12

A lot of complications in this chapter. Hope you guys likey.

---

The hallway to the Potions Classroom never seemed so long. Irving quickened her steps as she approached the door. Behind her, Canes was helping a rather drugged up Montague along.

"My head really hurts." Montague complained as he steadied himself against his fellow Slytherin. "I want to go to the hospital wing, not to Professor Snape." He said, digging in his heels as he tried to resist. Canes glared and tugged on his arm. Even with the Headache Relieving potion, the Seventh year was still complaining about a headache. This only led them to believe that his memory had been altered. If it was just a normal headache, the potion would have taken effect immediately and relieved the pain.

The door was open and Irving could hear their Potions Master lecturing the students about their dismal brewing skills.

"Sir, we have a problem." Irving stated as calmly as she could, knocking on the door to gain the man's attention. Professor Snape turned to glare at them, arranging the papers on his desk as he did so. With a tap of his wand, instructions appeared on the board.

"Follow the instructions carefully. You will, test your own potions." He sneered before sweeping out of the classroom, robes billowing behind him. Irving, Canes and Montague fell into step behind him as he walked the short distance to his office.

"What, is the problem?" He all but snapped at them when they stepped inside the room. Irving gave Canes and unsure look as the teen helped Montague to a chair.

"Allen and Professor Kanda are lying." Canes stated as the teen sat down. Professor Snape rolled his eyes.

"Of course, they are. I wasn't born yesterday." He snapped.

"You have to take a look at Montague's memories. We think that he's been obliviated." Irving cut in before the professor could make anymore cutting remarks. She pulled an innocent looking piece of parchment out of her robes and placed it on the table.

"We gave Montague an assortment of things that he might need in case of an emergency." She said softly. "This is a portkey designed to take the user straight to the dungeons." The blonde raised her eyes to look at the Potions Master meaningfully.

"But Montague never used it."

There was a brief silence in which the teen in question frowned as he looked at the piece of parchment. He rubbed his temples as he tried to recall ever possessing such a thing. Professor Snape let out a few choice words that made present company wince. The professor knelt in front of the Seventh year and tapped his wand against Montague's head, murmuring a spell as he did so.

Irving went to stand beside Canes, watching nervously. As seasoned Slytherins, it was common for them to utilize every tool they had to achieve their means. It was out of the ordinary for someone like Montague not to use such a convenient tool like a portkey. If it were any other house, they would have called it a momentary lapse in judgment but not with a Slytherin, especially not one so respected among themselves.

"There is a very rudimentary block on his memory." Professor Snape said as he stood. Montague looked dazed and disoriented.

"It has been placed incorrectly." The Potions Master continued as he turned to look at his students. "I need someone else to help me remove it, otherwise…" Here he paused with a hooded look.

"Montague's mind may be forfeit."

Irving covered her hand with her mouth. An action drilled into her since young so to look proper when shocked. Montague made a noise of disbelief as he tried to stand. In a rare show of concern, Professor Snape caught his arm and steadied the teen, pulling him closer in case he fell.

"Irving, go back to class and pretend nothing has happened. Canes, come with me to the headmaster. We have a lot of work to do."

---

Albus Dumbledore was able to count the number of times Professor Snape had barged into his office during class time on one hand. When the door to his office banged open and said man strode in looking like someone poured itching powder in his soup, Albus extended it to two hands.

"What seems to be the problem?" he inquired softly, looking from Severus, then to the two students. Montague was leaning heavily on Canes, looking disoriented and dazed. It was a common sign of… oh dear. Albus sat up a little straighter.

"Someone placed a memory block on him. It pertains to last night." The Potions Master stated.

Oh dear indeed. This only further implicated the foreign duo. The two were probably out in Diagon Alley now, who knows what they were doing?

Canes helped Montague to a comfortable chair and eased him into it. The Seventh year looked thoroughly harassed and worried. Dumbledore did not have the heart to tell him he had to return to class. Instead, the headmaster stood and walked around his table. Montague's eyes were blinking rapidly, staring at nothing.

"It's an incomplete Obliviate which was done incorrectly. The spell wrapped itself around more than one memory and started to expand. Montague's own magic is rejecting it and that's what is causing the headache." The Potions Master stated as Albus examined the boy.

At length, Albus drew back and stroked his beard. Tricky. Very Tricky. He looked from Severus, to the portraits, to Montague and then out his window. The portraits started clamouring immediately.

