A.N.: I was pretty much cackling at one point while writing this chapter. Guess at which part.

The very same evening the students returned from their Hogsmeade field trip, nothing too unusual happened after that. Very few had seen the odd boy the girls had encountered (ghosts included). Pansy looked around during dinnertime towards every table, even if she was already fairly sure she won't find him there. Huntsgirl never came to eat in the Grand Hall – she always got her food delivered directly to her private chambers, and nobody even knew where that was. The Slytherin was rather curious though about her reaction. After he left, the blonde had taken deep shuddery breaths, then punched a stone pillar with her bare hand, leaving big cracks and crumbling stone. Pansy wasn't sure if she had noticed that her knuckles were scraped and bleeding, as Huntsgirl left in a hurry, eyes narrowed and anger palpable.

A few days after that though, the people who came earliest at breakfast had a curious story to tell to the others who came in much later. Harry almost spit out his pumpkin juice as he had to repeat what he had just heard in order to comprehend it.

"A guy came into the Hall riding a skateboard?"

Hermione could only nod, confusion on her own face. "He… wasn't wearing any uniform. But he didn't look like he was any older than a student. He just came in, started talking to us while swiping a few pastries, then left the same way he came."

"He was riding a what?" Ron asked with his mouth full, preoccupied with his food, but nonetheless curious.

"It's… a Muggle way of transportation. Mostly for entertainment, it's usually preferred by kids and teenagers."

Ron wrinkled his nose, pondering the answer. "That's weird. What did he look like?"

"He was rather short… black hair, Asian features." Hermione tried to recall what she saw. "He was wearing a red jacket, blue cargo shorts and blue sneakers. And a helmet."

"A helmet? What fo'?" Ron mumbled his question with a tart in his mouth.

"For the skateboard, Ronald." The girl easily replied, rolling her eyes. She forgot that "pureblood" wizards often had no idea of anything beyond their own world. Ron opened his mouth again (ew) to ask further, but Harry beat him to that.

"Do you think he has anything to do with whatever Malfoy's planning?" Harry asked, slightly worried at the unusual circumstances.

"I'm… not sure if that's the case." Hermione's eyebrows furrowed with uncertainty. "We don't even know if Malfoy's even planning something, Harry, let alone if this guy is somehow involved." The messy-haired boy grumbled at that, still put off at the fact that so few were willing to believe him.

"Cheer up mate" Ron patted his friend on the back trying to lighten the sour mood around him "We'll keep an eye out for this new bloke, just in case."

And then they proceeded to head towards their first class.

The next few hours went by as usual, but when they came back for lunch, they noticed a commotion in the Grand Hall. As it turned out, it was quite an unusual event. Huntsgirl was there. And it was even more so since she came in with a glowing, eerie-looking staff, looking like she was ready for battle. She kicked the nearby benches, violently shoving them away from where she stood.

"Where is he?" she demanded, glaring at the students from the nearby tables. It was hardly any question who she was talking about. The Headmaster's two guests had been fighting each other whenever they met face to face – they did not seek each other out, seeing as how they had their own agendas, so their fights were not very often, but they were often enough to make it count, showing the entire castle's population their open disdain towards each other.

"He? You mean the dragon, right?" Ron said as he reached the Griffindor table, taking a scone and biting into it hungrily before sitting down. "Sorry, haven't seen him all day." He wasn't really sorry, but neither did he particularly care anymore, since no battle has ever seriously injured any of them.

"Why? What are you planning to do?" Ginny asked Huntsgirl as she came in, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"I'm planning to finish this, once and for all." She replied, voice low, heavy with dark angry promises.

"Aw, sorry."

The dragon's raspy voice suddenly bounced across the stone walls, letting everyone know of his presence. "We know each other for a long time, but this is only our first lunch date. And I'm not that kind of dragon!" By the sound of it, he was ready to push the Huntsgirl's buttons. The students looked around for the place the voice was coming from. After all, how could a big red dragon hide in a room full of people?

"Show yourself, you coward!" Huntsgirl shouted. None of the teachers had arrived yet, which is probably why she was willing to come here and make such noise in the first place. "I'll show you what's coming to you!"

