Notes: Finished my last test on Saturday (yes, Saturday), though the previous 2-week, hardcore study period (complete with sleep deprivation), plus labs and other extracurricular activities made it impossible for me to get the chapter up (or maybe if you're superstitious you can blame it on it being the 13th chapter, I don't care). Good thing I had pretty much already seen it coming.

Thanks to everyone that has been following this story so far. Special thanks to those that review since reading them really do brighten up my day. There are still a couple of reviews I haven't been able to reply to yet, so I will get to it as soon as possible.

Also I would like to give everyone a friendly reminder that this fic contains adult language.

….

(ARC)

To "Guest":

No problem, thanks for taking the time to review!

….

Chapter 13: Everyone has Issues

The next morning Harry woke up feeling dead on his feet, with only vague recollections of whatever nightmare plagued him last night. The only one that looked worse than him was Zidane, which he thought pretty odd, considering the blonde had gone to sleep relatively early last night. Rather than actively flirting with any girls in the direct vicinity like he was known to do, the blonde was holding up a piece of toast while nodding off.

He used what little time he had during breakfast to invent a couple of dreams for their Divination dream journal. It ended up being about himself going out to buy shoes. Ron seemed to be on the same boat as him.

"Why didn't you just do it last night?" Harry asked his disheveled friend. Ron just muttered something about 'doing other stuff', but the Boy-Who-Lived didn't quite buy it. Apparently he wasn't the only one keeping secrets from his friends.

When the redhead asked Zidane about what he wrote in his journal, the cyan-eyed blonde simply handed it to him. Harry leaned in too and saw that he had already filled all the past days. Only his dream descriptions were only a line long.

Monday: Dagger riding a dragon.

Tuesday: Dagger in a bikini by the beach.

Wednesday: Probably Dagger as well.

Thursday:…

Harry and Ron just looked on in confusion.

"Who is Dagger?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, you can't possibly be talking about a bloody knife." Ron said.

"She's my girlfriend." Zidane said with a Cheshire cat grin.

"Is she a looker?" Both Fred and George suddenly appeared from behind Ron and asked.

"Damn right." The blonde said with a smirk.

….

The rest of the day did not go very well at all for Harry. He was one of the worst in Transfiguration since he didn´t get to practice the Vanishing Spells. He pretty much had to give up lunch in order to finish the Bowtruckle drawing. But the worst part was that Professors McGonagall, Grubbly-Plank, and Sinistra (their Astronomy teacher) gave them even more homework, which he would most likely be unable to do, because of Umbridge´s detention that afternoon.

And to add insult to an already large injury, Angelina confronted him during dinner. After he told her that he wouldn't be able to make it to the tryouts because of detention, the girl was simply furious. Harry could do nothing as Angelina proceeded to chew him out and lecture him about responsibility and commitment to the team.

"I'm in detention! It's not like I want to be in that room with the old toad!" Harry said after the girl left.

"Well, like I said, at least it's only lines." Hermione said comfortingly. Harry just felt like banging his head against the table.

After dinner, he made his way to the toad's office in the third floor. Outside he was once again greeted by Zidane. Inside the room everything was the same as yesterday, minus the bloodstains from the blonde's stunt. Umbridge once again gave them a twisted smile and handed then the 'demon' quills.

"Now, let me see those hands." Umbridge commanded with that sugary sweet tone. When each of them showed her their fully healed hands, the toad frowned and that the same time, her face seemed to sag and deflate. Harry was sure she even sent Zidane a suspicious glare.

Harry sighed angrily and sat on the chair, the yellowish parchment on the table looking more foreboding than ever. In his right hand was the sharp black quill that would cut through his skin the moment his first word was written. Just thinking about it made him cringe, but he had no choice. So gathering his so called 'Gryffindor bravery', Harry put the quill on the parchment and began to write. He had his whole mind braced against the pain that would follow, but much to his surprise, it never came. He blinked dumbly at the parchment and noticed the grooves where the sharp quill had traced words on the paper, but there was a very evident lack of blood.

