Notes: Sorry for the wait, but I've been busy for most of the day in fact, I'll be pretty busy next week as well (Saturday included), so I might update on Sunday rather than Saturday.

Thanks to everyone that has been following this story, and special thanks to those that brighten my days with feedback. Also, Happy Mother's Day to all wonderful mothers out there!

Since Zidane's birthday is said to be during the month of September, and since September is conveniently the 9th month of the year, I set his birthday to be on the 9th of September in this fic (because FFIX). Of course, since I doubt Tantalus found him with a birth certificate in hand, this will just be the date when they found him (they just correctly approximated his age).

By the way, with this chapter, MOTA surpasses the 100K work mark! *throws confetti*

…

Chapter 15: (Not So) Happy Birthday

The next morning Harry woke up silently cursing his poor luck. It was that horrible day of the week again, Monday. And just like the previous Monday, the scarred teen just knew that things would not go in his favor. He didn't know what it was, he supposed it was something in the air, or maybe the planets had simply aligned for such an occasion. It didn't matter. Harry just knew that something was going to go wrong today.

He blearily got into his uniform and got ready for the day ahead. He was so tired, he felt like he could barely move, his eyelids felt like lead, and he was dearly hoping it could all be fixed with bit of tea. He was never staying up at that hour on a Sunday night to talk to Sirius, or really, do anything like that, ever again. Not that his dreams were peaceful either. He kept having that dream about the dark corridor, which always seemed to end with his scar prickling.

"Good morning." Hermione said, while he just grunted in acknowledgement.

Hermione just rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath. "Boys."

After getting a nearly unconscious Ron in tow, the Golden Trio headed to the Great Hall for breakfast.

"Come on, hurry up you two! I want to get there in time for the morning post." Hermione said.

'Oh right, The Daily Prophet! I completely forgot.' Harry thought and quickened his pace.

…..

Zidane blearily woke up that morning thinking that there was something he was forgetting. He knew that, though it did not feel urgent, it was nevertheless something important. As to what it could be, he just couldn't put his finger on it. Even after getting up and getting ready for breakfast, the feeling just refused to leave him.

'What could I be forgetting?' The blonde thought as he checked off a mental list; the school books he needed were with him, so were his other materials, he was in his uniform with his tail hidden, and his little prank was ready. There was nothing he was missing.

He heard a gasp coming from a few seats down the Gryffindor table, and when he looked over from where he sat with Neville and Luna, he realized it came from Hermione. The book-loving girl held a copy of the Daily Prophet, which she flattened for all to see, while Harry and Ron just looked shocked.

'Yep, you read right. Welcome to your first day of hell.' Zidane thought with sympathy. Dumbledore had already covered it yesterday, so it wasn't much of a surprise to him now.

"Gran was right." Neville said with a sigh as he looked over a copy of the paper that was going around the table.

"I'm not surprised. Fudge will one day try to subdue everyone with his army of Heliopaths." Luna said, and the genome chuckled in response. He had learned to take Luna's words with a grain of salt, even though they were very insightful at times. And still, her words never ceased to amuse him.

"Erm, Zidane I think you have mail." Neville said, bringing his attention back to the barn owl that was holding out a letter for him. There was also another larger screech owl and a tawny, both holding medium sized packages for him.

'What's this about?' Zidane raised a single eye-brow but took the items and opened the letter. It was written in green ink and had very loopy handwriting.

Dear Zidane,

One behalf of the Hogwarts faculty, as well as your other colleagues, I would like to wish you a happy birthday. Enclosed with this letter you will find the necessary signed forms needed to access the village of Hogsmeade during designated trips. You will also find a gift of thirty Galleons for you to spend as you see fit. I believe I need not remind you to exercise caution. I personally recommend the outstanding sweets from Honeydukes.

-Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

Realization dawned quickly as Zidane read the letter. It was his birthday. Today he turned seventeen years of age. Well, technically around seventeen years ago, near this date he was found by Tantalus and adopted. Still, he felt like rolling his eyes at the old man's antics. He obviously remembered the date from his interrogation. The 'colleagues' he was referring to, were obviously the Order. As for exercising caution, it was just a nice way of saying 'don't draw attention to yourself or spend it all on booze', hence Dumbledore's recommendation afterwards. He wasn't likely to spend the money on drinks, well, not all of it. He already survived an entire week in Hogwarts, he more than deserved a small break from watching the kiddies.

'The money was a nice gift, though. I'm just glad he didn't mention my coming of age. It would kind of hard to explain to everyone else that I'm actually 17 years old.' Zidane thought while putting the letter in his bag for safe-keeping. With some curiosity, he opened the letter attached to one of the packages.

Dear Zidane,

First of all, I'd like to apologize for not keeping in touch, but given the current circumstances it's best that way. Happy birthday, mate! I didn't really know what to get you, so I decided to go for something practical. I heard about Umbridge and I do hope things are alright over there. Things are quite busy over here. I hope I'll be seeing you during the Christmas holidays.

P.S. Things with Fleur are going smoothly, just so you know.

-'Red'

The blonde smirked at the letter from Bill. They had decided to use a codename to be less conspicuous and 'Red' fit nicely. He opened the package ripping the inconspicuous brown paper just a little, just a bit to catch a glimpse of his present. He was a very curious person after all. It was a leather box containing several medium-sized, carefully labeled flasks of some sort, rags of varying composition and a rectangular stone block. He grinned widely when he realized what it was.

'A kit for proper weapon maintenance especially made for blades and daggers. Perfect!' Zidane thought, reminding himself to thank the redhead. It had been some time since the last care of his daggers. Both his Mage Mashers had gone through so much after arriving at this world, not to mention that the somewhat humid climate had not helped keep his daggers in top shape. When he first arrived, he did clean them occasionally with a dirty rag and some monster oil he kept in his bag, but the rag had since fallen apart and he had run out of oil, not to mention that no amount of polishing would help them regain their sharp edge.

Thankfully this kit included a whetstone, though it made him wonder if most wizards even knew about this sort of thing. He heard about the Sword of Gryffindor, so he knew that blades were used at some point in this world, but since wizards could cut things with magic, he didn't think that keeping and maintaining knifes, would still be a thing in the Wizarding World.

He packed the semi-opened package and then turned to the last one. Opening the last letter, he began to read.

Dear Zidane,

Congratulations on your birthday! Mother Hen and Father Weasel congratulate you, too. She actually wanted to send you one of her famous sweaters, but we convinced her otherwise, since quite frankly, it would be strange if you suddenly paraded yourself in front of her chicks, wearing one of their mom's specially made sweaters. We wouldn't want to give them the wrong idea, now would we? So instead (and after much insistence) along with our gift, you will also find a scarf made by the mother hen herself, and a batch of homemade cookies.

Take care and we'll see you in the holidays. Please keep a watch over the Prong's spawn and the others, as well.

-Padfoot

Zidane had to chuckle at Sirius's antics, but was otherwise glad that they stuck to codenames, even if it was quite obvious who the ex-convict was talking about. He was also glad that they had stopped Mrs. Weasley from sending him one of her sweaters. It really would have been hard to explain. He opened the package only slightly and saw a gleam of silver wrapped between blue and turquoise fabric, which he assumed was part of the scarf. Picking at the sliver of silver he realized it was a silver pocket-watch. Sirius had once mentioned that pocket-watches were a traditional gift to those who became of age. Briefly admiring the silver workmanship, he then packed them in his bag. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate the gift, he really did. It was just that, if this was a traditional wizard gift for those who turned 17, then he wasn't sure if it was a good idea for anyone else to see it.

"What was that about?" Neville asked as he eyed the packages.

"Oh, nothing. It's just that it's kind of my birthday." Zidane said sheepishly as he finished hiding any incriminating evidence. Neville looked shocked.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Neville asked.

