A/N: Don't you guys just love it when I single you out like this? Ahem, to Silver Saffire, in response to your comment about Kioko going to the Durslys with Hotaru I'm going to have to ask you to think about it. If Mistress 9 suddenly took over Hotaru's body, who's the first person she's going after? The one who can do her the most damage, meaning a witch or wizard. Now, if Kioko were there as well, the chance of Mistress 9 taking down the both of them are a bit more slim because in all likelihood the two wizards wouldn't be in the same room. Remember that Hotaru is still a threat to others through Mistress 9, even though things have been quiet for her so far, I'll get to that later. But do you really think it'd be wise to send Hotaru off somewhere with no one to watch out for Mistress 9 but Harry? No, he's got to many problems, and he wouldn't be able to handle Mistress 9 on his own. And the Durslys might as well be three piles of dirt for all they could do to her. Keep in mind that I am not criticizing you, but explaining why it's actually a smart thing for Kioko to go along as well (besides the fact that things will be a lot more interesting with her around). You know you've been around your Driving Instructor too long when you start writing things that you'd expect from her.
Journal Entry, SNEAK: It's been a good while since I've written anything, a very long while. But I just haven't had time to write I suppose, my homework is beginning to kill me, though I'm not too worried about the O.W.L.s, if I'm getting a higher level of homework than they expect I think I'll do fine. Kioko is also very confident that she'll do good, of course she is. They've just now started giving her really complex homework as well. But now I think I have to write a few things down.
It's been a few weeks since the incident with Trelawney…but that' s not very important, what's important is what happened our last D.A. meeting, it was something I will never forget for the rest of my life.
Kioko and I had, of course, mastered conjuring a Patronus before many others. Kioko conjured up a very large cat creature and mine was a raven. They ran around the room, or flew in my case, and we were laughing with a bunch of others when the door suddenly opened and closed. But there didn't seem to be anyone coming in. The next moment a frantic little House-Elf passed us and moved on to Harry.
"Hi Dobby!" Harry said, happily at first, and then, "What are you—What's wrong?"
"Harry Potter, sir…" Dobby Squieked, "Harry Potter, sir….Dobby had come to warn you…but the house-elves have been warned not to tell…"
"What's happened, Dobby?" Harry asked. I moved forward to see what was going on and found Harry holding the elf still.
"Harry Potter…she…she…"
"Who's 'she', Dobby?" Harry asked as the house elf hit himself on the nose. Harry grabbed that hand as well. "Umbridge?!" Harry exclaimed "What about her? Dobby—she hasn't found out about this—about us—about the D.A.?…Is she coming?"
"Yes, Harry Potter, yes!" The house elf exclaimed.
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? RUN!!!" Harry exclaimed.
'Follow my lead.' Kioko told me. She grabbed my hand and made for a bend in the hall, she then checked to see if anyone had seen from that end, and then she started strolling back down the hall as if nothing had happened. I did as she did. She made to look confused at all the running people, in fact she looked downright shocked and pressed herself against the wall to keep from getting in their way. Figuring out what she was doing I did the same.
"Trip Jinx, Potter!" Hotaru spun around to find Harry on the floor and Malfoy emerging from behind a dragon shaped vase. "Hey Pr—" the next instant he was up in the air, Kioko holding him by his robes.
"I thought I said no more jinxing the Gryffindors you weed!!!" She exclaimed. Malfoy just rolled his eyes, but went along with it, probably because of the position Kioko had him in.
"Professor I caught one!" He called back. "Though Night is getting in the way." He grumbled.
Professor Umbridge bustled around the corner, breathless but looking exceedingly happy, much to Hotaru's furry. "It's him!" She said gleefully. "Please put Draco down miss Night. Excellent, Draco, excellent, oh very good—fifty points to Slytherin! I'll take him from here…Stand up, Potter!"
"What? What the heck are you doing?!" Kioko yelled letting Draco slam down on the floor. "He just jinxed Harry and you're rewarding him?! What are you trying to teach at this school?!" Kioko demanded.
"Mr. Potter and a group of others have been having regular meetings without my permission!" Umbridge said, grabbing Harry and pulling him up. "Draco you hop along and see if you can round up anymore of them, tell the others to look in the library—anybody out of breath—check the bathrooms, Miss Parkingson can do the girl's ones—off you go—and you," Umbridge said as we walked on down the hallway.
