Note: This chapter is shorter than the rest, but it also seemed fitting to end it here. You could say this chapter marks the end of the first act, or arc, or as I like to call it the "New World" arc. Thanks to everyone who has kept an eye on this story and thanks to all of you who have reviewed. I really enjoyed some of the stuff you guys sent. I also thank Crystal for always helping beta this fic.

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(ARC)

To "Guest": Yeah, I guess I could put more, but honestly it just felt it was fitting to end it there. Thanks for reviewing!

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Chapter 9: Into the Den of Beasts

…

Zidane walked calmly, sending a few winks towards some giggling girls at some of the tables, just for kicks though, since he still had Dagger, and sat down on the wooden stool, minding his tail, and yet being careful that it didn't look like he had a tail to be mindful of. He put the hat on his head, and thankfully, it fit well enough. The moment he did so, he felt a presence trying to infiltrate his head, and for a second he thought it was Snape trying to access his memories again like he occasionally did while trying just to catch him off guard, so he blocked it.

'Hmm interesting, an occlumens. I'm sorry but I must get a look inside your head if I am to sort you. Anything that I see will be kept between us, I assure you.'

Zidane rolled his eyes, but accepted and let his barriers down. He really hated the feeling of having his mind probed by someone.

'Don't we all?'

'I'd appreciate it if you got on with it.'Zidane remarked.

'Very well then. Hmmm, very interesting, you aren't even human, and not even from the world you were raised in. You are so much more than you let on with so much potential, it seems. You're a thief with principles, which is already quite odd. Oh, and you're not just any thief either, you were created for evil, and yet you have fought so hard to save those whom you were supposed to destroy. You obviously care for your friends much, and you are already considered a hero by many. You like helping people, a fine Hufflepuff trait, but what's this in the corner of your mind. GOOD HEAVENS! Are you really supposed to be sixteen?! Just how many women…nevermind, I don't want to know.'

'Are you sure?'Zidane teased.

'Yes very sure, though I think you chose your life partner well, she is quite the ruler indeed.'

'Thanks.'

'I should also warn you that this IS a school. Such behavior is not allowed. And no, Hufflepuff is DEFINITELY not for you. I see a lot more potential hidden in your head. Now you are definitely intelligent, at least in your own way, but I doubt that Ravenclaw is suited for you, you're just not the studious type. As for Slytherin, let's see, you are very cunning, yes, very cunning indeed. You could manage great things there.'

'With Malfoy?! Put me there and I swear that Britain will have bigger things to worry about than Voldemort.'

'…I see. You do seem happy just the way you are, not overly ambitious like the snakes. I can see it all here in your head; your wish right now is to find a way home, back to your friends, nothing more and nothing less, so Slytherin may not be the place for you, after all. And well, I do believe you would rob the house dry out of spite if I put you there.'

'You're damn right I would.'

'So for a brave, yet cunning youth, willing to help others in distress, despite your own wants and needs, indeed there is only one perfect house for you. As is the case I have only one last thing to say…'

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Cheers erupted in the hall, coming primarily from the Gryffindor table, and none from the Slytherin table. Besides the cheers, there were also cries of dismay.

'Thanks, but you could have just put me there after you heard about my mission from Dumbledore.'

'But if I did, it would not have been any fun. And besides, I'm the Sorting Hat, and I take pride in a job well done. Though I would appreciate it if you got me off your head, I don't want to see what happened during that wild night at Treno again.'

Zidane pulled off the hat, rolling his eyes at its words. He handed it back to McGonagall, and headed over to the table with a gold and red banner with a lion. Hermione waved over to him, and he sat next to her.

"Oh it's great that you got into Gryffindor!" Hermione said. "But it did take quite a bit."

"I know but its bloody brilliant!" Ron said and Harry nodded as well.

"Yeah mate-"

"Better than ending up Slytherin, in any case." The twins greeted from across the table.

"I'm Fred."

