Notes: Basically experiencing the academic equivalent of the calm before the storm, though at least I managed to get some much-needed sleep. Also, I really loved the onslaught of reviews suddenly telling me they found these small cameos I put waaaay back at the start of this fic. Congrats to Leixym for finding all of them! *Throws confetti* I'll probably add more in the near future. Thanks to everyone that's been following so far, and also sorry if I haven't replied to a review yet. I'll get to that in a minute.

Also, I apologize for any mistakes since I had a few technical difficulties while correcting this chapter.

…

(ARC)

To Hay Meadow: Yeah, I do ship them (to the point that cameo was absolutely necessary). Thanks for reviewing ;)

To Guest: No, I haven't forgotten to update. My update schedule has always been once a week and usually on Saturdays (Sundays when I'm particularly busy). I can't update any sooner because I seriously don't have enough time to do so during the week.

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Chapter 21: Trust No One

When Zidane woke up the next morning, he was feeling a lot better, even though his right hand still stung painfully whenever he moved it. Unfortunately, since he was still feeling quite a bit drained, he decided against using a cure spell for his hand. One of the most important things he had beaten into his head when he began learning magic was that in many occasions, it was better to let things heal naturally. Especially when it came to burns.

'Guess I'll just have to use my left hand and hope nobody asks why my handwriting´s like crap today.' The teen thought as he let out a long yawn.

Walking down the stairs to the Common Room, he was greeted by the sight of several Gryffindors huddling around the notice board. Zidane raised a single eyebrow, and with his curiosity peaked, he approached the board as well.

BY ORDER OF THE HIGH INQUISITOR OF HOGWARTS

All student organizations, societies, teams, groups and clubs are henceforth disbanded.

Any organization, society, team, group, or club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students.

Permission to re-form may be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge).

No student organization, society, team, group, or club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor.

Any student found to have formed, or belong to, an organization, society, team, group, or club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled.

The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-four.

Signed: Dolores Jane Umbridge, High Inquisitor

The genome paused as his still-groggy mind tried to process what had just happened. When it finally did, his mind was only able to respond with two simple words.

'Well, fuck.'

….

Harry was not having a good day. His dreams had been plagued by strange nightmares last night, then this morning, after waking up, he went downstairs to the Common Room, only to find out that Umbridge was possibly onto them (though Hermione assured him that if they had some traitor amongst them she would know), and to make matters worse, he was just in the middle of History of Magic when, all of the sudden, Hedwig appeared with her feathers in disarray and her wing in a crooked angle. According to Professor Grubbly-Plank, his owl had just been attacked.

'Why me? Why always Monday?' Harry thought in frustration as Hermione suggested that someone was trying to intercept his mail.

"So who is the letter from anyways?" Ron asked as he took the note from Harry.

"Snuffles." Harry answered quietly.

"Same time same place? Does he mean the fire in the Common Room?" Ron asked.

"Obviously." Hermione said with a huff.

"What's got your panties in a bunch 'Mione? Library not open yet?" Ron joked.

"For your information Ronald, the library was open." Hermione said, and when she got questioning looks from the two, she added. "I just couldn't find what I was looking for, that's all."

"And what would that be?" Harry asked, though he had a feeling that he wouldn't like the answer.

"Information about Salem's Witches' Institute. I really can't believe it. I mean, I searched through every book I could think of! I know Wizarding Schools can be quite secretive but this is taking it quite far." Hermione said in frustration.

"Why the sudden interest? I mean you can always just ask Zidane directly." Ron asked.

"I have, but he's been avoiding my questions all year long." Hermione answered.

"Maybe he's not allowed to say anything, you remember the students from Beauxbaton and Durmstrang last year." Harry suggested. A part of him did not like where this was going. "Why are you so interested in this now?"

"Well, I've been thinking. Why would Hogwarts suddenly accept a foreign transfer? Rather, why would a well respected institution suddenly decide to send one of their students here, considering what happened last year? The Minister and the Daily Prophet have being spouting all that nonsense about Dumbledore having gone daft." He bushy-haired girl said before adding. "I mean, Zidane Tribal is no model student, but unless they sent him here to purposely get rid of him, then it wouldn't make sense."

