A/N: Here's another chapter. Have fun?
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or D. Gray-Man.

Strangers

Kanda didn't like being negative, but this mission was really getting worse by the second. For the past ten minutes, he had stridden purposefully down the hallway, ignoring the three eighth-years trailing timidly behind him with a focused determination. Hermione had tried to stop him and introduce famous Hogwarts landmarks whenever they passed them, but after a while with no response from the dark-haired exorcist, she gave up and followed quietly.

The main reason for Kanda's irritation was that now they had reached the end of the hallway. The exorcist had to make a decision as to where to turn now, and, as he knew nothing of the castle's layout, had no clue which way he was supposed to turn. He adamantly refused to turn around to ask his guides which way to go, mostly because he wasn't sure where he was trying to go in the first place. He stopped in the middle of the passageway, earning a few half-muttered curses from Hogwarts students who had to swerve sharply to avoid bumping into the scary-looking transfer.

He was saved from Ron's annoyed "Why did we stop?" by a fast-travelling blur. The red-haired exorcist's face crashed straight into the swordsman's shoulder, much to the latter's indignation. A sharp insult had made its way out of his mouth- "Watch where you're going, baka usagi!"- before Kanda's brain caught up with the current events. This was the baka usagi, and Kanda couldn't for the life of him remember one time when the rabbit had barrelled into him as a result of not actually paying attention. There was that one time with the mustard and shouting and- but that, and the multiple other times the over-energetic Bookman junior had knocked him over, had been inevitable. Bouncing around in crowded places guaranteed a collision.

The point was, this time, Lavi had looked completely taken off-guard and actually surprised that he'd run into his 'Yuu-chan' here. Before Kanda could contemplate this and add it up with the fact that the last time the samurai had seen him, the redhead had rushed out of the room looking very distracted, Lavi's face split into a wide grin.

"Yuu-chan!" he exclaimed, almost shouting straight into the other exorcist's face (which was not appreciated). "Perfect timing!" The remark gave the impression that Lavi had been looking for Kanda, which, judging by the surprise on his face moments before, was exactly what he had not been doing. Kanda decided to pass judgement on his lying with a well-aimed fist to the stomach.

"Ow!" the red-haired teen whimpered, backing off. "What'd you do that for?" The question was more habit-induced than actual curiosity, as the answer was almost certainly something to do with invasion of personal space and Lavi's rabbit-ness.

"Get out of my face," Kanda growled, confirming Lavi's predictions. He searched the redhead's face for any signs of the previous distress, but found only a puzzled grin. Satisfied for the moment, he turned away and continued walking in the direction that his companion had been heading in before the collision. Lavi followed obediently, filling up the previously awkward silence with endless chatter.

They walked on for a while, Lavi having apparently recovered from whatever had been bothering him earlier. Kanda had just been debating whether or not to ask Lavi where he thought Allen was when a boy, looking to be in his eighth year and apparently not looking where he was going, stumbled to a stop with his nose about an inch away from Kanda. The exorcist growled at him, hoping he'd go away like all the others had, but just then Harry noticed him and called out.

"Hey, Ernie! How have you been?"

"Great, thanks," the boy muttered, and Kanda frowned. He didn't seem like the muttering type.

"Are you okay?" Hermione asked, voice soft as if afraid of startling him. Kanda frowned some more and felt Lavi snap to attention beside him. People spoke that way when talking to someone who, one, had lost a family member or someone close to them recently, and, two, had been acting strangely, presumably because of the loss. Experience told the exorcists that they were likely looking at an akuma.

"I'm fine, thanks," Ernie smiled, and Kanda was reminded of the blank gaze and empty smiles that Lavi had been sporting for the past few days. The one shown now, though, was familiar in a different way. It was the one that little girls with flowers, old ladies with canes, and cheerful children playing soccer displayed before coming up to him and morphing grotesquely into akuma. Kanda was vaguely aware that Harry was introducing him and Lavi to Ernie.

He couldn't whip out his sword and cut it down in public, though, at least not without proof. Lavi sent him a meaningful look conveying the same conclusion that Kanda had just come to himself. They would have to find Allen and have the younger exorcist look this boy over. Or, really, all he had to do was glance at him. They would have to keep the student close until they could locate the other exorcist.

The one thing that Kanda was still puzzling over was why the akuma didn't just attack. Since the dark-haired exorcist was rarely unsure of anything, he had already began to think of the boy as akuma, evidence be damned. Usually, akuma kept up the facade of being human only up until they discovered an exorcist, and then they would just do their exploding-ripping thing that scared most humans to death. This one was still in its borrowed (stolen) skin, chatting pleasantly with the wizards.

This meant that the akuma needed to complete some task before blowing its cover, and the task in question probably wouldn't be in the exorcists' best interests. Lavi had already started talking to the Hufflepuff, trying to pry information out of him subtly, but the wizard stayed mostly silent. When questioned about this from Hermione, he whispered something in her ear that Kanda could just make out to be about being a bit nervous around the transfer students.

Kanda growled a little at the akuma, mainly instinctively from the blatant lie, and the light-haired teenager chose that moment to turn around and grin at the two exorcists. It wasn't the ghost of a smile he had shown the three 'guides' earlier. It was sinister, and Kanda could easily imagine the face stretching and ripping into an akuma. He felt the redhead beside him give an involuntary shudder.

The angle was perfect, as when the akuma had turned his head in response to Kanda's growl, it had been away from the teenagers he'd been talking to. Lavi tugged him on the sleeve, and Kanda realized that he'd stiffened and his hand had been on a slow course to Mugen without him realizing. He itched to destroy the akuma, but one look from Lavi told him that killing something that would look like a student up until the time of its death in a hallway crowded with suspicious, watchful students was a very bad move.

