuroo frowned. "And Professor Sora...he makes my skin crawl."

The three took this in before looking at Bokuto.

"I don't think Akaashi likes him." Bokuto answered.

"That's all?" prodded Oikawa.

Bokuto nodded. "That's all I need."

"Either way," Kuroo cut in. "We know about it now, we want in, and you have more work than you three could possibly finish before the end of the year. So are we in or are we not?"

Iwaizumi shrugged, but nodded. Suga gave a small smile and inclined his head. The two looked at Oikawa.

Oikawa huffed. "Fine, the five of us will look into Professor Sora." He turned to look at each of them. "But, I'm serious nobody else can know. The more people who know, the easier it will get back to him. And if he finds out, we're screwed."

The other four nodded seriously before Bokuto let out a big smile.

"This is awesome!" enthused Bokuto. "We totally need a code name! OH, we can call ourselves the Investigators' Club! That would be so cool!"

"We are not calling ourselves the Investigators' Club."