"What?" Draco asked irritably.
I regretted it, I knew I would, but I was just so angry! So, I approached him and I, I slapped him. "How could you!?" I demanded to his stunned face. "You-you promised you wouldn't say anything!!! You PROMISED me you wouldn't tell her!!!" I exclaimed.
"It-it wasn't me!" He faltered, "It was the same girl who tipped me off! She told Umbridge about the D.A., not me!" He defended uneasily.
"That still doesn't explain why you're helping her!!!" I shrieked, trying to keep my voice down. I then stalked down the hallway, whipping tears away from my eyes. Didn't he get the fact that if those in the D.A. were discovered, I could have been expelled?! Was his rivalry with Harry more important to him than me? It very well seemed like it.
I've pretty much locked myself up in my dorm room, though I can't actually lock the door because Kioko is sharing it with me, but I wasn't going to come out for the rest of the evening.
Though the next morning as I got up early and was walking to the great hall, it appeared Malfoy knew I was an early riser and had gotten up early himself. He cornered me in the hall that day, grabbing my arm so I had no choice but to turn and face him. Though I did it reluctantly.
"Listen, Tomo, I didn't rat you out, Edgecombe did. And I wasn't going to let you get caught or anything, just Potter. And he's still not expelled." Draco said to me, "And what was I suppose to say to Umbridge? 'I can't help you because the girl I fancy is a part of that meeting'? And besides, if I wasn't there you might have gotten caught, even though Night seemed to have that under control." He explained.
Again he'd known just what to say, (is he being tutored on this kind of stuff?) and I forgave him, of course. I even apologized for slapping him. It seems both he and Kioko were utterly shocked and neither could bring themselves together fast enough to follow me. Though after Kioko broke out of her stupor she started releasing enough Hexes on Draco that he was able to come back to life and run.
What happened the other night was Marietta had ratted us out and told Umbridge about our meeting. But she didn't tell her anything else because of Hermione's spell. Well, Pansy Parkingson clamed that just before she'd taken the paper she saw Harry's name there first and Umbridge knew he was behind it. When they tried getting more information out of Marietta she just shook her head because a man named Kingsley modified her memory. Dumbledore took the blame and was going to be arrested, but he hexed them all and disappeared using Fawks. That's all of what I could get from the roomers. And it seemed that everyone knew what had happened.
Signs of Umbridge's new headmaster position weren't something that surprised me much. She is what you could call a real control freak. She kept passing all these Educational Decrees just to give herself more power so it was just a matter of time before she became Headmaster.
Something a bit…odd I suppose, happened that day after Herbology. I saw Draco hanging near Ron, Harry, Hermione, and someone else that I think was in the D.A.. At first I thought he was being friendly, but then I noted Crabbe and Goyle beside him snickering.
"I know prefects can't dock points, Weasel King," Malfoy sneered, "But members of the Inquisitorial Squad—"
"The what?" Hermione asked sharply.
"The Inquisitorial Squad, Granger. A select group of students who are supportive of the Ministry of Magic, hand-picked by Professor Umbridge. Anyway, members of the Inquisitorial Squad do have the power to dock points…So, Granger I'll have five from you for being rude about our new headmistress…Macmillan, five for contradicting me…Five because I don't like you, Potter…Weasley, your shirt's untucked (A/N: I JUST FOUND A SPELLING ERROR IN THE BOOK!!! THERE IS NO SUCH WORD AS UNTUCKED!!!), so I'll have another five for that…Oh yeah, I forgot, you're a Mudblood, Granger, so ten for that…"
"Oh dear, that means you'll have to take ten points from Slytherin because I am a Mudblood as well." I said before Kioko could retort. I tried hard to keep the irritation out of my voice, I'm not sure if it worked though.
Draco stiffened up and looked as though he'd been caught doing something he wasn't suppose to in front of his mother. Crabbe and Goyle started moving away from Draco.
"Er…" Was all Malfoy could seem to get out.
I sighed, "Not liking someone, pointing out their shirt is untucked, and blaming them for something they can't help are not grounds upon which you can dock points, Draco. And why don't you like Harry? Is it because his hair is the opposite color of yours?" I asked.