"Not a model-student? I'm surprised 'Mione, I thought you fancied him." Ron joked and Hermione shot him a dirty glare, but Harry, recognizing the beginning of yet another fight, decided to intervene.

"Is it really important? I mean, maybe it's nothing." Harry suggested. "He's not exactly a Head Boy, but he's not a bad person, either. He already said he's got circumstances of his own. You should probably let it go."

Hermione was about to retort when Ron beat her to it. "Well, speak of the devil."

Harry turned around to see none other than Zidane walking up the hall, his right hand in his pocket while he had his backpack slung lazily over his left shoulder. Neville was walking next to him, the two males chatting amiably with each other. When the blonde's cyan eyes swept over them, he smiled and approached the three.

"Hey guys, what's up?" The blonde said, adjusting his bag's strap on his shoulder.

"Oh hey mate, 'Mione wanted to ask you something." Ron said and Hermione jammed her elbow into his side before giving him a glare that would rival a Basilisk's.

"He's joking, I was really just curious about something." Hermione interjected

"And what would that be?" Zidane asked, noticing the strange reaction.

Hermione seemed to regain her composure and after clearing her throat and giving a smile, she continued. "Well err, I just wanted to know if everything would be alright. I mean, given what happened during the Hogsmeade trip, won't your family be worried?"

"Oh, that's fine. I mean, I haven't really told them. I don't think they'll really even hear about it, either since we don't really hear much about Wizarding Britain over there." Zidane said, shrugging.

….

Zidane cursed quietly to himself all the way towards the dungeons. The halls were empty so he didn't care to mask the sound of his steps. He'd just been blowing off steam in the Room of Requirement, and in hind sight, it hadn't been the best idea considering how much his arm was hurting now.

He didn't want to go to the Hospital Wing, because then he'd just get reprimanded and forced to stay Eidolons-knew how long. Healing his own arm was out of the question since his energy was already spent. He could always use one of his own potions, but his wares were already quite low and this wasn't the kind of thing he'd like to waste them on.

That's when he thought about going to bug Snape about it. He knew they didn't exactly see eye to eye, but he had Potions now, and as his teacher, Snape literally had no choice but spend the class in the same room as him. This was also a perfect chance to ask him about the Order, specifically if they got Dung's message. He could ask McGonagall too, but she'd likely drag him to the Hospital Wing, herself.

'Maybe I should wait until after dinner, though. I could always just set the meeting now, and meet later.' The teen thought. 'There's also that matter about the conversation earlier.'

The Golden Trio suspected him, there was no doubt about that. What they suspected him of was another matter. Did they think he was responsible for the accident, or maybe did they think he told Umbridge about the meeting?

'At least I managed to play it off. Hopefully it fooled Hermione, but I doubt that's going to work for long. I really need to be more careful, in case the others become suspicious, as well.' Zidane thought.

The genome sighed in annoyance as he readjusted the strap of his bag once more to accommodate his injured right arm. Once he reached the chilly dungeons, he allowed himself to settle between a suit of armor and an old moth-ridden tapestry to wait since there was still a bit of time left. While still being close to the classroom, anyone passing by could easily overlook him, including a certain nosy trio that would undoubtedly be asking themselves various questions right about now. Hiding in plain sight was his best bet at the moment, not to mention, he could use the short break.

'I'll have to keep a close eye on them-'

Zidane thoughts were interrupted by an irritating noise. Turning towards the source of said noise, he was greeted by the sight of Malfoy and his gang currently facing off the Golden Trio, nothing quite out of the ordinary really. Malfoy was no doubt antagonizing Harry and Ron, who, knowing them, would likely fall for the taunts and get themselves in trouble. Like he said, it was nothing out of the ordinary.