Against his better judgment he tried again, and again, and one more time to be absolutely sure, but the result was the same. After that he just started madly scribbling at the parchment, making odd swirls and sharp zigzags, but it made no difference.

"What's wrong Potter?" Umbridge asked from her desk as she noticed the teen's actions.

"The quill isn't working." Harry said with a cold voice.

"Impossible." Umbridge snapped and walked over to them. She grabbed his quill and then clutched Harry's wrist painfully with her heavily ringed hands. Just then Harry felt his scar flare painfully, making him wince.

"No, Harry is right, mine isn't working either." Zidane said, demonstrating by scribbling at the paper too.

Umbridge let go of him and the pain stopped. She looked back and forth between the teens and their blank parchments before walking over to her desk and fumbling through the drawer. "Wait a moment."

Meanwhile Harry was panicking, if his cursed scar hurt then it couldn't mean anything good. 'Stay calm, it doesn't necessarily mean what you think. Maybe it's because he is back. You've been experiencing the same in those dreams and nothing has happened yet. But still, I should send a letter to Sirius.'

After much fumbling, she triumphantly brought out a black box labeled 'Blood Quills' and Harry wanted to curse his rotten luck. Right when he finally though he would be saved by some miracle, the toad brings some back up.

"Well then, carry on." The woman said with a smile as if nothing happened.

Harry sighed and took one of the quills she handed him. Zidane did so too and started writing again. But before he could start writing again, the blonde next to him spoke up.

"This one isn't working either." Zidane said with an almost bored tone as he doodled a loop onto the yellow parchment and there was no bloody trail.

'Could it be?' Harry thought to himself as hope swelled in his chest. 'Maybe my luck isn't so rotten after all.'

I must not tell lies.

Harry wrote, he expected his words to appear in red, followed by a searing pain in his hand, but there was nothing. Not even the faintest of tickles.

"Neither is this one." Harry said, as Umbridge looked on in disbelief.

Umbridge exchanged the faulty quills once more, and with more confidence this time, Harry wrote the sentence again. Like the others, these didn't work either. The toad kept exchanging the quills while Harry watched with some morbid fascination as Umbridge's face turned into a color he affectionately called 'Vernon Puce'. For a moment he actually thought her throat would swell up just like a frog's.

…

Zidane inwardly smirked as he saw the toad become nearly hysterical. Outside however, he appeared curious and surprised at the new development. It was at times like these that it really paid to be an actor. Even the smallest grin or the faintest chuckles could point to his guilt.

The toad searched and searched for working quills, her pink-painted nails practically clawing at the box. But in the end it was to no avail. After about fifteen minutes of trying out quills, all thirty-two of them had been used, and none proved to work. The toad was purple with rage and her eyes were bulging from their sockets. The flabby skin under her chin trembled in fury, and Zidane too thought it would swell up like a frog's.

"Are you all right, Professor?" Zidane asked, feigning worry. The black quill in Umbridge's hand was snapped in two.

'Zidane: 3 Umbridge: 1'

In the end, the woman had no choice but to release them early. That was how Zidane and Harry soon found themselves being magically thrown out the room with the door being slammed behind them. The good news was that from now on, they would be serving their detentions with Filch.

….

Harry and Zidane continued to make their way up to Gryffindor Tower while talking about what a hag Umbridge was. Harry simply couldn't believe his luck tonight. He was freed from Umbridge's detentions! Sure, now Filch would supervise them, but he still thought it was much MUCH better punishment than having to deal with Umbridge. In all his years in Hogwarts he never thought he would hate a teacher as much as he hated Snape. Umbridge proved him wrong.

They walked past the statue Lachlan the Lanky, and that was when they nearly ran into Ron. Said redhead was hiding behind a statue while clutching his new Cleansweep eleven behind his back.

"Ron?" Harry asked, while Zidane had an amused expression.

The redhead nearly jumped into the air when he was spotted by the two.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked.

"What are you doing?" Ron asked almost defensively, though he was clearly nervous.

"We just got back from detention." Harry said.