The swordsman settled with another growl, and followed the group, keeping a small distance from the akuma. Hermione had on a confused expression, while Harry was sneaking Lavi suspicious looks. Ron was, apparently, daydreaming.


Lavi continued to chat the ears off of both Kanda and Ernie. The Hufflepuff akuma was looking very nervous, as if the exorcist would pull out his Innocence and strike him down any second, but the Japanese teen was looking veritably annoyed. Surprisingly, Kanda knew well enough to not threaten Lavi with his Mugen, as it would most definitely set the akuma off. Not to mention the fuss it would create if he pulled out a katana in a crowded area.

Neither Hermione nor Harry noticed the animosity between Ernie and the transfer students, passing it off as Kanda being his usual grumpy self and not even noticing the little difference to Lavi's acting, though they were sending both parties strange looks. Ernie because of his strange behaviour thought to be caused by the loss of his mother- mentioned earlier in their chat, before the creepy smile. The exorcists because, well, they were exorcists, and they were strange, and they were suspicious.

Ron, of course, was completely ignorant of recent happenings. He interrupted the tense (for the exorcists and akuma) but cheerful (for the sake of pretense) conversation with a casual, "Hey, where's Allen?"

Kanda stared at him. Lavi noticed the sudden stiffness in the Hufflepuff's shoulders at the mention of what could be another exorcist- read as 'threat to mission'. The junior Bookman wondered why the akuma was so tense. From experience, normal akuma would be smirking with triumph by now, after realizing that the exorcists couldn't attack it in public. Instead, the akuma was on edge, as if his mission was much more important than retrieving Innocence and killing exorcists.

Stares reminded Lavi that neither of them had replied to Ron's question, Lavi being too busy puzzling over the akuma and Kanda just staring at the wizard, as if the question had caused him to suddenly remember that he'd left the oven on. Figuratively speaking, as Kanda didn't cook, didn't own an oven, and would never forget to turn it off if he did.

"Sorry, spaced out a little there," Lavi tried to quickly amend the situation, as Kanda wasn't showing any signs of moving, presumably still musing over what he'd forgotten in relation to the subject of Allen's whereabouts.

"Did you now?" Hermione asked, a suspicious tone to her voice even as her eyes took on a distracted feel. She was busy trying to navigate the suddenly crowded hallways as a rush of students switched classes. Lavi stopped cold as something occurred to him.

"Why are you three here?" he asked, abrupt halt bringing the attention of all three to him. "I mean, why aren't you in class?" He understood the akuma's skipping, as it was probably towards whatever mission the Earl had sent him for. Lavi made a mental note to find out what it was later on. He was good at loosening tongues, even if the tongue wasn't human. The three other Hogwarts students, however, should have been in class.

All three looked away, reminding Lavi of children caught eavesdropping on their parents' plans to move to another country: guilty, but not at all regretting that they did. Lavi realized that it wasn't very unlikely that they had been also given a day off by the Headmistress, just to keep an eye on the transfer students. He gave up on the question and moved to the original, which still hadn't been answered.

"As for Allen, I actually have no idea where he is. I... kind of left the room a bit early last time I saw him," he admitted sheepishly. Kanda grunted at the understatement.

"Baka moyashi didn't tell me where he was going. He's lost," the other exorcist stated, completely certain. Lavi winced. That added to their problems, as they needed Allen right now, and 'lost' didn't tell them very much about the white-haired boy's whereabouts. Though he supposed Kanda was right. Allen was so good at getting lost, it was almost a talent.

Sighing, he resigned himself to a long day of walking around the castle with three too-curious (not that Lavi was one to speak) teenagers under orders to observe them, an akuma, and a grumpy 'Yuu-chan'. At least he would be able to get a feel for the layout of the castle. He had a feeling that they wouldn't find Allen until the very last place they looked in the school. Allen's 'talent' included getting lost in places where anyone looking for him would not think to search.


Road bounced over to Tyki, twirling Lero in her hand. Tyki stood to greet her, pulling his lighter out. The girl skipped over and stopped in front of the taller man.

"Please tell me this isn't about your homework," the man sighed, looking as if he would leave if she answered in the positive.

"Nope," she said cheerfully, and the poor umbrella-golem was subjected to another round of swinging.

"Then this is about the... that?" he asked, changing his answer at the last moment to something much less specific.

"Yep. I wanna see Allen again soon, so I went and asked the Earl if we could move earlier."

"We can't move at all until the akuma finds us a way in," came the reply, much less enthusiastic.

"We can still take a walk around that little village nearby, you know. The one called..." she paused, thinking. Lero breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's got a pig in the name. Wait, it's on the tip of my tongue... Er..." he frowned. Then he huffed, giving up. He slumped against a wall in defeat.

"Dead piggies!" Road exclaimed happily, remembering the last conversation they'd had regarding exorcists and magic.

"R-road-tama," Lero panted, catching his breath. "Remember to pay a visit to our guests, lero."

"That's right, we have some things to... discuss."

Tyki shivered. "Anyways, we can go on that walk you mentioned soon. I don't have any missions at the moment, and I admit I am growing bored."

"Yay!" Road spun around, trotting happily out of the room. Tyki leaned back, wondering what the surprised exorcists' expressions would look like when they had their little 'reunion'.

A/N: I'm sorry for the lack of action in this chapter, but I had to introduce some new plot points and drop some foreshadowing. Review please?
Beta-read by espeon16