Don't ya'll hate writer's block?  It's unstuck now. . . so it's write time!

Reviewers:

Jupiter's Light – Okay. . . Here it is ^^ gomen for the delay

Serenity Blossom – it cut off this end. . . but I changed it ^^

Tigeress Moon – What do you mean?

SailorLita18 – Thanks ^^  I love your stories too!!

Sailor Star Keeper- Thanks ^^  Come back and read soon, hai?

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Chapter 10 Continued: The New Captain and Keeper

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            The cackling just grew louder as Makoto looked around, trying to find the source of the voice.  "Who is there?" she repeated hastily, but soon the laughter was broken by a male's voice.

            "Ickle Japanese girl can speak English, eh?" the voice said, and from the air came a water balloon, which hit its mark and broke over Makoto's head, leaving her drenched from head to toe.  With a loud crack, Peeves the Poltergeist appeared.  "So she has been lying all this time?"

            Makoto's eyes narrowed.  Not only was she sopping wet, but she was being insulted by a poltergeist.  She quickly grew tired of their confrontation and scowled up at Peeves, who was tossing another water balloon threateningly in the air.  "Are you sure you want to do that?" she hissed as he poised to throw it at her. 

            Peeves just started laughing, his maniacal sounds echoing down the halls, reaching the ears of many teachers in the lounge.  "Course I do," he said, pelting it down towards her.

            But it never made contact.

~In the Teacher's Lounge~

            The soft noises from down the hall were beginning to become obnoxious to the teachers who were relaxing.  They were trying to ignore it, knowing full well that a certain student was out and about, but when the laughter began, they could not ignore no longer. 

            "She should learn some respect!" Snape spat as he rose to his feet to tell her off.  Casting a look around the room, he noticed that the others were staring at him in incredulity.  "I mean, she should, right?"

            "I have never met a more respectful student, Severus," Sprout responded, her hair in its usual wiry mess, rising to her feet as well, ready to go talk to the girl. 

            "Sit down, the both of you," McGonagall sighed, already at the door, preparing to open it.  "She's in my house, I will take care of this."  She pulled open the door and was blinded by a brilliant white light that was shining from down the hall.  "What the—?" she started as she, followed by Snape ran out into the hall to see where the light was coming from. 

~Back in the Gryffindor Tower~

            Hermione stared, shocked towards the Fat Lady's Portrait back.  "But—didn't—" she said, her eyes wide with horror.  "How?"

            Harry and Ron spun around to look at what she saw.  There was no one there.  "What's wrong Hermione?" Ron said, turning back to her. 

            "The portrait slammed didn't it?  So someone came in," she said, and without waiting for an answer she continued, standing and walking over to the door.  "But there's no one here.  And no one left, we would have seen them."

            "Maybe they snuck out and we just didn't see them," Ron said reassuringly, slouching back down over his homework. 

            Harry, however, showed the same keen interest in what happened.  He rose to his feet and followed Hermione wordlessly.  "Let's just look, okay, Hermione?" he said, putting one hand on the back of the portrait and gently pushing it forward, but instantly dropped it, for the same brilliant white light was echoing down the hall and the force repelled by it was strong. 

            Hermione pushed past him out the portrait and took off down the hall, towards the light source, Harry close to her heels. 

~Back to the Teachers~

            Snape and McGonagall were pushed back slightly by the force the light was emitting, and the air was filled with odd cries.  "What is this?" Snape said, covering his eyes and peering down the hall.  There was a figure halfway down it, hands out to her side, seemingly emitting the aura.  Above the figure was a little man, the poltergeist, cringing as he tried to block his eyes.  But also among them, was a figure that was unrecognizable.

            It was a man, apparently, but his form was shaded, hidden by the immense light, though he wasn't cringing with the light.  Instead, he had one arm shielding his eyes as he backed away, his presence discovered by the one he had been trying to get at.  The light started crackling, etched now with lightening traces and claps of thunder that raced at the mysterious man, who was laughing in an uncanny way, his voice fading in and out as the thunder rolled. 