"To be perfectly honest, even I forgot about it. With all this travelling I've been doing, it's kind of hard to keep track." The blonde said as he finished eating his breakfast. From here he could still hear the Golden Trio finish reading the news article.

"So now we know how we ended up with Umbridge! Fudge passed this 'Educational Decree' and forced her on us! And now he has given her the power to inspect the other teachers! This is outrageous!" Hermione said, her breathing fast and her eyes furious.

"I know it is." Harry replied, glaring in the direction of the teacher's table.

Zidane followed his gaze, and just like he suspected, it lead him straight to a smug-looking Umbridge. She was obviously enjoying the attention, if her looks were anything to go by. Right now she looked like a toad that had swallowed a particularly juicy fly. He could see many other students from all four houses talking loudly with their neighbors while holding copies of the Daily Prophet, which only added to the woman's egotism.

'I can fix that.' Zidane thought as a devious smirk found its way to his lips. He had almost forgotten, but now it was the perfect time to unveil his little present. That would turn a few frowns upside down.

One of the many advantages that magic had in combat over many weapons was its reach. While it was difficult to strike a flying enemy with a sword, a simple thunder spell could very well send the creature crashing down. So concentrating his magic on a single very well hidden target, Zidane prepared a small fire spell. Doing it from far away was a bit of a challenge, especially since he had to be conspicuous about it. Nobody could know that he was the one to do this. The good thing was that he didn't need a large fire spell, just a small flame would do. He had enough problems measuring his output, and quite frankly, he could do without the Great Hall exploding.

Zidane released the spell with a sigh of relief as he noticed that the place was still structurally sound. Unseen to everybody else but him, a small, nearly invisible thread that hung over the teacher's table was now ablaze. With a satisfying snap, all eyes turned curiously and expectantly towards the source of the sound: the teachers table. They were not disappointed.

A second was all it took. One moment everything was fine in what would be considered a normal day at Hogwarts, while in the next, a loud shrieking overtook the Great Hall as they saw their new High Inquisitor now drenched in a mixture of sludge and grimy lake water, several live toads how hopping over her and spreading towards the rest of the teacher's table.

The Great Hall burst into laughter as Umbridge began turning several shades of red, each darker than the one before. The toad was shrieking her lungs out, her short arms frantically waving about to scare away the offending amphibians while the rest of the staff seemed content in keeping their distance as mud dripped down onto the stone floor.

'Zidane:5 Umbridge:2' Zidane thought as he laughed with great amusement.

The students were in an uproar, regardless of house or allegiance. Even the teachers were having trouble staying serious. In the end it was Dumbledore who got up from his chair and gently levitated the amphibians now threatening to spread over to the rest of the hall. Though his face looked passive as he confronted the enraged woman, the effect was somehow betrayed by the merry sparkle in his blue eyes. Umbridge, on the other hand, was out for blood.

"Dumbledore! I demand whoever is responsible for this to be found at once!" She screamed.

"Now Dolores, please calm down." Dumbledore said, but the damage was already done. Without a second thought, the new High Inquisitor immediately headed over to where the most likely suspects were: the Gryffindor table. As if reading her thoughts, McGonagall went to intercept the angered witch, a stern scowl adorning her face.

"Now wait right there." McGonagall said, looking very much like a lioness protecting her cubs as she stood between the seated Gryffindors and the enraged toad.

"Out of the way. I know one of these little beasts is responsible and I will not rest until that person is found!" Umbridge shouted, her face completely red with anger. McGonagall was about to reply, but Dumbledore stopped her by laying a calming hand on her shoulder.

"It's alright Minerva." Dumbledore said and turned to Umbridge. "I know you must be very upset, but such accusations cannot be taken lightly. If you really must insist however, I will allow you to check the wands of no more than five students. That seems more than fair, doesn't it Minerva?"

