Chapter 4

Kenshin, it seemed, was not only popular with the students (most notably the female ones) but with the teachers as well. The usually severe Professor McGonagall said that he was 'a fine, upstanding young man', and even Filch seemed to like him, in his own creeping way. The strangest reaction to him, though, came from Snape. Any timeKenshin happened to be around, Snape simply ignoredhim and talked only to whoeverelse was nearby. Harry had felt sure that he wouldhave some kind of comment about a tiny foriegnerthat knew little, if any, magic- an underqualified youngster teaching the subject that he so longed to teach. If, by chance, they were forced into actual conversation, Snape would pointedly avoid his eye and speak the bare minimum necessary. Harry, Ron, and Hermione seemed to be the only ones to notice it- as much as they (or Harry, rather) kept an eye on Snape- but they couldn't guess what it meant.

Kenshin, however, knew now exactly why. As Snape was from the Order, he knew exactly who Kenshin was. Simply put, Snape was a little bit apprehensive toward him. He knew enough about the Dark Arts, and he had come across the name Hitokiri Battousai enough times in his study, that he wasn't entirely sure that the youth wasn't what the tales said he was. The one chilling, galling fact of it all was very simply that, as horrible as Voldemort was, Battousai had killed more people and terrified more people in his 5 year reign than Voldemort had in over 50 years of living. He had crushed the efforts of a powerful band of Dark wizards- and hadn't even known it. If it wasn't for the lucky coincidence that he had been recruited for the Ishin Shishi, the world could even now be controlled by Dark forces.

Kenshin knew that that's how Snape felt, but he wasn't too bothered by it. It was only one person, as opposed to EVERYONE, in his time, and besides, he could see veryclearly how Snape usually treated people, and all things considered, it was an improvement.

And it was Kenshin's growing popularity, counterpoint to the downward spiral into a bottomless pit that was Harry's reputation, that created an interesting situation one weekend. Harry was heading to the Gryffandor common room alone (having had to rush back to get an essay he'd accidently left in the library) and his stomach dropped down to the floor as he spotted a clump of second year girls walking in the opposite direction. He would have gladly ducked into some hidden passageway to avoid them, but they'd already spotted him. They stared, drew closer to each other, and froze against the wall as if hoping he'd leave them alone if they stayed still. Harry wanted to yell at the idiots, or vanish on the spot- he wasn't sure which he wanted more.

"Harry? Oh, excellant! Could you please tell me where to find the Owlrey? There's a letter I want to send." A voice behind him said. It was Kenshin, looking apolegetically puzzled.

Harry stared. "But don't you know where the-"

"I'll help you, Professor." one of the second year girls said, stepping foward and apparently forgetting about Harry altogether. The other girls tittered excitedly.

Kenshin smiled at her blandly. "Perhaps you could, but I do not believe I was talking to you." he looked around at the rest of them. "De gozaru." he added sternly. He turned around and steered Harry in the opposite direction.

"There's no need to try to help me, Kenshin." Harry said with more harshness than he intended. Kenshin was unfazed.

"Harry, for hundreds upon hundreds of years Japan has been a nation of conformity- not unlike Hogwarts Castle. For example, the color of my hair may not seem strange to you, but I was always shunned for it in my youth- being called the child of foriegners or demons and even worse things. There were some people who even thought that I drank blood for it to turn that way."

"In your youth? You're not really that old now, you know."

"True enough." Kenshin said sheepishly. "I forget that sometimes, I suppose. At any rate, Harry, I know how it feels to wear a scar that you feel like the whole world knows about."

"But the whole world DOES know about mine. All of the Wizarding world, anyway..."

Kenshin gave a light smile. "I bet that it is a bit strange to go from fame to infamy back and forth so often." he said. "I can't imagine."

"Kenshin-" Harry said falteringly. "If you don't mind me asking- I mean, I just want to know- how did you get that scar? Was it from a curse?"

"A curse?" Kenshin frowned. Harry noticed how his face grew dark. "In a sense, maybe."

Okay, so it wasn't exactly a specific answer, but Harry was relieved that he hadn't avoided the question or gotton mad. And so (in classic Harry style) he decided to press his luck.

"So...what is it that you have to do for the Order?" he said quietly as they turned into a dark corridor lined with huge tapestries. "We figured you must have something to do with it, because Lupin wouldn't have been careless enough to say something about it in front of you if you weren't supposed to know."

