"Shinichi! I'm so glad you're here!"
Shinichi sighs, mindful of the students gathered behind him, and stares up at Kid's smirking grin.
"Which one is it this time?" he asks.
Kid frowns.
"Right down to business, then. You're no fun."
"This isn't a fun job. This is a serious responsibility. If you can't behave-"
Kid cuts him off. "Bread is bread, but what bread is inedible?"
"A frying pan," Shinichi answers promptly. "Now let the students inside."
Kid sighs and swings his frame forward.
"Thank you, Professor Kudou," Michael Ammar says, pulling his friends into the dormitory behind him. The rest of the Ravenclaws follow, Kid swinging closed as the last students enters.
"You can't keep using obscure riddles. Be mindful of the resources students have access to." Shinichi pauses. "And I can't keep coming up here to answer for them. That defeats the purpose."
Kid is silent through the lecture. The artist left half his face in shadow, light only touching the side with his monocle. He crosses his arms and nods.
Shinichi leaves, ignoring how the other portraits start whispering and gossiping down the hallway behind him.
-X-
"They should move him. Relocate him up one of the towers with Sir Cadogan," Hakuba mutters, fixing his tea and staring out at the Great Hall. Shinichi sighs and looks up when Hattori joins them.
"Problems with the Ravenclaws again?" he asks, but it's not much of a question.
"Kid is using Japanese riddles to lock out the students," Shinichi reports, sliding the pot of tea closer to Hattori's side of the table.
"They should go back to the old system," he says, "The eagle was never as rude as Kid."
"Remodeling after the War made improvements to the system. Portraits as guardians meant an extra pair of eyes monitoring the children," Hakuba defends, leaning forward to get a better look at Hattori.
"Maybe reasonable portraits like the Fat Lady and Interrante the Explorer. Kid isn't reasonable," Hattori shoots back.
Shinichi leaves them to it, barely disturbing the argument as he leaves. Headmaster Katterfelto nods to him as Shinichi heads out, leaning over to gossip with Professor Roadmage, their Charms instructor and one of the organizers of the Staff Betting Pool.
"Shinichi!"
He hesitates and then stops, letting Ran catch up to him. She still has her flight leathers on, hair in disarray from teaching the First Years to fly.
"Walk me to my room?" she says, taking his arm.
"I don't want to talk about it," he warns.
Ran rolls her eyes. "I don't care about it. You weren't here before they swapped out that eagle. Whatever happened to it during the War made it completely insensible. Kid can ask riddles in dead languages and it'll still be an improvement."
-X-
"Mary's mother had four children. The first child was called April. The second May. The third June. What is the name of the fourth child?"
Shinichi frowns at the new portrait guarding the Ravenclaw dorm. Master Maskelyne simply waits.
"Mary," he answers, entering the Ravenclaw dorm. Michael Aman nearly runs him over in his haste to be the first student to Shinichi.
"Where did they take Kid?" he demands, several of his friends stepping up behind him.
"You heard that riddle, didn't you? Even a Gryffindor could figure that one out!"
"No one's been locked out for weeks now."
"Where were you?"
"Why did you let them move him?"
"Where is he?"
Shinichi raises his hands.
"Please. Quiet. I've only just returned. When was Kid moved?" Shinichi asks, moving to the fireplace and the wing-back chair situated just to the right. He brushes some of the dust off his robes, ashes still clinging to his hems.
"Three weeks ago. No one knows where he went. We've looked," Michael Amman conjures cushions, great floppy blue ones, and the students settle around him.
"And none of the portraits or teachers have said?"
"Professor Hakuba said good riddance," Sue-Anne Webster mutters.
"Even Madam Dunniger didn't know," Ali Cook says.
"What did Headmaster Katterfelto say?"
"That Kid was called home," Lennart Green says, "But Kid has always lived here."
That was odd.
-X-
"Where is Kid?" Shinichi asks.
Ran glances up at him, tying her hair back. Her flying leathers are polished to a gleam.
"The Headmaster said a restorer came for him. He's going to come back."
"A restorer?" Shinichi pauses. "I've never heard of a portrait leaving the castle before."
"We get new portraits in plenty. Surely one or two have left before," Ran says, picking up her broom and shouldering it. "He'll be back."
-X-
"It's a family, from what I've understood," Hattori says, "Kid was donated during the Restoration. He's been gone before, though not since he was made a Guardian. He'll be back."
"So everyone keeps saying. Now if you could tell my students that," Shinichi murmurs, keeping his voice down. The students nearest to him don't seem distracted, but they're Hufflepuffs. They wouldn't show it even if they were.
"It's not a great mystery. Not like the Black Star Pearl. What happened?"
"What do you think? Stolen from a locked room under anti apparition wards. Like the Blue Birthday. Like Purple Nail. Like Blue Wonder." Shinichi grimaces. "No one has seen one since they vanished. That's a mystery."
"Maybe Muggle ways since the Wizard ways are being circumvented," Hattori suggests.
"The Aurors will figure it out," Shinichi says, "What no one seems to know is when Kid will be returned and when my students will stop asking the Guardian riddles instead of the other way around."
