Review Replies
ExaltedLight: Well, I already responded to your review via PM. Thank you for it though.
Guest: Mostly it's because I forget about it or get to busy or life gets in the way. But I do try to update when I can. Thank you for your review.
MuggleCreator: Thanks! Thank you for your review.
EndlessNight025: Eh, some mistakes can be made. As for Jaden teaching Draco, it's not actually shown to be honest. Some things are shown, others not and I'm not even completely clear about the "If...you can..." versus "When...you can..." thing. I think I got it down but I'm not entirely sure. And, Jaden, Misha does have a question for you: Why did you name that kitten Kuriboh?
Jaden: what? It looks like a Kuriboh!
(Shakes head) Though I did not know that Kuriboh roughly translated to "chestnut person" honestly. Thank you for your review.
StrawHatLuffy94: I have already responded to your review via PM. Thanks though.
Shyannada141 Meow: Doubtful but it is an interesting suggestion and I can see Jesse and Jaden (especially Jaden) acting like a fanboy.
Yuto: Thank you (accepts card back)
Jehu: (takes egg) YES! Thank you!
Haou: (looks up at 10 foot tall tiger) that is one big tiger. She eats plants? Hmmm
Jaden: you cannot feed her Knospe, Haou
Haou: (shifty eyes) I was not thinking that
Bakura: (bangs on door of room filled with kitties) GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE!
Hungarian Horntail Dragon: (growls in appreciation and eats treats)
Thank you and glad you enjoyed what I did with Draco. Thanks for your review.
Blood on my Machete: Uhhhh, Draco?
Draco: (eyes message and backs away slowly)
Thanks for your review?
Angel-of-Anime Mizumi: I think they look badass as well and Ruby is so cute too! And I definitely agree, I would not be able to decide between Ruby and Winged Kuriboh in a cuteness contest.
I shall join you at laughing at the misfortune of Voldemort.
Haou: (picks up soul-separating glove form Bleach) Fine, fine, I won't overuse it (looks at Jehu)
Jehu: (backs away slowly)
Glad you liked it. As for what kind of dragons I'm planning on giving to Draco, one is revealed in this chapter but the rest, you will just have to wait and see (mostly because I haven't decided myself which dragons to give him).
(Takes Umbreon) thanks. Yo, Harry, Jaden, Haou, Jesse, Jehu! Here are some pokemon eggs (hands them each a pokemon egg)
Harry: what's in this?
You will just have to wait and see. Ohh, glazed donut holes and oranges! SWEET! Thanks for your review.
Well, I know I said I would try to update regularly and try to update once a week but I just keep forgetting or life gets in the way or I get sidetracked or...the list goes on and on. My point is my updates will not be regular and, while I will try to update once a week until I run out of prewritten chapters, I am not going to make any promises whatsoever.
I hope that you enjoy this chapter and reviews, as always, are much appreciate.d
35
A Prisoner's Infiltration
Library
It was the beginning of October. The Duel Monsters club had decided to postpone the Battle Royal to decide the matches for the semifinals until Jaden got a response from his dad about the possibility of sending two more working duel disks.
Now, with Quidditch season starting, Harry found himself at practice three evenings during the week. While he was at practice, the rest of the gang were off doing separate things; working on homework, practicing dueling and asking for advice, reading—Hermione was focusing more on reading and her homework but, considering how many classes she had and because it was Hermione, that wasn't a surprise—or just talking with each other.
Also during that time, Harry decided that he dreaded Divination; it was getting to the point where Lavender and Parvati started using hushed voices whenever they walked to him, as if he was on his deathbed.
No one really liked Care of Magical Creatures. After the first class, it had become extremely dull. Hagrid seemed to have lost his confidence and they were no spending lesson after lesson learning how to look after flobberworms, which were probably the most boring creatures in existence.
Either way, the first month of school went by pretty quickly.
Jaden once again found himself in the library, looking for another book, though, this time, it was one on Ancient Runes that he offered to get to share with Jesse to help with their assignment. Yubel seemed very amused by that fact since Jaden didn't actually spend much time in the library unless he absolutely had to. He wasn't Harry.
At least this time he had asked Madame Pince where he could find that book. He was still looking for it though and he found himself wondering if someone had already checked it out. He probably should have asked Madame Pince that.
'You think?' Yubel said amused.
Jaden rolled his eyes at Yubel. "Oh quiet you," he said with a smile to show he wasn't serious. He continued searching until he finally found the book. He pulled it out and flipped through it curiously before he closed it and tucked it under his arm.
