Here is the continued chapter. the previous part was cut short because i wasn't finishing the chapter fast enough, so it was either post that then, or have waited for the whole chapter until now. forgive me! i've always hated it when people cut out in the middle of something like that...but taking too long to update is no good either. which would you all rather see? just so i can know for future reference. completed chapter no matter how long it takes or quicker update, if it comes to that?

general review response: (sorry...there has gotton to be so many to do individually!)

sheesh. if you don't think he's too old, then you think he's too young. kenshin is 20 here because he's old enough now to have adopted his new rurouni ways, yet he still would look the same as before. that's all, really. i kinda wanted him younger but to take him out of the bakumatsu would have slightly disrupted the time stream a little more...it's also sorta/kinda supposed to fit into how he seemingly vanished from the face of the earth during that time. and he's not too rurouni, i don't think. he's just in a totally different place and he's happy to see his dream of a peaceful world of the future be a reality. plus being in situations that he's not yet accustomed to...such as firey female fury being directed at him...is bound to catch him off guard.

anyway, enough of my two cents there. most of the reviews were really really good! they really keep me plugging along. even when i get lazy and don't feel like working, they keep me inspired.

Chapter 5 (cont) At Grimmauld Place

It was perfectly understandable for Sirius to dislike him, Kenshin thought as he stood just out of sight while Lupin went inside. Lupin was going in first to tell them all that Kenshin had arrived, and Kenshin couldn't help but feel nervous. After all, these people knew who he was- that in itself went against deeply ingrained instincts- and Lupin's explinations about Sirius' overall temperment didn't make him feel much better. It would make him better prepared, however. Sirius had many reasons for his feelings- feelings intensified when he had discovered Kenshin was actually going to be rooming in Gryffandor. He'd been to Azkaban for twelve years for a murder he didn't commit, was percecuted and forced into hiding, and now a real-life murderer was going to be living so close to his beloved godson. Sirius had done nothing wrong and yet he'd had to force his way into Hogwarts just to see him. And now this hitokiri was being stationed there, by none other than the Order!

It was a slightly awkward situation.

"You've brought him here?" an outraged voice yelled, right on cue. "Right into headquarters! Why don't you just go ahead and tell him all of our secrets as well?"

"I told you that you had to meet him to understand, Sirius." Lupin said in a pacifying tone. "He will keep to his word! You'll see."

Before Sirius could say another word, Lupin pulled Kenshin into view, disregarding his own spluttering protests.

Sirius froze and stared at him in a very dog-like way, sizing up the stranger and determining the threat. Feeling challenged, Kenshin stared back defiantly.
Lupin nudged him. "Look non-threatning." he whispered.

Kenshin gave him a look. What was he supposed to do when this man's aura felt as if he had every intention of attacking him? He relaxed only slightly.

"This boy?" Sirius said bluntly.

Kenshin bristled, but said nothing. Sirius walked toward him until they were barely an inch apart. Sirius practically loomed over Kenshin, who nevertheless held his ground without a blink.

"Yes. This...boy...is quite capable." Lupin said, delicately stressing 'boy'. "And, as you can see, is a clearheaded individual that does not rashly jump in and attack anybody that crosses his path. Your worries are unfounded..."

"What about the Ministry?" Sirius said in a low voice, backing off but never letting Kenshin out of sight. "They're just letting him in the school, are they? Or do they not know?"

"They know." Lupin said. "That is...the ones that matter know. It seems that Fudge only briefly reviewed the request, saw the word 'muggle' and sent it off without anymore the wiser. Luckily, we have plenty of influence in Muggle Relations."

Sirius now took his eyes off Kenhshin to look at Lupin incrediously. "What? I would have thought that he would be much more watchful of anything to do with us after you squeezed through and became a teacher again."

"Ah...well." Lupin said hesitantly, seeming to debate with himself on what to say for a moment. "Yes...well...you see, that was more of a compromise in the first place. Dumbledore had to agree to allow dementors around the school."

"WHAT?" In horror and disbelief, Sirius gaped at Lupin. His face paled at the mere memoryof the vile creatures.

"But Kenshin's case was overlooked by the Ministry, thankfully." Lupin said,carefully steering the conversation back on track. "But, perhaps it would make you feel better to know that Dumbledore cared much less than it appears for Fudge's demands...rather, hismain reason for letting those horrors on school grounds again was, in fact, because of Kenshin."

Sirius turned back to Kenshin, who looked expressionlessly back.

"Will you all try to keep your voices down, everyone is sleeping...oh!" Mrs. Weasley came in, clad in a red flannel night-gown, and spotted them all.

"Remus! I didn't hear you come in. Why...who is that?" she squinted in the dim light at Kenshin, whose face had dissolved from its stony look into one of vague confusion.

"It's Hogwarts' latest aquisition, Molly." Lupin said pleasently. "The Kenshin Himura you've heard so much about."

"My!" Mrs. Weasley came up and squeezed Kenshin's arm- instantly startled, he jumped back, eyes wide. "He's all skin and bone! He looks positively dead on his feet! Have you not fed the boy, Lupin?" She roved a dissaproving eye over Lupin himself. "What was I thinking, of course, you don't even tend to your own self..."

Lupin did not seemed concerned. In fact, he seemed disturbingly amused by this turn of events.

