Standard disclaimers apply.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hatori was staring stupidly at Shigure and Ayame. Both of them had several thick, leather bound books and pleading expressions on their faces. The fact that they had gotten the books from the Forbidden section of the library didn't seem to matter so much as their reasons for having them were.
"I told you," he said after a moment, "that I'm not going to help you play any jokes on anyone. We are not children anymore, and you would both do well to remember that. Now go and put those books back in the library before you get in trouble."
"Okay," Aya said promptly. He started to turn around, but Shigure stopped him.
"Don't forget about our plan," he told the hebi.
"That's right," Aya said, amazed that he had forgotten about it so easily.
"What plan?" Hatori asked suspiciously.
"We're going to become Animagus," Shigure said proudly. "We want you to become one too!"
"No," Hatori said.
"Please!" they both begged. "It'll be so much more fun with - " They didn't get a chance to plead their case further because at that moment Haru and Uotani arrived.
"There's trouble upstairs. Professor McGonagall found out about Kyou. We got to contain the problem before everyone knows," Uotani said.
"What she said," Haru added.
"Ha'ri. . . . will you . . . . ?" Aya asked as the doctor was hurrying away with Haru and Uotani.
Hatori, distracted by the news of Kyou's problem, nodded.
Shigure and Aya cheered. "Then that's a promise!" the inu wisely called after him.
"Hai!" Hatori responded as he raced out of the room.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Kyou's little heart was beating a hundred miles an hour. He could barely keep it from leaping through his throat. After nearly an hour of chasing him, Professor McGonagall had caught up to him.
He wasn't about to admit defeat though. He scratched, bit, and squirmed in her grip, but she held firm and he couldn't get loose.
"Hold still," McGonagall ordered in a sharp voice. If anything, it increased the orange cat's struggles.
McGonagall's eyes fell on Akito, who was watching the confrontation with narrowed gray eyes. He looked furious. "Souma, go fetch Professor Sprout. I'll need her help."
"No." Akito's voice fell flatly.
Kyou stopped struggling immediately. He recognized Akito's voice. That meant that his problem with McGonagall was the least of his worries. The head of the family wasn't going to be pleased that he had managed to get himself turned into a cat on the first official day at Hogwarts.
At least he didn't have to worry about everyone knowing his secret. Hatori would probably be along shortly with his memory erasing powers.
As if on cue, Hatori rounded the corner with Haru and Uotani.
"Professor McGonagall, if I could have your attention for a second . . . ?" he requested softly.
"One moment, Mr. Souma," the teacher responded. Since Kyou was holding still she released him, ready to pounce should he try and escape again. She didn't feel up for another long chase.
Kyou didn't move. Instead his tail started to twitch violently. Instinctively, he started to clean himself. He was licking his belly when Professor McGonagall waved her wand and turned him back into a human.
"There, now perhaps you can explain what you were doing running around the school naked with your clothes," she held up his clothes for emphasis, "In your mouth."
Kyou gratefully accepted his clothes and pulled them on. He didn't know how to explain his behavior. He couldn't just say that he had been in cat form and turned into a human without warning.
"And while your at it, you can tell me why you didn't attend a single class today," Professor McGonagall added.
Kyou rubbed his arm and looked at the wall. "What happened?" he asked. "How'd I turn into a cat, and how did you - "
"Turn you back into a human boy?" McGonagall supplied.
Kyou nodded.
"I transfigured you. If you had attended classes, you would have realized that it's possible for you to change one thing into another. Human transfiguration is extremely complex; that's why I had to wait until you held still before I used the counter spell - " her explanation continued along with a lecture.
Hatori ran his hands through his hair. "It should be okay," he said to Akito. "She turned him into a cat, he didn't transform."
"Still, I want him punished. He shouldn't have been racing around without his clothes on," Akito responded. He reached out and caught Haru by his sleeve as the ox was creeping away.
"What are you doing with Haru?" Hatori asked. They had started to make their way away from Kyou and McGonagall.