"Yuki?"
Jaden blinked and then turned to find Malfoy standing there, a book tucked under his arm. "Malfoy? What're you doing here?" he asked.
Malfoy raised an eyebrow, his regular sneer in place. "Oh, I don't know, looking for a book. Why else would I be in a library?" he said.
Jaden bristled a little and narrowed his eyes but decided against responding to that and instead said, "So what do you want?"
Malfoy shifted a little and a look of embarrassment cross his face. Finally, he muttered, "I don't understand some things about that game you like."
Jaden raised an eyebrow. "You mean Duel Monsters?" he asked.
"It's so confusing and complicated," Malfoy complained. "I tried reading the rulebook but there are some things that just don't make sense."
"And you want me to try to make it clearer?"
"Well, you did offer…" Malfoy trailed off and shrugged, peeking around as if afraid that someone would notice that he was talking to Jaden, and talking about a mundane card game.
"True. All right, let's go find a table to sit down at and I'll answer what questions you have," Jaden said with a shrug.
Malfoy gestured. "One away from everyone else. I don't want people seeing me talking with you about a muggle card game," he said.
Jaden raised an eyebrow at that but didn't respond. He figured it was because he was a pureblood and he believed that purebloods shouldn't be associated with anything mundane. Still, if he wants to learn about this game, I don't see why what other people think should stop him, he thought.
'Not everyone sees things that way, Jaden, and Malfoy certainly doesn't. At least, that's what I think but I don't know him that well,' Yubel said.
Neither do I. I'm beginning to think I don't know anything really about him, Jaden mused.
While he was talking with Yubel, he had been following Malfoy who was leading the way to one of the tables in the far back of the library. The two of them sat at the table and Jaden turned to Malfoy.
"All right, what questions do you have?" he asked.
Malfoy pulled out the rulebook and then flipped it open. "It says here that you can't attack on the first turn. Why would anyone want to go first if they can't attack?" he asked.
"The game isn't about just attacking," Jaden said. "There are quite a few things people can do in the first turn. They can set up some defense, for example. And even though you can't attack, some cards allow you to do some damage without attacking. Like my Elemental Hero Lady Heat; she can deal damage at the end of every one of my turns, even on the first turn."
Malfoy frowned. "And what's the difference between a Normal Summon and a Special Summon?" he said.
"Well, for one, there are certain monsters that can't be Special Summoned. There's also the fact that the game only allows for one Normal Summon," Jaden said thoughtfully.
"So you can Special Summon as many times as you want?"
"Well, as many times as there are Monster Card zones, which is five, so there is a limit," Jaden said.
"Oh."
"There are also different kinds of Special Summons," Jaden added. "Fusion Summon, for example, which is what I did when I summoned Flame Wingman. Another Special Summon is summoning from your Graveyard using cards like Monster Reborn."
Malfoy rubbed his head. "This game is so complicated. How in Merlin's name can you understand all of this?" he asked.
"I grew up with it," Jaden said with a shrug. "I've loved dueling since I was a little kid and I've always wanted to be a duelist. Learning how to duel was the first step. It took me some time though. It's not a game you can just learn overnight."
Jaden studied Malfoy for a moment and then an idea came to him. He briefly recalled finding a certain card during a club meeting in the hope of finding a card to add to his deck, though he wondered if it had come from a booster pack or an actual starter deck but decided against thinking about that. Reaching for his deck, he pulled out where he kept his extra cards and where he had placed the card and searched through it before pulling it out.
"Here," he said, holding out the card.
Malfoy blinked, staring at the card. "Why would I want a card from a muggle card game?" he asked with a sneer.
"You were interested enough in the game to ask me for help in understanding it," Jaden said with a shrug. "Just take it, Malfoy. It's a pretty cool card"—and rather rare at that—"but it doesn't really suit my deck."
Jaden was half-expecting Malfoy to reject the card but, to his mild surprise, Malfoy reached out and took it before turning it over, studying it. "Light and Darkness Dragon?" he said, looking up at Jaden.
"Yup. Pretty cool looking, eh?"
Malfoy returned his attention to the card. "Yeah," he murmured. "Hn, not used to seeing pictures that don't move." He tucked the card away and then stood up. "Better get back to my dorm. Flint and the rest of our Quidditch team are planning on going out to practice after you Gryffindors."
Jaden also stood up. "Yeah, I should head out too. Jesse's probably wondering where I am."
Malfoy walked off but stopped when Jaden called him back.