"How was it?" Ron asked.

Both teens smiled. "Let's just say that Filch will be supervising us from now on."

Ron looked like he didn't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Were you out flying?" Zidane suddenly asked. Ron turned red, well, redder.

"I-well-okay, I'll tell you, but don't laugh." Ron said and took a deep breath. "I wanted to try out for Gryffindor Keeper now that I have a decent broom. There, now laugh."

"I'm not laughing. I think it's pretty cool." Harry said.

"Yeah, me too." Zidane said.

"So you have been out training all this time?" Harry asked and Ron nodded.

"Every evening since Tuesday, all on my own." Ron said. "It's kind of hard doing it alone. I've being trying to charm the Quaffle to come at me, but it hasn't been easy."

"Are you any good?" Harry asked.

"Well, I'm decent. I used to play Keeper with Fred, George, and Charlie." Ron said.

"Hey, maybe we can actually see you play!" The blonde said.

Harry thought about it. Filch was a real piece of work, especially when it came to punishments. But the truth was that while Filch's detentions involved doing difficult tasks without magic, the man would always release them once they completed their task. He was hard on students, and very bitter, but that may stem from the fact that, as a Squib, he couldn't really do any magic while he worked in a school full of young wizards and witches.

'Maybe if we do our work fast enough we'll be able to go see Ron.'

Thursday passed as a blur and Harry couldn't be happier to have gotten out of yesterday's detention early. His scar worries seemed to take a back seat in his mind, while catching up to his school work became his greatest priority. Though he was still struggling with his homework, he had at least finished two of his essays including the one about moonstones that Snape gave them. Sure the teachers were still ruthless with their assignments, but after getting out of Umbridge's detention, he felt somehow renewed. By now it was very clear that almost absolutely everyone hated Dolores Umbridge. During her rather short stay in Hogwarts, the woman had already made countless enemies. The only ones that seemed to stand her were some of the Slytherins (Harry knew they were probably sucking up to her), and Filch.

'Figures.'

Speaking of Filch, detention that evening was just as Harry expected. The old caretaker and his cat, Mrs. Norris, were waiting for them in his office. They were led through the corridors, while the old caretaker told them gruesome stories of how they used to discipline misbehaving boys back in 'the good ol' days'. In the end, their punishment was to clean up the disused seventh floor bathroom without using magic. Which in all logic seemed kind of pointless, but Harry wouldn't complain. He had always done chores like these at the Dursleys's. Zidane didn't mind either. That evening both managed to finish in little under an hour. This gave then enough time to head to the Quidditch pitch and help Ron train.

…

Friday finally came and Zidane could barely wait until classes were over. Though he decided to keep his tail out today (it being invisible of course), he still had to be careful and not let it sway about. He already had a close call during breakfast when he had been too busy having an animate conversation, and totally not flirting if he may add, with Katie Bell to realize that his tail grazed Neville thigh, making the boy nearly jump six feet into the air. Thankfully, the teen didn't pursue the subject any further.

When he wasn't hanging out with the Golden Trio, he usually spent his time with Neville, or even occasionally Luna. Zidane made it his personal goal to help Neville get over his self confidence issues even if it killed him. It was going to be hard but not impossible. All the kid really needed was proper motivation and someone by his side that would believe in him. As for Luna, the Ravenclaw girl wasn't really so bad once you got past her weird tendencies, which were a bit endearing in their own way. When you went past that odd absent-minded exterior, you would realize that Luna was a loyal, kind, and very supportive person. It was really a shame that she had no real friends in her house, in fact, it seemed like the other Ravenclaws tended to pick on her for being a bit like the black Yan of the lot. After a few days of hanging with her, she started occasionally joining them at the Gryffindor table during meals.

"Hey Zidane." Neville asked as they headed to the next class.

"Yeah?" Zidane answered.

"If you already have a girlfriend, why do you keep flirting with other girls?" Neville asked.

'Crap.' The blonde thought while stopping right in his tracks.

