Note: If you guys are reading this, then that means I am currently out of town and had Crystal upload this chapter. It's a lot shorter than the others, but I thought it was a good place for it to end. As always, reviews are always welcome, and thanks for everyone who has contributed so far, either by reviewing or adding this story to one of their lists.
Chapter 5: The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend
…..
"Bloody hell!" Tonks cursed as she got up from ground.
"Aguamenti. I agree. Kingsley, we can't seriously bring him back to headquarters, he could destroy the place." Remus said as he began to douse the fires.
"This might become a problem. We'll have to take him somewhere else then, we need to interrogate it to find out what happened here. We can't let something with so much power just run freely. How's Ollivander?" Kingsley said massaging his temple.
"Just knocked out, I have no bloody clue what it gave him but it sure ain't poison. I think we should take him to Hogwarts, unless any of you want to use one of Gringott's vaults. Little monkey packs quite a punch." 'Mad Eye' Moody said, rubbing the rapidly bruising spot where he was hit.
"So Hogwarts then, do we all agree?" Tonks said and everyone nodded.
"We should tie him securely first, probably best to blindfold him too." Moody said.
"Agreed. Tonks, get the daggers and the pouch." Kingsley said.
….
Zidane groaned as he woke up. His throat was dry and his head was pounding. To make matters worse all he could see was darkness, and no, this time he was sure that his eyes were open. Automatically, his hands tried to reach for whatever was obscuring his view, but he then noted that he couldn't move at all.
'They must had tied me down and blindfolded me, but then, I can't even move my fingers or tail.'
In fact it was as if his muscles had gone completely unresponsive.
"Ah, I see you've finally awakened." Said an old grandfatherly voice. He felt something tap him on the forehead and then suddenly he realized that he could see.
He noticed that he was in a large circular room with many windows and moving portraits showing old looking men and women, most of which seemed to be whispering amongst themselves and sending furtive glances towards him. There were all sorts of books and strange silver objects that buzzed and sent small puffs of smoke which intrigued the genome. There also was a strange shallow stone basin and a perch that had a large red and gold bird. Zidane's eyes widened as he recognized the creature as a phoenix, obviously not as impressive as the Eidolon, but impressive nonetheless.
He then noticed the man in front of him. He was thin and tall with long silver hair and a beard that reached his waist. He had sparkling blue eyes that seemed to see through him behind the half moon glasses he wore.
The first thing that came to his mind was naturally Garland. There were obviously some differences, Garland would have never let himself get caught wearing bright magenta clothes. His eyes also did not sparkle merrily. They were better described as cold orbs of death. And lastly, this man did not wear black armor, nor did he have a red ball of pulsing light in an exposed black ribcage.
He also noticed other people in the room. They were the four people from before, only now he could see their features a lot better. He was quite pleased to see a large bruised already forming on scar-face's cheek. There was also an old and stern looking woman with rectangular glasses and her hair in a tight bun, as well as a pale man with greasy hair and a hooked nose.
"I'm quite sorry about the misunderstanding, care for a lemon drop?" The old man said, offering him a bowl while he popped a yellow candy in his mouth.
Zidane was simply confused. Weren't they going to torture, interrogate, or maybe even dissect him? He frowned. "No, thanks."
The fact that he called it a misunderstanding was a bit comforting, since perhaps it meant that he would be able to get his voice across. It could still be a trap to get him to let his guard down, but the fact that they hadn't hurt him or tried to kill him yet at least told him that they needed something from him.
"Well, that's a shame. Now let's get to the point, shall we? My name is Albus Dumbledore, I was wondering if we could ask you some questions Mr. Crescent."
'So it IS an interrogation. They need information.'
"Only if you answer mine." Zidane said.
He knew he was at a clear disadvantage with these people if he couldn't move. Of course, they'd have to be complete idiots to let him loose now. If he were in their situation he wouldn't let himself go either. That didn't mean he would show that weakness though.