McGonagall looked at Dumbledore, her lips thin and a look of discontent on her fac. In the end she just nodded and stood aside. The toad walked over to the Gryffindor students and eyed them like a snake would eye a mouse, almost as if she were waiting for one of them to crack under her gaze and declare their guilt. Zidane however, knew better than to show such weakness, and instead, he proudly wore his best poker face. The toad's five choices were hardly surprising, Gryffindor's greatest pranksters, their companion, and the two teens that openly hated the toad the most, in other words; Fred, George, Lee, Harry, and himself.

The five boys were prompted to take out their wands while toad cast a spell with her unusually short one to see what spells had been cast recently. Lee was declared 'clean', and surprisingly, so were the twins. Harry glared at the toad defiantly, and much to the woman's aggravation, the Boy-Who-Lived was declared innocent as well. When the woman walked over to him, she had an almost sadistic gleam in her eye. From behind the Toad, he could see McGonagall pursing her lips while giving him a look, while Dumbledore stood next to her, his eyes twinkling like always. Behind them, he could also see the many curious gazes of the student body. Had Zidane been a weaker man, he would have already crumbled under those looks, but luckily he wasn't. A quick spell later, and he too was declared innocent despite the quickly raising anger of a certain Ministry spy.

'That was so anti-climatic.' Zidane thought as he saw the students lose interest and go back to whatever it was they were doing, the murmurs in the Great Hall being quickly replaced by the usual early morning chatter. But still, he had already expected as much.

He didn't really use his wand anyways. The thread he used to tie the large sack containing the slimy amphibians had been put there manually last night. The toughest part was heading to the lake shore and gathering as many toads as he could under the time strain. The only magic he used was a vanish spell to hide it, but since it didn't require a wand, the spell was never 'registered' there.

Since the woman did the same exact thing every day, including seating in the same seat and arriving/leaving at the same time, knowing where to set the trap was easy. It was her own damn fault for being so predictable.

´Besides, there's nothing wrong with blowing off a little steam. Eidolons know I needed this. It's like a birthday present from me to me.' Zidane thought to himself as he continued eating his breakfast whilst watching Umbridge snap at Dumbledore.

"Dolores, I'm afraid getting upset over such harmless pranks will offer no benefits for yourself. Pranks have always been a part of life at Hogwarts. In these cases it is best to laugh and move on. The next time this happens I will not allow such intrusive methods of prodding around student's wands, since as you should know, that is a rude invasion of privacy. If you however, insist on checking a student's wand, I will have to ask you to present some proof beforehand." Dumbledore said before turning to the rest of the school. "Now, I apologize for any inconveniences, and I would like to suggest all of you to head to your class, since it has come to my attention that the first bell is about to ring."

As if on cue, the Great Hall was flooded with the buzzing of the school bell, followed by the sounds of students shuffling and chattering, as they rose from their seats, and exited the room. With a sigh, Zidane left as well, knowing full well that he'd have to put up with Binn's boring lectures for the next hour or so.

…

"Oh I can't wait to see McGonagall inspected. Umbridge won't know what's hit her!" Ron said with something akin to glee as they walked out of the Great Hall.

Harry however was still thinking about what happened. Umbridge had just been pranked, and as expected, he was amongst the suspects. What bothered him the most though was how Dumbledore had done all in his power to avoid his gaze. Harry attempted several times to get the Headmaster's attention while Umbridge checked his wand, but it didn't work, the Headmaster just wouldn't budge.

'Is he angry at me? Is it because of the detentions? My meeting with Voldemort was the reason this whole thing started in the first place. In a way, it's my fault that Umbridge is here. Maybe he thinks I was the one who pranked her.' Harry thought to himself, but then shook his head. The spell Umbridge used had proven his innocence.

At first he was almost sure that it had been the twins, but for some reason that particular type of prank just didn't suit their style, not to mention they had been found innocent too. The prank was very clever, but not flashy enough. The twins would have probably involved explosions and grandeur. Even more bizarre was the trap itself. Aside from the concealment used, to Harry it seemed almost Muggle in nature. It was as if the culprit used such tactics for the only purpose of angering the toad further.