If he had to be very truthful, he would admit that he never really noticed that was he did constituted as flirting until way after the deed was done. He knew it was something he shouldn't be doing, but the truth was that flirting was at the very core of his being, and he'd been doing it for so long that it just felt natural. He still loved Dagger above everyone else, but whenever he saw a girl, well it just sort of slipped like some deeply ingrained bad habit. Some people stuttered, others would clam up, in Zidane's case he just automatically flirted.

Being in the sort of stressful situation he had gotten himself into, perhaps it had become something akin to a coping mechanism. There was something strangely soothing about this sort of gesture that was common in both Gaia and Earth. Besides, it wasn't anything serious really, just a compliment here and there. It's not like he had tried doing anything with anyone. That was one line he would never bring himself to cross, that is, with anyone except Dagger.

"So technically it's not cheating." Zidane said after finishing his long explanation.

"Oh."

Most classes passed like a blur. After two days filled with homework, he had sort of given up in doing any of the work. It wasn't like he needed the grades for his future. He didn't care about the disapproving looks from the teachers, or Hermione for that matter. The only work he did do was from classes that interested him, like Potions, or Transfiguration. With Potions, it was more because Snape would otherwise land his tail in detention, and because it was hilarious to see the man's face whenever he actually did his work right.

Transfiguration interested him mostly because of how novel the idea was and how potentially useful it seemed when applied in the right situation. Back in Gaia there weren't many spells used to change the shape or makings of living beings or objects, well asides from petrification, 'Mini', and whatever it was that happened to Regent Cid. What he was trying to get at was that magic wasn't really used in common, everyday life, unlike here. On one hand it meant not becoming reliant on magic, but on the other hand Transfiguration taught him that there was a lot of potential in magic than he had initially thought.

McGonagall could also turn into a cat, so that was pretty cool, too.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was one class he could really do without. It was their second class and Umbridge had yet to teach them something useful. Most of the class consisted of reading and copying down paragraphs from the useless book on theory. And unlike History of Magic where he could openly take a nap, Umbridge was always as watchful as a circling vulture. Thankfully, it seemed that without her creepy Blood Quills, the Toad was all bark and no bite, well in her case it was more like all croak and no bite. At least that was his theory, since she had subtracted many points, but had yet to give any more detentions. It would probably be a while until she did too, because of how hard it would be to get her hands on more probably-illicit quills.

'And a detention she doesn't get any sick enjoyment out of, just isn't a detention, otherwise she'd still be handing out detentions with Filch.' Zidane concluded.

But even though she wouldn't hand over detentions, that didn't mean she didn't still try to get some sick enjoyment by publicly humiliating him. After what he did in her office, the woman just clearly taken to harassing him with extreme prejudice. Personally, Zidane thought it was because she hated what he was, or well, what she thought he was, since she wasn't doing the same with Harry. Oh, she still hated Harry, but she loathed him even more. She wanted the students to tease and bully him, and what better way of helping than by giving the students the right tools for it.

That was exactly what happened one day, when she suddenly came up to the blonde during the period while everyone was 'reading'.

…

The toad woman gave an annoying fake cough to get his attention. Once his cyan eyes locked with her beady black ones, she put on that fake smile and addressed him.

"Mr. Tribal, I was looking at your file yesterday, and I couldn't help but notice that there was information missing on both your parents." She said, which caused several students to not-so-discreetly look up and listen in.

"So? It shouldn't be surprising, I never really knew them. All I really know is that they passed away." Zidane half-lied. Technically, Kuja did kill Garland. "But I don't see what this has to do with anything, Professor."

Zidane made sure his tone was patient and polite while he said this. This was going to be a duel between him and her. Whoever lost their temper first was the loser.

"Oh that is indeed very terrible." The woman said in clearly faked sadness, though Zidane could just as clearly see that she was smiling triumphantly on the inside.

'Like a toad that just swallowed a particularly juicy fly.'

"Oh it's nothing really, I was just wondering if you are perhaps, fully a wizard." She added, stressing on the last part.