"I still need to talk to him," Akito snapped.
Hatori shook his head and turned down the nearest branch in the hallway. "Good night," he called over his shoulder.
After he was out of sight, Akito grinned widely. "I need your help," he said.
"With what?" Haru asked.
"Not you, BLACK!" Akito snapped.
"Huh?" Haru managed before Akito backhanded him in hopes of calling out Black Haru.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Momiji was exploring the castle. Tohru hadn't come with him at the end of potions, and he hadn't been able to really catch her attention since then. In fact, she seemed preoccupied with everyone around her.
Stomach rumbling, he noticed a large picture of a fruit basket. Remembering what Tohru had told Yuki about a game she had played as a child, he walked up to it and ran his fingers over a tasty looking pear.
The picture of the fruit basket swung open, revealing a wide passage. The delicious aroma of many cooking foods met his small nose.
"Ah," he said in amazement. He hurried through the door, a hungry expression on his face.
A sea of creatures turned to look at him with bulging green eyes the size of tennis balls. They all had large, bat like ears and were wearing pillow cases and other non clothes items.
"Hello!" Momiji exclaimed brightly. He pranced in closer and they gathered around him.
"Who are you?" a girl with lots of bushy brown hair asked. She was holding a large stack of papers and badges.
"Momiji Souma!" the boy exclaimed. "I'm in Hugglepuff - "
"You mean, 'Hufflepuff,' right?" the girl said. "There's no house called Hugglepuff."
Momiji shook his head. "Nope! I call everyone one there Hugglepuffs because they all like hugging so much!" He paused to look at the creatures again. "So. . . . who are you?" he asked.
"I'm Hermione Granger, the president of S.P.E.W," the girl said. She offered her hand and dropped a large pile of badges by accident.
Momiji bent down to help her pick them up. "What's spew?" he asked.
Hermione stacked a pile of the badges into a box. "Not spew, S.P.E.W. it stands for the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare.
"What's a house elf?" Momiji asked.
Hermione looked shocked. "They're poor innocent creatures who are worked like slaves. They don't get paid, or holidays, or sick leave or anything. They're expected to make the fires and beds and - "
"And do it for FREE!" one of the house elves exclaimed. He was dressed differently then the others. He had a small shirt and two brightly colored socks of different colors.
"You mean they make you into slaves!" Momiji demanded.
Hermione looked surprised. "You mean you can see the problem?" she inquired. Momiji nodded. "Then would you be interested in joining S.P.E.W?" she asked.
"Sure!" Momiji exclaimed. He wasn't doing anything else at the time. He signed his name to the paper and became an offical member of Spew.
Dobby, the house elf who had talked to him, bounced around him. As Momiji finished signing his name, the elf pointed out that Momiji was wearing two of the same color socks.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Yuki almost made it to his room. Then he ran into a group of Gryffindor boys. They were talking about someone who sounded an awful lot like Kisa. They were all laughing about some joke that they had played on her.
He caught one of the boys attention. "Excuse me, are you talking about Kisa Souma?" he asked softly.
The boy, who had black hair and a cruel expression on his face, smiled. "That might be the little wenches name," he said. "Why do you ask?" He had been the boy who had placed the spell on Kisa.
Hey Vol- I mean Tom," one of the other boys said, falling short on calling the boy Voldermort, which was who he was.
"What?" Voldermort asked his flunky. He had come up with the perfect plan to defeat Harry Potter. Well actually, one of his spells had backfired and turned him into a child again. Because of all the magick he had performed on himself, he didn't look like he had used to. Making the most of the situation, he enrolled in Hogwarts under the name Tom Sharp.
Before his flunky could answer, Yuki buried his fist in Voldermort's face. "If you know what's good for you, you'll leave Kisa alone," he warned.
He walked down the hall and out of sight before any of them could respond.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Hana and Kagura finally found the perfect place to brew their love potion. In an out of order girl's bathroom. Apparently a ghost haunted the toilets. Neither of them was worried too much about it.