'If I ever figure out who this person is, I will personally shake his hand.' Harry thought, remembering Umbridge's reaction.

"What's up with you two?" Ron asked his two friends. Harry just shook his head.

"It's the prank." Hermione answered for them both.

"Oh yeah, Fred and George really did it this time. I didn't think they would prank Umbridge so quick given that they've busy with their experiments." Ron said.

"Ron, they weren´t the ones that did it." Hermione said.

"What? No way!" Ron said and seeing the twins talking with Lee Jordan only a few feet away, he walked over to them, Harry and Hermione right behind him.

"Well hello, Ronniekins." The twins greeted.

"Please tell me that you were the ones that pranked Umbridge." Ron said and both the twins and Lee frowned.

"No, it wasn't us. We've been too busy working on the snackboxes-" Fred said.

"-but it appears someone has taken on the sacred mantle for us in our absence." George mused.

"Once we find out who it is of course." Fred concluded.

"Yeah. Judging by the witty symbolism, I'd say it was a Ravenclaw, but most are too brainy to get into pranking. It could be a Hufflepuff, but I doubt it. Slytherins are out of the question." Lee said.

"How about another Gryffindor, or even Peeves?" Hermione asked surprising everyone, but it was Fred who answered.

"It would have to be one of the new arrivals, this is just too subtle to be Peeves. To be honest, we had our own suspicions, but he was already declared 'clean'." Fred said.

The two groups parted ways since their classes were in whole other sections of the castle, the Golden Trio making their way quickly over to Binn's classroom since they were late. Though Ron and Harry chatted on the way, Hermione was unusually quiet. It was the type of silence that signaled the other two that the girl was trying to figure something out. Luckily, Binn did not notice their late arrival, and so the three teens sat down on their usual places.

"Thank Merlin, Umbridge wasn't inspecting the class." Ron whispered from where he sat.

Harry nodded and his thoughts wandered to what the twins said.

'They were implicitly referring to Zidane. He definitely had the motive, but even I can see the problems with that theory. Zidane was sitting in the table when it happened, his wand was checked too.' Harry thought and he turned to look at the blonde boy, only to see him dozing softly on his desk, which he thought was strange given that he'd gone to sleep earlier than anyone last night. 'Now that I think about it, there's a lot of mystery surrounding Zidane. Hermione is suspicious about him, I just know it. I would be too, but after all he's done for me...it just doesn't feel right.'

After Binn's class ended, they headed over to potions, which was as Umbridge-less and joy-less and usual. The good news was, they got their moonstone essays back. The bad news was, Harry got a 'D' for 'Dreadful. Hermione got an 'O' and Ron a 'P'.

"So, top grade's 'O' for 'Outstanding', then 'A'-" Hermione was saying but was interrupted by George.

"No, 'E' for 'Exceeds Expectations'. And I've always thought Fred and I should've got 'E' in everything, because we exceed expectations just by showing up for the exams."

Everyone laughed at that, except for Hermione who continued her explanation.

"So, after 'E' its 'A' for 'Acceptable', and that's the last pass grade isn't it?"

"Yeah, then it's 'P' for 'Poor' and 'D' for 'Dreadful'." Fred said.

"And don't forget 'T'." George reminded him.

"Even lower than a 'D'? What one earth does it stand for?" Hermione asked.

"'Troll'." George replied.

Harry had no idea if 'T' was an actual grade, or just a fib made up by the twins, but on the plus side, it strengthened his resolve to do better in his OWLs.

…..

Zidane yawned as the Divination class continued. He always found it so hard to stay awake in this class. He had the feeling there was something laced in the perfume that wafted through the class. Sitting next to the only window didn't help as much as he had hoped.

Today they were going to continue doing dream interpretation, but unfortunately for Trelawney, today she was being inspected by the toad. They divided themselves into pairs and Zidane paired off with Neville, as usual. Trelawney did come over to question Neville about his dream journal, but otherwise left the genome alone for which he was very grateful. Even the Toad seemed happy to pretend that he wasn't there as she scribbled little notes on her clipboard. He didn't mind, because honestly, he didn't feel like being particularly snappy at the moment. It wasn't really a truce. Zidane just wasn't going to attack unless provoked.