Zidane internally stiffened, but then forced himself to relax. There was no way Umbridge could know he was a genome, after all. She was obviously going to reveal that he was a 'half-breed' ,or whatever, so the others would discriminate against him. His origins and race was a bit of a touchy subject when he was small, mostly because in a world full of different races, nobody could place him anywhere. Many people thought he was part monkey. More radical thinking people thought he was actually some monster hybrid. Things got better when he was older and he became proud of being who he was. Now after what happened in his last adventure, Zidane's views hadn't changed. But that didn't mean he was okay with what Umbridge was doing. He still hated those that singled people out based on something they had no control over.

Without missing a beat, Zidane just chuckled like the woman told a joke. "Well, I do have a wand, and I am currently in a school of magic, I thought it would be rather obvious."

There were a few chuckles from the room that was now looking intently at what was happening between the two. This made the toad scowl momentarily, but then the mask was back up. "I don't think you understood, dear. It's just that I've heard about the restrictions on beasts in the Americas being rather…poor. And well, silly me, I was just wondering if you were, by any chance, part Veela?"

"Nope, I don't think so." Zidane said with fake thoughtfulness and a shrug.

"Part werewolf perhaps?"

"No, I am quite sure I'm not part anything." Zidane said, this wasn't a lie, he was a full genome. The woman, however, just wouldn't give up.

"Maybe a teensy bit vampire?"

"No, like I said-" The teen said before he was interrupted.

"Are you absolutely sure? How about an itsy bitsy part siren?"

"No." Zidane answered slowly, trying to desperately not to give in to anger. 'Is she suggesting my 'father' had a relationship with a fish? Eidolons that's disturbing.'

"How about a teeny tiny bit Goblin, or Dwarf?"

"Like I said, no." Zidane said flatly. He had to admit the woman was getting on his last nerves. 'Was that supposed to be a joke about my height?!'

"Maybe a teeny tiny bit Kneazle?" She said and Zidane just stopped. There were a few gasps and chuckles from around the room.

The blonde just took a long deep breath and ground his teeth together, trying his best to restrain himself fully. He was not going to lose this. He was also definitely not going to waste a trance over her.

'Part cat…part freaking cat…is she somehow insinuating that one of my ancestors fucked a cat!?'

He put up a smile and restrained the anger in his voice. To anyone else it would appear perfectly normal and calm.

"No, I'm not. But, Professor Umbridge?"

"Yes dear?" Umbridge said in that sweet tone again.

"Are you by any chance part toad?" Zidane said with an imitation of her sugary sweet tone.

…..

Zidane lost Gryffindor fifty points that day and was nearly hexed, but the result was definitely worth it. The rumors travelled like the plague, and soon everybody in school knew. From that moment on, Umbridge was officially known as the 'toad' or the 'half-toad'. He was surprised that most people forgot about the topic of the actual conversation (being his humanity) and just focused on the fact that he openly insulted the teacher. Not that he was complaining, it was better for him like this.

'Zidane:4 Umbridge:1'

Their last detention with Filch that evening took longer to finish than they had expected. Since they were charged with cleaning out the shelves in the trophy room, and polishing the trophies too. The task took much longer than they wanted to admit, and by the time they were finished, they raced outside towards the Quidditch pitch. The tryouts were nearly over and Angelina was scrutinizing the last participant, as the boy barely managed to block a shot from Alicia.

"Hey guys!" Ron greeted from the stands. Harry and Zidane walked over to him and sat down as well.

"Sorry about coming late. Filch made us clean the trophy room." Harry apologized. "Was it already your turn?"

"Yep." The redhead said.

"How did you do?" Harry asked.

"Good, just fine." Ron said, though there was an obvious nervousness in his voice. "Oh, who the bloody hell am I kidding? I won't make it. I totally messed up that one block."

"Hey calm down. I'm sure you'll do fine." Zidane said. 'I hope.'

The last participant flew down and after Angelina had a moment to think it over, everyone was called over. Ron stood with the rest of the 'contestants', Harry and Zidane, by his side. In front of them was the rest of the Gryffindor team, minus Harry, Angelina taking the front as captain.

