So this chapter didn't exactly pan out as I'm sure you guys were hoping for, but once I started, my fingers wouldn't stop typing.

I hope you guys are staying healthy during this pandemic. I am eagerly awaiting for everything to return to normal.

Updates might slow down because I recently got Final Fantasy 7 Remake and I'm going to be playing that a lot!

Enjoy!

Chapter 11

Deathday

October came faster than the group realized. With the change in seasons also came cold and flu season. Madam Pomfrey gave the students Pepperup potions that instantly cured them of any cold symptoms ("Do you have any idea how long doctors have been trying to find a cure for the common cold?!" Yukio exclaimed excitedly), though it left the drinker's ears smoking for several hours afterwards.

Rin was going to check out Hagrid's giant pumpkins one day when he noticed Shiemi in one of the greenhouses. Curious, he entered and saw the Hufflepuff girl tending to the plants.

"Hey, Shiemi. What are you doing here?" he asked curiously.

Shiemi looked up and smiled. "Hi Rin! How are you?"

"Not bad. I was on my way to Hagrid's to check out his pumpkins and I saw you," Rin explained. "Everything okay?"

Shiemi nodded. "Yeah."

"Those Slytherin girls still bothering you?"

Shiemi sadly nodded again. "Yeah. They're still bothering me, but it's not as bad as before," she said resignedly.

Rin frowned. How could two Slytherins pick on such a sweet girl?

"You know, I meant what I said before. If they keep picking on you just let me or Harry know. We've got your back," Rin assured.

Shiemi stared at him. "You mean it? I can count on you and Harry?" she asked.

Rin nodded. "Of course. Nothing makes us happier than making a bunch of Slytherins look like idiots."

Shiemi smiled. "Thank you, Rin. Could you introduce me to your friends some time soon? They sound like nice people."

Rin smiled back. "You bet. Hermione likes you already, I can tell. Ron and Harry will like you too," he promised. "By the way, what are you doing in Greenhouse One?"

"Oh! I was watering the plants here. Professor Sprout lets me water the plants over the weekend. It reminds me of home," said Shiemi.

"Home? You live in Japan too, right?"

"Yeah. I live in True Cross Academy Town."

Rin blinked. "Where's that? Never heard of it."

"I don't really understand how to get there, but I know you can get there from Tokyo," Shiemi explained.

"I see. So you like gardening or something?" Rin asked to keep himself from blowing a fuse for trying to pinpoint where Shiemi's hometown was.

"Yes! I love gardening. My grandma taught me everything I know about it. Whenever I see these plants, I can't help but wonder if any of them are in the Garden of Amahara," said Shiemi.

"The Garden of what…?"

"The Garden of Amahara," Shiemi repeated. "My grandma told me that it's a place where God gathered every kind of plant in the world. After I came to Hogwarts and started taking Herbology, I started to wonder if any of these plants are there too."

Suddenly, Rin was curious about this garden too. "Well, if God created witches and wizards like us, then He must have created some of these weird plants," he said.

Shiemi's face brightened. "Really? You think so?"

Rin shrugged. "I don't see why not. If you ever find it, you gotta check, okay?"

Shiemi smiled and nodded. "I promise. By the way, you said you were going to check out the gamekeeper's pumpkins? I thought you'd be with your friends."

"Yeah, Harry's at Quidditch practice, Hermione is helping Ron with some homework, and Yukio is hanging out with his friends in Ravenclaw," Rin answered, not bothering to mention that he made a break for it when Hermione mentioned helping the boys with their homework. "I wanted to see Hagrid's pumpkins. I heard they're the size of his house."

Shiemi got excited. "Really? Can I… Can I come with you? I wanna see them!" she said excitedly.

Rin smiled widely to hide his blush. "Sure, you bet! I'm sure Hagrid would love to meet you."

"Really? He won't mind if we come visit?" Shiemi asked nervously.

"No way! He may seem scary but if you look up 'gentle giant' in the dictionary, you'll see a picture of him," Rin assured. "Just… don't eat anything he offers. Trust me."

~0~0~0~

Shiro crashed into his easy chair in exhaustion. He finally got the twins down for a nap. Who knew child rearing was so difficult? He desperately wanted a smoke to calm his fried nerves but he quit for the sake of the children.

'Maybe I shouldn't have quit cold turkey.'

DING DONG!

Shiro shot up from his seat and quickly dashed to the front door. He opened it and saw Lily Potter standing on his front door step.

"Thank God you're here!" he exclaimed softly. He stepped aside and let the young witch in. She took off her shoes and put on some slippers. Shiro noted that she was already showing.

"It's no problem at all," Lily assured the priest. "You've done so much for us. It's the least I can do."

"You're the only person I could think of who can help me with this without asking twenty questions," Shiro explained.

Lily smiled sadly. "It's no trouble at all. Although, I would have loved to have gotten to know Yuri more. She was a great help in Wales."

Shiro also smiled sadly as he led the pregnant woman to the living room and to the sofa. "If it hadn't been for her expertise, taking down Oscar Redstone would have been more of a challenge. I still can't believe he's a wizard."