"We'll need some Strawberry Nymph blossoms," Hana said, glancing over the potion that they had chosen. "I think Professor Snape has some . . . . . "
"Yeah, but how will we get 'em?" Kagura asked.
"Well, either you distract him and I'll steal them or I'll distract him and you steal them," Hana said.
Several minutes later, they were standing outside Snape's office. Kagura took a deep breath and waited as Hana entered.
"Professor Snape. . . . . did you know that the human body is composed of 70% water . . . . . . "
Kagura tuned out what she was saying and slipped into Snape's office, helping herself to his private supply of potion ingredients. Leaving the room, she gave Hana a thumbs up sign.
Hana abruptly stopped talking. "One more thing. If you do anything to hurt Tohru, you will be 'beep' with electric waves." She turned and practically floated out the door.
Snape blinked in irritation. She had been talking to him while his mind was occupied. He had barely heard a thing she had said, but her parting words had been a threat without a doubt.
He made a note to catch her doing something illegal before the end of the year. Then he went back to the more pressing concern of the vivid Dark Mark on his forearm.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Tohru was in the Hufflepuff common room. She had tons of homework to do still, but she couldn't focus. It was becoming more and more clear that she didn't know a thing about her stuff.
In fact, the homework didn't make any sense at all. Worried that she would get a failing grade, she headed down to the dungeons to talk to Snape about a potions problem that she didn't understand.
"What are you doing there?!" Filch snapped.
"Hmmmm?" Oh, I was having trouble with my homework and thought that I might ask Professor Snape if he could give me a hand," Tohru said brightly.
She noticed that Filch had a mop in his hands and was trying to scrub a thick layer of dirt off a flight of steps. He wasn't having much luck by the looks of things.
"Here," she offered. "You need some more soap in your water." She glanced at the water, which was murky brown, and laughed. "Actually, you need fresh water completely."
She emptied the water in a near by bathroom, that had a ton of potion ingredients strewn across the floor. Then she stepped back into the hall, hauling a bucket of fresh water with her.
She added a half a cup of soap to the water and swished it around with the mop. "See," she said brightly and started to scrub the steps.
Filch was speechless. He didn't know what to say. He was used to students avoiding him, not super mopping his floors.
He reached for the mop, but by that time Tohru was halfway down the stairs. "Then you have to rinse. . . . . " she continued to explain cleaning procedures to Argus Filch, the caretaker of Hogwarts.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Professor Dumbledore looked up as Professor Sprout escorted the new students into the room. After careful consideration, he had decided to allow them to attend classes in spite of having missed the first day.
"You understand that we'll have a private Sorting Ceremony, right?" he asked.
Rin Souma nodded, her long black hair mingling with her black cloak. "Of course," she said simply.
"It would have been much easier if you had sent your owls in by the time limit - " Professor Sprout began to say.
"Gomen nasai! I'm SOOORRRRRYYYYYYY!! I should be killed! How could I not realize that they had to be sent in by - "
"It's quite all right," Dumbledore said, trying to soothe the distraught Ritsu. "We'll just get - "
But Ritsu continued to apologize excessively until Hiro poked him sharply in the side. Then he shut up completely.
Dumbledore pulled the Sorting Hat off of a shelf and handed it to Rin. "Just put it on your head and it'll tell you where you belong."
"What about my song?" the hat asked.
Dumbledore's eyes sparkled as the hat launched itself into a long song about the four houses at Hogwarts.
Rin tapped her foot impatiently. Ritsu held his breath, not wanting to disrupt the hat. Hiro scowled, a suprior look on his face. Kunero's jaw just hung down in amazement. And Kana looked amazed, but only mildly.
All five of them had been turned back into children, but unlike the others, Akito hadn't made them sign up at Hogwarts. In fact, he hadn't gotten their owls at all - mostly because the owls had gotten lost.
They had decided to attend classes on their own after they attempted in vain to find Akito. If he was against their decision, he could try and find them. He was, as far as they knew, in Japan, not England.