"What are you going to do about them?" The portrait of Armando Dippet rang out at last over the cacophony of voices. All the portraits fell silent and looked at the current headmaster.

It was times like this that Albus truly felt his age. He sighed.

"First things first. Montague's Memory." The headmaster said wearily as he tapped his wand against his palm. Severus inclined his head as if waiting for the older man to start and start Albus did. He placed two fingers on Montagues right temple and pressed the tip of his wand to the other. With a soft whispered Legilimens! The old wizard entered the mind of the Slytherin.

Minds were often messy things, cluttered with things that the subconscious mind remembered. Montagues was no different if not worse. Dumbledore found himself half floating in a matrix of memories. He felt Severus's presence appear to his right.

"This way, headmaster." Severus murmured softly, making swimming motions with his mind to travel through the matrix. The colourful memories seemed to get paler and paler until they were all in shades of grey. Albus frowned. Montague must have a lot of sad memories if the colours faded out of them so easily. The Potions Master stopped at a huge interconnected web of threads. There was a human sized bundle in the middle and looked as through a cocoon of spider's eggs had been left to breed there. The bundle pulsed with a faint blue light, the cocoon like structure trembled and trashed every so often. Each time it moved, Dumbledore could see the threads of the web trying to spread out and cover other parts of the memory matrix. In some areas, it had already succeeded in crushing the original memories. The matrix responded with a throb of Montague's own magic. It was probably the cause of the headache.

"Headmaster, would you please contain it while I cut away the spell?" Severus' cold voice jolted Albus out of his musings. The aged man gave his affirmative and raised his wand. With swift movements, he drew a figure 8 in the air which wrapped itself tightly around the bundle, restricting its movement. Severus reached up and started to cut away the pulsing blue thread.

It came away easily but stuck itself back just as easily like a piece of gum that would stick to a shoe as well as the ground. The Potions Master was having a hard time, trying to get it off and have it stay off. He finally figured out a way of cutting each web loose and tucking it under his arm as the headmaster focused on preventing the bundle from moving and spreading the tendrils any further.

Slowly but surely the pair worked together to remove the tendrils that seemed intent on wrangling their way free, it was tedious work but at last it was done. Albus flicked his wand and severed the bundle from the matrix of memories. It trashed violently as it fell to the figurative ground and lay there twitching. Meanwhile, Severus tugged the unaffected strands of the memory matrix together so not to leave any hanging threads.

Together, they held onto the bundle and prepared to leave Montague's memory.

---

Canes watched as first Professor Snape then Headmaster Dumbledore reel back from touching Montague. A pulsing blue thread whipped out of his friend's temple and trashed several times before Dumbledore reached out and grasped it firmly. He deposited it into his pensieve and turned to look at Canes.

"Take Montague back and make sure he rests." Professor Dumbledore said in a gentle but firm way. Professor Snape had already plunged his head into the silver liquid of the pensieve and seemed to be tampering with the aforementioned memory. Canes had no real experience with mind magic but whatever it was that the two teachers pulled from Montagues head, it was not normal.

"Rigormortis." He whispered and levitated his friend out of the office. As he was leaving, he could hear the two professors talking amongst each other in hushed tones.

---

"It was cast with intent to destroy." Snape murmured to his employer as he unraveled the last few bits of blue magic from the memory. Outside of its normal environment the magic lost its strong hold on the memory. It was just a matter of separating the magicks. Albus had come to aid him in getting rid of the badly done spell and it was far easier with two people. Severus would pull away the badly done Obliviate and ALbus would gently separate Montagues memory from it. Certain areas of the memory were permanently embedded in the blue spell and couldn't be extracted. Albus sighed and shook his head, waving his wand to dispel the foreign magic. It folded in on itself and disappeared with a pop.

All that was left was the torn and barely pieced together memory of last night. The Potions Master was curious and dubious about what he was going to see. The part of him that cared about education reasoned that Kanda was a competent teacher and it was wholly unfair to deprive everyone of his teaching. The part of him that cared for his students argued that Kanda may be a serious threat to their health. After all, he did seem to mistreat his own apprentice.

Nevertheless, he entered the memory quickly, Dumbledore following close behind. They found themselves observing a small displacement of twigs and leaves as the Disillusioned Montague made his way through the forest. The rustling of the forest was interrupted, probably destroyed by the Obliviate. The memory darkened for a moment and appeared fuzzy as sounds of a sword fight not far away floated to their ears. A woman screamed in pain, a man grunted, something heavy hit the floor.

