News of the guard's boggart spread like wildfire throughout the school. Half of the student body pitied the guard, even gathering up enough courage to gingerly pat him to express their condolences for the deaths of those they didn't really know, but who seemed to be important to the guard.
He avoided people as much as possible within the scope of his duties, clearly uncomfortable of the idea of being pitied by the students. The Slytherins on the other hand, made as many references to that incident as possible, at least they did, until he finally lost his temper.
It happed one September morning. The Slytherins had been gossiping about the guard. This being the straw that broke the camel's back, Kakashi tied them up by their underwear upside-down from the highest point (that wouldn't exactly kill the little brats) in the Great Hall by chakra strings, giving them the equivalent of a gravity induced wedgie. Still clearly annoyed, Kakashi stalked off, leaving the Gryffindors snickering at the Slytherins' overly loud vocal complaints. Malfoy, especially, ranted that his father would hear about this…right before McGonagall lost her temper, irritated by the Slytherins' lack of compassion and basic courtesy, and docked them fifty house points to Serverus Snape's great annoyance.
On the other hand, the Slytherin's head of House could hardly blame the guard for losing his temper. After all, whether he liked it or not, Snape knew as well as the next man, that his students had clearly been out-of-line.
When they finally got Malfoy and his cronies down, the brat refused to stop ranting about how undignified that punishment had been and threatening to have the guard removed, which Kakashi ignored. The brat could threaten all he wanted, he couldn't change Kakashi's job. After all, Dumbledore had hired him, not Malfoy, whiny little brat that he was.
Harry and the other Gryffindors glanced at the usual spot the guard occupied worriedly. It had been two days since the incident with the guard's boggart, and Harry was sure the wounds that had been savagely reopened were far from healing. They had not seen the guard since that incident with Malfoy hanging upside down, and one of the other three foreign guards now took the place of the guard, who's familiar visage had often given them a sense of security in these troubled times, with Sirius Black on the loose.
Once, they had to force the guard to go to the hospital wing right after his anguished scream woke up half the Castle in the middle of the night. The guard, it seemed, had been keeping his emotions bottled up too much, mayhap from a combination of embarrassment, a general desire to keep his dignity and do his job, maybe even a fear of seeming inadequate to do his duty. The emotional tsunami had let itself loose that night.
Harry had heard his scream even from Gryffindor Tower, and he had been one of the few that had seen the teachers assisting the shaking guard to the hospital wing. From his hiding place, Harry could see that the guard hadn't gotten much sleep since the boggart incident. His movements were dulled somehow, and the guard had an air of sadness about him.
Days passed, and the guard was still missing from his post. Harry by then had firmly decided he was no good in Divination, was bored with Care of Magical Creatures, and sucked in Potions. The only subject that had become his favorite had been Defense Against the Dark Arts. Lupin, despite his looks, was an excellent teacher.
At the start of October, the guard was still missing. Harry by then had grown worried, as well as several other Gryffindors. It was not only because they had no guard, but also because the man's presence was comforting. It appeared that he had helped several other Gryffindors in their homework, though he had seemed rather stern regarding cheating. Seamus had been the one the guard had caught, and the Gryffindor had thought the guard would report him, as he had done on Fred and George's second time out of bed.
On that rare moment, the guard had actually talked.
"If you're going to cheat, look for the correct answers. That's actually asphodel right there." The guard had remarked, pointing one gloved hand on a spot in Seamus' potion essay. "And it's spelled asphodel, with a 'p', not ashodel." He then walked away, seemingly hiding a small smile. "And refine your cheating skills. Not everyone will be as lax about the method that you get your answers as I am. Assume that they will be trying to catch you at all times. Look underneath the underneath."
There was a stunned silence as Seamus looked at the guard's back. Apparently, he wasn't going to tell on them?
With October came the Quidditch Season and Harry was pleased to note that the familiar guard was back on duty. The guard seemed a little subdued however, and he was prone to stare at something that wasn't really there. He still did his duty as well as he had done it before, however there were times wherein he would shake and promptly ask permission to leave.
As Harry was listening to Oliver Wood's speech, he couldn't help but notice that the guard was shaking again, and he was glancing left and right, a sign that was commonly known in Gryffindor as his way of asking permission to leave.
Wood however, was not in the mood to be interrupted. He went on, giving praise to everyone. The guard seemed to twitch for a moment and then he relaxed.
Quidditch practice began, and Kakashi stared at the players in curiosity. They were mounted on broomsticks. The broomsticks were flying. He himself was still on the ground, hands in his pockets as the early morning chill reminded him every day of that moment by the Lake on his first day here. A red and gold Gryffindor scarf, borrowed from McGonagall-san, was wrapped around his neck. The bright colors were a great contrast to his black ANBU jacket.
The weather was getting colder and wetter, the nights darker.
Kakashi returned with the Potter boy after practice to the Gryffindor common room only to find a lot of people looking at something on the notice board. Potter boy asked what happened, and his friends simply replied that there was going to be a Hogsmeade visit. The Potter boy seemed sad as he sat down near the fire, no doubt to try and warm himself. Kakashi himself was damp, having been an unfortunate victim of a sudden light shower of rain, but he kept standing, the fire's warmth barely reaching him where he stood. Kakashi shivered. Raindrops fell down Kakashi's mask.
The Potter boy looked up and tried to be kind.
"Um…why don't you sit near the fire?" He asked, trying to look friendly. Kakashi simply stared. No one had minded him until now. Why be kind now?
"It's just 'cause you're damp. You might catch a cold." The mouse brown haired girl put in. The red haired boy simply nodded.