"And I'm George."

"Pleasure." They both greeted at the same time.

There was a cough from the table and Dumbledore had once again gotten up from his seat.

"Well, the sorting is done, and this is not time for a speech. So all I have to say for now is tuck in!"

Food suddenly appeared from the previously empty table, and Zidane simply thought it was perfect. Not high class like the stuff at Alexandria castle that he hated, but still very tasty. He tried some of the pork chops, roast potatoes, and some gravy. From where he sat he could see that Ron didn't hold himself back. From the way he stuffed his face, Ron kinda reminded him of Cinna, and well, most of his bros from Tantalus. He supposed it had something to do with the red hair as well, since it also reminded him of Blank's flaming locks despite being a lighter shade.

After dinner was done, and Zidane felt a comforting weight in his stomach, the food and everything else on the table disappeared in the blink of an eye. Dumbledore once again rose from his seat, and addressed the school.

He warned them about the Forbbiden Forest and Zidane didn't miss the smirks on the faces of the Golden Trio. He also told them about magic being prohibited in the corridors between classes and a bunch of other things on a list, but Zidane really didn't care enough to pay attention and listen.

"We have had two changes of staffing this year. We are very pleased to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank, who will be taking Care of Magical Creatures lessons; we are also delighted to introduce Professor Umbridge, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

There was an unenthusiastic round of applause that followed, but Zidane's head snapped to attention.

'The ministry spy is here? Huh, I didn't notice her. Where could she-IFRIT'S FLAMING BITS IS THAT HER?!' Zidane's eyes widened when he caught sight of the pink abomination that was, apparently his new teacher, and he was simply forced to look away. 'What the hell? She looks like a friggin bizarre pink Gigan Toad! And what the hell is it with so much pink? It almost makes me feel ashamed of my trance form! That's messed up! What is up with wizarding fashion?"

He barely even noticed as Dumbledore was rudely interrupted, eliciting gasps from everybody in the hall. Even the teachers looked surprise. Proffessor Sprout's eyebrows had disappeared into her flyaway hair and Professor McGonagall's mouth was as thin as ever. Nobody had ever interrupted Dumbledore before.

"Thank you Headmaster for those kind words of welcome…" Umbridge said in a breathy, high-pitched, girlish voice that sounded as annoying as it was fake. He looked at Harry and noticed a scowl on his face. While personally, he had to put conscious effort to stop his tail from moving. Because if it did, not only would it blow his secret, but it would thrash around so badly he would probably end up accidentally slap Hermione, who was sitting right behind him. He wasn't really kidding either, it was a pretty common occurrence back home.

'Oh dear Eidolons I can't even look at her for too long. Her voice is so annoying too, I really want to gag. I'd rather listen to Kuja rant about himself for hours than this.'

"Well it's lovely to be back at Hogwarts, I must say." The woman smiled, showing two rows of small pointy teeth. "And to see such happy little faces looking up at me."

Zidane looked around, seeing there were no happy faces at all, and his eyes locked with Harry who was doing the same thing. They both shared a knowing look. If anything, this woman was irritating everyone with the way she spoke to them in such a condescending tone.

Was she actually being serious about this?

"I am very much looking forward to getting to know you all and I am sure we'll be very good friends!"

Zidane choked a little with his own saliva, he could feel the hairs on his neck and tail bristle as a shiver ran down his spine. 'Okay, there is no way in hell this toad woman is getting near me! The way she sounded it was almost as if….ugh Odin I don't even want to think about it. It's just like a Dementor, only instead of feeling like I will never be happy again, I feel like I will never be able to get properly aroused. Seriously, from all the old windbags back in the Ministry to choose from, why her?'

"I'll be her friend as long as I don't have to borrow that cardigan." A girl whispered to another, and then fell into a round of silent giggles.