Severus watched as his student reappeared in front of him, probably having cast the counter spell on himself. His wand was at the ready, he snuck around the bush and then stopped short. Severus and Albus hurried to see what happened.

Kanda Yuu stood there, sword drawn, chest heaving and looking as though he had bathed with blood. A young man knelt in front of him, bloody, battered and begging. Bodies that looked remotely human littered the ground around them, broken and dead.

"Please! Don't kill me!" the young man cried out.

The Defense Professor just lifted his sword high and brought it down.

As if in slow motion, the two professors watched the steel cut into the soft flesh of the young man's neck and glide through it like a hot knife through butter. The man didn't even have time to scream. Severus flinched as the head rolled across the forest floor. As a Potions Master, he spent most of his time brewing for the Dark Lord, seldom having witnessed such a brutal and efficient decapitation. Allen limped out of the shadows, stepped close to Kanda and stumbled. The sword wielder caught his apprentice with an disgusted scowl as if annoyed at having to deal with the injured young man.

The memory blurred again and Montague's voice could be heard

"You monsters!"

Then Kanda's stern tone.

"Obliviate!"

Severus found himself expelled from the memory abruptly. He pulled his head out of the pensieve as quickly as he could, feeling the urge to vomit. Albus quietly gazed into the pensieve where the horrible memory lay and sighed.

"I shall bring in the Aurors and have him arrested." He whispered. Severus couldn't feel sorry for Kanda Yuu. That man was a murderer, killing so cruelly and efficiently as if it didn't bother him in the least bit that he was taking a human life. What about Allen? Albus said 'he' as in singular.

"What about Allen?" Severus asked softly. Allen's birthday was recorded to be in December so he wasn't officially an adult yet. Would he be given a lighter sentence?

"We'll try our best to rehabilitate him." Albus murmured as he moved to the fire place. Severus nodded and settled down on an armchair. This was going to be a long long day.

---

"So how long have you two been having sex?" Cross kept his face carefully neutral as he drank his Whisky.

Allen spat out his drink immediately. Kanda managed to swallow his mouthful before setting down his cup. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and glared at the man who asked.

"No." The swordsman stated flatly. Cross was unrepentant.

"Are you two going to fuck?" He asked crudely. Kanda's glare seemed to have no effect on the older man so the swordsman settled for glowering.

"What made you think that?" Allen sputtered as he cleaned the table with a wave of his wand.

"One, you're not fighting. Two, you're cooperating. Three, you're not fighting. Four, you're defending each other. Five, you are wearing Kanda's shirt. Have I mentioned that you're not fighting?" Cross counted off his fingers and looked at the pair sideways. Allen flushed and pulled his robes tighter around himself. He shifted and tried to sink down into the seat.

"The most efficient way to relieve tension is to have sex. Don't worry, I won't tell if you are." The General leaned across the table to touch his apprentice's cheek in an affectionate way. He didn't move and smirked to himself when Kanda pulled out his sword underneath the table and pressed against his inner thigh. With a snap of his wrist Kanda could easily sterilize the General forever. That is, if Cross didn't move. It was a blatant threat of castration.

Cross rubbed Allen's cheek and nodded approvingly, ignoring the steel that was steadily digging into his trouser material and slowly sliding up to the juncture of his thighs. He smirked at Kanda before pulling back his hand and reclining in his seat. The swordsman managed to keep his face impassive as if he hadn't been poking a General in the balls with a sharp pointy object.

Allen wasn't as oblivious as he seemed though and gave Kanda a warning look, trying to stave off any confrontations. The Japanese man rolled his eyes, an obvious sign of acquiescence. Oh wow, thought Cross Marian, his little apprentice managed to tame the beast. He couldn't help but smile fondly at the thought. Allen was all grown up and bossing his boyfriend around.

"I won't dally you two for long. I'm sure you have more important… things to do." Cross said, standing up and leaving a galleon on the table for his drink.

"Master, wait!"

It was the pleading tone in Allen's voice that made the Marshall stop in his tracks. Cross made to turn only have something hit his head hard and knock him to the ground. He stared up at his apprentice with a dazed look. Allen stood over him with that black smile of his, holding a mallet that he just conjured.