If they had been Slytherins, they would've mocked him by now.
Slowly the guard sat down on the floor. Harry supposed this was as close they could get for now. He didn't press the issue.
After a few minutes, the girl's cat came running, a large dead spider dangling in its mouth. The red haired boy was complaining, on how the cat was after his rat. Then he finished his homework and shoved it toward Harry. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at this, but kept silent.
Without warning, the cat pounced. Kakashi's hands streaked forward, grasping the cat even before it could land its insanely sharp claws in the boy's bag. Instead of murdering the red haired boy's rat, Kakashi found his ANBU mask and armguards clawed viciously, shallow streaks appearing on the porcelain.
Meanwhile, the red haired brat was yelling about how his pet rat, Scabbers, needed rest as he held the rat up by the tail for the brown haired girl to see. The brown haired girl then replied that it was normal.
"There's something funny about that animal!" The red haired boy, Ron, yelled angrily, brandishing his rat like a flag.
This reminded Kakashi of something. The rat in the boy's hand smelled…funny. Somewhat like a normal rat, but the gut feeling didn't diminish.
That rat is strange and must be watched. His gut feeling told him.
Stuck with the Potter brat and his friends in Herbology, Kakashi found nothing else to do except have a staring match with the Venomous Tentacula. Once that activity lost its shine, Kakashi settled on dodging the seeds that the Weasley brat threw the wrong way.
The next was Transfiguration. McGonagall-san did her transformation again, and Kakashi was sure he had copied that particular jutsu. After the subject ended, Kakashi found himself listening to the Potter boy's losing conversation with his Head of House.
"Maybe if you said I could go…. or maybe even bring the guard along?" Harry tried, desperate. McGonagall-san paused, hands in mid-shuffle of the papers, but her decision was clear.
"No form, no visiting the village, Potter." She spoke, pity in her gaze.
The Potter boy's friends tried cheering him up. Weasley even suggested that they use the Invisibility Cloak (Kakashi was around the corner). The brown haired girl, Granger, replied it might work.
So Kakashi followed his charges as usual, but when it came for them to depart for Hogsmeade, Kakashi had made it quite clear the moment they stepped out of the Grand Staircase that he could sense them.
It happened just as everyone was leaving. The three gakis blended into the crowd. Kakashi was separated from them by a group of Hufflepuffs (tailed by his own Henge'd Kage Bunshin) until he managed to 'see' them lurking under that cloak and stepping out of the room that held the Staircases.
Kakashi blinked. Were they stupid? Didn't they know he could still smell them and hear them, despite having vanished? Without further notice, Kakashi stepped forward and, taking a firm hold of the cloak, ripped it off their grasp. Three surprised faces looked at him.
"Honestly, if I wasn't your guard, I would've killed you." Kakashi warned, grasping the cloak. "I will be taking this to Dumbledore-sensei for confiscation. Until then, you two…" Kakashi pointed to Weasley and Granger. "You two may go to Hogsmeade. Potter gaki, you're coming with me."
Kakashi tailed the boy everywhere that day. Irked, the boy had stared at him and asked why it was him that was being tailed around, not the majority of the Gryffindors in Hogsmeade. Kakashi simply replied that he was alone, the only Gryffindor left in the school that was worth killing.
Potter gaki was quiet after that.
"What are you doing?" Lupin-san asked Harry, keeping his tone kind. Kakashi glanced at him. There was a strange smell hanging about Lupin-san. About Lupin-san, there was a vaguely human-ish smell, though greatly covered by the canine scent.
"Lupin-san, you handle dogs?" Kakashi asked, hands in his pockets, tone cool, though really he was interrogating the teacher.
Lupin-san wasn't very good at hiding the expression of surprise. He froze up, and then simply nodded, dumbly.
Kakashi found this odd. Why would Lupin-san freeze up like that?
Lupin-san invited them inside for tea.
The smoking goblet that arrived a while later was intriguing. The smells that hung about it vaguely resembled the scent Lupin-san bore, with a dash of rotten eggs and cabbages.
Kakashi nearly gagged, but he kept a straight face. He had long drunk the tea that was offered, much to the surprise of Lupin-san and the Potter gaki. He watched as Lupin-san consumed the offending drink and grimaced. Lupin-san was drinking poison, Kakashi was so sure of it; he was mildly surprised the teacher didn't drop dead.
The candies that were in the Potter boy's lap were making him drool. These sweets smelled strangely nice, and Kakashi was sure they tasted nice. The Potter boy even offered him some, and Kakashi accepted, holding up the Fizzing Whizbees up to light. He gave muffled thanks and put the sweets into his pocket, for him to eat later.
The Great Hall's atmosphere was festive and jolly. Candy filled pumpkins floated everywhere, some with little greedy Firsties hanging off the brim. There were also so many orange streamers that Kakashi had thought the world had turned into a shade of pumpkin orange.
The food smelled nice. He sat down next to the Potter gaki, filling his own plate with food. His Kage Bunshins seemed hungry as well; they were grabbing food off the table.
When the Feast ended, Kakashi escorted the Gryffindors upstairs.
He was also the first to see the mess that was once the Fat Lady's portrait.
A stolen kunai was still jammed on the portrait's wooden frame. He knew it was stolen, because there was a foreign scent to it, and that the person who had used it was obviously not used to handling kunais; there was a spot of blood where the kunai's blade met the bandaged handle. Any self-respecting shinobi would've avoided that particular spot of the kunai. The shredded remains of the Fat Lady's portrait were hanging pathetically off the frame.