Rin smiled slightly. Being at Hogwarts would give her a helpful insight into curses. With any luck, by the start of her second year, she would be able to break the family curse. Then she wouldn't turn into a horse anymore.
She placed the hat on her head. "Slytherian," it said after a moment. She handed it back to Dumbledore and stood up.
"Ritsu, if you would come next," Dumbledore said.
Ritsu sat down and put the hat on his head. "Hmmmmmm, very difficult to place," the hat muttered.
Immediately Ritsu started to panic. "I'm so sorry. I - " before he could say anymore, the hat spoke.
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
Hiro poked Ritsu to shut him up again and plopped the hat on his own head. "SLYTHERIAN!" the hat bellowed after another moment. The sheep handed the hat to Kunero and walked towards his sister, Rin.
Unlike everyone else, he had only lost a little bit of time. Instead of being eleven and ten months, he was just eleven now. It was no big loss.
Kunero put the hat on and waited for several moments before the hat responded. "GRYFFINDOR!" it exclaimed.
Kana was the last of the new members to get the hat. After a couple of minutes, it declared her a Ravenclaw.
"That's surprising," Dumbledore noted. "That makes you our second Ravenclaw this year."
"Oh really? Who's the other one?" she asked.
"Hatori Souma," Dumbledore said, his eyes sparkling. "But never mind that right now, welcome to Hogwarts."
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Kisa was in the library when Harry found her. It was late and she had fallen asleep.
She woke to the feeling of being shaken lightly. "Kisa, wake up. You'll get in trouble if you're caught out of bed," he said.
She blinked groggily at him. "Wha-" she started to mutter before she remembered being attacked in History of Magick.
He offered her his hand and she shied away from him. "It's okay," Harry said. "We'll get back before anyone notices we're missing. I heard about what happen from you're cousin, Yuki - "
Kisa pulled away from him even more. Harry didn't seem to notice. He held his hand out, silently waiting for her to take it.
Kisa didn't know what to think. He was staring at her steadily with his vibrant green eyes looking sincere behind his glasses. He didn't seem distrust worthy at all. And yet she had been starting to relax, thinking everyone was okay when she had been picked on again.
"It's okay," Harry said again. "Just forget about them gits. They aren't worth worrying about. You should focus more on getting through your studies, and - "
A light filled the entrance to the library.
"Quick hurry," Harry whispered. He pulled her out of the alcove she was hiding in and under a large cloak with him.
They held still while Filch and Tohru put the cleaning equipment away.
"Sissy. .. ." Kisa murmured, but neither of them heard her.
"Go to bed," Filch ordered Tohru.
"Huh? Oh, I can't. I still have to finish my homework. I guess this took longer then I expected. . . . . "
Filch waved her towards the exit. "Go on and get out of here," he said. He closed the broom cupboard and locked it with a heavy key.
"Uhmmmm. . . . " Tohru stopped.
"What?" Filch demanded. She was really strange. It was throwing him off.
"I was wondering. . . . if you had any extra work. . . . well, I would be willing to help after school . . . . ." she said.
Under the cloak Harry nearly choked. Standing in the open, Filch choked.
Several moments later, Tohru left with a promise that she would help the bewildered Filch, who looked as if he was going to pass out from confusion.
After they were both gone, Harry led Kisa upstairs to the Gryffindor tower. Then she slipped into her own room and went to bed.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Author's notes;
Okay, Yuki is in Slytherian for a reason. Actually a couple of reasons.
#1) He's got a secretive nature. He's not as warm hearted as you would think.
#2) (and more importantly) It's the opposite of Gryffindor, where his rival, Kyou is.
Those are my reasons. Sorry if they seem strange.
Then, I decided to add Rin, Ritsu, Kana, Kunero, and Hiro to keep things interesting.
Oh, and I decided that Voldermort will be at school. I'm not sure what happened, but he's going to be causing trouble on and off.
Anyway, thanks for reading and please review.