"I've always wanted to do that." He said cheerfully and dusted himself off. Kanda snorted, looking barely amused as he followed his partner out of the café.

Cross stared after the duo and now that he was alone, finally allowed himself to smile. Kids grew up so fast.

---

The memory was set on replay for the Aurors who turned up. Fudge was scowling and Umbridge was strangely silent as they watched Kanda decapitate the young man repeatedly. After some digging, the young man had been identified as a Squib named Larry Dickinson who lived alone on the outskirts of London. He had gone missing two days before the incident.

"We have never allowed such a person through immigration." Fudge declared. The clerk in charge of said department nodded frantically. He would have remembered Kanda and Allen because of their distinct appearances and personalities. Yet somehow, there were papers stamped with the Ministry's approval and dated one week before the foreign duo's arrival. They could detect no magic on the papers, surely the pair couldn't have forged the documents, could they?

As for Umbridge, the toad like woman was quite unhappy with this new development. Professor Kanda was the only professor that didn't express outright dislike of her and actually seemed to take her opinions into consideration. He was cold and polite, quite unlike the rest of the staff who would have nothing to do with her. Yet the evidence was staring her in the face, evidence that Professor Kanda was a cold blooded killer just like the rest of the Death Eaters.

She merely stood aside, quiet for once as she let the Aurors lay their trap. Charms were set up, wards were woven, the trap was intricately set so that the moment Kanda took five steps into the Great Hall, he would be immobilized by the wards set in place. The spells were keyed to recognize his magical signature and nullify it so that he wouldn't be able to use magic at all. This would leave the Auror's free to disarm him and arrest him. Allen would be trapped one step into the Hall, leaving space for the professors to separate the two and presumably get the white haired teen to safety. The whole set up depended on timing and precision.

They were due back any minute now. The Aurors on patrol duty in Diagon Alley had reported seeing the two emerging from a small café, talking about heading back to Hogwarts. Dolores wondered abstractly if she would get in trouble for making the portkey for Kanda in the first place. He had asked her quite politely and she obliged although legally, she was supposed to get clearance.

The Aurors fell into place, disguising themselves with various means. Invisibility cloaks, illusion spells, Polyjuice, they all looked like students or part of the hall. Professors were keeping the students busy in their dorms, preventing them from coming down and ruining everything.

A small commotion outside alerted everyone to the arrival of the duo. Their voices could be heard talking softly outside.

Everyone watched in trepidation as a boot clad foot stepped through the entrance. Kanda was walking ahead, saying something about having to check his flowers. Just as he took the fifth step and Allen stepped into the hall, there was a whirring sound and a very loud click.

"Kanda Yuu, you are under arrest for the torture and murder of Larry Dickinson." Kingsley said as he stepped forward, letting his Invisibility cloak slip away. The swordsman glared at him as he twisted around to look at Allen. The white haired teen was twisting around, trying to get free but to no avail. He was sending his master frantic and despairing looks, one hand clapped to his scarred eye.

"What is the meaning of this?" Kanda snarled, trying to jerk his legs away and get them to budge. They were firmly stuck to the ground. Aurors revealed themselves one by one and advanced on the Japanese man with their wands drawn

"Remember this?" Tonks pointed her wand at the pensieve her partner was holding. The image of Kanda rose into the air, holding his sword. Dolores watched yet again as the memory depicted the brutal decapitation of Larry Dickinson.

A look of comprehension dawned on Kanda's face. To everyone's surprise and horror, he started to laugh. Even Allen had a look of disbelief as he watched the swordsman chortle. He finally straightened and closed his eyes.

"How long do you think I'd live if I forcibly unstuck myself?" The question was directed at Allen. Onlookers shifted uncomfortably. He couldn't do that could he? No one was that powerful. You either had to override the wards and runes holding the spell in place or destroy the stone to which the runes and the wards were anchored. The white haired apprentice didn't miss a beat.

"Quite long but we don't know if you can regrow entire limbs." The teen replied softly. Eyes widened as the onlookers realized what Kanda was planning to do. The swordsman shrugged. Instead of reaching for his wand, he drew his sword and nimbly reflected the spells directed at him. A few ricocheting spells caught the Auror's own men, knocking them unconscious.