"Malfoy," he said. Malfoy glanced at him over his shoulder and Jaden gave him a small smile. "Nice talking to ya. Glad you aren't always an arrogant idiot who likes insulting people." He walked off without another word, checking out the book from Madame Pince and then leaving the library.
. . .
Gryffindor Common Room
"Where've you been?" Jesse asked as Jaden plopped into the couch beside him and placed the book he had checked out on his lap.
"Oh, got distracted," Jaden said.
"By what?"
Jaden shrugged. "Malfoy," he said.
"Malfoy? What did he want?"
"Surprisingly enough, he wanted to ask me to clear up some things involving Duel Monsters," Jaden said.
Jesse's eyebrows rose. "Malfoy?" He repeated.
"Yup. We ran into each other the last time I went to the library and I told him that if he didn't want everyone to know about his sudden interest, he could just ask me any questions he wanted. Didn't really think he would though," Jaden commented.
"Malfoy?" Jesse repeated, still stunned.
Jaden rolled his eyes fondly at the bluenette. "Yes, Jesse, Malfoy. Surprised me too that the prince of all things anti-mundane would take a slight interest in a mundane card game. But I guess we really don't know much about Malfoy," he said.
Jesse couldn't argue that. They really didn't know much about Malfoy, other than he had a rich father who had been on the Board of Governors and whom supplied the Slytheirn Quidditch Team with broomsticks. Also that he, himself, acted like he was superior to everyone just because he was a pureblood, despite the fact that both a muggleborn and some half-bloods were showing him up in certain classes or, in Hermione's and Harry's cases, all of their classes.
"Well, if he likes the game, he likes the game. That's his choice," Jesse said with a shrug, picking up the book and flipping to the Table of Contents to try to find the chapter they needed for their Ancient Runes assignment.
Jaden nodded in agreement.
They were just finishing up their assignment when Percy came in and posted an announcement on the bulletin board. Those who had wandered into the common room by that time all swarmed over to the board and the common room was suddenly abuzz with excitement and talking.
Hermione plopped down in an armchair near Jaden and Jesse while Atticus plopped down beside Jaden and Alexis took another armchair as Ron also joined them.
"I'm so looking forward to Halloween weekend," Atticus said with a smirk.
"Why?" Jaden asked.
"You haven't read the notice, have you?" Ron said.
Jaden shook his head.
"The first Hogsmeade weekend is at the end of October, Halloween."
"Oh, sweet! I'm looking forward to that," Jaden said with a smile.
"So am I," Jesse agreed with a grin.
Atticus smirked at the two of them. "Ah, Hogsmeade, would be an interesting place for a first date," he commented.
Jaden and Jesse looked at each other at that and then looked away, blushing. "Um, yeah, I guess, if someone wanted to do that or whatever," Jaden mumbled.
Atticus grinned. "Well, you two are crushing on each other," he said with a shrug.
"No we're not," Jaden and Jesse said a bit too quickly, their blushes deepening.
"Sure you aren't, sure you aren't," Atticus said, smiling brightly.
"We aren't!"
"Then why are you blushing?"
Jaden and Jesse did not have a comeback for that and their blushes deepened even more.
Alexis hung her head. "Atticus, stop teasing 'em," she said.
"All right, little sis, so how's your crush doing these days?" Atticus asked brightly.
Alexis's cheeks reddened at that.
Hermione shook her head. "Honestly, Alexis, you probably should have seen that one coming," she said.
"Yeah, I know," Alexis said, glaring at her brother who just smiled at her.
Harry entered the Gryffindor Common Room at that time and blinked, probably at the excitement that was almost tangible in the room. "What's happened?" he asked. Hermione and Ron, who had started working on some star charts for Astronomy, looked up.
"First Hogsmeade weekend," Ron said, pointing at the notice. "End of October. Halloween."
"Excellent," Fred said, following Harry through the portrait hole. "I need to visit Zonko's. I'm nearly out of Stink Pellets."
"I'm looking forward to it," Harry said with a smile as he plopped into the chair beside the one Ron had claimed. "There are plenty of places to visit. Why are you three blushing?" He gestured to Jaden, Jesse and Alexis.
"Atticus," Hermione said as if that explained everything and, for those who knew Atticus, it usually did.
"Ah," Harry said.
"Anyway, do you really think it would be a good idea to leave Hogwarts? I mean, with Black on the loose and having been spotted near here?"
"Black's not foolish enough to try anything in Hogsmeade," Ron said dismissively.