"I think I'm corrupting you Hotaru, that sounds like something I would say." Kioko said. Malfoy glared at her, "Touchy today, aren't we? Well let's see here, I think I'll give Gryffindor back 5 points because of the willpower it must take for Harry to put up with Malfoy, 10 points to Hermione for putting up with his absurd comment, and an extra 5 points for the great amount of willpower it must have taken to keep herself from blowing Malfoy into itty bitty unrecognizable bits."
"What?!" Draco exclaimed as the Gryffindor jar filled itself up a bit more. "But that means you have to be…"
"I'm also docking 5 points from my own house for the shame I feel because of Malfoy's corruption of the Slytherin name." Kioko declared.
Fred and George, who seemingly appeared out of nowhere, suddenly gasped. "You, you're on her side?!" They demanded.
Kioko just looked at them, "Fred, George,"
"What, Traitor?" they asked leering at her.
"Ah, you see I am a traitor, though not to you!" She told them proudly, showing us the silver I on her robes.
"And I suppose if I tell someone about this you'll have my head on a silver platter." Malfoy mumbled.
"Oh, no, no, no, I plan on sticking your head on a pike and put it at the entrance to the Slytherin dormitory to warn anyone away from the proposition of betraying me. Mind you, you can't do this if you mutilate the head, with a silver platter you can do whatever you want, but with the pike you have to make sure there is a clean cut or else it just won't work and…why are you staring at me?" She asked innocently.
It wasn't the most…pleasant of topics, but I was more or less use to her antics by now, I had to be. And the way she talks about these things as if they were a normal occurrence tends to make people a bit uncomfortable sometimes, and therefore the looks on their faces are just so comical it's hard not to let out a giggle or two.
"You've done this before?!" Ron exclaimed.
"Wasn't suppose to tell you that…" Kioko said off to the side. Of course she hadn't, but she liked messing with people's minds, making them think she had when she never said yes to their questions.
I just giggled, "She hasn't, she's just saying that to make you think she has."
Kioko gave a bow, "I had you fooled there for a moment didn't I?" She asked smirking. They nodded.
"In any case," I stepped in between Draco and Harry, "I think that if you two just put your differences aside you'd be fairly good friends. I mean it." I told them sincerely.
"As if." They both said at the same time, they then glared at each other.
"Awwwww, they're already starting to say the same thing simultaneously." Kioko said, the two turned their glares upon her, "And the glare the same way as well. Though that could be more my fault that Draco's, that's besides the point." She said waving it off. "Though they say that the more you fight with someone the more you love them. Gasp! That must mean that you care more about Harry than you do Hotaru, shame on you!"
"Shut up." Draco said, not even going into it. Kioko only smirked at him. He then took my hand and lead me on down the hall and away from everyone else. Obviously meaning to speak to me alone. "Could you stop doing that, please?" He asked when there was no one else around.
"Doing what?" I asked, though I suspected he meant for me to stop suggesting he make friends with Harry.
"I don't know! Making me feel guilty I suppose!" He answered throwing his hands in the air. "Whenever you're around I can't seem to enjoy other people's displeasure, I feel guilty for it. I use to be able to have a nice go at Potter and feel proud of myself because I landed him in detention, but the instant I see you again all the fun gets sucked out of it and I keep feeling as though I have to please you in every way. Even though you've made it fairly clear that I don't." he explained.
That, was very unexpected. I actually had no idea he felt that way around me, he'd never acted like it. In fact he had told me several times that he wasn't going to do that very thing. Now I believe he was telling himself more than me. "How…am I making you feel this way?" I asked.
"By being so…so…perfect! You're always getting better grades than anyone else, always able to do your homework and still have time for other things, you're a lot better at seeking than anyone else I know, you fly better than Potter, you're always soft and sweet, always understanding of everyone else, always making people happy, you're smart, you're beautiful, you're powerful, there is almost nothing wrong with you! You make me feel guilty!" He exclaimed.
"I-I'm sorry, I had no idea. But what do you want me to do about it?" I asked, a bit scared at this point.
"I don't know!" He said throwing his hands in the air. "I'm not blaming you, trying not to anyway, you probably can't help it. But I keep feeling as though I just don't measure up to you or your standards, and I've never felt that way before about anyone!"