"Alright then, I believe we have a deal." The old man said clapping his hands.
"Firstly, could you tell me if Ollivander is okay?" The blonde asked first.
Dumbledore waved a hand in dismissal. "Don't worry my boy. He is currently being taken care of by our healer, Madam Pomfrey."
Zidane looked at the old man in front of him with a hint of distrust. After all, he wasn't a complete idiot. As far as he knew, Albus Dumbledore was trying to warn the public of what's-his-face's return. But that didn't mean the man could be trustworthy. For all he knew this could be another Garland.
"How can I know for sure I can trust your word?"
"You can never know for sure, but I do hope you take a leap of faith, as I will right now." Dumbledore said and with a wave of his wand, Zidane found that he could move again.
He froze, and so did everyone else in the room, at least those that had seen him in action. If he wanted to escape, now would be the moment. He could see his daggers and wand on one of the tables nearby. His pouch wasn't there, but instead, it was being held by the woman with white hair. He paused. He could have sworn it was purple last time. Regardless, Zidane was very tempted to just run away. But then what? He was stuck eidolons-knew-where in a world completely different than his own. He had no idea how to get back, and these people could just be the ones that could help.
Zidane sighed, but to everyone's relief he took a seat in one of the chairs in front of Dumbledore. The atmosphere in the room became a lot less tense as the old man smiled.
"Alright, a leap of faith it is. What happened tonight?" Zidane asked and the others were taken by surprise.
"We were actually hoping you would tell us. All we know is that what Ollivander was targeted tonight by the same group of people from a few nights prior. He contacted me after that first incident to ask for protection as he feared for his life. In that same letter he spoke of a boy who saved him and for which he made a wand for. At least the wand you carry fits the description. But if that's the case, I should warn you that non-humans aren't allowed to purchase wands."
"I was the one that gave him the ingredients, and it was really more of a gift, so technically I didn't buy it from the old man, but what about him then?" Zidane said, pointing at the tired looking man that was probably quite young despite the graying hair and scars.
'Remus' stiffened considerably, as did the others in surprise. There was obviously some secret going on.
"Remus is… a special case. He isn't affected by Clause Three of the Code of Wand Use. But you don't have to worry about it, neither I nor anyone in this room will tell. Personally, I see no reason as to why the other races shouldn't be allowed wands."
Zidane decided not to pry any further. He wasn't that interested in laws and political crap anyways. "Well, thanks. Now could you tell me just what this is all about? Just who are you? You say you are not with What's-his-name, and you aren't in the ministry either, yet I recognize that man as an auror, at least from what I saw a few weeks back."
"Wait…you are the one that attacked Dawlish and Proudfoot!" Kingsley called out in anger, next to him the woman with changing hair colors looked just as surprised, and Zidane then recognized her from that night as well.
"Hey, they attacked me first!" Zidane said indignantly.
"You used dark magic to blind him! We still don't know how to cure him!"
"You don't?" Zidane asked curiously.
"OF COUR-"
"Kingsley, please calm down." The old man said. "Now, I'm afraid we can't give this information freely, unless, of course, we can test to see if you are trustworthy. I apologize beforehand, but we are in some hard times."
"What do you have in mind?"
"Are you an occlumens?"
"What's an occlu-"
Zidane stopped as he saw several images pop up in his head. He saw himself fighting Blank in front of spectators, and then he saw Dagger's kidnapping and their escape from the Evil Forest. He saw their defeat in Burmecia, the mist's recession from the Iifa Tree, and he saw the destruction of Cleyra, Lindlum, and Alexandria. Then he saw Garland and finally he understood what was going on. He used all his will to push the invader out of his mind like he had done several times before with Garland and Kuja during his previous adventure.
"Don't EVER do that again!" Zidane would have shouted were he not short of breath. He could see that Dumbledore looked simply fascinated while the old witch with the tight bun looked at him disapprovingly. The other people in the room seemed to catch on too, and seemed surprised that the old wizard was forced out.