"Ooh, aren't you impatient?" the voice drawled. "Well then" a red blur jumped towards Huntsgirl and their movements so swift, the students could only see the aftermath, once both parties stood some distance from each other. To everyone's astonishment, instead of the familiar large shape of the dragon, stood

A boy

The entire room started doing double takes with loud exclamations in between. "That's the guy that came here that morning!" The entire place rippled with this new shocking development.

"So" Huntsgirl's voice was louder than usual, cutting through most of the chaotic noise within the huge room. "You've finally changed into your human form. What, had to disguise yourself to hide from me lest I kill you too soon?"

"Nah babe" the boy grinned and everyone was struck speechless as they heard the dragon's familiar voice come out. His incisors seemed much too sharp and his dark eyes familiar. "I just got bored of staying like that for so long. Gotta change the view sometime, you know?" He placed his hands behind his back, stance wide with his feet shoulder width and winked. "Just because you can't see my claws doesn't mean I don't have 'em anymore. But I'm sure you already know that." He was as carefree as the girl looked like she was about to murder him.

"The real question though" He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. "is if you can handle the heat." And from his mouth came a bright cloud of fire, heading straight towards his opponent. Everybody gasped and moved further away from the scene, screaming and shouting. Luckily, Huntsgirl's earlier burst of temper had cleared the area the two were fighting in fairly well. She jumped out of the way and lunged towards the boy, staff aimed at his chest.

He easily dodged with a backflip and then got close enough to each other to use their fists. Huntsgirl took plently of advantage of that, but he only seemed to dodge her hits, not attacking her himself. At one point he jumped onto a nearby table to avoid her, doing a handstand and then quickly tiptoeing between the plates as she caught up. He jumped off onto the nearest bench and she followed; both of them ended up keeping their balance on its surface while fighting.

"You don't know who you're messing with, dragon!" she spat as they finally lowered themselves back on the floor. She swung her spear skillfully, bracing it against her body, her grip loose and precise to gain momentum after every parry. This sort of clash was a fairly common occurrence now, but having the girl's opponent look so very different made it an unusual sight for the students.

"Oh, but I do know it very well, doll." He jumped away and over the table, using it to put more distance between them. "You'd be surprised at how much I know, in fact." She jumped over effortlessly and resumed her attempts at hitting him. The boy responded, his smile almost mad, reflected in the sharp blade - viciously, repeatedly thrust towards him.

She was obviously aggravated by his amusement, her eyes glaring at him through her mask."You're a fool if you think you're so damn invincible. Don't you see what this place is doing to you?"

The boy froze for a moment, paused thoughtfully before replying. "What are you talking about?" It seemed like the girl hit a nerve, broached a topic he had considered himself as well. He relaxed his stance, no longer concerned with the fight and titled his head to the side - the gesture seemed awfully familiar, the same body language as the red scaly creature whenever puzzled and curious. The similarities were more and more telling of whom this was.

Huntsgirl stood in place, but didn't lower her weapon, still aiming the pointy end at her opponent's head. There was authority and accusation in her voice as she answered. "This place is crawling with powerful wards and ancient protection spells. Every stone and speck of dust is imbued with the intent to protect this place from harm. A magical creature such as yourself can sense the essences, your chi malleable to adjust accordingly; just having you near these wards makes you soak up all this energy like a sponge. You" her voice was pure acid at that point "are getting soft. You're becoming careless, more prone to feel positive emotions and be more approachable for these stick-wielding sickos. You're being manipulated by these very walls into becoming something benign."

There was a constant buzz in the room as the students murmured to each other, but the two didn't pay them any mind, never taking their eyes off each other. Huntsgirl seemed to be searching for something on the boy's face. "Don't believe me? Didn't you notice how you became so much more easily amused since you got here? How much more prone to responding with laughter, even if it's not really that funny? Not even you are that simple, with a sense of humor that stupid. When was the last time you felt true anger? Loathing? Fury? "He didn't answer to any of her questions, pressing his lips tightly together. His dark eyes never blinked, an odd shine reflected there; he didn't show any expression besides that on his face, unwilling to say out loud whatever he thought of the masked girl's inquiries.