"…my father says…matter of time before…carried off to St. Mungo's…"

Intent on ignoring the blonde (and seeing a part of him wasn't particularly keen on helping the Trio out after what happened earlier), he turned away just as Malfoy started making some silly noises that Zidane didn't particularly care about at the moment.

"Neville, no!"

Hearing the desperate call, Zidane turned towards the scene in shock as he saw Neville rush past Harry to lunge himself at Malfoy. Had he not seen it for himself, the thief wouldn't have believed it.

Letting out a curse, Zidane got up and left his spot, running towards the boy, but realizing that he wouldn't make it in time. He was just too far away. Thankfully, Harry managed to grab the back of Neville's robes, stalling the boy long enough so that he could arrive and hold him back. He had no doubts that whatever Malfoy did to make Neville snap, he definitely deserved it. That didn't mean he was about to let Neville get dragged into trouble and get turned into paste by Malfoy's trained gorillas. Neville wasn't a brawler, after all.

"Bloody hell mate, calm down!" Ron said as he and Harry helped him restrain Neville.

"Let me go!" The boy said, still glaring daggers at a shocked Malfoy.

"Not until you calm the hell down and use your head." Zidane said, though Neville continued to struggle in his hold, forcing Harry to hold Neville in a choke hold.

"Not…funny…don't…Mungo's…show …him." Neville choked out while still struggling madly against his captors. He was so intent on setting himself free, that he didn't notice himself lash at Zidane's already injured right arm, making the blonde give a cry of pain and let go.

The genome bit his lip and fought the harsh stinging of his abused arm, but thankfully Neville's interest on his friend's wellbeing far outweighed his urge to pummel Malfoy. Unfortunately, Harry also seemed to notice, and he had the feeling that it would become a discussion topic for the Trio later.

"What's this? Fighting, Potter, Weasley, Longbottom, Tribal?" A voice called out. Turning his eyes towards the sound, Zidane saw a certain sour Potions Professor only a few feet away. "Ten points from Gryffindor, now release Longbottom or I will add detentions. What are you all staring at? Inside, all of you."

Zidane saw Harry and Ron release his fuming friend before heading inside the classroom. He followed too, though his thoughts about contacting Snape were replaced by those of Neville's strange reaction.

'What did Malfoy say again? Something about St. Mungo's…but why would that affect Neville? What's the story there?' Zidane thought as he took his seat next to Neville. 'Wait, weren't Neville's parents in St. Mungo's? Then that means Malfoy…THAT BASTARD!'

Zidane clenched his fist as his mind recalled the funny sounds he'd heard.

"As you may have noticed, we have a guest with us today." Snape said with disgust barely hidden in his voice. Raising a single brow, Zidane craned his head to look and then mentally groaned when his eyes met with shocking pink.

"…your mixtures are as you left them last lesson; if correctly made they should have matured well over the weekend. Instructions are on the board, carry on." Snape said as he waved his wand and the words appeared on the blackboard.

Zidane grinned as he saw his rather well made potion, and then headed off to the ingredient cabinet to get some salamander blood. From the corner of his eye he could see Umbridge badgering the Potions Master, like a frog tantalizing an adder into striking. It looked like it wouldn't be wise to contact Snape now.

"Now… how long have you been teaching at Hogwarts?" The woman asked with her sickly sweet voice.

"Fourteen years." Snape replied, his expression set like cold, hard ice.

"You applied first for the Defense Against the Dark Arts post, I believe?" The Toad asked.

"Yes." Snape replied.

"But you were unsuccessful?" The toad asked again, her tone trying to sound empathic, but failing miserably.

"Obviously." Snape replied, his lip curled in a sneer.

Zidane listened in closely as the woman continued her thinly veiled interrogation. He had to admit that Snape had amazing self restraint. It was like she was trying to get killed. Who else would shove a man's, nay former Death Eater's life failures in his face like that? Had it been him, the Toad would be nothing more than a pink smear on the floor by now.

Said woman finished her interrogation, and though Snape's expression remained as gloomy as always, Zidane could tell that the man felt relieved that the eye-sore known as Dolores Umbridge was gone. Even if he had just maliciously emptied Harry's foul smelling potion and assigned him an essay as extra homework. The blonde supposed it was just his way of coping with the added stress.