'You poor naïve girls. Though on second thought, maybe if things get too bad I can try to smother her with that. If it kills as horribly as it looks…'

The toad woman cleared her voice and then gained a much more business-like tone. She started talking about how the Ministry valued a young wizard's education, and how each headmaster brought something unique to the school, and then something about discouraging practice for practice's sake, but Zidane couldn't be sure. In fact, he wasn't even going to bother. He knew it was all a nice way of saying that the government was taking over, just with more words and a sugar-coated tone. He didn't care. His mind just couldn't withstand so much bullshit in one go.

Honestly, he was surprised that the students could take it. Maybe he had just become less intolerant to these sort of things after getting into politics for Dagger's sake. Of course there was talk of a social reform before the war actually started, so you could say he could recognize propaganda and thinly concealed political messages when he was them. In this case, they hadn't really bothered to conceal them so well. It was actually a bit disappointing.

'I can't believe I'm saying this, but I really wish Quina was here. He/She would be simply ecstatic. Though would eating Umbridge give the Qu food poisoning? Cause I sure as hell wouldn't put that in my mouth, EVER. But Quina has eaten weirder things. In Pandemonium he/she actually ate a Malboro, and it took him/her at least two weeks before he/she got rid of the bad breath. Man this is boring. Is this woman ever going to shut up? If Dagger was the one talking I could listen for days. Mmmm Dagger…'

…

Harry sighed. It was so boring. Nobody was paying any attention anymore, well, except Hermione. But that was because she was Hermione. Ron had long since given up and was staring intently at the grains of wood of the table surface. When he looked at Zidane, he saw that the blonde was completely engrossed in some sort of fantasy, based on the happy look on his face.

Harry himself didn't realize she finished until Dumbledore started clapping and snapped the hall out of its stupor. "Thank you very much Professor Umbridge, that was most illuminating. Now as I was saying, Quidditch tryouts will be held…"

"Yes, it certainly was illuminating." Hermione said.

"You're not telling me you enjoyed it? That was about the dullest speech I've ever heard, and I lived with Percy."

"Illuminating, not enjoyable. It's explained a lot."

"It sounded like a load of waffle to me." Harry confessed.

"There was some important stuff hidden in the waffle." Hermione said grimly.

"Was there?" Ron asked incredulously.

"How about: 'progress for progress's sake must be discouraged'? How about: 'pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited'?"

"Well what does that mean?" Ron asked impatiently.

"I'll tell you what it means. It means the Ministry's interfering at Hogwarts." Hermione said through gritted teeth.

There was a series of loud clattering and banging all around them that made everyone, even Zidane, snap out of their thoughts and realize that Dumbledore had just dismissed them. Ron and Hermione left to go guide the first-years, after Hermione berated Ron for called the newcomers 'midgets'. Harry looked at the tiny first-years leaving, and then he grinned at them, which was not a very good idea since some of them actually looked terrified and the whispering amongst them began. Of course, how could he be so stupid? Last year he emerged from the Triwizard Tournament carrying the dead body of another student, claiming that Voldemort had returned. He couldn't even explain everything that happened before going home. People would definitely reach their own twisted conclusions of what happened, especially with what the Daily Prophet had been spewing out.

"Hey wait up!"

Harry turned around and sure enough, Zidane had followed him up the marble staircase. In his arms was a purring Crookshanks.

"I found him waiting outside the hall on a window sill, thought I should probably get him to the Common Room since Hermione is busy. What's up? You look like you have a lot on your mind." Zidane said, and Harry was actually surprised to see genuine concern in his odd cyan eyes.

For a moment Harry considered just telling him that everything was fine. After all, it wasn't even his problem. Why should he care? He was about to reply when another thought crossed his mind. Zidane was a foreigner, meaning there was still a chance he hadn't heard yet, or his opinion wasn't twisted by the media as most people here. He had just talked to him normally, after all. The blonde likely didn't think of him as some troubled youth, even if he knew about the rumors. The thought of telling this strange teen what exactly was on his mind suddenly became more tempting.