"I'm sorry, I can get quite curious. I admit I only saw bits and pieces though. But, I'm afraid if you are against this method, we will have resort to the use veritaserum, also known as 'truth serum'. While under its effects, you will be unable to lie, making the process easy and absolutely painless." The old man apologized in a manner that showed that he wasn't really sorry at all.
"But Headmaster-" The greasy haired man began, but the old man interrupted him.
"It's all right Severus, now if you please." The old man said giving him an 'I know, but he doesn´t' look.
The greasy haired man left the room with his robes billowing behind him and appeared moments later with a golden goblet. Zidane reluctantly did as told and drank the liquid, which he noted had no distinctive smell, color, or taste. Soon waves of calmness overcame him, making his tail go limp and his eyes become dull. His mind felt all woozy and made him feel as if everything were okay.
"Now let's begin. What is your name? "
"Zidane Tribal."
"So it's not Marcus Crescent then?"
"No, that was an alias."
"Are you in allegiance with Voldemort?"
"No."
"Are you in allegiance to the ministry?"
"No."
"Do you have any ill wishes, or intend to purposely cause harm to anyone here?"
"No."
"Are you willing to keep any information you may learn here a secret?"
"Yes."
"How old are you?" At this, many of the people present looked at the old man questioningly. Why would he need to know that?
"Sixteen."
"When were you born?"
There was a pause. "September 9th 1783."
Immediately, gasps and murmurs rose in the room. The stern looking witch turned to Dumbledore. "Albus, what is the meaning o-"
"All will be explained Minerva. Now, where are you from Zidane?"
There was another longer pause. Seconds passed with great anticipation until, finally, the genome spoke. "I was raised in Lindblum."
"Where is Lindlum?"
"In the Mist Continent."
"Where is the Mist Continent?"
"In Gaia."
"Where is Gaia?"
Another long pause. "I don't know."
"How did you end up here?"
"An accident."
"Are you the one who's been raiding Diagon Alley?"
This question again brought questioning glances from the others.
"Yes."
More gasps came from those present as they looked at the blonde genome in amazement. This was the so called powerful wizard everyone was so wary of? Dumbledore had to clear his throat to gain everyone's attention back to the interrogation.
"Why did you steal from those people?"
"So that the minister would get his head out of his ass."
There were more gasps from the room, both from surprise at the thief's surprisingly noble intention and at the fact that he had just insulted the Minister of Magic. The last one resulted in chuckles from some of the people present. But Dumbledore narrowed his eyes as he noticed Zidane's speech quickly becoming more informal. Quickly, the old man just cut to the chase.
"And just what exactly are you Mr. Tribal?"
There was a pause. "A thief."
"I meant, what's your race?"
There was a longer pause. "I-I'm a genome."
Confusion could be clearly seen on every face in the room, though some hid it better than others.
"And pray tell Mr. Tribal, what is a genome?"
There was the longest pause yet, and if one looked closely you could see signs of the fight that was raging inside the genome that moment. And when he did give his answer, he said it with a strained voice.
"T-Terra's empty vessels."
Dumbledore's eye narrowed, losing their familiar twinkle, while the genome began panting and slowly began to snap out of his serum induced state. Everyone else simply looked on in confusion by the vague description of the blonde's race. Zidane's eyes focused and his tail began to twitch and swish around. Soon enough his breathing settled and the genome raked a gloved hand through his hair turning to look at Dumbledore with a serious look.
"So am I trustworthy or do you need to know my blood type as well?" The teen said with sarcasm. There was a slight tremble still remaining in his voice as the teen tried to recover his breath. He was still angry that the old man dug so deep into his personal information.
The twinkle returned to the man's eyes and suddenly he looked tired.
"I apologize for prying. It has always been one of my greatest defects. 'Curiosity killed the cat' I believe the saying goes. But there's another reason I did it. One which I plan to tell you, once of course, I have answered all your questions."