Zidane looked at his teacher and colleague with a new (albeit tiny) sense of respect. For a small instant, brilliant cyan met coal black and a silent agreement was born between the two. Yes, they were as different as fire and ice. Yes, they had their differences in the past. But this woman had to go, and if it meant a truce between two conflicting forces like themselves, then so be it.

Umbridge was going down.

…..

Harry really regretted not skiving off Divination when he had the chance. He really should've just ignored Hermione, skipped Divination and started working on the essay that a certain greasy haired git had assigned. But no, here he was, in an overly perfumed classroom, completely angry at the world, as Professor Trelawney was having a mental breakdown. Really, what was it with everyone today?

"Do not speak to me about that woman!" Trelawney snapped at the class as angry tears threatened to leave her eyes.

Harry, as well as several other students shrank back, surprised at the outburst. It appeared that, not only did Professor Trelawney get her examination results, but he was no longer the only one with a vendetta against the foul toad-like woman. Parvati and Lavender, having long since been admirers of their Divination teacher, looked like they were trying their best to show the stricken woman that she had taught them well. Most of the others including himself, stayed firmly planted in their seats continuing the lesson, though the air in the classroom was tense and occasional sobs coming from the teacher made it all the more awkward.

"So what did you dream about last night?" Ron asked jokingly as he held the text book open.

He was seated in a pouf right in front of Ron, with Seamus and Dean seated to his left and Zidane and Neville right behind him. Neville sat in unusual silence, which led him to believe that he was still upset about what happened earlier. Ron and Hermione still had no idea what that was about, and though he trusted his friends with his life, he still believed it was Neville's secret to give away, and not his. He wondered briefly if Neville would tell Zidane about what happened. The blonde sure didn't seem put-off in the slightest. Then again, Zidane was possibly the most carefree person he had ever met. Even now the blonde was just sprawled over the table without a care in the world.

"Actually, I did have a weird dream last night." Harry said and when Ron gave him a strange look, he quickly corrected himself. After all, he was sure his friends knew about some of the nightmares that plagued him at night. "I mean, it wasn't like a usual dream. Now that I think about it, it was really bizarre, just a bunch of images that I can't make sense of."

"So you wanna do this?" Ron asked and then laughed. "Your imminent death mate, not mine."

Harry gave him a pointed look, but began telling his friend what he recalled from the dream.

"Well first there was this city made of stone, almost like a castle, it was nighttime. Then there was a petrified forest, but there were these things running away. Then there was a giant tree with a small town at the top, but the whole thing was burning. There was something small coming towards it from the sky, and when it touched it made a huge explosion. There was also a town, it was on fire too, but there was a large dragon fighting an even larger castle with large white wings-"

Harry stopped when he heard choking sounds coming from right behind him. Zidane, now awake, was having quite the fit, while Neville awkwardly patted the boy in the back in a rather weak attempt to make it better.

"Bloody hell, you alright?" Ron asked Zidane and the blonde just nodded, apparently having forgotten about the incident that morning. Turning back to face him, the redhead continued. "So, anything else?"

"Yeah, I think there were two moons in the sky, and then I remember seeing something blue and then something red and black. I can't remember what happened afterwards." Harry said, furrowing his brow as he tried to recall what he saw in the dream. It was admittedly hard, like trying to view an old videotape through a pair of foggy lenses. "Does it say anything?"

"Yeah, that your sister will trip down during a wedding and fall inside a pool of pumpkin juice." Ron said. "Like I said, load of rubbish."

Harry just sighed and laid his head down on top of the table, before flinching as Professor Trelawney stomped by their table, muttering threats under her breath.

….

"Are you really alright?" Neville asked quietly as they left the classroom through the trapdoor.

"Yeah I'm fine." Zidane snapped, maybe a bit too forcefully, seeing as a hurt expression flashed briefly across his friend's face. Likely, the boy still thought he was mad at him because of what happened before Potions.