"Well, could only predict something for me, then?" Umbridge asked from where she was writing on her clipboard, a fake smile plastered on her face.

"I-I don't understand." Trelawney stuttered as she clutched at the shawl around her neck. The teen only winced slightly.

So far the inspection wasn't really going in favor of Trelawney. If she didn't predict something convincing for the Toad, then he had the feeling that she would be packing her bags soon.

"I would like you to predict something for me." Umbridge said slowly, the smile still on.

Trelawney looked taken back, but then answered in an indignant tone as she stood to her full height. "The inner-eye does not see upon command!"

"I see…pity." Umbridge said with a mock-frown as she scribbled some notes.

"I-but-but…wait!" Trelawney said. "I think I do see something…something that concerns you…why, I sense something….something dark…some grave peril…"

Zidane rolled his eyes at the theatrics. 'She IS in grave peril. Just looking at her makes me want to trance a little.'

"I am afraid…I am afraid that you are in grave danger!" Trelawney said, her voice shaking and her voice foreboding.

'If my pranks could be considered that, then she may be right.' Zidane mused.

"Well, if that's the best you can do." Umbridge said unfazed as she wrote another note.

Things just went downhill from there. Trelawney immediately started reading Harry's dream journal for the whole class to hear, predicting a painful and agonizing death at every stop. Even simple dreams like some where the scarred boy was just eating porridge, turned into gruesome and untimely deaths. Had it not been for that, Zidane would have almost felt sorry for the woman. Then again, he was glad that she kept him out of it.

The bell rang and in the next class Zidane and the Golden Trio were exposed to a chock-full of Umbridge. They didn't learn anything like always. DADA was unanimously considered a joke amongst the student body. The only things the students ever looked forward to were the arguments that arose between Zidane, Harry or some other student, and the Toad. The genome personally didn't feel up to it today, maybe it was the lag from History of Magic and Divination, maybe it was because of staying up late at night to set the prank, or perhaps he was coming down with something. Zidane really didn't know, but he hoped it wasn't the latter.

'Maybe I just really wish I'd be back in Gaia with everyone, just celebrating my birthday, instead of being stuck in this hellhole.' The teen thought as he attempted to stretch the stiffness from his muscles. Of course, at this point he knew perfectly well that there was nothing he could do about it, and he wasn't really the type of person that dwelled on things out of his control, so he just left it at that. 'No point in crying over spilt milk.'

But it appeared that even though he was temporarily out of commission, there were still plenty of people that had one or two things to say to the Toad. Surprisingly, it was Hermione this time. Yes, the girl was a giant bookworm, and had a thing against rule-breaking, but apparently she was also very serious when it came to learning. Even Umbridge's attempts of addressing her question in whispers weren't going to help.

'Still I can't believe she bothered to finish the whole book.'

"Mr. Slinkhard doesn't like jinxes, does he? But I think they can be very useful when they're used defensively." Hermione said.

"Oh, you do, do you?" Umbridge said, not bothering to continue whispering, thus gaining the attention of all the students who were attempting (and failing) to read the chapter. "Well, I'm afraid it is Mr. Slinkhard's opinion and not yours that matters within this classroom, Miss Granger."

'Ouch.'

"But-" Hermione began.

"That is enough." Umbridge said. She walked over to the front of the class, all jauntiness she had shown earlier gone. "Miss Granger, I am going to have to take five points from Gryffindor House."

The class broke out into hushed whispers. Zidane could actually see that despite Hermione's defiant stand, the loss of points had affected her.

"What for?" Harry said angrily.

"Don't you get involved." Hermione whispered urgently and Zidane agreed. He just wasn't in the mood to bust Harry out of detention.

