Hello readers! So on vacation I procrastinated a lot on the plot for this story, choosing instead to read Deathly Hallows in preparation for the upcoming movie as I will probably have no time to do so once school starts. So even though I was not thinking about this story at all, reading the book did bring up quite a few ideas for a sequel in addition to the ideas I already have so… There will officially be a sequel! I hope you are all as excited as I am! As usual, enjoy.

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Chapter 36: Surprise Attack

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The next week, O.W.L.s began. Most of the students were terrified of the testing, but not Kakashi. In his position, he had the option to take the exams or not, and he had planned from the start to skip every one of them. Rin was going to take them of course, dutifully fulfilling her role as Umbridge's favorite student, though Kakashi suspected she wasn't going to put much effort into it, except in D.A.D.A, where the toad would undoubtedly be watching. Ron and the twins thoroughly encouraged her to write as many rude answers as possible. She laughed along with them at the thought, but Kakashi knew she wouldn't do it. It just wasn't in her nature to be rude to anyone unless it was absolutely necessary.

And so it was that Kakashi found himself alone in the boys' dorm on Wednesday night of that week, while the others were taking their astronomy exam. He lazily flipped his wand in the air and caught it, sitting on the stone window sill, looking out into the black night. The lake reflected the light of the nearly full moon, giving the water an eerie glow.

He had spent a good few hours that day practicing his new technique in the Room of Requirement. He felt fairly confident with it now; of course, skills could always be improved, but he knew he would be able to use it in a real-life situation if necessary. On some level it was a risk to go back there, but there wasn't really another place he could go where he was guaranteed to go unnoticed. He figured it would be the last place anyone would suspect if they discovered him missing from the common room. All in all his luck had been very good, no one had even noticed his absence; everyone was too preoccupied with the testing.

He had snatched the wand out of the air for the twenty-third time when something moving below, across the grounds, caught his eye. Clenching his wand, he saw six people steadily making their way across the grass, towards the Forest. Kakashi immediately recognized their squat leader, even from his distance. An alarm went off in his head. Why would Umbridge be outside at this hour, let alone heading for the Forbidden Forest at all? And why did she need so many companions?

Accompanied by a horrible sinking feeling, he realized that they were not heading for the forest, but for Hagrid's. Kakashi clenched his jaw, watching closely as Umbridge knocked on the door and was admitted after a few moments; the five followed her in. He stood now, not taking his eyes from the hut for a second. Two full minutes went by before a loud roar echoed across the grounds, and Hagrid burst from his house, tiny red beams of light directed at his back.

"Dammit," the shinobi cursed, scrambling around to get his cloak, mask, and katana. He tied on the mask and cloak as quickly as he could, pulling up his hood to hide his distinctive hair. He grabbed the katana and slung it over his back as he sped out of the room.

He rushed out the portrait hole and into the dark castle. He passed Filch on his way down to the front entrance, who couldn't even get a word out before Kakashi had rounded the next corner. He was approaching the giant doors when he heard McGonagall shouting outside and arrived just in time to see her knocked back by no less than five Stunning spells. He didn't spare her a second glance as she fell, choosing instead to surprise her attackers.

Hagrid was fighting valiantly, but it looked to Kakashi that if he didn't get out of there soon, he would be overpowered by the five wizards. (Umbridge was cowardly screaming commands at the rest of them.) Hagrid suddenly charged the group and clocked two of the wizards' heads together. They instantly fell to the ground in a heap of robes. As Kakashi closed in on the remaining three, he realized he should have known better, Hagrid was half-giant after all.

"What the hell?" Kakashi's first opponent cried as the shinobi dropped low to the ground, swiping the wizard's legs out from under him. As the man fell to the ground on his back, Kakashi swiftly elbowed him hard just below the ribs, knocking the breath out of him.

He jumped into the air as the other two realized what was happening and pointed their wands at him. He flipped over them, drawing his sword, and landing behind them quickly knocked out the one closest with the hilt of his blade. He landed a solid punch in the nose to the other, breaking it. He then turned and ran at Umbridge, who was steadily backing away from him, eyes wide in terror.