They walked quietly to the DADA classroom and though everything appeared calm on the outside, Zidane's mind was in turmoil. He had woken up from his nap during Divination, his mind unconsciously eavesdropping on any information, just as Baku had drilled into him from a young age. When Harry began talking about some dream he had or whatnot, he didn't really pay it much attention. That is, until he heard what it was about, and then he snapped into full attention, his shock making him choke on his own saliva.

He still couldn't believe it. There was no way Harry should have known about that, and likewise there was just no way it was merely a coincidence. But then how? Even if Harry was completely clueless as to what he saw (and judging by his reaction, he totally was), how did he even access those memories to begin with? As far as he knew, Harry had no Legi-whatever abilities that Snape had. Snape himself was also unlikely to have shared those memories with the boy. Not only did they despise each other with great passion, but the grumpy Potions Master had nothing to gain from such interaction. If anything, it would only be a hindrance.

'But then, what other option is there? He must have gotten those memories Snape saw somehow…' Zidane thought, his tail twitching nervously around his waist. At the moment he very much felt like a cornered animal. If Harry knew that, just what else did he know? What else could he know? He hadn't been mentioned by Harry at any moment, so chances were he was safe, but just barely. There was nothing saying that wouldn't change, either.

"Listen, Zidane. There's something I really need to tell you." The round faced boy said with a serious face. "It's about this morning."

The cyan-eyed blonde was snapped out of thoughts and turned to look at the resolute teen next to him. "Don't worry about it, I'm not mad or anything-"

"I really shouldn't have acted like that-" Neville said, before Zidane interrupted.

"Listen, Neville. Do you think this could wait until later?" The genome said, and then rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I'm not feeling too well, so I think I'll head over to the Hospital Wing for a bit. We can talk calmly after class, alright?"

"Oh, okay." Neville said rather reluctantly.

"Right, so I'll see you later." The blonde said and sprinted down the hall, even despite the protests of many of the paintings.

Once Neville was out of the picture, Zidane's features turned serious once again. At this rate, they would figure out the truth by week's end. Of course, he couldn't allow that, at least not yet.

'As if I don't have enough on my plate already.' Zidane snorted as he tried to recall his growing number of objectives. 'Let's see; find my way home, help the Order, protect Harry and friends from Voldy, keep identity secret from Harry and friends, keep genome secret safe from pretty much everyone, make Umbridge's life a living hell, torment Ministry, master wand magic, and survive the school year.'

The teen absentmindedly walked down a set of stairs to the first floor as he thought over his options. His greatest priority at the moment was to keep his secret hidden. Mostly because if the truth came out, not only would it make protecting Harry difficult, but then there was no telling how the rest of the Order would react. Wizards didn't seem particularly fond of non-humans, especially those that were stronger than them. They wouldn't likely allow him; a being created solely for mass murder, to run around as he pleased, even if he wasn't likely to start a war any time soon.

Keeping his secret wouldn't be too hard if it weren't for the fact that the Golden Trio was snooping around AND somehow still getting answers. They weren't good answers, but they were answers nonetheless. He would have to find their source and stop it from leaking information. He wasn't sure if Harry had told Hermione about it yet, but if he did he'd have to expect anything, even if his memories had been passed off as just weird dreams.

Hermione was the one that really worried him, so if he could just set up some kind of distraction to get her off his trail, it would help him immensely.

'So now to follow my one and only lead.' Zidane thought dryly as he headed back down to the dungeons to pay a certain greasy haired Potions Master a visit.

Heading down the chilly dungeons, Zidane walked quietly towards Snape's office and once there, he gave a polite knock and hoped that the gloomy bat was actually there. If not, he could always just break the whole thing down and wait. Thankfully, his knock was shortly followed by a cold 'come in' and once he stepped through the door, he was greeted by the greasy bat himself (whose face, he noted, seemed to fall the moment he came in).

At least he didn' get cursed on sight.

"What do you want? Shouldn't you be in class?" Snape snapped with that everlasting sneer on his face.