"My apologies, Molly." he said with a wide smile. "But he's been at Hogwarts and feeds himself mostly. I'm sure that there would be no harm, however, if you tended to him."

"Certainly not, no harm at all. Some of the men are in the meeting room, you can give them your report. I'll take care of him."

"Thanks, Molly." Lupin said, barely repressing a laugh, and he left the room.

Kenshin, now more panicked than ever, pleaded with his eyes for him not to leave- or to be allowed to leave too- but it was no use. Sirius, hovering between being included in the meeting and Kenshin, decided to play watchdog for Mrs. Weasley and sat at the table.

Kenshin endured Mrs. Weasley's fussing for however long the meeting lasted (to him it felt like hours) and then he and Lupin left. Fortunately, though, the upside of it all was that Sirius became less hostile- his opinion of Kenshin went up considerably over that time, not to mention a small seed of doubt grew in his mind that made him question the dangerous nature of Kenshin at all. He could barely manage a middle-aged woman who was only attempting to make him eat breakfast! And he was a Muggle, after all (not to be discriminating)... Harry and the others could surely take care of themselves if his loyalties proved shaky.

Kenshin had visited Grimmauld Place several times after that. Sirius was now a good friend. He smiled to imagine that he had always been around while Harry, Ron, and Hermione- Fred, George, and Ginny- while they all slept, and he had just lately met them. He shifted slightly to get more comfortable. Before, the idea that Dumbledore was allowing dementors around the school had meant nothing to him. He thought it was a foolish idea, being that their alliegence did not lie with Dumbledore any longer- but he had had no scope of the true horror of it until he had come in contact with them himself. He could not yet fathom why Dumbledore felt it was necessary to have them there because of him. Had he known that Sirius would accept Kenshin better because of it? Or did he truely hold the slightest bit of concern that it was an action vital to the student's safety? Kenshin couldn't bear the thought of Dumbledore not trusting him. And yet, he never dared ask what his reasons were. Most men he could see, and read like a book. Dumbledore was different. He was intimidating in a way that couldn't be explained.

The dementors. Kenshin gritted his teeth as the cold horror from the mere memory of it threatned to consume him. The intense chill they always brought only too well increased the experience of reliving the worst memory of his life. It was as if someone had constructed for him the ultimate agony. He didn't know if the things existed in his own time, but he shuddered to think of the possibilities. He knew that if one of his enimies found a way to utalize such a thing, he would be completely and totally vulnerable. Such weakness frustrated him, especially since he already had the disadvantage (in this place at least) of lacking magical ability.

There was a nightmare that he would sometimes had, and it came back to him most often when he was preparing for sleep. In it the dementors descended on him all at once to deliver their deadly Kiss, pulling him in, the fear a palpable frost- only to draw back suddenly, enraged, to find that, in fact, there was no soul there to take...

BANG!

Suddenly a loud noise disrupted the silence, piercing through his morbid thoughts. High-strung as it was and drenched with a deep fear he had never before been accustomed to, he was up with his sword halfway drawn before his brain even registred his body's reaction. His muscles were so attuned against danger that they had been preparing to strike this whole time.

Ron had rushed in, was surprised to find the room dark, and had tripped over a pair of shoes in the way. As a result, he had fallen with a distinct lack of grace into a nearby bedstead. Needless to say, he made quite a lot of noise.

He looked up and suddenly a huge invisible force rushed toward him violently. Caught off-guard, he hit the wall. He was a little dazed, but unhurt. What worried him more was the dark figure outlined in the window, the slight gleam of metal he caught and lost so quickly that only a moment later he half felt he imagined it.

Next thing Ron knew, though, a pair of hands was helping him up and he could hear Kenshin's concerned voice.

"Sumenei, Ron, sessha was startled, daijobu ka? I'm so sorry, I should have been more careful...you're not hurt, are you?" Kenshin said, the wierd mix of languages a clear sign of his distress.

Ron blinked, stunned. "Don't worry about it, Kenshin, of course anyone would be surprised to be woken up like that...look, I'm not hurt, so it's no big deal, okay?"

"Sorry." he said again. He paused. "Anyway, you should probably be getting to bed yourself."

"Yeah." Ron said, disregarding the fact that it was still too early. He awkwardly turned and left, completely forgetting the reason why he came.

Kenshin slumped down on the edge of a four-poster.

You need to be more careful! Baka! He scolded himself. He sighed and flopped back on the bed, tightly gripping the sword he'd almost unleashed on the unsuspecting young wizard as if he could discipline it. It might have found it's way to the boy's flesh if the lad had actually caught him asleep. Kenshin got up and silently went to the door. A lock was there. Good. He turned it, feeling only marginally safer.

He had been taught not to brood too deeply in deadly waters, lest he drown, and this was exactly why. Kenshin sighed again wearily, and very, very reluctantly, he put the sakabatou back in his trunk. He did not want to risk it agian. Dumbledore's reputation could not take another blow, and to have a staff member attack a studed unprovoked at this time, it would not be well for him at all.

so, there is the rest of that chappie. updates may be slower coming up because of the deadly demon known as exams. (sigh) just warning you. on a brighter note...my computer's no longer having trouble with this site, so i'll be able to update as soon as i DO have one written. i can't say for certain but the Strangest Dream will most likely be updated first...i've been neglecting it somewhat. well, ciao!