"Run, Hagrid!" he shouted as he ran. The groundskeeper didn't need to be told twice. He lumbered off in the direction of Hogsmeade, not looking back.

Kakashi added a burst of chakra to his feet when he was nearly in front of Umbridge. To her it must have looked as if he had physically disappeared, but then he was standing behind her; his katana was held at her throat. She gave a sort of squeak, then swallowed loudly and spoke, her voice high-pitched and wavering.

"Wh-who are you? This is a M-Ministry matter, you have n-no business—"

"Take them," Kakashi said menacingly, lowering his voice, "and leave. I won't hesitate to kill next time."

He pressed the katana to her neck and she drew a sharp intake of breath, but then he withdrew it, dashing back to the castle, leaving as quickly as he had come. A last look toward the Forest told him Hagrid had disappeared.

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It was some hours later when he managed to get back to the common room because Umbridge had immediately set up the alarm that there was a masked warrior running loose in the castle. There were currently several groggy and unhappy teachers patrolling the corridors, looking for someone they mostly believed was a hallucination of some sort. Many of the paintings and portraits were keeping a watchful eye out as well, leaving Kakashi to take the most roundabout way he could, using secret passages whenever possible. Upon entering through the portrait hole, he thought at first that the others had not seen his little stunt; the common room was dark. But his new-found luck did not last.

"Incendio."

A spark from an invisible wand ignited the logs in the fireplace and four people were thrown into sharp contrast in the flickering light. Kakashi didn't bother to say anything as they all stared at him, three semi-surprised and bemused, one calculating and (he noted with a twinge of dread) more than a little ticked off.

"I reckon Umbridge just about fainted when she saw that," Ron gestured to Kakashi's mask, breaking the silence. "It's quite scary, really."

Harry and Hermione managed half-smiles at this comment. Rin wasn't amused.

Kakashi pulled his hood down and took off the now stifling mask, resting it on the top of his head.

"You saw everything then?" he asked the four of them.

"We were taking our exam in the Astronomy tower," Hermione supplied, "We saw them go after Hagrid, and then McGonagall… Did you see her? Is she alright?"

Kakashi shook his head, "I don't know," he replied truthfully, "She went down just before I got there, and I couldn't stop to check on her as I was leaving. I don't think she was dead, but she'll definitely be out for a while."

"And Hagrid?" Harry asked quickly.

"He got away," Kakashi said firmly, "I don't know where to, but they didn't get him."

The three breathed a collective sigh of relief. "We couldn't see much," Harry elaborated, "It was so fast… We saw you and then when we last looked around, Hagrid was gone."

"But Umbridge—"Ron said eagerly, "Did you give her a good punch to the face?"

"No," Kakashi answered and Ron sighed in disappointment, "But I warned her not to pull anything—"

"Great, so you let her hear your voice too?" Rin finally spoke. "The only way you could have made it easier was by actually taking off the mask."

There was silence as the elephant sat down uncomfortably in the small room.

"You're angry," Kakashi stated.

"It was a stupid move. You've basically cornered yourself," she replied steadily, but the annoyance simmering in her tone spoke volumes.

"I had no choice," he said, "Besides, I disguised my voice—she was too terrified to think properly, anyway."

"Do you honestly think that she won't figure it out, Kakashi?" she continued, standing from the armchair she had been lounging in, "I'm pretty confident that none of the other students in this school keep katanas at their bedsides, even more confident that none of them would, or ever will, know how to use one. Of course she'll blame the foreign student! She already suspects you; this gives her a reason to question you!"

"So you would've had me leave Hagrid to fend for himself then?" he asked heatedly.

"If you had taken half a second to think, you would have seen that the spells were bouncing right off of him! He's half-giant; he would have been just fine without you!"

"What? How could they have been bouncing off of him?" he asked quickly.

"… Hagrid was protected because of his giant blood," Hermione explained quietly, "The spells were just deflected away from him."