            But just as suddenly as he had appeared he was then gone--vanished without a trace.  The light too, had died, and Makoto stood, dressed once more in her school robes,  her deep green eyes now a deep shade of violent red filled with incredible sadness, as the teachers ran up behind her, wands at their ready, their eyes darting around the corridor, but finding nothing but Peeves and the student, their eyes rested on her form in a scrutinizing tone.  "What happened?" Snape hissed, his voice cold and undermining.  His very eyes seemed as though pure malice of flames were raging inside him.  "WHAT happened?"

            Makoto seemingly ignored him, and he let this quickly drop as several curious students, including Hermione and Harry, had arrived and were trying to figure out what had happened, only they hadn't seen anything from before.  Hermione was glaring bitterly at the scene, focused mainly on Makoto's profile, but the others were just staring.  They had seen the light, and were now confused as to what had actually happened.   "Move along," he said, his voice curt as he turned to the students, gesturing them back to their dormitories.  "BED NOW!!" he spat, and as they scuttled off, still casting curious glances back behind them, he turned around to start on Makoto.

            McGonagall, however, was faster than he.  She had taken Makoto's shoulder and was already leading her to the headmaster.  But she need not, for coming around the corner was Dumbledore himself, a look of inept curiosity ranking his face.  "What happened?" he asked gently, noticing the look on Makoto's face, one of pure confusion and sadness, her eyes blood red, though Dumbledore could not see this at the moment.  Seeing as he was getting no response, he looked up at McGonagall and repeated his question.  "What happened?"

            "We don't know, headmaster," Snape interjected, his cold eyes boring in Makoto's soul.  "She hasn't said a word."

            "I wouldn't expect her to, Severus," he said, putting his hand on her shoulder.  "She doesn't speak English well enough.  I was hoping that you two might have seen something."   He turned and guided Makoto back to his office, where she had been not an hour before, leaving Snape and McGonagall behind with bewildered looks on their faces. 

            Once back in the confines of his office, Dumbledore looked to Makoto, whose head was down, staring at one spot in the floor.  "What was that, Makoto?" he asked with a sigh, his gentle blue eyes twinkling.   "A lot of people saw that light, so what happened?"

            "It was him," was her response, a heavy sigh coming from her.

            "Him?" he repeated, though he knew who.

            "Ken . . . "

            He decided to try and force the subject off of his nephew.  "But what was that light?"

            "I am not entirely sure, I am not," she relied, closing her now-blood-red eyes.  "I wish I did though . . . "

            Dumbledore sighed slightly.  Apparently he was not going to get a response from her about any of this.  "Well, then, why don't you head for bed and get some sleep.  Tomorrow you can head over to Hogsmeade and relax."

            Without another word, Makoto rose to her feet and left the headmaster.

~The next morning~

            It was a bright and cheerful morning in September and all of the third through seventh years were excitedly chatting about what they were going to buy and the such as the first and second years just glared regrettably.  Even Hermione was excited about the upcoming day, even if it meant that she did not do any of the homework that she had to do.  But before the Gryffindors could leave, the Quiddich team had an announcement. 

            Harry, the newly instated captain, smiled at his teammates, even though they were down one.  They were going to announce their new keeper as they had had recent tryouts that no one had shown up for.  "Well," Harry said, positively beaming.  "I guess we'll just cut to the chase. . . we'll have a back-up seeker now, Ginny Weasley and a new keeper.  Our new keeper is Makoto Kino."

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Ack!!  Sorry that took so long, but as I said, Writer's Block SUX!!

~_~

Anyways. . . I'm going to start a poll here at the bottom, so you can answer the questions, etc.  All that fun stuff.  Just remember to name your house and then you get the points ^^ (idea borrowed from H.P.otter5)  Thank you!!

Question 1: (worth 10 points) What is Makoto going to do in Hogsmeade? 

Possible answers . . . if you choose to use these . . . .Hang out with Harry, Hermione, and Ron; Stay behind; wander the town aimlessly; or anything else you can think of (I haven't decided yet)