He'd been so used to relying on Ron and Hermione all this time, but he was still a bit sore about their leaving him to they own devices during the summer and now with them becoming prefects, he only felt the gap widen. But he couldn't just rely on Ron and Hermione always, could he? It was a new school year and a new start. Besides, why shouldn't he give his own opinion? The teen had so far proved to be trust worthy, at least, according to Crookshanks. He wasn't sure if it was a good idea to trust the judgment of an animal that spent most of the day sleeping, though.

Making up his mind, the teen spoke, a hint of the irritation he had been holding onto for so long making itself known.

"It's just that a lot has been happening. And you have probably already heard from others what a huge liar I am and how Dumbledore is going senile. It's all over the Daily Prophet if you want to check it out too." Harry said in a bitter tone. To his surprise the blonde laughed. "What?"

"Maybe I'd read that newspaper if it wasn't so full of shit. I do know about the rumors going on, I'm not going to lie about that. And let me tell you, the best rumor I've heard so far was the one about Sirius Black secretly being a singing sensation." Zidane replied with a chuckle.

"Wait- what?" Harry asked, somehow he expected the blonde to say something different, perhaps some words of encouragement and whatnot, like Ron and Hermione were prone to say.

"You heard me. You think everybody believes what's written on that paper?" The blonde said again with a laugh, but then scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "On second thought, most of this school does kind of seem to believe it. They'll probably make your life hell in the following days."

"Is that supposed to be reassuring somehow?" Harry asked, unsure whether he should laugh or feel frustrated at those news at this point.

"What, would you rather have me lie to you, then?" Zidane asked with a shrug.

"Well of course not!" Harry said.

"Well, then there you go. I just wanted to tell you that even though most people believe what they are being told, there are at least some who don't. So, you know, you're not really alone in this." The foreigner said with a smile. "I think we should head to the Common Room, though I don't really know the way."

"It's okay, just follow me." Harry said as he headed to the portrait of the Fat Lady that acted as entrance to the common rooms. Even though the conversation was a bit odd, it did make him feel better.

They reached the portrait bearing the toga-clad, decidedly large woman that guarded the entrance for the Gryffindor Common Room, and that's when they realized that neither of them knew the password. Thankfully, Neville came up to them and by some miracle knew the password because it happened to be the name of his plant.

"Mimbulus Mimbletonia."

"Correct." The Fat Lady replied and the portrait swung open to reveal the red and golden colors of the Gryffindor common room.

All whispering immediately ceased the moment the trio stepped in. Zidane lowered Crookshanks on one of the squashy armchairs near the roaring fire and the ginger cat left toward the stairs to the girl's dormitories to find his owner. Harry also noticed that the twins had posted something on the bulletin board. Harry, Zidane, and Neville all went upstairs to the boy´s dormitories only to realize that there was an extra bed adorning their room this year. Zidane would apparently be bunking with them since Dumbledore thought it was better for him to mingle with other of his own age, rather than the first years. His trunk was at the foot of the four-poster bed between Harry and Neville's beds. Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas were also already in the room, the way they went quiet when they entered made Harry think they had just been talking about him, either that or Moody's paranoia was started to rub off on him.

"Hi." He said to them as he walked over to his trunk.

"Hi Harry. Had a good holiday?" Dean said as he put some pajamas on.

"Not bad." Harry said, which was the highly edited version of how it really was, but then again, he wasn't supposed to let others know. "You?"

"Yeah it was okay, better than Seamus's, anyways, he was just telling me."

"Why, what happened Seamus?" Neville asked as he settled his rather ugly-looking cactus on the nightstand.

Seamus did not answer immediately, but instead continued to paste pictures on his wall, almost as if he hadn't heard them, and when he did answer them, he didn't even turn to face them.

"Me mam didn't want me to come back."

"What? But, why?" Harry paused as he took off his robes.