"Transport him quick!" someone yelled. Runes laid out on the stone in a circle around Kanda glowed and the swordsman disappeared with a pop along with the Aurors. Allen cried out his name and tried to scramble to where Kanda had stood but to no avail. Professor McGonagall approached from the side, hurrying down the stairs and attempting to calm the young man.

"Mr. Walker! Do not panic!" she shouted over Allen's frantic calls. The white haired teen turned to her with wild eyes. "You will be able to move once the spell wears off, it's anchored to the stone you see." The Irish witch told him. Allen seemed to calm down.

"Where are they taking my master?" He asked, looking desolate, lost and utterly small. The Irish witch felt a pang of sadness and sympathy for the young lad.

"They'll question him in the headmaster's office. Then take him to the Ministry." She replied softly. Allen turned to look at her. He mouthed 'Thank you' and punched the stone floor with his left hand. A spiderweb crack spread from the point of impact. Allen struck again and the crack lengthened. The spell holding him in place glowed briefly as it dissipated, having lost a sturdy place to anchor the teen. Before any of the remaining Aurors or professors could do anything, the Slytherin pulled out his wand and tapped himself, disappearing from sight almost immediately.

There was an uproar as everyone panicked, trying to find the invisible Allen. No one really noticed that there was no soft pat of boot on stone to signal that Allen had moved in the Great hall.

Indeed Allen had ducked out of the Great Hall quickly, circling around to find a way to get up to the headmaster's office. Brooms! He thought, he had seen Harry flying around on them.

"Timcampy!" He shouted, not caring that he was giving away his position as he raced towards the Quidditch pitch.

"Timcampy!" He was rewarded with the soft beat of wings around his head when he reached the shed and busted down the door with a well placed kicked. He pulled out one of the better looking brooms and hurried out.

"How do I fly a broom?!" Allen asked the thin air. A projection appeared almost immediately, faint and wavering, indicating that it was a recording from a long time ago. A small figure on the pitch held his hand over his broom. 'Up!' It cried and swung one leg over the wooden stick. The General copied the motion and was relieved when the broom jumped into his hand. He put one leg over it, balanced himself and kicked off exactly as like the moving recording did. He was pleased to find that it worked perfectly.

The white haired teen tapped the broom and made it disappear too as he rose higher and higher on the sturdy wood. He managed to make it circle the pitch once before flying off to find the headmaster's office. He found it almost too easily. There were sounds of a muffled fight coming from the window after all. He looked straight in at the window and found himself staring at Kanda.

His colleague was twisting everywhere, amazingly deflecting most the spells that were sent his way. One or two grazed him but did no lasting damage. A stray one hit his left side and Kanda crumpled for a bare second. The Akuma moved behind him, disguised as a blonde young woman. There were two of them but the other was far away. Allen could only see the despairing soul among all the others.

The warning on his lips died as Kanda raised his head, furrowed his brow and stabbed himself with his own sword. Someone screamed in terror at the sight of blood oozing out of Kanda's chest. Allen leapt off the broom, barely managing to snag the ledge and climb in as his partner simultaneously invocated and twisted his sword. The invisible boy slammed his fist into the stone floor when the Akuma burst into dust.

"Don't breath it in! It might be dangerous!" Someone yelled. Allen ignored them, punching the floor three more times, raising more dust, causing the floor to break and crack. The hazy glow of light let him know that the spell had dissipated. Allen straightened and tapped himself, appearing in the office. His knuckles were bloody. He might have been strong but he wasn't invincible.

Somebody screamed as a loud crack rang out through the office. Something shattered and a man grunted in pain. Spells flew through the commotion, miraculously missing the duo. Kanda sent out his Hell's Insects. They must have found their target because the room was filled with even more dust. Allen's eye whirred and clicked again, returning to normal now that the threat was gone.

Abruptly, Allen shoved Kanda towards the window.

"Go! They can't take my Innocence!" he whispered. The swordsman took a few steps forward then doubled back and grabbed Allen by the waist.

"Be safe." The swordsman whispered and placed a lingering kiss on Allen's mouth. He backed up to the window and jumped onto the ledge. Allen touched his lips, and stared right at Kanda as the swordsman cast one last look back. He leapt. Allen turned back to the fight.

"Timcampy! Disguise me!" the parasite Exorcist hissed, an image flickered over the teenager as Timcampy called up a recording of Kanda.

It was just in time, Allen raised his hands slowly as everyone trained their wands on him, the dust slowly settling.