"For disrupting my class with pointless interruptions." Umbridge said smoothly. "I am here to teach you using a Ministry-approved method that does not include inviting students to give their opinions about matters about which they understand very little. Your previous teachers may have allowed you more license, but as none of them, with the possible exception of Proffessor Quirrell, who did at least appear to have restricted himself to age-appropriate subjects, would have passed a Ministry inspection-"

"Yeah, Quirrell was a great teacher. There was just that minor drawback of him having Lord Voldemort sticking out of the back of his head." Harry said loudly and the entire classroom became silent. The amount of tension in the room was so thick, Zidane thought he could probably cut through it with his daggers, were it not for the fact that all he really wanted to do at the moment was slam his head on a hard surface.

"I think another week's detention would do you some good Mr. Potter." Umbridge said with a smile that barely contained her sadistic glee.

'She must have gotten new quills over the weekend. Well, there goes my hopes of actually sleeping in early tonight.' Zidane thought with a sigh. Here he was hoping that he could get out for a bit. Staying so long inside the castle was really starting to frustrate him. He really felt like he was going to explode if this went on like this. Maybe the frustration was making him sick…

' Zidane: 5 Damn toad: 3'

…..

Harry felt the awful sting of his bleeding hand as he walked back to the Gryffindor Common Room. This time however, Zidane wasn't there with him to alleviate his pain with light-hearted words or healing spells. It made the whole walk so much lonelier.

'Just what am I supposed to tell Ron and Hermione when they see this?' Harry thought with a sigh as he looked down at his bloodied hand. 'Maybe I should just look for Zidane first… but he is probably in the Common Room too. Still, I will have to tell Ron and Hermione sooner or later.'

When he entered the Common Room he saw Ron copying some notes from Hermione, most likely from History of Magic. Hermione was sitting down nearby with Crookshanks on her lap while knitting hats for SPEW for the House Elves. Zidane was nowhere in sight.

'Maybe he is in the dormitory, if I hurry they might not notice-'

"Hi Harry, how did detention go?" Ron asked from where he sat, Hermione looked up from her work as well.

'Dammit.' Harry internally swore. "Just like always, I guess."

"Harry, what's wrong with your hand?" Hermione asked, her eyes narrowing as she got up to inspect it closer.

'Oh, come on!' Harry thought in aggravation, but the damage was done. Hermione already had a vice like grip on his bleeding hand, and didn't seem likely to let go until her questions were answered. Ron had also gotten up from his seat and was closing in. In the end he could do nothing, but tell Ron and Hermione the truth.

"You said she was just making you do lines!" Ron said in disbelief.

"Well, I wasn't technically lying, now was I?" The teen snapped.

"Harry you should report this to McGonagall or Dumbledore. What that woman is doing is horrible, and couldn't possibly be allowed!" Hermione insisted.

"No, I don't want to give her the satisfaction of knowing that she got to me." Harry said stubbornly and insisted until his friends had no choice but to give in. "Now, do any of you guys know where Zidane is?"

"Sorry mate, but no." Ron said with a sigh.

"Me neither, but …why?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Last time he used this spell that healed it instantly and I don't particularly feel like going to the Hospital Wing and explaining what happened." Harry said.

Hermione's eyes narrowed considerably. "Really? Healer's magic is supposed to be very difficult to execute."

Harry just shrugged.

"Hey, there's Neville. Maybe he knows." Ron said and the trio approached the round-faced boy.

"Neville, do you know where Zidane is?" Harry asked.

"Well, he said he wasn't feeling very well during dinner, so he'd go straight to bed, but I just came back from the dormitories and I get the feeling he's not there." Neville said with a hint of worry.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

"Well, you guys know how he told us not to open the curtains when he slept? Because he…well…he doesn't…erm…wear-" Neville blushed while the other males just nodded awkwardly, Hermione seemed to blush as well, but otherwise tried to stay serious. "Well the curtains were drawn so I just called out to him to know he was okay, but he never answered. Do you think he's okay?"

"Maybe he was feeling so much under the weather, that he just went to the Hospital Wing." Ron suggested.