"D-Draco, are, are you…?" Was he breaking up with me because of this? Was he about to tell me that he didn't want to see me anymore because he didn't like how he felt around me? I felt tears fall down my cheeks and I clutched my head. My forehead was starting to hurt really badly.
"Am I wha—? Hotaru? Why are you crying?!" He nearly demanded, grabbing my shoulders.
"I-I don't want you to feel bad when you're around me." I sobbed.
Draco sighed and pulled me into an embrace, "Stop crying, I hate it when you cry. I'm not breaking up with you, I really don't know why I said all of that. You have enough problems as it is without having to worry about me. So stop crying." He said, though it was more of an order than a request.
I shook my head, but calmed myself down. "Your thoughts and feelings are important to me. I don't want you to feel suppressed or pressured into something just because I'm there." I told him.
"Ugh, this is getting embarrassing." He said making me laugh shakily. "And sappy…" He grumbled, loosening his arms around me, though he didn't completely let go. I brought my head up so I could see his face. "You're not telling anyone about this are you?" He asked. He pressed his lips to mine for a moment, and then broke off. "I mean it, if Night, Potter, Weasley, anyone, starts making kissing noises around me I swear—"
I put my finger on his lips to quiet him, "I promise I won't tell anyone." I said smiling. We broke apart then walked to the dining hall side by side, though hands to ourselves of course.
But the day wasn't quite done with me yet. Almost the moment we got to our sets there was a loud boom. It must be the Senshi in me, but the instant I heard it I got back up and ran towards the door, right into the trouble. I'm not sure if Malfoy followed me or not, but the moment I got to where the sound was coming from I found out what was causing the booming.
"Don't Stun them, Filch!" I heard Umbridge say with an angry voice, as if it were his suggestion.
Rockets, odd rockets seemed to be filling the entire hallway, and possibly more. I had to jump into a tapestry to avoid one, and, much to my surprise, I jumped into a tapestry. Someone quickly pulled me on in and I found Harry, Fred, and George were there. Was it any wonder I started giggling hysterically the next moment?
"Cheers," George whispered, whipping away tears from his own laughing. "Oh, I hope she tries Vanishing them next…They multiply by ten every time you try. And explode furiously if you try stunning them, in case you didn't see that." He said. The twin's faces were threatening to split because of their massive grins. I could hardly stop laughing.
I just can't help but feel some sort of…satisfaction at the fact that Umbridge's first day in office was spent running around the castle because of the fireworks. And that was mainly due to the fact that the teachers weren't doing a thing about them but calling her to come take care of it.
When the final bell rang Kioko and I went straight to the library, as always, and started on our homework. Outside we could still hear the fireworks going off and Kioko looked as though she was extremely pleased with herself for something. "Oh come on, you don't think they could have launched all of those in different parts of the castle by themselves do you?"
"Kioko if you're ever caught helping them…" I warned, pointing to the I on her cloak.
"I won't be, I have one thousand and two back-up excuses and three hundred back-up plans when dealing with this kind of thing. And it seems that I haven't yet run into a situation where not one of them would help me out." She said.
"So that's how you always snake out of getting caught." Draco commented as he sat down beside me, homework in hand. "One of these days you'll face something you can't get out of no matter how much you try." He said.
"Oh I know, and I am fully prepared to handle it." Kioko said grinning. Though I think she said that just to spite him.
Draco just rolled his eyes and got out some Arithmancy homework.
The rest of the day was spent doing homework and then a bit of chatting. Or rather Kioko insulting and threatening Draco in her usual way, though to her it was conversation.
We're about to go on to bed, as usual I stayed up later to write this all down and Shiva is waiting for me to get comfortable so I suppose I'll stop there.
A/N: sorry to cut this chapter a bit short, but it was starting to drag a bit and I had a bunch of stuff going on. I also wanted to finish this before school started for me and today is my last day of freedom. So do not be surprised if the other chapters take this long or longer. I was going to add an extra scene, but that would have taken a bit longer than the time I had to write it all out. Thanks for sticking with me, it's nice to wake up to reviews every morning, well, almost every morning. After finishing this fanfic (And I do hope I finish) Kioko is not going to stop bugging me until I get back on track with one of my originals called Chikyuu. If you haven't noticed already I hope to become an author. My work isn't the best, and I'm probably not at that level quite yet, (It's hard to keep the plot on track!) but someday I hope to be!