"I'd like to thank you all for coming to the tryouts. Tonight we saw many great displays of talent, but there is only one spot available in the team and we have already made our decision." Angelina said while holding the broom in front of her. "So without further ado, we would like to welcome Ron Weasley as the new Keeper for the Gryffindor team. Really, well done!"

Everyone clapped, though there were a few cries of outrage. Ron however, was swarmed by a multitude of people who congratulated him. The selection of a new Keeper was soon celebrated in the Common Room, as well as the conclusion of the first week of school. Though it started small, the celebrations turned into a full blown party with food and drinks. Zidane didn't know where the food came from (though he had some suspicions), all he knew was that the twins suddenly burst out of the portrait hole with their arms full of it.

Zidane and Harry were both shoved Butterbeers into their arms, while Ron was nearly consumed by a mass of excited Gryffindors. Sitting in one of the armchairs near the fire was Hermione, who was snoring slightly. Zidane chuckled, and poked her in the arm gently.

"Wha..?" Hermione said stirring.

"Just thought you'd like to join the party." The genome said and handed her the Butterbeer he was holding. He knew that Hermione was tired because of knitting all those hats. It was a shame most house elves hated them. That still left the questions of how they were disappearing.

"What are we celebrating?" Hermione asked while yawning.

"Hermione, I'm the new Keeper!" Ron cried out from the throngs of people.

"That's great Ron!" She said sleepily as she looked at them with half-lidded eyes.

After leaving Hermione to rest, he passed by Harry and Angelina who were discussing something, Zidane heard her talk about training Ron, but otherwise he had no idea what it was about. After passing by a small group of first years, all sporting the signs of a recent nosebleed, Zidane just rolled his eyes at the twin's antics.

'Remind me to be careful of what I eat here.'

The blonde reached the food table and grabbed a Butterbeer. They didn't taste so bad, and in any case, it was the closest he could get to booze around here. Their alcohol content was laughable and it made him wonder just how many he would have to drink in order to get the slightest bit tipsy.

'Which reminds me, I have to restock my Firewhiskey supply. I finished it all during the summer.'

"Hi Zidane." Neville said as the blonde approached him. The round-faced boy was hanging back and talking to Ginny about something or another.

"Hey guys." Zidane greeted the two.

"How was detention?" Ginny asked. "Neville was just telling me about what happened in DADA. It's hard to get the real story now that everyone has added their own two cents into it."

"Filch was like a saint compared to the toad. He may be bitter but at least he openly expresse his hatred for everything and everyone." The genome said and took a sip of his drink.

"Yeah I heard what happened with Umbridge. I mean, part Kneazle? She was obviously picking on you. She had no right to say those things and then get mad after you retaliated. Hermione and I went to talk to McGonagall, and she agreed to re-award us those lost points." Ginny said.

"Well that's great. I was worried that Hermione would come after my blood if those points cost us the cup." Zidane said and everyone laughed.

"But you aren't really part anything right? I mean, not that I care if you are. We are still mates, anyways." Neville said.

"I get why people would think that, but I'm really not part anything. Though I really appreciate it." Zidane said truthfully and Neville seemed to look sheepish.

"Oh, they are at it again. They are going to break something sooner or later." Ginny interrupted with a roll of her eyes. The twins and Lee Jordan were attempting to juggle empty bottles of Butterbeer for entertainment. Only, they seemed to have a vague idea of how juggling was supposed to be done.

"It must be hard to be the only girl between six older brothers." Zidane mused while Neville silently agreed as the three watched the display before them. His thoughts immediately went to Ruby and the rest of Tantalus.

"Yeah, but it really pays, I guess. At least it helps build character. Besides, not even the twins cross me in fear of my Bat-Bogey hexes." Ginny replied and then turned to look at Zidane. "So do you have any siblings?"

Zidane froze and the others seemed to notice it.

'Well I guess there's no harm in telling them.'