Kissa-chan
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Hatori was staring stupidly at Shigure and Ayame. Both of them had several thick, leather bound books and pleading expressions on their faces. The fact that they had gotten the books from the Forbidden section of the library didn't seem to matter so much as their reasons for having them were.
"I told you," he said after a moment, "that I'm not going to help you play any jokes on anyone. We are not children anymore, and you would both do well to remember that. Now go and put those books back in the library before you get in trouble."
"Okay," Aya said promptly. He started to turn around, but Shigure stopped him.
"Don't forget about our plan," he told the hebi.
"That's right," Aya said, amazed that he had forgotten about it so easily.
"What plan?" Hatori asked suspiciously.
"We're going to become Animagus," Shigure said proudly. "We want you to become one too!"
"No," Hatori said.
"Please!" they both begged. "It'll be so much more fun with - " They didn't get a chance to plead their case further because at that moment Haru and Uotani arrived.
"There's trouble upstairs. Professor McGonagall found out about Kyou. We got to contain the problem before everyone knows," Uotani said.
"What she said," Haru added.
"Ha'ri. . . . will you . . . . ?" Aya asked as the doctor was hurrying away with Haru and Uotani.
Hatori, distracted by the news of Kyou's problem, nodded.
Shigure and Aya cheered. "Then that's a promise!" the inu wisely called after him.
"Hai!" Hatori responded as he raced out of the room.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Kyou's little heart was beating a hundred miles an hour. He could barely keep it from leaping through his throat. After nearly an hour of chasing him, Professor McGonagall had caught up to him.
He wasn't about to admit defeat though. He scratched, bit, and squirmed in her grip, but she held firm and he couldn't get loose.
"Hold still," McGonagall ordered in a sharp voice. If anything, it increased the orange cat's struggles.
McGonagall's eyes fell on Akito, who was watching the confrontation with narrowed gray eyes. He looked furious. "Souma, go fetch Professor Sprout. I'll need her help."
"No." Akito's voice fell flatly.
Kyou stopped struggling immediately. He recognized Akito's voice. That meant that his problem with McGonagall was the least of his worries. The head of the family wasn't going to be pleased that he had managed to get himself turned into a cat on the first official day at Hogwarts.
At least he didn't have to worry about everyone knowing his secret. Hatori would probably be along shortly with his memory erasing powers.
As if on cue, Hatori rounded the corner with Haru and Uotani.
"Professor McGonagall, if I could have your attention for a second . . . ?" he requested softly.
"One moment, Mr. Souma," the teacher responded. Since Kyou was holding still she released him, ready to pounce should he try and escape again. She didn't feel up for another long chase.
Kyou didn't move. Instead his tail started to twitch violently. Instinctively, he started to clean himself. He was licking his belly when Professor McGonagall waved her wand and turned him back into a human.
"There, now perhaps you can explain what you were doing running around the school naked with your clothes," she held up his clothes for emphasis, "In your mouth."
Kyou gratefully accepted his clothes and pulled them on. He didn't know how to explain his behavior. He couldn't just say that he had been in cat form and turned into a human without warning.
"And while your at it, you can tell me why you didn't attend a single class today," Professor McGonagall added.
Kyou rubbed his arm and looked at the wall. "What happened?" he asked. "How'd I turn into a cat, and how did you - "
"Turn you back into a human boy?" McGonagall supplied.
Kyou nodded.
"I transfigured you. If you had attended classes, you would have realized that it's possible for you to change one thing into another. Human transfiguration is extremely complex; that's why I had to wait until you held still before I used the counter spell - " her explanation continued along with a lecture.
Hatori ran his hands through his hair. "It should be okay," he said to Akito. "She turned him into a cat, he didn't transform."
"Still, I want him punished. He shouldn't have been racing around without his clothes on," Akito responded. He reached out and caught Haru by his sleeve as the ox was creeping away.
"What are you doing with Haru?" Hatori asked. They had started to make their way away from Kyou and McGonagall.