He took a second to absorb this somewhat damning information. "Alright…fine. But that doesn't mean I still shouldn't have done what I did. She crossed a line; she had to know that she can't just openly attack anyone she wants." He was determined to hold his ground.

"Except now she has a direct hold on you. You can't physically defend yourself; that won't help anyone. So you'll end up getting expelled, which then means you'll have to go into hiding somewhere, and Hogwarts will have lost its primary line of defense," she finished.

"You're still—"

"We both know I'm not cut out for that, Kakashi. Dumbledore told you to protect Hogwarts; you can't do that if you're—"

"He also told me to use force if necessary," he pointed out. "I did what I thought was right, and it's done, so forget it. We'll—I'll figure out a way to get out of it."

None of them said anything to contradict him, so without a goodnight, he headed up the stairs, three pairs of eyes following him, one pair resolutely looking away.

"I don't want to…uh… interfere," Harry said, "but he did what he thought was right… I probably would have done the same thing, if I could have."

Rin sighed heavily and sat back down in her chair, "I… I know. It was… mostly the right thing. He's right. Someone in the school was threatened; it's our responsibility to protect them, despite the consequences. I'd be dead several times over if it wasn't for that instinct of his."

"…Then why-?" Ron asked.

"I'm worried," she replied, folding her arms across her middle.

"About what she'll do when she finds out?" Hermione asked.

"…No," she answered as if she had just decided on this aspect, "He's trained for that. Whatever she can put him through will be nothing compared to the kinds of missions he does on a regular basis… But she trusts me above the others. I'm much more scared that she'll ask me to help… interrogate him."

Hermione gave a little gasp, "You really think she'll resort to that?"

"Have you forgotten what we just saw tonight, Hermione?" Ron asked. "Of course, she will. She already hates Kakashi. She might even use the Cru—"

"Ron," Harry and Hermione stopped him at the same time.

Rin gave the three a sardonic half-smile. "Don't worry about it; I know it already. It's selfish of me, really. If it comes down to that… I'll just have to play along. I just wish it didn't have to happen this way," She stared into the fire, "But that doesn't matter. What does matter is that you three should be extra careful from now on. Though he helped Hagrid, Kakashi inadvertently endangered you. I'm sure Umbridge would love to make up a way to say that you were all in on it together."

Three nods agreed with her statement.

"We should go to bed; more exams tomorrow," Hermione said and Ron groaned at the reminder. With a flick of her wand, the flames in the glowing hearth snuffed themselves out.

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"Harry! Wake up… Potter!"

Harry sat straight up in bed, eyes wide, hair plastered to his face with sweat. Kakashi stood at his bedside, staring down at him.

"What did you see?" Kakashi asked calmly, but firmly.

Harry was still breathing fast, "Nothing."

"Don't play stupid. Tell me what you saw," he commanded.

"Nothing new… I just keep having the same nightmare… The door won't open," he finished weakly.

"You have to block it out, Harry—"

"It's not exactly easy," he said indignantly, a hand reaching up to rub his scar.

"Look, I've seen people go crazy because of mind infiltration. It's not a pleasant experience. We need to keep you as sane as possible," Kakashi reminded him, "Or would you rather be completely bonkers?"

"I'm not already?" the wizard replied dryly.

Kakashi shrugged, "Not all the way, at least."

With a last tired look at the shinobi, Harry pulled the curtain across and flopped down heavily on the bed.

Kakashi turned away and returned to his own bed, sitting down on the soft mattress with a sigh. He pulled out his mask from underneath his pillow and looked at it in contemplation. Harry's nightmares were getting worse. He was having them every night now, sometimes twice a night. And though the wizard tried to brush it off as inconsequential, Kakashi could tell something was wrong. Something evil was entering Harry's mind every night. He could feel it. And he couldn't do anything about it. He replaced the mask beneath the pillow and lied down.

Things were about to get infinitely more problematic.

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I'll get at least one more chapter out before school starts, and then we'll have to see what happens from there. Would you like a cookie for reviewing? Me too. But I never get one. Review anyway, please. =)