"Actually, I came to talk." Zidane said as he settled himself on top of Snape's dark wooden desk, much to the other's chagrin. "Remember those memories you saw? Well, there's a bit of a problem…"

….

Harry couldn't concentrate on his essay at all. Not with the news that Gryffindor team had yet to be reformed, not with the fact that Sirius was due to appear in a few hours, and especially not with the twins trying out their new product in the room to entertain everyone. Though the Puking Pastiles were a huge success, trying to write while having to listen to the retching sounds of the twins as they projectile vomited into a bucket was practically impossible.

In the end he just decided to leave it for another day.

"Sirius!" Harry exclaimed as his godfather finally made an appearance in the fireplace. Thankfully, everyone had long since left the Common Room.

"Hi." Sirius said grinning.

"Hi." The three chorused as they knelt closer to the fire, even Crookshanks meowed and got closer, though Hermione had to keep hold of him so the half-kneazle wouldn't singe his whiskers.

"How're things?" Sirius asked.

"Not too good. Just today the Ministry passed a new decree, which means we can't have Quidditch teams-" Harry began but was interrupted.

"Or secret Defense Against the Dark Arts groups?" Sirius asked, an eyebrow raised in question.

"How did you-" Harry asked as the trio frowned.

"You should choose your meeting places more carefully. I mean, the Hog's Head?" Sirius said, his grin only growing.

"Better than the Three Broomsticks!" Hermione shot back defensively. "It's always packed with people."

"Exactly, there's a lower chance of being overheard then." Sirius reasoned. "You've got a lot to learn Hermione."

"Who overheard us?" Harry asked.

"Mundungus of course." Sirius said, and when he got quizzical looks from the three, he laughed. "He was the witch under the veil."

"Why was he dressed as a witch?" Ron asked.

"He was banned from the Hog's Head twenty years ago, and boy does that barkeep have a good memory. Not to mention that since Sturgis' arrest, we lost Moody's spare invisibility cloak. Let's just say that Dung has been dressing up as a witch a lot lately."

"But what was he doing there in the first place?" Harry asked.

"What do you think he was doing?" Sirius said impatiently. "Keeping an eye on you of course!"

"I'm still being followed?" Harry asked angrily.

"You have no idea." Sirius said with a laugh. "And a good thing too. If the first thing you do once the weekend arrives is to organize illegal defense groups…"

"So…you're not mad?" Harry asked, sensing no form of anger or disappointment from his legal guardian, instead Sirius just beamed at him with pride evident in his eyes.

"Are you kidding? Do you think James and I would've lain down and taken orders from that old hag? On the other hand…" Sirius paused and turned towards Ron. "You're mother told me to give you a message. She says that on no account whatsoever are you to take part or participate on this group. She says you will be expelled for sure and that your future will be ruined. Also, that there will be plenty of time in the future to learn to defend yourself and that you are far too young. She also says that she strongly recommends Harry and Hermione not to proceed with the group, though she accepts that she has no authority over you two and she is only keeping you best interests at heart. Please send her an owl later saying you got the message, I don't think she trusts me enough. She would've done it herself, had it not been because of the owls are getting intercepted and that she is currently on duty."

Ron nodded and then frowned. "Wait, duty?"

"For the Order, I'm afraid I can't say anything else." Sirius said apologetically.

"Wait, so what about that explosion during the Hogsmeade trip? Did the Order have anything to do with that?" Harry asked and Sirius seemed to pause.

"Yes, in a way. There was a bit of a skirmish, but thankfully Marcus is just fine." Sirius said.

"You mean he was attacked by Death Eaters? That means he was in Hogsmeade too! But that's very close to Hogwarts! I mean, is he alright? Was he ambushed?" Hermione asked.

"Never you mind, he's fine, now let's talk about something else. I'm afraid I said too much." Sirius said frowning. "Do you already have a place where you can practice?"

"Well, not exactly." Harry said.

"How about the Shrieking Shack?" Sirius asked.