Zidane nodded and after dismissing everyone else from the room, Dumbledore gave him a long and intricate explanation of pretty much everything he wanted to know and more, from Voldemort's raise to power, to his defeat, and his rebirth. He realized that the reason for dismissing the others was because they probably knew this already, and because they would think he was crazy for giving out so much top secret information. Of course, there was probably a lot of information still being kept from him, but the old man did fulfill his promise, so Zidane then told him of what happened earlier in the shop, keeping some details like his trance form to himself of course. He wasn't going to give up all his secrets either. Dumbledore seemed to be most wary of his mention of the hooded creatures, Dementors as he learned they were called, joining the attack. He seemed surprised at the fact that he killed three.
By the end of the explanation, Dumbledore's tone became serious once more.
"Zidane, I thank you for helping Ollivander and for the information in light of these new…events, but I would like to ask of you one more thing. It's for this reason, that I also looked so deep into your background."
The blonde's cyan eyes locked into the old man's own serious non-twinkling blue. He had a feeling this was going to happen. The old man probably had this planned from the beginning. Said man seemed to slump into his chair, looking older and more worn out than ever.
"I-I'm worried for young Harry. I've been keeping him in the dark, which I know will have great repercussions in the future. If he hates me right now I wouldn't blame him. But I'm afraid this year will be the hardest for him yet, not only will a great number of students turn against him, but I find the connection between him and Voldemort to be most… troubling, especially now that he is back. The ministry has also decided to infiltrate Hogwarts, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher being Fudge's personal spy. I know well that eventually this may end up forcing me to leave Hogwarts. That's why I would like to ask you to join the Order of the Phoenix, to come to Hogwarts this year in the guise of a student, watch over Harry, and protect him should anything happen. I'd be willing to pay for your services if you'd like, just tell me how much and I'm sure we could come to an agreement."
Zidane paused for a moment. He just knew something like this would happen. He had just gotten out of one war and fell right into the next. He thought of just how hard the war had been on him and his friends, and he really didn't wish it on these people. He could clearly see that the old man needed him. The reason he had been so willing to tell him everything was just so he could put him through this guilt trip, which to make matters worse, was clearly working. He disagreed completely on the idea of having a whole community depend on a single teen to solve their problems. He also thought that it was wrong to keep the boy in the dark. If he was so eager to fight as the old man told him, then they should be training him to increase his chances of success and survival. Even despite all these facts, Zidane could still sympathize since at one point during the war, he also wished that Eiko and Vivi could just live normal lives like other kids their ages. Regardless, it was obvious that Dumbledore was entrusting him something great, as a student he would be able to protect Harry in a level most adults could not.
But then there was Dagger and all the others that were waiting for him. Besides, could he really afford to get involved in another war? He still had duties back home as future king and hero. There was always a very real chance that he could die, too. He already came very close to losing his life several times during his last adventure. Furthermore, he wasn't even really a wizard, meaning that outside this group, he was still in great danger of being found out.
If he accepted the deal and everything still went according to plan, he would still be gone for a year. A year was way too long. Dagger would think he had long since died by then, and if she still believed he was alive then she might still be forced to move on and marry some rich aristocrat. And then when he thought of all the possible things that could happen while he was away, he realized just how risky it all way.
But then again, he still had no idea how to get back, if he could get back at all. There was no need to lie to himself, Zidane knew he was awful at magic, particularly the more theoretical part that he would need to find a way home. He'd considered just trying the same spell over and over again until he got it right, but even if he didn't end up blowing himself up, there was no telling where he would end up. At that point he'd quickly realized that he had reached a dead end with his research. Going to Hogwarts could perhaps provide him with the knowledge he needed. Not to mention that the man before him was considered the greatest wizard of the time.
There was a lot of risk with this deal, but if he accepted, then he would at least have a decent chance of getting back.
With a nod of his head the genome made his decision.
"Alright, I accept. But there won't be any need to pay me, just a small favor will do."