"Yeah Neville, I'm sure he's fine. Maybe you should go to sleep too, you look pretty tired and we still have a long day waiting for us tomorrow." Hermione said, calming the boy considerably.

"Y-yeah, you're right. I think I will go to bed. Goodnight." Neville said before going upstairs. The trio waited for Neville to leave before talking again.

"What the bloody hell was that about 'mione?" Ron asked. Hermione just rolled her eyes.

"Honestly Ronald, we already went through something like this don't you remember?" Hermione said before leading the two boys to the closest window and pointed to the sky. "Look."

It took a moment for Harry to realize what Hermione was talking about. After all, what was so special about the moon? It was only then that he realized that it was a full moon, and suddenly the events that took place in his third year were fresh in his mind. Judging by the sudden horrified face Ron made, it looked like he remembered it as well.

"You don't think Zidane's a werewolf do you?" Ron asked, suddenly looking a bit pale.

"Oh, come of it Ron, Lupin is a werewolf and he is alright. Besides, I'm not a hundred percent sure yet." Hermione said and the color seemed to return to Ron's face. "But it would make a lot of sense. It would explain why he was looking so tired today, why Umbridge seems to hate him, and why he suddenly disappears right now. But there are some things that don't fit. Usually werewolves have golden eyes, but Zidane's are cyan, which are still rather odd. Werewolves also age prematurely, and have several scars. Zidane looks alright for a fifth year, maybe a bit on the short side, but otherwise fine."

"But, he does have some scars." Harry said thinking back to their first night in Hogwarts, Ron and Hermione both looked at him. "At least, I think he does. In our first night at Hogwarts when we were getting ready for bed and Zidane took his shirt off before closing the curtains, I could have sworn I saw a huge scar on his middle. Not to mention he always wears those gloves, he could be hiding more underneath them. And when I asked him about those healing spells, he did say he learned them because he used to get hurt a lot."

"Bloody hell." Was all that Ron could say.

"Well, I think we should wait and see for now. We can't know for sure, but I wouldn't ask him either. It could be an inappropriate subject to bring up." Hermione said.

Harry and Ron both nodded and said goodnight to Hermione. Harry got in his pajamas and lay down on his bed. His eyes however kept gazing at the empty bed to his side, while his thoughts kept going back to the blonde exchange student.

'I wonder where he is.' Harry thought, his mind still lingering on the conversation earlier. Suddenly it hit him. 'Of course, I'm such an idiot!'

Harry leaped out of bed and rummaged through his trunk. After finally finding what he was looking for, he gave a small cry of victory and headed back to his bed, pulling over the curtains. A quick lumos later, and he held up the innocent-looking old piece of parchment that he had retrieved from his trunk.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Harry whispered and lines and blotches of ink appeared on the piece of parchment. A few seconds later and it was now an intricate map of Hogwarts complete with moving dots labeled with names.

In Gryffindor Tower ,Harry could see the dots labeling his friends, down by the first floor he could see the dot labeled 'Argus Filch', while in the headmaster's office, he could see the dot labeled 'Albus Dumbledore'. When he turned towards the Hospital Wing, he could only see only one dot labeled 'Poppy Pomfrey', Zidane however, was nowhere to be found. Frowning at this discovery, Harry searched the entire castle for the blonde's name to come up, but it simply didn't.

Zidane was not in Hogwarts.

To be continued…

…

A/N: Let's see who can guess what happened.

This chapter was mostly done to show Zidane starting to grow weary of Hogwarts. He's used to the idea of adventure, and at least in Alexandria he had the freedom to come and go as he pleased. Furthermore, Umbridge is, much to his displeasure, slowly but steadily gaining power. The prank he pulled off wasn't meant to be anything too elaborate, just a way to blow off steam, seeing as there's very little he can actually do at the moment, not to mention that he's still supposed to avoid drawing too much attention.

Now he also has the Golden Trio thinking he's a werewolf, because of course they would.