"Asking the Guardian?" Hattori repeats.
"They riddle Master Maskelyne until he cannot think of the answers and someone in the dorm comes to open the portrait hole to let them in. They have a shift schedule for students to be in the dorms to let others in, nearly every book in the library concerning riddles and logic puzzles, and a betting pool for how many students just ask 'What's in my pocket?' It's impressive work."
"Trust Ravenclaws to change the rules," Hattori says, smiling at Shinichi's flat look.
"At the very least, they get points for positive representations of House pride."
-X-
The eagle knocker guards the Deputy Headmistress' office, chipped and tarnished but no less sharp for it. It doesn't ask questions anymore, something that Shinichi thinks privately is a shame. He remembers how the eagle asked the hardest questions, some requiring hours in the library to unwind, and regrets that the younger generations will never know.
Kid was doing a good job at it when he tried, though.
"I'm here to see Mistress Kuroba, please," he says, waiting for the eagle to decide to let him in or not. Unlike the gargoyle that guards the Headmaster, there is no password or riddle here. Only the good judgment of the eagle.
It decides to admit him, which Shinichi rushes to do before it changes its mind.
"I'm here for our appointment, Mistress," he says when he doesn't see her.
"Only a moment, Kudou-dear," she calls out.
He waits by her fireplace, the customary tea settings placed by the two arm chairs. He helps himself to tea, looking over the trinkets on her mantle. There's a clock with thirteen hours and four hands rotating the face sitting in the center of the mantle, but whatever incremental time the fourth hands keeps is unknown to him. It leaps and pulses like a beating heart.
"Now, what can I help you with, Kudou-dear?"
"I was hoping to speak about Kid," he says.
"Oh," she says, blinking quickly and patting her hands together. "I understand he's off with a restorer and will back with us soon. Is Master Maskelyn not doing a good job?"
"I was hoping you'd know when he'd be back," he hesitates and then adds, "Considering it's your family who's restoring him."
Mistress Kuroba smiles at him, and the years seem to melt off her face. She's far older than anyone knows, lived during the War and worked in partnership with the Magician of Fire Franz Hopper, and rumors had it they found how to replicate Flamel's secret stone that kept them young. She looks so much younger, it's a glamour falling off, Shinichi realizes.
She's not that much older than him in appearance, now.
"It's one of my nephews, if you must know."
"And when will Kid be returned?"
"Oh, I'm sure once he's had his fun, he'll be back. Would you like to know for personal reasons or on behalf of your students?" She watches him from her chair, cradling a tea cup between unblemished palms.
"Both, honestly," he admits, shuffling in place as silence lingers between them.
"Alright." She sets the cup aside and walks across the room to a painting on her wall. Dozens of doves a perched in a densely leafed tree, and as she approaches, one of them flutters to the lowest branch. "Go ask Kid when he will be back. Kudou-dear would like to know."
It flies out of the borders of the painting, off into the unknown space that portraits travel between their frames.
"Now, I will let you know when the bird returns with an answer, Kudou-dear. Was there anything else you needed?"
"Thank you, Mistress Kuroba," he says, shaking his head. "That's all I wanted to know."
"There let's have tea and talk of more pleasant things. It's not often I can so freely be myself," she says, gesturing to the opposite chair with finality.
It's easier to comply than to run.
-X-
"What was Kid famous for?" Shinichi repeats.
"Yeah. All of the other Guardians were famous when they were alive. Interrante the Explorer discovered hidden cities, The Fat Lady was one of the founding Ministry members, and Princess Tenko was part of the team that created Polyjuice Potion. We can't find anything about Kid, except that he was donated by the Mine family." Michael Amat and Ali Cook corner him after class, but Shinichi suspects they were only the ringleaders in this operation and it's much bigger than he thinks it is.
They're very organized when given motivation.
"Well." Shinichi stops. "I can't say that I've heard what he's famous for. I know he's Japanese in origin, despite the Mine family having roots in France."
"Do you know who would know?" Ali Cook asks.
"Maybe the Headmistress. She knows who is restoring him." Shinichi blinks as they both rush out of the room, thanking him as they go.
A quiet huff draws his eyes to the wall. The portrait of Kairaku-en in full bloom has a white dove perched as near to the forefront of the portrait as it can get. Once it sees him, it pulls a ribbon of paper from its foot and proudly holds it in its beak.
-See you in two days, Shinichi!-
Well.
Well.
-X-
"I think I have you to blame for all of my new tea party companions, Kudou-dear," Headmistress Kuroba smiles at him as she takes Hakuba's usual place at the Head Table. He'd taken the loss graciously, but the look Shinichi gets promises everyone will be cornering him at some point themselves.
"I might have been too direct," he admits.
"Oh, it's no problem. I miss having bright young things around," she says. She hasn't been able to teach a class in ten years, he remembers. She's a counselor and administrator more these days. "And I know you've heard the good news," she continues, "So they'll be getting their answers firsthand, I believe."