"They think you're too powerful, even if you're here with no ill intent. The mere possibility of your anger being ignited is too much of a risk for them to take." She threw her head back and barked out a mocking laugh; she rocked on her heels once, the momentum making it seem for one moment like she'd fall on her back. She turned towards him once again, her blue-eyed glare back in place, colder than ever, her voice burning hatred. "Isn't this funny? The ones you're here to protect are too afraid of you! The castle itself doesn't trust you enough to let you be yourself. At this rate you'll start thinking at some point that you don't have to be afraid of me." She tilted her head, mimicking her opponent's earlier gesture. "And when that happens" she suddenly swiped under his legs with her staff, the blade luckily missing him, but the long wooden handle managing to do its job. He fell to the floor, caught off guard. He looked up at the slender figure looming over him. "I'll make sure you won't even have time to regret that mistake." She raised her staff above her head, ready to split him open with one clean hit. He hurriedly rolled away from her blade, hitting his head on a nearby table, but jumping back to his feet at the next second.

He grunted, clutching his head with one hand. "So I'm currently being juiced with magic happy gas." He looked at her from under his eyelashes and a smirk languorously took shape on his face, sharp and ready to bite. "Is that what you're saying? Well" He straightened, facing Huntsgirl and in his hands blue fire suddenly twisted like ribbons, hard scales trailing from under his sleeves, shining ruby red. Jumped right in her face and grabbed her staff in one fluid motion, the wooden handle cracking and crumbling under his fist and everyone in the room stopped breathing at that point. "That explains why I feel like taking off your stupid mask and kiss you crazy." His words and neither the tone of his voice fit the expression on his face, his smile mean, stance aggressive as he curled his claws and breathed in her personal space.

The students all watched wide-eyed as Huntsgirl hastily took a step back and hit the table. She could barely see behind her, careful not to leave her opponent out of her sight. In the next second, she took the nearest thing she could find on its surface and threw it towards him with the hopes of distracting him. The fancy-looking cream pie flew and he hurriedly dodged, but the top layer was syrupy and thin enough to fly off the confection while in midair, a glob of it landing on his cheek. They both froze as the metal plate clacked loudly on the floor. And that was when Filch announced his arrival.

"WHAT IN THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU BRATS DOING HERE?" the old man yelled across the room as he came in like an angry storm. Thankfully, he was stopped by McGonagall's hand, telling him silently to not intervene. The teachers silently trailed into the Hall, avoiding the area where the two opponents still stood.

The students had frozen at the sound of the man's angry yell. They hurriedly turned towards their tables, avoiding the staff's eyes, keeping their noses in their plates. But they watched out of the corner of their eye as Huntsgirl and the dragon (?!) stilled, no longer in a fighting stance, but looking at each other, like in a silent battle of wills. They stood like that for a few silent, tense moments and not even the teachers dared to intervene.

The boy's left cheek still had cream on it. He, straight-faced, gaze unbroken, took a bit of it with his finger and then

bopped Huntsgirl on the top of her masked nose with it. The gesture seemed careful, doting, almost affectionate, and the students who saw that were just as wide-eyed as the girl in question was. It had been very little, not just compared to what was still on his face, but the boy licked his finger clean, then promptly turned around and went through the double doors, brushing past a grimy and fuming (but oddly tight-lipped) Argus Filch.

After half a minute, Huntsgirl straightened her posture and left the Grand Hall without a word, leaving the whispers to run rampant in her trail.

Poor Huntsgirl, that dragon keeps messing with her head. At least she delivered him a message, had another pretty impressive fight and at the same time proved she on the other hand hadn't gone soft. Much.

Also yes, it seemed to me while writing Jake's scenes that he was too easily amused sometimes by the wizards. So I came up with this explanation and it's slowly turning into a headcanon of mine, help.

And now you also know for sure that our dragon boy got his skateboard along with those letters from the package. I dunno why his gramps thought it might be a good idea...? But on the other hand, he might make a bigger mess if he just got bored once the novelty of showing his human form wore off, so he might've thought it would be best to keep Jake entertained with something he already knows how to use. Maybe it was Fu's idea. (good thinking, Fu...)