"Kanda Yuu! You're under arrest for resisting arrest!" someone shouted. Allen looked around at them, silently counting to twenty. They all had cast bubblehead charms on themselves it seemed. It was good, seeing as though Akuma dust was poisonous if inhaled. Already, Allen could feel his Innocence rejecting the poison. He slowly knelt and placed his hands on top of his head, the image that Timcampy cast over him followed suit.

An Auror approached him slowly and made a grab for his arm. Allen grinned to himself as his hand passed right through. Kanda's image was still taller than him. Timcampy let the recording fall and from the sound of his flapping wings, he escaped out the window. Allen raised his head and looked as confused as he could.

"I'm not Kanda!" he protested weakly, smirking inside at the resulting looks of horror and panic. One of the Aurors, a lady with violently pink hair hauled him up roughly and patted him down.

"He really isn't the pretty bastard!" she exclaimed. Allen gave her a lost look, pouring all of his feeling into it. He could see the instant effect it had on the rest of the law Enforcement. Even Severus looked as if he wanted to believe Allen.

The white haired teen flinched realistically when the pink haired woman waved her wand and was rewarded with a round of pitying glances. Almost all of the officers had lowered their wands. Allen dropped his gaze and wrapped his arms around himself to make himself a smaller target.

"Let's get you to Poppy Pomfrey."

Allen wasn't sure when Professor McGonagall had gotten to the scene but he let her lead him down stairs to the Hospital ward. He ignored the Aurors that trailed behind him and clutched the Transfiguration Mistress's robe tightly.

"They won't hurt my Master will they?" he whispered loud enough for the people following him to listen. "He's all I have left." He added for effect. The uncomfortable shifting behind him let him know what the seeds of doubt were growing steadily. Sometimes, it was good to look and be young.

---

Finding himself stuck to the floor wasn't an everyday occurrence. Being framed was even more rare. But it was contemplating cutting off his own feet that took the cake. Kanda didn't have any time to do it before he was transported right to the Headmaster's office. He blinked as colours swirled around him and blinded him.

"Expelliarmus!" Someone cried.

The spell tried to wrench Mugen from his hand but some time during the altercation he had invocated without noticing. His sword refused to leave his side and it was just as well because the Japanese man had to struggle to hold on to it. Kanda had his wand in his other hand, even though he wasn't able to cast any spells, he could still use it to jab people in the ribs. He did exactly that, feeling a few spells graze him as he struggled to reflect them all. A numbing spell hit his side and caused his left side to lose all feeling. Mugen deactivated as he lost concentration and nearly lost grip on his wand. It was a serious handicap, being stuck to the ground and unable to move. It wasn't the Aurors that he was worried about. It was the Akuma that was lurking around, probably disguised as one of the Aurors. Usually only level two's and above could disguise themselves and since Kanda didn't know its specialty or it's appearance, he was at a serious disadvantage.

Behind you. He distinctly heard someone say the phrase and on instinct alone, he plunged his sword through his own chest. Someone gasped and the swordsman felt the steel go out through his back and dig deep into someone else's flesh. He gritted his teeth and gave it a murderous twist just as he invocated his Innocence. Whatever it was behind him screamed in pain and burst into dust, providing a momentary cover.

The ground under him cracked and then broke into tinier slabs. Almost instantly Kanda found that he could move. Good, that would save him time on re-growing his feet if he was even capable of that. Allen slowly appeared in front of him. A scream, a crack, a grunt as something broke. Kanda whipped around, unleashing his Hell's insects, not caring that more dust was raised. Allen grabbed his arm and shoved him towards the window.

"Go! They can't take my Innocence!" The General whispered. Kanda took a few steps towards the opening. On an impulse, he closed the distance between them and took Allen by the waist.

"Be safe." Kanda whispered and kissed Allen chastely. He backtracked quickly and just before he leapt, he cast one last glance backwards. Allen was staring at him, fingers on his lips.

Kanda burned that image into his mind as he let himself fall towards the ground, curling himself into a ball and tapping himself with his wand to Disillusion himself. He landed awkwardly due to his mostly numb left side and broke his ankle with a loud crack. The swordsman took a brief moment to wrench it back into place and freeze it there with a freezing charm, counting on the leather of his boot to prevent frost bite.

He didn't look back as he limped off towards the Forbidden Forest, there was no time to doubt. He stayed on the outskirts, erasing his tracks as he went. His priority lay in getting to Diagon Alley and then getting himself a disguise while Allen distracted the Aurors.