"Yeah, I do, two in fact; an older brother and a younger sister. Though, we are not … as close as you guys. In fact, I didn't know about them for most of my life." Zidane said with a shrug, and he saw the others frown before turning back and silently watching the twins attempt to juggle. "I have a bunch of friends I grew up with which I consider as siblings, though."

'They probably feel bad for asking. Maybe I should have just kept my trap shut.' Zidane thought and mentally sighed. 'Let's see if I can turn those frown upside down.'

"Heh, amateurs." Zidane said, cutting through the silence. Neville and Ginny turned to look at the blonde. "I'll show them how it's really done."

Zidane approached the twins and Lee, whose bottles fell noisily on the floor. The crowd that had gathered to watch the show parted to let him pass. Fred and George looked at their new arrival with mirth and mischief.

"Wanna give it a go mate?" Fred asked, and George gently threw a bottle at him that he caught.

"Sure." Zidane said with a smirk.

As a member of a group of actors/thieves, Zidane had a wide variety of abilities at his disposal. Be it acting, thieving, flirting, gambling, hunting, brawling, or even disguising, Zidane was likely to have it. Juggling was something he learned as well. It helped attract attention for publicity (he loved the stage and the stage loved him back), and it was generally entertaining, not to mention the girls liked it too. At one point the Boss joked that with skills like that he could open a circus.

Zidane started with two bottles, then moved to three and started doing tricks. There were 'oohs' and 'ahhs' from the crowd as he did a flip, the crowd breaking into cheers when he landed on his feet and continued juggling. Fred and George started throwing more bottles into the mix as per his request. The crowd's claps rose steadily in volume like a crescendo and when they were at their peak, Zidane decided it was time to end it.

Knowing it was time for the finale, he threw one of the bottles high into the air and then spun rapidly around, catching all the other bottles, before doing a low back flip to catch the last one. The crowd fell silent for a moment before breaking into loud cheering and whistling. Zidane rose before giving a bow to his audience, as the sound of cheers and applause became music to his ears.

"Bloody hell, where did you learn that?" Neville said once the crowd dispersed.

"A group of travelling performers." Zidane said. It wasn't a lie, he learned it from his bros in Tantalus.

"That was really amazing." Ginny said too.

"Yeah but it really made me work up an appetite. I hope they haven't eaten everything." Zidane said and he took a few steps over to the food table.

'I should probably avoid anything brightly colored, I don't want to accidentally eat anything made by the twins.' Zidane thought with a shiver. 'Let's see…hmm…a Cauldron Cake sounds good, maybe a Pumpkin Pastry…'

Zidane took one of each and ate them. It was then that he noticed another treat. 'Hmm a custard cream? I haven't tried those.'

Zidane munched on the treat and walked over to where Neville and Ginny were talking. 'Hmm, not bad.'

He took another bite and once again joined the two. But something was wrong. When Neville saw what he was eating, his eyes widened and so did Ginny's.

"Zidane don't eat that!" Neville said.

The blonde just looked at the boy in confusion. 'Odd…my hairline itches.'

"That's a Canary Cream. My brothers made those!" Ginny said and that was enough to make his eyes widen as well, before spitting out what was in his mouth.

"Too late." Neville said and pointed at his head.

Zidane froze and reached up to touch where his hairline itched. His fingers grazed something that was hard against his scalp but soft to the touch. When he plucked it out and looked down he saw it was a yellow feather, much like the soft down from a chocobo. Soon the itching increased and he saw both Neville and Ginny frown.

"Ginny are they supposed to do that?" Neville asked.

"As far as I know they only turn you into a large canary temporarily." The redhead said with a hint of apprehension.

Zidane looked in confusion and reached out again, plucking another feather. This one was much larger, but the thing that really stood out was its color, which was enough to make him freeze in shock. It was a soft silver with lavender at its tip; the exact same as Kuja's.

The teen stood slack-jawed at the feather for a few seconds, before his legs acted faster than his still-shocked brain. He ended up dashing to the boy's dormitory, ignoring Neville's calls, and leaving a confused crowd behind, most having no idea what just happened.