"I mean the teachers are going to be watching out for that kind of thing anyway," Jaden pointed out, his blush starting to fade, though it didn't help that Yubel kept snickering in the back of his head. She was like a big sister to Jaden and she was the first, along with Haou, to learn about Jaden's blossoming crush on his blue-haired best friend.
"True. Say, have you finished your star chart already, Jaden?" Harry asked.
"I'm just starting it. Jess and I were finishing the Ancient Runes assignment," Jaden replied. "Did you finish that?"
"Yesterday," Harry said, pulling out some parchment, ink and a quill and starting to work on his own star chart while Crookshanks, Hermione's cat, leapt lightly into her lap, a large dead spider dangling from his mouth.
Ron grimaced. "Does he have to eat that in front of us?" he asked.
"Clever Crookshanks, did you catch that all by yourself?" Hermione said.
Crookshanks, slowly eating his meal, kept his gaze fixed on Ron.
"Just keep him over there, that's all," Ron said irritably, turning back to his star chart. "I've got Scabbers asleep in my bag."
"Rat in bag, cat on lap, can anyone else see where this is going?" Jaden wondered.
As if on cue, Crookshanks suddenly pounced and landed on Ron's bag, sinking its claws deep inside it and beginning to tear ferociously.
"Oy! Get off, you stupid animal!" Ron shouted.
Ron tried to pull the bag away but Crookshanks clung on, spitting and slashing.
"Ron, don't hurt him," Hermione cried.
The whole common room was watching.
Ron whirled the bag around, Crookshanks still clinging to it.
Scabbers came flying out of the top."
Crookshanks freed himself from the remnants of the bag and chased after the terrified rat.
"Didn't see this coming at all," Jaden drawled sarcastically, returning his attention to the star chart he was working with.
Jesse and Harry blinked at him while Ron, George and Hermione all charged over to try to catch Crookshanks. Atticus and Alexis soon joined in the chaos as did several people in the common room, though they only quickly got out of the way.
"What?" Jaden asked bewildered at the stares he was receiving from his brother and his crush.
"You were sarcastic," Harry said bewildered.
Jaden shrugged. "I think Yubel's been rubbing off on me," he said. Or Haou, he thought.
'I blame Yubel,' Haou said.
'I blame Haou,' Yubel said at the same time.
I'm just going to blame both of you and go on with my life, Jaden thought.
'Hey!' Yubel and Haou muttered at the same time, much to Jaden's amusement.
Hermione finally managed to grab Crookshanks while Ron threw himself onto his stomach and pulled Scabbers out from beneath an old chest of drawers by his tail.
"Look at him!" Ron said furiously, dangling Scabbers in front of her. "He's skin and bone. You keep that cat away from him."
"Crookshanks doesn't understand it's wrong," Hermione said shakily. "All cats chase rats, Ron."
"There's something funny about that animal," Ron said, trying to persuade a frantically wiggling Scabbers back into his pocket. "It heard me say that Scabbers was in my bag."
"Oh what rubbish," Hermione said impatiently.
"You know, Hermione's right," Alexis said. "Cats have a pretty good sense of smell. He probably just smelled him."
"Yeah, what Alexis said, how else do you think…?" Hermione began.
"That cat's got it in for Scabbers," Ron said, ignoring those around him who were starting to giggle. "And Scabbers was here first, and he's ill."
Ron left the common room after that.
"You know, I do kinda feel sorry for Scabbers though," Jaden mused.
"Me too," Jesse agreed.
Harry nodded in agreement. "Hey, can you help me on my start chart?" he asked.
"Sure," Jaden said. "I just finished it." He moved over to sit in the chair Ron vacated and peered over at the star chart.
. . .
Transfigurations Classroom
The following day, Ron was still in a bad mood. In Herbology, he didn't talk to Hermione, though Hermione did at least ask him how Scabbers was. He had responded angrily and had missed emptying the shining beans from the pink pods from a Puffapod and spilled the beans over the greenhouse floor, prompting Sprout to warn him to be careful.
After that class, they went to Transfigurations, where they came across another disturbance.
Lavender was crying while Parvati had an arm around her and was explaining something to Seamus and Dean who looked very serious.
"What's the matter, Lavender?" Hermione asked.
"She got a letter from home this morning," Parvati whispered. "It's her rabbit, Binky. He's been killed by a fox."
"Oh, I'm sorry Lavender," Hermione said.
"I should have known," Lavender said tragically. "You know what day it is?"