"You know, I was warned about you three." Kenshin said. Harry couldn't tell if his tone was amused or dissaproving. "You really ought not to say things like that in the open. It could get more than just yourself in trouble." he paused in his walking. "Something I'm sure you would agree with, ne, Snape-san?"

Harry nearly jumped out of his skin. Kenshin had turned to speak over his shoulder, and there stood Snape, looking horribly pale in the dim corridor. Snape was so able to appear silently anywhere that many students suspected that he could even turn into a bat. Had Kenshin known that he was there the whole time?

Of course, even Snape knew you couldn't sneak up on the former hitokiri. It just didn't work. His lip curled in obvious dislike.

"You are lucky that Himura IS in the Order, Potter." he said bitterly. "Imagine what could be done with that information in the wrong hands. You would'nt have only revealed the existance of the Order, but Lupin's part in it as well, and that would have directly led to Dumbledore, who appointed him. Trouble? There would be more than trouble."

"Are you stalking me now or something?" Harry said angrily.

"Harry!" Kenshin said sharply. He bowed to Snape. "Excuse us, Snape-san, but we really must be getting back to the dormitory before curfew. Sessha will handle this." he quickly steered Harry away again before Snape could say another word.

"What is his problem?" Harry muttered. "It's bad enough I have classes with him...I'll be glad when I can drop the class."

"Yes, but he's also a teacher, that can give you detention." Kenshin reminded. Harry ignored him.

"...and I really hope that they haven't got him to watch me, or something. I mean, that's just-"

"He probably followed when he saw you with me." Kenshin said.

Harry stopped. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Professor Snape...does not trust me." Kenshin said softly. "He thinks, and he's not the only one, that an outsider should not be so closely involved with the Order. To know its secrets. He does not trust me at all. He was only ensuring that you were not in any danger." it pained him somewhat to speak the truth.

"Danger?" Harry said incrediously. "Just because you're an outsider?"

"Mostly." Kenshin said. "We're here."

"Password, please." the Fat Lady said.

"Mimbulus mimbletonia." Harry said impatiently. "But Kenshin, doesn't everybody know that if Dumbledore-"

"Kenshin? Oh! Hi Kenshin!" The Fat Lady said, her voice becoming high and giggly as she turned the color of her silk pink dress. "I must have been sleeping, why, I hadn't even noticed that you left!"

"Um, well..." Kenshin said with an uncomfortable laugh. "It was only a short moment ago, I was mailing a letter."

"Mimbulus mimbletonia." Harry repeated. The Fat Lady gave him a glare and swung open to reveal the portrait hole. Most of the Gryffandor students were in there, including Ron and Hermione. They seemed to be in an argument.

"...have a responsibility to keep them from doing that! It could be dangerous, not to mention it's definetly against the rules! I don't care if they're your brothers, Ron, you know that it-"

"Now, now, don't blame poor Ronnie." George taunted.

"I blame you!" Hermione rounded on him. "And if you don't stop it, you'll get a detention!" she suddenly spotted those that had just walked in. "Harry- Kenshin! Good! You can put a stop to this! Fred and George have continued ith their wierd experiments after I have expressively warned them to stop. They don't care!"

"Uh...uh..." Kenshin had been completely unprepared to be dragged into this verbal war, and, having never experienced anything of the sort, had no idea what to do. "H-hermione-san, sessha-"

"Come on, Kenshin, my man." George said. "Surely you can see that there is no harm in good clean fun and a little extra pocket money for all? No, no harm in it at all. And no need to alert the powers-that-be either, right?"

"W-well..." Kenshin glanced around. "I...guess if you are not going to be blowing up anything or doing anything similarly destructive, de gozaru..." his speech always seemed to become more punctured with Japanese when he was under pressure.

Hermione frowned deeply, snatched up Crookshanks (that had been purring hopefully at Kenshin's feet) and stormed out.

"Hm. I didn't expect that to go so well." Fred commented.

"It's kind of strange." George agreed. "Up until now we haven't been able to classify you, Kenshin. Teacher? Student? Niether? Or both? Friend, or foe?"

"But Kenshin, you're alright." Fred said with a smile.

"Ano...thanks." he replied uncertainly.

i know. short (sloppy) chappie. no reviewer responses, and i had more time to work on it this time! but i've been doing a lot of shifting of plans after some looking through book 5- it will be even more loosely based on it than I had originally planned, since trying to adhere too much to the plot of the real thing will take out a lot of the fun, and would just frustrate me. and that lowerst my enthusiasm for the project, and that's never good. i'll be back on track soon. same time, same place! see ya!