"Well, I suppose…because of you. Well, it's not just you…Dumbledore too."

"She believes the Daily Prophet? She thinks I'm a liar and Dumbledore's an old fool?" Harry asked, anger starting to rise under the calm surface.

"Yeah, something like that."

Harry put his wand on his nightstand, and fumbled angrily for some pajamas. He put then on and just thought about how sick he was of all of this, his earlier relief from the conversation he had with the blonde gone. He may have people on his side, but almost everyone treated him like a liar, and like he enjoyed getting all this attention. As much as they loved to talk about him, point at him, and even whisper behind his back, they had no idea what it was like. Not Seamus and definitely not his mother.

….

Zidane sighed as the room settled to a tense silence. He had hoped talking to Harry beforehand would help him deal with this sort of thing, but he was still a growing ball of angst. And just like any bomb, he would eventually explode and when that happened, Zidane didn't want Harry to lose his friends. They would be needed to snap him out of his self delusions, like his friends had helped him in Pandemonium. Just like Zidane needed his friends to survive the war, he was sure that Harry would definitely need friends of his own.

He leaned down and opened his trunk to get tomorrow's clothes and put them on his bed, after all, he didn't want the others to witness his daily routine of 'fitting the tail through the hole in his pants'. Were it not for the robes and the hoodie he wore, the hole his tail went through would be completely exposed.

Zidane removed his thief gloves from his hands and set them on his nightstand. Harry had just been asked about what happened in the graveyard, and he had responded as well as he had imagined. In Harry's defense, that wasn't really the sort of question you should ask to people who had lived through something so traumatic. Of course, these were schoolchildren he was talking about, they probably had normal lives, well, relatively normal lives up until now, so they probably had no idea what it was like.

"Don't you have a go at my mother!" Seamus shouted.

"I'll have a go at anyone who calls me a liar!" Harry replied in fury and the blonde flinched. Harry sure was hot-headed. Dumbledore and Sirius told him so, but now seeing it firsthand.

"Don't talk to me like that!"

"I'll talk to you how I want!" Harry snapped and reached for his wand. Zidane decided it was time he intervened.

"Both of you, SHUT UP!" Zidane called, startling both males who looked like they were about to lunge for each other. "Okay why don't we all calm down?"

Thankfully Dean and Neville took this as cue to help drag both teens away from each other.

"Harry put your wand down, just do it. Seamus, you can't go blaming Harry for something that is not his fault. He didn't ask for the articles that attacked him to come out, I mean, who the hell would?" Zidane began while the angry teen just looked at him with a confused face. This was their first meeting so he was probably thinking something along the lines of 'who the hell is this guy?'. Before he could retort, Neville stepped in.

"H-he's right Seamus, we've been rooming with Harry for four years, you should know more about him than any newspaper claims. And if you still feel that way then go tell McGonagall to change you to another room, I don't think she would give you any problems. Let's just not start of on the wrong foot, o-okay?" The shy teen said, clearly a bit intimidated by Seamus..

Both males still looked angry, but not enough to actually start killing each other.

'Thank eidolon's I've gotten better at diplomacy.'Zidane thought to himself before giving Neville a lopsided smile.

Ron appeared on the doorway just in time to see the two males facing off.

"What's going on here?"

"Harry was having a go at my mother!" Samus yelled.

"Harry wouldn't do that." Ron said. "We met your mother and we liked her."

"That's before she started believing every word the stinking Daily Prophet writes about me!"

"Oh…" Ron said, comprehension dawning on him.

"You know what, he's right!" Seamus said, pointing at Neville. "I don't want to share a dormitory with him anymore, he's mad."

"That's out of order Seamus." Ron said, his ears starting to turn red from anger.

"Out of order am I? You believe all that rubbish he has come out with about You-Know-Who, do you, you reckon he is telling the truth?" Seamus yelled in anger.

"Yeah I do!" Ron said angrily.