"Uh…"
"The sixteenth of October. 'That thing you're dreading, it will happen on the sixteenth of Ocotber!' Remember? She was right! She was right!" Lavender wailed.
Seamus shook his head seriously while the whole class gathered around her.
Jaden and Hermione blinked while Harry tilted his head to the side, trying to wrap his mind around the logic of that statement.
"You were dreading Binky being killed by a fox?" Hermione asked after a moment of hesitation.
"Well, not necessarily by a fox," Lavender said, looking up at Hermione with streaming eyes, "but I was obviously dreading him dying, wasn't I?
"Were you?" Jaden asked bluntly.
Hermione was silent while Lavender didn't respond to Jaden's words. "Was Binky an old rabbit?" she asked.
"No, he was only a baby," Lavender sobbed and Parvati's arms tightened around her.
"But then why would you dread him dying?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, it doesn't make much sense if he was really as young as you say he is," Jaden said.
"You know, they've got a point. Logically speaking, anyway," Harry said thoughtfully.
Parvati glared at all three of them.
"Also, Binky didn't even die today, did he? Lavender just got the news today"—Lavender wailed loudly—"and she can't have been dreading it because it's come as a real shock…" Hermione said.
"Don't mind Hermione, Lavender," Ron said loudly, "she doesn't think other people's pets matter very much."
McGonagall arrived before anyone could respond to that, though Ron and Hermione had started glaring daggers at each other. And when they got to class, they seated with Harry between them while Jaden, Jesse and Alexis sat in front of them.
At the end of class, McGonagall stood up. "One moment please," she said when the class made to leave. "As you're all in my House, you should hand in your Hogsmeade permission forms to me before Halloween. No form, no visiting the village, so don't forget."
Neville raised a hand. "Please, Professor, I think I've lost…"
"Your grandmother sent yours directly to me, Longbottom," McGonagall said. "She seemed to think it was safer. Well, that's all, you may leave."
The gang all stood up and left the classroom, though Hermione and Ron were still arguing a bit. Thankfully, they eventually got tired of it and just decided to let bygones be bygones, for which everyone else was grateful.
. . .
Hogsmeade
Halloween came and everyone was buzzing with excitement over their first Hogsmeade weekend. All the Gryffindors had already given their permission forms to McGonagall before that day and so were already gathered with the rest of the students, eager to head toward the little village. Fred and George were discussing what they were planning on buying at Zonko's while Atticus just said he was looking forward to seeing if they had something new in stock in Honeydukes.
"All right, everyone, let's go," McGonagall called calmly and led the way toward the gates and they headed down the path toward the little village where the Hogwarts Express dropped them off at the beginning of the year.
McGonagall, along with the teachers who had come with them, told them when they were supposed to be back and then they scattered, immediately heading toward various shops.
"Let's go to Honeydukes first!" Jaden said.
"I'm with Jaden," Atticus said with a grin.
"Are we sure we want to get Jaden all hyped up on sugar?" Harry asked warily.
"Well, won't it mean he won't eat any during the Halloween feast?" Hermione asked.
"Hermione, this is Jaden we're talking about."
"...True."
In the end, they all went to Honeydukes first and Jaden and Atticus immediately began walking around the area, picking up some things and putting others back. They were definitely enjoying themselves and enjoying looking at quite a few of the sweets that they had never heard of. Harry had definitely never heard of some of them, since they weren't sold in Japan; there were some sweets like Ice Mice, Jelly Slugs and Fudge Flies. There were some others that he recognized though like Cauldron Cakes, Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.
"Acid Pops? What are those?" Hermione wondered.
"You probably wouldn't want those," Ron said with a grimace. "Fred gave me one when I was young and it burned a hole in my tongue. Mum wasn't happy and walloped him good for that."
Hermione shivered.
Alexis looked at the Ice Mice. "This aren't real mice, are they?" she wondered aloud.
"I doubt it. Chocolate frogs aren't actual frogs," Harry said with a shrug.
"Only a mudblood like you would think those are real mice," Pansy Parkinson sneered, shoving past Alexis as she strode into the store with Crabbe, Goyle, Draco, Nott and Bulstrode right behind her.
Alexis stumbled and crashed into the display case, causing several of the packs of Ice Mice to fall to the ground.
"Klutzy mudblood," Pansy sniffed.
Jaden growled while Atticus and Harry glared at her.
"It wasn't as if it was her fault. You were the one that bumped into her," Hermione said hotly.
"Who asked you, know-it-all mudblood?"