Zidane stormed into the empty boy's dormitories and immediately searched in his travel bag for Unei's Mirror. Despite being an ancient artifact, it was nevertheless also a mirror and could therefore be used as one. When he looked into it, he nearly dropped it, only managing to right his grip on it in the last second. When he gathered the courage to look into it again, his fears were confirmed.

His hair was sticking up in a few places like it did during trance, only now most of the top was silver-colored and quickly spreading downwards. Even more pressing were the lavender-tipped, silver feathers that were still slowly growing off center were the hair began on his forehead. Once the silver completely overtook his hair, Zidane untied it experimentally with shaky hands, feeling queasy in the stomach as he did so. The differences were there, but it was undeniable. He freaking looked like Kuja.

Ripping the feathers off only made them grow back, besides causing a surprising amount of pain, using Dispel didn't work either.

'Please let this be temporary. Dagger will probably sic Bahamut on me if she sees me like this.'

Zidane walked over to his bed, closed the curtains and plopped his face down on the pillow. He stood still for a few seconds before removing his boots and clothing, when he finally took off his pants he paused for a moment.

'Don't tell me…' The genome thought with dread.

He set his invisible tail on his lap and dispelled the invisibility right off. Rather than it being blonde, his tail was now also a silver color.

'Figures.'

The former blonde heard a set of footsteps going up the stairs to the dormitories and stopping at the side of his bed.

"Zidane?" Neville's voice asked from the other side of the thin curtain.

"…Yeah?" Zidane replied, settling himself under the warm bedsheets, and hiding Unei's Mirror under his pillow as he said so.

"Oh, you're awake." Neville said with some relief. "I thought I would have to…never mind. I just wanted to know if you are okay, you looked pretty spooked downstairs, and I thought you had some adverse reaction to the Canary Cream."

"No, I'm…fine. This isn't permanent is it?" Zidane replied, somewhat uneasily.

"It wore off with me after a minute, but it didn't do the same thing to me. I just turned into a large canary and after molting I was back to normal." Neville replied.

"I'll go to the Hospital Wing if this stays till tomorrow." The teen said with a tired sigh, realization dawning that there was really nothing to do but wait and hope it wears off. "Anyways, goodnight."

"Goodnight."

The footsteps echoeing out the room and down the stairs were his only indication of Neville leaving. The lights were still on in the room, difficulting his attempts to sleep, but the genome didn't feel particularly feel like leaving the confines of his bed either. It wasn't out of fear of someone seeing him. No, that wasn't entirely the case. Rather, he supposed that it was because this hit too close to home. It shouldn't surprise him since all genomes do look alike, but this had only further highlighted their similarities and, if he had to be perfectly honest, it scared him. Sure Kuja had gotten a grip near the end, but that did not undo all the destruction he caused. To think he harbored the same terrifying potential was a sobering thought.

'I'm not, and I never will be Kuja.' Zidane assured himself.

Turning on his side to sleep more comfortably the teen gave a sigh as the alien feeling of attached feathers pressing on his scalp made it all the more uncomfortable. The raucous sound of the party going on downstairs made it all the more impossible to sleep.

It seemed like he was in for one very long night.

To be continued…

…

A/N: A Yan is a cutesy, sheep-like FFIX enemy that is still capable of wiping out your party if you're not prepared to face one. There is actual this variation of this enemy for a sidequest called a Friendly Yan that has a darker colored head.

"Mini" is a spell that shrinks the target, and is one of the few spells that actually transform the target in FFIX, along with petrification. Regent Cid is this character that gets turned into an Oglop (bug/roach monster) by his wife, Hilda, for being unfaithful. In an attempt to get him back to normal he gets turned into a frog.

Unei's Mirror is also an actual item you can get in the Auction House (and can somehow be used to produce music in Black Mage Village). In this fic it will be actually relevant.

Zidane's adverse reaction was a genome thing, though. It's sort of like an allergic reaction, but that served mostly for the author's amusement.

I'm not superstitious myself but I do like alluding to stuff like this, which is why I had something particularly unlucky happen to Zidane in this 13th chapter (it felt somewhat necessary).