"And so do I." Zidane stepped in, laying his ungloved hand on Harry's shoulder. "I may not be from here, but I know a rat when I see one, and Harry is definitely not lying."

"Me too." Neville piped in.

Harry looked at his three friends and felt a sense of gratitude fill him.

"You're all nutters then!" Seamus yelled before heading to his bed and slamming his curtains closed.

"Alright. Anyone else's parents got a problem with Harry?"

"My parent are muggles, mate. They don't know nothing about no deaths at Hogwarts, because I'm not stupid enough to tell them." Dean said with a shrug.

"My Gran says it's the Daily Prophet that has gone downhill, not Dumbledore. We cancelled our subscription too. We believe Harry." Neville said.

When Ron looked at Zidane next, the blonde just shrugged. "I don't have any parents." Which was true, it felt too weird to call Baku 'father' anyways. He was always either 'Baku' or 'Boss'.

The occupants of the room turned to look at him oddly, especially Harry, who looked very surprised. Ron looked like he was sorry for making him mention it.

"It's cool, I don't really mind." Zidane assured the red head before sitting down on his bed and removing his robe.

It wasn't a lie. Tantalus was like a family for him, and not just Tantalus, but also the large, close-knit, group of friends he had made over the years. Blood ties meant little compared to something like that. He didn't need a family with them. They were his family.

'Now that I think about it, I will be starting a family with Dagger, too.' The genome realized as he lay down. His friends were likely going to start families of their own, as well. It would be an entirely new side of his ever-expanding family.

…

Harry wondered if Dumbledore had to go through this too in the past summer when he was kicked out of the Wizengamot and then the International Confederation of Wizards. Did he even have someone to defend him? Was he angry? Was that why he hadn't contacted him in months? Both of them were in this together. They were both targets.

The teen felt so grateful when the three came up to defend him. But now his mind just froze when Zidane said had no parents. Just like him. Neville's parents were still alive even though many considered it a fate worse than death, and even then, Neville had his grandmother. Even he still had his godfather and that had to count. But the way Zidane talked about his parents was almost as if he held no sort of bond with them. Maybe he lived with some other relative or something, or maybe just like him, he was abandoned at some unloving relative's doorstep.

Harry put on his own pajamas, and when he turned around he saw a shirtless Zidane facing him, and he blinked. He had only seen it for a moment before the blonde closed the curtains, but it was clear that the blonde had a very well-toned body, even if he was on the shorter verge of average height. But what caught his attention the most was what looked like a large scar on his torso, but he couldn't be sure since he only saw a brief glance of it, and it could have just as easily been a trick of the light.

"Well guys, I'm going to sleep. Goodnight." Neville said.

"Goodnight guys." The blonde replied as shuffling noises were heard from Ron's bed as the red head finished putting his pajamas on.

"Goodnight" Harry replied.

"Goodnight." Dean said as well.

Ron said his goodnights as well, and seeing as Seamus was still angry, he just blew the candle that lit the room and said room was plunged into darkness.

"Oh yeah." Zidane's voice cut from the darkness. "I guess I should warn you. Don't open the curtains on my bed."

"Why is that?" Neville asked in curiosity.

"I sleep in the nude."

To be continued…

…

AN: So I'm guessing many of you would have liked me putting Zidane in Slytherin or something of the sort. I thought so too for some time, but I realized that it would have been impossible for Zidane to interact as much with the Golden Trio in other house other than Gryffindor, not just because they wouldn't see each other as much, but also because (and let's be perfectly honest here) houses do tend to socially segregate students. The only other non-Gryffindor student that gets attention is Luna, and even then, she only shows up on occasion, being a bit of a black sheep herself. Also, Zidane's personality does fit best with Gryffindor (either that or Hufflepuff).

So, here's my question to you: What house have you guys been sorted into (using Pottermore or whatever)? If not, what is your favorite house and why? (I was sorted into Ravenclaw)