Hermione clenched her hand into a fist and then relaxed, murmuring to herself and then walking over to help Alexis to her feet.
"What's going on here?" the owner of Honeydukes asked, walking over to join them.
"She knocked down that display on purpose," Pansy said, pointing her finger at Alexis.
"No, she didn't, you bumped into her," Atticus snapped.
The owner sighed. "Well, this is something easily taken care of," he said, waving his wand and returning the Ice Mice to their proper location. "Just try to be more careful next time."
"Yes, sir," Alexis said.
"It wasn't even your fault. It was hers," Hermione said with a shake of her head, watching as the Slytherins walked past them, brushing past her rudely as they walked deeper into the store.
"Hmph, it's not Pansy's fault you're a klutzy mudblood," Draco sneered and then followed after the other Slytherins while Ron and Atticus growled, looking about ready to jump at him while Harry moved to Alexis's side, asking he quietly if she was all right. She assured him that she was.
'I think I understand now,' Yubel said. 'He's keeping up a façade. He's acting one way around the other Slytherins but acts another when he's alone, or just talking with you like he was when he was asking you questions about Duel Monsters.'
But why? Jaden wondered silently.
'That I do not know.'
"That Malfoy," Ron growled. "He is such a...such a..."
"Jerk?" Atticus suggested.
"Idiot?" Harry offered.
"Egotistical toerag?" Hermione said.
Everyone looked at her.
"What?"
"Yeah," Ron said uncertainly.
Jaden said nothing and simply went about searching for more sweets to buy. After all, the others had never spoken to Draco beyond these kinds of meetings. If they ever spoke to him when he wasn't surrounded by other Slytherins then they might see the same thing Jaden did; that they really didn't know Draco Malfoy at all.
He pushed the thought away and started gathering some candies of all sorts. He steered clear of the Acid Pops though. He didn't really want to burn a hole into his tongue.
He stopped when he spotted some Pepper Imps that apparently allowed one to breathe fire. He raised an eyebrow at that but decided against it and went on to some other sweets.
"Hey, Jay," Jesse said, falling into step beside Jaden and startling him to where he jumped.
"Where'd you come from?" he protested
Jesse pointed to the aisle Jaden had just passed.
Jaden smiled a little. "Didn't hear ya," he admitted.
Jesse didn't respond to that and instead glanced at what Jaden had in his hand. "So what're you buying?" he asked.
"Probably a little of everything, except Acid Pops," Jaden replied. He glanced at the amount of stuff in his arms. "Are there baskets that I can put this in? My arms are getting tired."
Jesse chuckled and pointed to where there were a stack of floating baskets nearby.
"Oh. Didn't see those," Jaden said, blushing in embarrassment. "Ah, my arms are full. Can you get me one, Jess? Please?"
"Sure thing, Jay," Jesse said with a smile and then walked over to the basket. He got one and handed it to Jaden who dropped his load into it. "How do you plan on paying for all of this?"
"I have all the money that I got from my birthday. Hope it'll be enough." Jaden looked down at the basket thoughtfully and then reached it into, pulling out some candies and sweets and putting them back and then walking around to look at other things.
"Aren't you getting anything?" he asked Jesse who was wandering after him.
"Maybe. Haven't found anything I want yet," Jesse replied.
"Ah okay."
After they finished getting what they wanted—Jesse decided on some sugar quills, chocolate wands, chocoballs, chocolate frogs, chocolate skeletons and Honeydukes Best Chocolate while Jaden got more of a variety—they walked over to the counter to pay for everything.
"That's a lot of chocolate, Jess," Jaden commented.
Jesse smiled. "I love chocolate," he said.
Jaden smiled back and then placed his basket on the counter. Evidently, he did have enough to pay for everything he got, which was a little of almost everything, excluding Acid Pops and a few others.
While they were doing this, Alexis was wandering around the store, also looking at the sweets when Harry fell into step beside her. He really did enjoy spending time with Alexis, whom was very nice and a talented duelist—and that was just a few of the things he had noticed about her—and he did think the blonde girl was rather pretty. He was, of course, keeping that thought to himself. Just thinking that brought a blush to his cheeks and he had to quickly look at other items on display just to avoid Alexis questioning him about the blush.
"So how do you think the Battle Royal will turn out?" Alexis asked curiously as she picked up a pack of sugar quills and then added it to what she had already grabbed.
"Well, Mr. Kelley said it was to determine who would face each other in the semifinals and it'll be Battle City style so we basically get to choose who we want to go against."