"And what would that favor be?"
"I just need you to help me get home." Zidane said with a smile.
The twinkle returned to Dumbledore's eyes, and the old man found himself laughing merrily. "I must say Mr. Tribal, you certainly are something. I never thought I'd meet a thief who wasn't interested in gold. But, I believe we have reached an agreement. Welcome to the Order of the Phoenix."
….
After the agreement was reached, Dumbledore called everyone and informed them of their new addition. He made sure that formal introductions were made, and was surprised to see that the thief just had this way with people. Even Moody didn't seem to be able to hold a grudge against the blonde boy, though trusting the blonde teen or any other wizard for that matter was still beyond the ex-Auror. Zidane even apologized to Kingsley and handed him a strange vial from his pouch that he said would cure Proudfoot. After all was said and done, the boy was handed all his things back and sent to one of the castle guest rooms, seeing as it was indeed very late.
Sitting tiredly behind his desk, the old wizard turned his gaze towards the large bird now preening its scarlet feathers.
"So what do you think of our new member Fawkes?"
The phoenix paused its work to trill happily.
Dumbledore chuckled lightly as he stroked his familiar's soft feathers. "Yes, this does promise to be an interesting year."
To be continued...
...
OMAKE:
Snape sneered as he looked down at the dirty, worn out bag that apparently belonged monkey tailed teen that was now bound and unconscious in the other room. The others had apparently found nothing better to do than to bring him over o make up for their incompetence at protecting a single wand-maker by arriving late to the attack he'd risked his neck to find out about.
Giving the blonde a once-over he still found it increasingly hard to believe that he had been the one to repel the Death Eater attack singlehandedly.
Glaring at the bag again, the greasy haired man sighed as he opened it. As per Dumbledore's request, he'd been asked to check the teen's possessions for anything of interest. Unsurprisingly the inside was a lot larger than the outside as what happened with other enchanted bags that could be found in possession of many wizards and witches. What did surprise him, however, was the sheer amount of rubbish that was inside of it.
He tentatively picked up a dirty sock that was amongst what had to be the teen's dirty clothes pile, before letting it down with a look of utter disgust. Human or not, the blonde was still very much as messy as any other teen. Separated within another closed section of the bag he found what appeared to be a nearly impossible number of vials, some looking a bit different than others, as if using different types of glass to differentiate between its contents. There were also entire jars filled with what appeared to be feathers and herbs.
The biggest surprise was when he checked through what appeared to be the largest section of the bag, whose contents included several dozen pieces of parchments, some books, a few broken bells, a flute, several peppers and greens, an antique mirror, a medal of some sort, and even a deck of strange playing cards. Noticing a piece of something that was stuck under a large jar filled with some type of nut, Snape tentatively reached for it and then held it up to inspect it. It was then, after quickly realizing what it was, that the man let go of the object with a sneer of disgust on his face and then wiped his sullied hand on his black robe.
Why would anyone even have a rat tail within their possessions?
...
A/N: Okay so the Rat Tail is an actual item in the game that you can buy at the Auction House and sell to other people in Treno (again no idea why anyone would want that). The other items described are also within the game.
For those of you who wanted a war between Zidane and the Order, I think this is the more logical outcome for a number of reasons:
-He would be fighting alone against the Order and by extension, the whole Wizarding World. He is strong, but wouldn't stand a chance against so many and he knows it.
-He doesn't really want to start another war since he just came out of one (and just barely alive).
-His altruistic side sympathises with the Order and wants him to help those in need (especially because of his now growing animosity towards Death Eaters.)
-He needs to get home and understands that his chances are pretty slim if he tries alone because this type of magic is waaaay above his level right now. For this same reason he is willing to sacrifice a year (he would take a lot longer if he tried on his own, on the off chance that he doesn't end up killing himself by accident).
-He gets food and shelter, plus he gets to experience a relatively stable lifestyle, at least compared to how he was surviving until now.
That's it for now, see you guys next week!