"I still need to talk to him," Akito snapped.
Hatori shook his head and turned down the nearest branch in the hallway. "Good night," he called over his shoulder.
After he was out of sight, Akito grinned widely. "I need your help," he said.
"With what?" Haru asked.
"Not you, BLACK!" Akito snapped.
"Huh?" Haru managed before Akito backhanded him in hopes of calling out Black Haru.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Momiji was exploring the castle. Tohru hadn't come with him at the end of potions, and he hadn't been able to really catch her attention since then. In fact, she seemed preoccupied with everyone around her.
Stomach rumbling, he noticed a large picture of a fruit basket. Remembering what Tohru had told Yuki about a game she had played as a child, he walked up to it and ran his fingers over a tasty looking pear.
The picture of the fruit basket swung open, revealing a wide passage. The delicious aroma of many cooking foods met his small nose.
"Ah," he said in amazement. He hurried through the door, a hungry expression on his face.
A sea of creatures turned to look at him with bulging green eyes the size of tennis balls. They all had large, bat like ears and were wearing pillow cases and other non clothes items.
"Hello!" Momiji exclaimed brightly. He pranced in closer and they gathered around him.
"Who are you?" a girl with lots of bushy brown hair asked. She was holding a large stack of papers and badges.
"Momiji Souma!" the boy exclaimed. "I'm in Hugglepuff - "
"You mean, 'Hufflepuff,' right?" the girl said. "There's no house called Hugglepuff."
Momiji shook his head. "Nope! I call everyone one there Hugglepuffs because they all like hugging so much!" He paused to look at the creatures again. "So. . . . who are you?" he asked.
"I'm Hermione Granger, the president of S.P.E.W," the girl said. She offered her hand and dropped a large pile of badges by accident.
Momiji bent down to help her pick them up. "What's spew?" he asked.
Hermione stacked a pile of the badges into a box. "Not spew, S.P.E.W. it stands for the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare.
"What's a house elf?" Momiji asked.
Hermione looked shocked. "They're poor innocent creatures who are worked like slaves. They don't get paid, or holidays, or sick leave or anything. They're expected to make the fires and beds and - "
"And do it for FREE!" one of the house elves exclaimed. He was dressed differently then the others. He had a small shirt and two brightly colored socks of different colors.
"You mean they make you into slaves!" Momiji demanded.
Hermione looked surprised. "You mean you can see the problem?" she inquired. Momiji nodded. "Then would you be interested in joining S.P.E.W?" she asked.
"Sure!" Momiji exclaimed. He wasn't doing anything else at the time. He signed his name to the paper and became an offical member of Spew.
Dobby, the house elf who had talked to him, bounced around him. As Momiji finished signing his name, the elf pointed out that Momiji was wearing two of the same color socks.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Yuki almost made it to his room. Then he ran into a group of Gryffindor boys. They were talking about someone who sounded an awful lot like Kisa. They were all laughing about some joke that they had played on her.
He caught one of the boys attention. "Excuse me, are you talking about Kisa Souma?" he asked softly.
The boy, who had black hair and a cruel expression on his face, smiled. "That might be the little wenches name," he said. "Why do you ask?" He had been the boy who had placed the spell on Kisa.
Hey Vol- I mean Tom," one of the other boys said, falling short on calling the boy Voldermort, which was who he was.
"What?" Voldermort asked his flunky. He had come up with the perfect plan to defeat Harry Potter. Well actually, one of his spells had backfired and turned him into a child again. Because of all the magick he had performed on himself, he didn't look like he had used to. Making the most of the situation, he enrolled in Hogwarts under the name Tom Sharp.
Before his flunky could answer, Yuki buried his fist in Voldermort's face. "If you know what's good for you, you'll leave Kisa alone," he warned.
He walked down the hall and out of sight before any of them could respond.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Hana and Kagura finally found the perfect place to brew their love potion. In an out of order girl's bathroom. Apparently a ghost haunted the toilets. Neither of them was worried too much about it.