He made it to Hogsmeade easily and slipped into one of the reconstructed shops. There was a fireplace burning merrily and a flowerpot on top of the mantel. The swordsman pinched some of the Floo Powder and waited till the shop keeper had turned his head, then with a murmur of "Leaky Cauldron!" He was gone.

The landing jarred his ankle but the ice had numbed it enough that it didn't hurt as much. People turned to look when the fire flared green but didn't bother to investigate when no one came through. Kanda limped through the crowds and towards Knockturn Alley. He entered the first clothing store he saw started picking up garments.

"You better pay for those." The witch at the counter spoke up, wrinkling her nose at the floating clothes. Kanda pulled the last of his wizarding money, a galleon and several sickles and set them on the table then promptly disappeared into the back alley where he made himself visible again.

He could recall many a spell used to disguise but any one of them required a lot of magical reserve to keep going and could be dispelled at any given moment. Kanda was resorting to the age old methods of concealment. Good old-fashioned dress up.

The swordsman discarded his clothing quickly and pulled on the garments he had picked out. A fitting tunic and an ankle length skirt. His hair was gathered into a low pony tail and his head was covered with a plain brown shawl. He wouldn't say that he was beautiful but he could certainly pass as a young lady as long as he didn't speak. He lumped his shirt and pants together and incinerated them with a flick of his wand. Then he tore his robes into strips and wrapped his sword in it. After a moment's deliberation, a couple handfuls of cloth also found its way into his tunic. Turning, he made sure to take little steps out of the dark alley and back onto the main street.

Past Diagon Alley, past the Leaky Cauldron and onto the streets of London, Kanda looked around surreptitiously to make sure he wasn't followed. He forced himself to walk calmly till he was a block away. It was up to Allen to find the Innocence now that Kanda was a wanted man. All the swordsman could do was to wait and provide backup from outside. His ankle was beginning to heal itself and it ached dully, a distant thrumming of heat in his joint. So lost in his thoughts was Kanda until he bumped into a young man on the street corner.

"Kanda-sama?"

Said swordsman looked up and made eye contact. It was one of the Finders from Head Quarters. There were always a few stationed around during long term missions and Kanda wordlessly thanked God that he had the fortune to meet one right now. Kanda had never worked with said Finder but he knew Lavi had. The Japanese man nodded discreetly and quickly brushed his hand across his face as if getting rid of something there. The gesture of a mouth zip was subtle and could only be seen if the other person was looking carefully.

"Oh I'm sorry, I mistook you for someone." The Finder caught on and replied cheerfully. He turned and walked towards another building. Kanda kept walking in the same direction and then turned in at a small dark street. He didn't have to wait long for the Finder to turn up.

"My name is Sohma. Are you in trouble?" the young man asked. Kanda pushed back his shawl.

"I'll tell you later, can you get in touch with HQ?" he asked. Sohma nodded and pointed to a motel in the distance. The meaning didn't have to be voiced. Kanda nodded brusquely and pulled his shawl back on, letting Sohma lead the way.

---

"The Akuma were destroyed." Voldemort murmured more to himself than to present company. They included the Earl, Tyki Mikk, Bellatrix and the twins. The former didn't look too pleased at all. Voldemort didn't really blame him.

The Earl didn't really mind the fact that Voldemort had been commanding his Akuma to do frivolous things like infiltrate the Forbidden Forest. He didn't care that his two spies in the Ministry had been offed. Rather, the man was irked about how they only managed to frame Kanda and still hadn't managed to kill either of the two. Things had been going so nicely even without them to put the gears in motion. The Slytherins had been naturally nosy, Dumbledore had been his usual grandfatherly self which made him recover the memory, Fudge as usual just went along with the tide and had Kanda arrested. Yet somehow, Kanda eluded them and Allen managed to convince the magic folk that he was just a poor orphan whose only family left was his master.

"Find him and kill him." The Earl snapped angrily. Tyki Mikk scowled at Voldemort before exiting through the door. Bellatrix glanced at the remaining men before taking her leave.

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A/N:

I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. Kanda strikes me as the kind of no nonsense person who would do anything for the sake of the mission which includes cross dressing. This is a birthday chapter. Heeehee. I spent all day yesterday writing this. You guys probably won't get any more for some time.