Alexis nodded. "Who do you want to go against?" she asked.
"Well, I do want a rematch against Jaden but I also would like to see how I do against Atticus or Jesse so I really don't know," Harry admitted. He cast a glance at Alexis who was adding a couple of chocoballs to her growing pile. "You like chocolate?"
"Not too much of it but it's good," Alexis said, glancing at him and smiling. "What about you? Do you have a favorite candy?"
Harry shrugged. "Not really. I kinda like a variety but I don't eat as much as Jaden does," he said.
"I'm still wondering where it all goes."
"Believe me, that's a mystery I don't think any of us will ever solve."
Alexis chuckled.
Harry smiled. Alexis had a nice laugh.
Thinking about what else to talk about as they fell into silence, Harry said, "So what are you thinking about doing when we leave school? Or have you thought that far ahead?"
"Well, before I found out I was a witch, I was already determined to become a good enough duelist to enter the pro leagues," Alexis said. "Now, well, I still want to do that but I haven't really thought about what else I could do. You?"
"I'd like to be a healer," Harry admitted. "Though I would like to enter the pro leagues, at least for a little while."
Alexis smiled at him. "Well, we do still have more than four years left before we graduate so I guess we don't have to worry about that right now," she said.
"Yeah, we've still got time. Here, try these,"—Harry picked up a pack of Glacial Snow Flakes and handed them to her—"they're actually really good, though you can probably go through an entire box in a few minutes."
Alexis took it and studied it. "Sounds good," she said and added it to her pile. "I should go pay for these."
The two of the made their way to the counter to pay for the candies and sweets they had gotten.
Meanwhile, Jaden and Jesse, after they bought everything, left Honeydukes to wait for the others. Around them, students were wandering around, talking with their friends or entering some stores. They could see Fred and George leaving Zonko's with bags in their hands and talking to each other.
"This is a nice little village, huh?" Jaden said.
Jesse nodded. "Yeah, it is," he agreed.
Amethyst Cat materialized in spirit form next to Jesse at that moment. 'Jesse, you better not think about eating all that chocolate at once,' she said firmly.
Jesse glanced at the pink lioness. "Of course I ain't gonna do that, Amethyst," he said. "I still remember the last time I did something stupid like that."
'We do too,' Sapphire Pegasus said, also materializing next to Amethyst.
Jaden smiled as Jesse talked with his duel spirits before he glanced up as Winged Kuriboh materialized on his shoulder. "Hey there, buddy," he greeted the newest member of his family
'Kuri!' Winged Kuriboh said.
'Rubi?' A moment later, Ruby Carbuncle materialized and floated over to float in front of Winged Kuriboh who floated off Jaden's shoulder and then poked Ruby with his wing. Ruby launched herself at Winged Kuriboh and the two immediately fell in a play-fight to the ground.
Jesse, Amethyst and Sapphire also watched in amusement—Jesse—and exasperation—Amethyst and Sapphire—before Jesse looked up just as the door to Honeydukes opened and Harry, Alexis, Hermione, Ron and Atticus walked out of it, each carrying their own bags filled with sweets.
Winged Kuriboh and Ruby separated at that and then floated over to their respective masters while Amethyst and Sapphire vanished.
"Hey, we were wondering where you two went," Harry said.
"You know if you wanna go on a date, we won't stop ya," Atticus said.
"Why would we wanna do that?" Jaden asked confused.
Atticus smirked. "Well, you two are crushing on each other," he said.
"We're just friends!" Jaden and Jesse exclaimed at once, blushes coating their cheeks.
Atticus snickered. "For now," he said.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You'll understand someday."
Jaden and Jesse just looked at each other and then at Atticus, confused.
Alexis hung her head. "Atticus, leave 'em alone, would ya?" she scolded.
"Just trying to help 'em out is all, Lex, like I'm gonna do for you and Harry," Atticus said brightly.
Alexis and Harry both blushed.
Hermione sighed.
. . .
Great Hall
The Great Hall, as usual, was heavily decorated for Halloween with hundreds of candle-filled pumpkins, a cloud of fluttering live bats and many flaming orange streamers were swam lazily across the stormy ceiling.
The gang all plopped down at the Gryffindor table. They had all just gotten back from Hogsmeade a little while ago whereas some house elves had agreed to take the students' purchases to their rooms if they wanted. As predicted, Jaden was hyper at the moment, filled with too many sweets—since he had eaten a good chunk of what he bought—but that didn't stop him from enjoying the feast.
Harry didn't think it would.