"There's an idea!" Ron said, but Hermione just made a skeptical noise.

"Well, it's just that there were only four of you meeting at the time, not to mention you could all turn into animals and squeeze under the invisibility cloak if you really wanted to. But there's twenty-nine of us and none of us are Animagi, so we wouldn't need an invisibility cloak as much as we'd need an invisibility marquee-"

"Fair point." Sirius said, rather crestfallen. "Well I'm sure you'll come up with something. There was this roomy passageway behind that big mirror on the fourth floor."

"That's no good, Fred and George told me that passage is blocked." Harry said with a frown. "Caved in or something."

"Well, I'll have to think about it then, maybe some other place on the map…" Sirius said thoughtfully.

"Oh that's right!" Hermione said, snapping the three males out of their thoughts. "I almost forgot, there is something I wanted to ask you about the Marauder's Map."

"Well, go ahead and ask." Sirius asked, curiosity showing.

"Is it possible for people to not show on the map?" Hermione said while Sirius frowned.

"The map was created using some very complex magic, we really only understood about half of it when we created it ourselves and that was mostly thanks to Moony. The map has the ability to show a person's location inside the castle and its grounds, though I suppose it only shows the places we knew of. I wouldn't think it impossible for there to be more hidden rooms. Also, the map will only really show wizards and witches, no matter what form they are on, which is why it still showed Peter Pettigrew despite being in his rat form. Other Magical Creatures don't seem to show on the map, either, though we don't quite know why." Sirius said.

"I was wondering about that. There are supposed to be several hundreds of House Elves in the castle, but their names don't show." Hermione said.

"That's right, though surprisingly ghosts do show for some reason." Sirius said thoughtfully. "Is there anything else you want to know?"

"Sirius, you wouldn't happen to know anything out Salem's Witches' Institute, would you?"

Something flashed across Sirius's face, but whatever it was it was gone so quickly that Harry could not figure out what it had been.

"Is there any particular reason you'd like to know?" Sirius asked, frowning slightly.

"That's where Zidane came from. We mentioned him last time, remember?" Hermione answered.

"Yeah he joined in the secret DADA club too, and he is real chummy with Neville, overall a pretty decent guy. But, Hermione thinks there's something awfully fishy about the bloke." Ron said.

"Oh really?" Sirius said.

"Well it's strange for him to have come here, and when I ask him about his school, he never answers. He never talks about his friends back home or his family and he doesn't really get any mail. All we know is that he doesn't really have any parents." Hermione said, giving Ron a pointed look.

"Well I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. Lot's of schools abroad have secrecy policies dating way back when." Sirius said with a smile. "You all should know that the world isn't made out of rainbows and butterflies. It may be a sore subject for him to talk about so you should leave it at that. If he really is joining this secret group of yours, you will have to trust him."

"I guess you're right." Hermione said rather reluctantly.

Harry gave a sigh of relief. He felt reassured that Sirius's thoughts echoed his own. Though a tad bit odd, Zidane Tribal was not a bad person.

"Sirius?" Harry asked. A sudden look of confusion and then panic shot across his godfather's face, before it disappeared altogether. Instead, where his head had been just seconds ago, a pudgy hand decorated with gaudy rings clawed at the spot as if trying to reach for something. Harry recognized that hand anyways. His friends did, for instantly the trio had backed away from the fireplace and high-tailed it out of the Common Room.

….

Back in Alexandria a certain queen found herself pulling another all-nighter. After shutting close another thick tome that proved to be of no use, the young queen rubbed her eyes tiredly and let out a sigh. Besides her, the candle she had lit and had served as her only source of light at this hour of the night was nearly spent. After letting out a rather unbecoming yawn, she decided to finish up for today, as she highly doubted that she could stay awake any longer. The large library was already empty, and Steiner had long since given up on convincing her to retire for the night. She still had her regular duties to attend to and she would need the rest if she wanted to keep up her performance.

'But how can I sleep knowing that there are books here that I haven't checked and may hold the answer to getting Zidane back?' Garnet thought to herself. 'I wouldn't have been able to sleep either way, and at least my restlessness is used for something productive this way.'