"I know they'll be excited," he says. It'll be a nice change of pace. Master Maskelyne will likely welcome the return to a quiet life.
And he's missed Kid, too.
-X-
"Welcome back, Kid," Shinichi says, smiling sightly despite how Kid visibly preens.
"Shinichi!" Kid leans closer to the forefront of the frame, the shadows hiding his face seemingly lighter, enough that Shinichi can make out the curve of his cheekbones. "You came to see me!"
"You've been missed," he says, "The students are overjoyed for your return."
"Just the students?" Kid asks, leaning against the border of his frame.
"Ravenclaw wasn't exactly fond of the temporary replacement. They brought their complaints to me. I missed my peace and quiet," Shinichi says. He hasn't has peace and quit since he joined the Hogwarts staff, and Kid knows it.
Kid laughs.
"Some of them have taken initiative," Kid says, "They're learning Japanese to beat me at my games."
"I know. Most of them are either learning Japanese or fine tuning translation charms. Deputy Headmistress Kuroba is very impressed."
"She does miss having conversations in her native tongue. I imagine she will miss having such a large Japanese staff this year."
"Not all of us are leaving. I know Ran and Hattori are going back to Mahoutokoro, but Hakuba and I are staying." Shinichi watches Kid closely, but the majority of his face is still too shadowed.
"Good." Kid leans down, meeting Shinichi's eyes as best he can. "I would miss you if you left, Shinichi."
"I'm sure you'd find some way to bother me," Shinichi says, completely sure, "After all, the Last Wizard of the Century wouldn't let a silly thing like being paint stop him from being a thief."
Kid stills, draws up straight with the sharp jerk, and nearly vanishes in the background despite his pristine white suit.
"So. You've figured me out. Always knew you were clever."
"The students wanted to know what made you famous enough to be a Guardian. I did a little looking; I have more resources in the International Wizarding World than my students. It was easy enough to figure out with enough hints. You've been dead for over a century, but Anti-Disapparition and Anti-Apparition wards aren't new inventions. Congratulations on being the only known wizard capable of circumventing them."
"Well. You can't be the only one when there's a thief out there taking things under those wards," Kid demurs, but Shinichi isn't fooled.
"Congratulations are also necessary for figuring out how to use magic as a portrait."
Kid stills. "Well. Thank you, I suppose. This is where you turn me in?"
"This is where you show me where you've stashed the things you've taken and I find an anonymous owl service to have them sent back."
Kid stared at him, and then smiles so large, his teeth are starkly visible. "I can show you where they are and then you can employ some creative magic in figuring out how to get them back out of the painting they're hiding in. Haven't figured that part out yet."
"But how do you do it?" Shinichi presses. This is something he couldn't figure out.
"I learned it by accident," Kid says, settling down on the bottom of his frame carelessly, "I saw something I had taken before my death being sold off to someone I quite despised, and I couldn't let it be. So I reached out-" Kid brought his hand up, twitched two of his fingers, and Shinichi's cloak was tugged hard enough to shuffle him forward, "And I had it in front of my portrait. The hard part was figuring out how to take it."
"You transfigured it."
"I did," Kid agrees, "I made it paint and pulled it to me. And I couldn't get it to go back."
"They say wandless magic is driven by our emotions. Maybe you didn't want to let it go enough to make it happen."
"I don't part with things easily."
"But you will."
"But I will for you," Kid lifts his hand again, and Shinichi could feel a wisp of something brush over his cheek. "You inspired me for today's riddle. It's tame compared to what I have in mind for the future. Until I am measures, I am not know,yet how you miss me when I have flown. What am I?"
"Time."
"Something it seems like we don't have enough of," Kid sighs, standing up and bowing, "Now I suppose you would like inside?"
"I thought maybe we could take a walk? And you can explain in more detail how you do what you do." Shinichi clenches a hand in nervousness, but Kid just laughs and nods.
"I thought you wanted me to take this job seriously?" Kid argues, but he walks alongside Shinichi anyway. It's almost unnerving to see him disappear and reappear in frames, often interrupting the other paintings without care.
The rest of the paintings either ignore them or watch over with a somewhat indulgent eye. They had their own loyalties, like the ghosts. They wouldn't give up Kid's secrets.
"I think I have some ideas for that," Shinichi says, "I have a family friend who loves Japanese word play. He gave me a journal of challenges as a gift when I left. Does your trick work with books?"
"You'd help me stand poor students out of their dorms?" Kid says, starting to grin.
"They'll never learn if you don't challenge them," Shinichi says, stopping to wait for the staircase to realign.
"It works with books," Kid says, and Shinichi's cloak is pulled again, bringing Shinichi closer to the painting Kid's in. "If you help me figure out how to get it back out. I wouldn't want to steal something precious from you."
"I think if we use a duplicate charm, we won't have any problems," Shinichi says.
Kid laughs, a hand goes up to shift his hat further over his face, and Shinichi is sure that Kid did see a restorer because he can actually see more of the shadowed side of his face.
"I never thought about using a duplicate charm," Kid confesses.
"It's a good thing I know how."