As usual, the food was delicious. Everyone had second helpings of everything and then they enjoyed some entertainment provided by the Hogwarts ghosts after the feast. The ghosts had popped out of the walls and tables to do a bit of formation gliding. And then Nearly Headless Nick, reenacted his own botched beheading, which was a great success.
And then they all headed back to their common room.
. . .
Outside the Gryffindor Common Room
The gang found, when they reached the corridor that ended with the portrait of the Fat Lady, that it was jammed with students.
"What's going on? Why isn't anyone going in?" Alexis asked with a frown.
"The portrait looks like it's closed," Atticus said, peering over some of the heads in front of them.
"Let me through, please," Percy called, bustling through the crowd. "What's the holdup? You can't all have forgotten the password. Excuse me...I'm Head Boy..."
Silence fell across the crowd almost immediately, traveling from the front of the crowd and then back like a chill spreading through the air.
"Somebody get Professor Dumbledore. Quick!" Percy ordered sharply.
"What's going on?" Ginny asked as she joined the gang who were just as confused as everyone else.
A moment later, Dumbledore was there, sweeping toward the portrait. The Gryffindors squeezed together to let him through. Harry moved closer to see what the trouble was and was quickly followed by the rest of the gang.
"Oh my," Hermione gasped.
"That's not good," Jaden said.
The Fat Lady had vanished from her portrait, which had been slashed so viciously that strips of canvas littered the floor; great chunks had been torn away. Dumbledore looked at the portrait and then turned to see McGonagall, Lupin and Snape hurrying toward him; his normally twinkling blue eyes were somber.
"We need to find her," Dumbledore said. "Professor McGonagall, please go to Mr. Filch at once and tell him to search every painting in the castle for the Fat Lady."
"You'll be lucky," a cackling voice called and Peeves bobbed over the crowd, looking delighted.
"What do you mean, Peeves?" Dumbledore asked. Peeves's grin faded a little but he nonetheless answered.
"Ashamed, Your Headship, sir. Doesn't want to be seen. She's a horrible mess. Saw her running through the landscape up on the fourth floor, sir, dodging between the trees. Crying something dreadful," Peeves said happily; then added in an unconvincing tone, "poor thing."
"Did she say who did it?" Dumbledore asked quietly.
"Oh, yes, Professorhead," Peeves said. "He got very angry when she wouldn't let him in, you see." He flipped over and grinned at Dumbledore. "Nasty temper he's got, that Sirius Black."
Hermione's and Ron's eyes widened while Jaden and Harry exchanged glances. Jesse glanced at them as well while Alexis and Atticus looked at each other warily.
"Go back to the Great Hall, all of you," Dumbledore ordered. "Mr. Weasley, escort them there. Professor Snape, go speak to your Slytherins. Professor Lupin, go speak to Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout and let them know what happened and that they are to guide their students to the Great Hall as well."
Snape inclined his head and swept away, cloak billowing around his feet as he walked. Lupin nodded and also dashed off, slipping through the crowd while Percy shouted at everyone to follow him and then he led the way back toward the Great Hall.
. . .
A/n what do you think?
Blaze: and that was chapter 35
Bakura: (still locked in room filled with kitties) I THOUGHT YOU LIKED ME!
Blaze: I do but kittens and cats are so cute! I don't see why you're complaining
Bakura: (twitching) too...much...cuteness...
Jesse [who looks like Jehu]: okay then
Jehu [who looks like Jesse]: Are you going to let him out?
Blaze: hmm, if I let him out, what are the chances that the overload of cuteness will mean he will go off on a killing spree as soon as he's out?
Marik: VERY high
Blaze: then I'm gonna just let him loose in my city-closet but first (pushes Umbitch, Lockhart, Slade Princeton, Jagger Princeton, Palpatine, Dooku and any and all other characters that she hates and does not pity [like she does Viper] into city-closet) I would run if I was all of you
Umbitch: you don't tell me what to do, mudblood!
Blaze: okay, you stay where you are (sets Bakura's Hungarian Horntail Dragon on Umbitch)
Umbitch: (screams and takes off running with dragon right behind her)
Blaze: (releases homicidal Bakura into city-closet)
Lockhart, Slade, Jagger, Palpatine, Dooku and all Other Characters Blaze Hates: AHHHHHH! (Takes off running)
Yuto: it is times like these were I am thankful I am one of Blaze's favorite characters
Yugo: uh huh
Yuya: agreed
Blaze: well, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and reviews, as always, are much appreciated.