Though unfortunately, her search had yielded no results. As extensive as Alexandria's library was, she had yet to find any answers about other worlds. There weren't even any records about Terra, so she supposed she should have seen it coming.

'I hope the others had more luck.' Dagger said while stifling another yawn. 'Eiko and Cid said they would check for information in Lindblum, Freya agreed to search through old Burmecian archives, Amarant agreed to keep his eyes and ears peeled for any rumors about such a knowledge in some noble's private library, and even Quina was taking some time out of the kitchen duty to ask travelers arriving at Alexandria, though it many cases they resulted in the Qu mistakenly getting arrested for harassment. At least they believed me. For a moment I thought they'd assumed that the position had gotten to me. Though thankfully, the research on Une's mirror and Doga´s artifact helped win everyone over.'

And that it had.

After Zidane told her about the connection the dreams had to Une's Mirror, she immediately hit the books. Originally she had only focused her attention on the mirror, that is, until she learned about its connection to another item, the one she'd gotten from Zidane as a gift and much later decided to place in her room: Doga's Artifact

After tracing the artifact's origins, they had discovered quite the story. Legend said it had apparently been created ages ago by a powerful mage called Une almost at the same time that Doga's artifact was created. In fact the two of them, Une and Doga were fellow apprentices under a powerful mage named Noah (alongside a third apprentice whose record was seemingly forgotten with time). Apparently Noah had gifted his pupils with great power before parting from this world. To Doga, he had given vast knowledge over magic, and to Une, he had granted her absolute control over dreams. According to legend, traces of those powers had eventually found themselves inside the two artifacts. If this was true, and at this point she was convinced it was, then Une's mirror had control over dreams and Doga´s artifact over magic. In hers and Zidane's case, their powers combined allowed them to link both their minds while they slept.

'Unfortunately that's about everything we could find.' Garnet thought as she rose from her seat and took her leave, while using the waning light of the candle she held to guide her way. Mentally, she grimaced at the thought of how tired she would be tomorrow, or rather, later today, when she woke up. Especially when she remembered that she had to fly to Burmecia to formalize an agreement with their King. 'Though maybe we can make a stop at Daguerro afterwards. Their library is bound to have something.'

Dagger quietly made her way out of the library and into the hall, before going up a grand set of stairs and heading into her chambers. Through the large windows, the light of the two moons was shining brilliantly. After passing by a sleeping Pluto Knight on guard duty, she wonder briefly is she should have Steiner explain her absence to Zidane since, even though she loved the man with all her heart, she just wasn't feeling up to a round of nighttime romping with him.

'Yes, I think I'll leave Doga's artifact with him.'

….

By the time Zidane made it to the Common Room, it was already deserted. Not a soul was in sight and the warm fire that illuminated the room was reduced to smoldering ashes. But it didn't matter to the blonde. The less light there was, the easier to blend into the shadows.

'Man, I'm tired.' The genome thought as he silently slipped inside his dorm. 'But it was so worth it. I can't wait to see the look on her face. Malfoy's too. It took a while to get a hold on so many ferrets (or polecats, same thing) and even longer to get them to cooperate,but hopefully everything will turn out as planned.'

Zidane paused when he heard the slight rustle of fabric, but once it settled he resumed his quite gait towards his bed. 'I think I will skip my meeting with Dagger today, or I won't be able to wake up tomorrow and it'll likely raise some suspicions. Still, I can't help feeling that I am forgetting something…Oh well, I'm sure it's nothing important.'

To be Continued…

….

A/N: The Une and Doga story is legit, and it's actually from FFIII. Seemed like a good tool for the plot, since it hasn't really been used before (not as far as I can tell). The Marauder's Map bit is my guess since I always found it odd that they never saw any House Elves on the map and there are supposed to be A LOT working at the castle. Yes, this is also the reason as to why Zidane doesn't show on the map, though luckily for him, he's managed to slip under the radar so far.

See you guys next week!