"We'll need some Strawberry Nymph blossoms," Hana said, glancing over the potion that they had chosen. "I think Professor Snape has some . . . . . "
"Yeah, but how will we get 'em?" Kagura asked.
"Well, either you distract him and I'll steal them or I'll distract him and you steal them," Hana said.
Several minutes later, they were standing outside Snape's office. Kagura took a deep breath and waited as Hana entered.
"Professor Snape. . . . . did you know that the human body is composed of 70% water . . . . . . "
Kagura tuned out what she was saying and slipped into Snape's office, helping herself to his private supply of potion ingredients. Leaving the room, she gave Hana a thumbs up sign.
Hana abruptly stopped talking. "One more thing. If you do anything to hurt Tohru, you will be 'beep' with electric waves." She turned and practically floated out the door.
Snape blinked in irritation. She had been talking to him while his mind was occupied. He had barely heard a thing she had said, but her parting words had been a threat without a doubt.
He made a note to catch her doing something illegal before the end of the year. Then he went back to the more pressing concern of the vivid Dark Mark on his forearm.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Tohru was in the Hufflepuff common room. She had tons of homework to do still, but she couldn't focus. It was becoming more and more clear that she didn't know a thing about her stuff.
In fact, the homework didn't make any sense at all. Worried that she would get a failing grade, she headed down to the dungeons to talk to Snape about a potions problem that she didn't understand.
"What are you doing there?!" Filch snapped.
"Hmmmm?" Oh, I was having trouble with my homework and thought that I might ask Professor Snape if he could give me a hand," Tohru said brightly.
She noticed that Filch had a mop in his hands and was trying to scrub a thick layer of dirt off a flight of steps. He wasn't having much luck by the looks of things.
"Here," she offered. "You need some more soap in your water." She glanced at the water, which was murky brown, and laughed. "Actually, you need fresh water completely."
She emptied the water in a near by bathroom, that had a ton of potion ingredients strewn across the floor. Then she stepped back into the hall, hauling a bucket of fresh water with her.
She added a half a cup of soap to the water and swished it around with the mop. "See," she said brightly and started to scrub the steps.
Filch was speechless. He didn't know what to say. He was used to students avoiding him, not super mopping his floors.
He reached for the mop, but by that time Tohru was halfway down the stairs. "Then you have to rinse. . . . . " she continued to explain cleaning procedures to Argus Filch, the caretaker of Hogwarts.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Professor Dumbledore looked up as Professor Sprout escorted the new students into the room. After careful consideration, he had decided to allow them to attend classes in spite of having missed the first day.
"You understand that we'll have a private Sorting Ceremony, right?" he asked.
Rin Souma nodded, her long black hair mingling with her black cloak. "Of course," she said simply.
"It would have been much easier if you had sent your owls in by the time limit - " Professor Sprout began to say.
"Gomen nasai! I'm SOOORRRRRYYYYYYY!! I should be killed! How could I not realize that they had to be sent in by - "
"It's quite all right," Dumbledore said, trying to soothe the distraught Ritsu. "We'll just get - "
But Ritsu continued to apologize excessively until Hiro poked him sharply in the side. Then he shut up completely.
Dumbledore pulled the Sorting Hat off of a shelf and handed it to Rin. "Just put it on your head and it'll tell you where you belong."
"What about my song?" the hat asked.
Dumbledore's eyes sparkled as the hat launched itself into a long song about the four houses at Hogwarts.
Rin tapped her foot impatiently. Ritsu held his breath, not wanting to disrupt the hat. Hiro scowled, a suprior look on his face. Kunero's jaw just hung down in amazement. And Kana looked amazed, but only mildly.
All five of them had been turned back into children, but unlike the others, Akito hadn't made them sign up at Hogwarts. In fact, he hadn't gotten their owls at all - mostly because the owls had gotten lost.
They had decided to attend classes on their own after they attempted in vain to find Akito. If he was against their decision, he could try and find them. He was, as far as they knew, in Japan, not England.
Rin smiled slightly. Being at Hogwarts would give her a helpful insight into curses. With any luck, by the start of her second year, she would be able to break the family curse. Then she wouldn't turn into a horse anymore.
She placed the hat on her head. "Slytherian," it said after a moment. She handed it back to Dumbledore and stood up.
"Ritsu, if you would come next," Dumbledore said.
Ritsu sat down and put the hat on his head. "Hmmmmmm, very difficult to place," the hat muttered.
Immediately Ritsu started to panic. "I'm so sorry. I - " before he could say anymore, the hat spoke.
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
Hiro poked Ritsu to shut him up again and plopped the hat on his own head. "SLYTHERIAN!" the hat bellowed after another moment. The sheep handed the hat to Kunero and walked towards his sister, Rin.
Unlike everyone else, he had only lost a little bit of time. Instead of being eleven and ten months, he was just eleven now. It was no big loss.
Kunero put the hat on and waited for several moments before the hat responded. "GRYFFINDOR!" it exclaimed.
Kana was the last of the new members to get the hat. After a couple of minutes, it declared her a Ravenclaw.
"That's surprising," Dumbledore noted. "That makes you our second Ravenclaw this year."
"Oh really? Who's the other one?" she asked.
"Hatori Souma," Dumbledore said, his eyes sparkling. "But never mind that right now, welcome to Hogwarts."
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Kisa was in the library when Harry found her. It was late and she had fallen asleep.
She woke to the feeling of being shaken lightly. "Kisa, wake up. You'll get in trouble if you're caught out of bed," he said.
She blinked groggily at him. "Wha-" she started to mutter before she remembered being attacked in History of Magick.
He offered her his hand and she shied away from him. "It's okay," Harry said. "We'll get back before anyone notices we're missing. I heard about what happen from you're cousin, Yuki - "
Kisa pulled away from him even more. Harry didn't seem to notice. He held his hand out, silently waiting for her to take it.
Kisa didn't know what to think. He was staring at her steadily with his vibrant green eyes looking sincere behind his glasses. He didn't seem distrust worthy at all. And yet she had been starting to relax, thinking everyone was okay when she had been picked on again.
"It's okay," Harry said again. "Just forget about them gits. They aren't worth worrying about. You should focus more on getting through your studies, and - "
A light filled the entrance to the library.
"Quick hurry," Harry whispered. He pulled her out of the alcove she was hiding in and under a large cloak with him.
They held still while Filch and Tohru put the cleaning equipment away.
"Sissy. .. ." Kisa murmured, but neither of them heard her.
"Go to bed," Filch ordered Tohru.
"Huh? Oh, I can't. I still have to finish my homework. I guess this took longer then I expected. . . . . "
Filch waved her towards the exit. "Go on and get out of here," he said. He closed the broom cupboard and locked it with a heavy key.
"Uhmmmm. . . . " Tohru stopped.
"What?" Filch demanded. She was really strange. It was throwing him off.
"I was wondering. . . . if you had any extra work. . . . well, I would be willing to help after school . . . . ." she said.
Under the cloak Harry nearly choked. Standing in the open, Filch choked.
Several moments later, Tohru left with a promise that she would help the bewildered Filch, who looked as if he was going to pass out from confusion.
After they were both gone, Harry led Kisa upstairs to the Gryffindor tower. Then she slipped into her own room and went to bed.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Author's notes;
Okay, Yuki is in Slytherian for a reason. Actually a couple of reasons.
#1) He's got a secretive nature. He's not as warm hearted as you would think.
#2) (and more importantly) It's the opposite of Gryffindor, where his rival, Kyou is.
Those are my reasons. Sorry if they seem strange.
Then, I decided to add Rin, Ritsu, Kana, Kunero, and Hiro to keep things interesting.
Oh, and I decided that Voldermort will be at school. I'm not sure what happened, but he's going to be causing trouble on and off.
Anyway, thanks for reading and please review.
Kissa-chan