Lily placed a hand on Shiro's arm. "You couldn't have known. There are more of us than you realize," she tried to assure the priest.

Shiro gave the witch a deadpanned look. "Shockingly that doesn't make me feel better." Lily released a mirthless chuckle. Shiro then stood up. "But where are my manners? Let me make you some tea. I may have something that will keep your nausea at bay."

Lily smiled. "Thank you. I appreciate that."

Shiro went into the kitchen and put the kettle on the stove. He then went into the pantry and searched for the tea bags. After looking at his selections, he decided to just make some Earl Grey. It was a souvenir from his first trip to the UK and he thought Lily would appreciate a taste of home (whether it would help with her nausea, he didn't know). He then got out a variety of fruit and started peeling and cutting them. He didn't know much about what kind of snacks Lily (or any pregnant woman for that matter) would want with her tea, but he figured he couldn't go wrong with a variety of fruit, especially in her condition.

He was almost finished putting the tea and the fruit on the tray when he heard one of the twins crying. He squeezed his eyes shut to keep himself from blowing a gasket. They weren't even down an hour! What could they possibly want now?

Shiro released a frustrated sigh and picked up the tea tray. He might as well keep Lily busy with tea and snacks while he dealt with his charges. He entered the living room again and saw Lily was nowhere to be found. In addition to his missing house guest, the crying also stopped. Confused, Shiro put the tray down on the coffee table and went to check on the twins.

He went upstairs into the twins' room and saw Lily standing next to one of the cribs gently rocking Rin back to sleep.

"Hush now," she whispered gently into the baby's ear as she swayed back and forth. "You just wanted to be held, didn't you?" Rin just groaned as his eyes became heavy. "Be patient with your daddy. He's very new at this but he'll get the hang of it. He loves you very much." Rin shifted in her hold before settling down again. "I wish you lived in the same town, or at least the same country. Then we can organize playdates. Would you like that?"

Shiro cleared his throat before entering. "I knew it was a good idea to invite you over," he said softly to avoid waking Yukio.

Lily looked up and released a soft giggle. "My developing maternal instincts refuse to leave two helpless infants alone in your untrained care," she joked.

Shiro chuckled. He saw that Rin was now sound asleep in Lily's arms. "How did you know he just wanted to be held?" he asked.

Lily quietly left the bedroom, Rin still asleep, and went downstairs. She carefully laid down on the sofa and put Rin on top of her chest. Shiro soon followed her into the living room, poured her and himself a cup of tea, and sat down.

"I babysat a lot during the summer holidays," Lily finally answered. "Sometimes all a baby wants is to be held. Close contact and crying is the only way for a baby to communicate."

"May I hire you as a nanny?" Shiro asked. Lily chuckled at his joke.

"If only," she said. "They're both so cute. I hope we can arrange playdates with them and my baby once we've stopped You-Know-Who."

"Just call the guy by his name," Shiro pleaded. "It'll only make the fear worse. Besides, the name's more stupid than it is scary."

Lily chuckled nervously. "It'll probably be less scary once this is all over."

"Hope so. A guy like this doesn't disappear from history. People are going to be talking about Voldemort for generations to come - oh, grow up, Lily! You shouldn't be afraid of hearing it!" Shiro tried saying but ended up getting annoyed when Lily shivered at the mentioning of Voldemort's name.

"Sorry. Everyone's afraid of him. It's only natural I get scared too," Lily defended. Rin started to fuss a little but Lily stroked his back and he settled down. "See? Rin agrees with me."

Shiro rolled his eyes. "And now you're a baby whisperer."

Lily giggled again. "Quiet you! Now, do you want to know some tricks to raising a child or not?"

Shiro smirked. "Only if I can teach you a few exorcism tricks."

~0~0~0~

Shiro knelt at the obelisk in the center of Godric's Hollow town square. He had lit two incense candles at the base of it. While it might seem odd to most people, the locals knew Shiro's friend, Stephen Swain, was an exorcist and guided him to the obelisk. To Muggles like Shiro and Swain, it was a memorial with the names of those who died in both world wars. To witches and wizards, it was a memorial to Lily and James Potter. It was times like this that Shiro wished he could do magic to properly see the monument. It felt weird not being able to see his friends' memorial and properly pay his respects.

It was Halloween, the anniversary of the Potters' deaths and Voldemort's downfall. Shiro didn't know why, but for some reason, this year, he felt like coming here to pay his respects. Perhaps it was because he finally managed to have a conversation with Harry Potter over the summer and old memories with Lily were coming back to Shiro. Granted, he also got along with James, but Lily was his guide to the wizarding world. Any question Shiro had, Lily gladly answered it. Remus Lupin wasn't much help for some reason (Shiro assumed it was due to his frail health). As for Shiro's relationship with Alastor Moody… the less said about it, the better.

"Never thought I'd find you here."

Shiro turned around and saw a priest standing behind him. He looked to be around Shiro's age. His eyes were a murky brown. His maple-colored hair was starting to grey. This was mostly seen in his sideburns. He wore black robes with a clerical collar and a red and blue True Cross pin on his chest.

"Swain. Long time no see," Shiro greeted Reverend Stephen Swain.

"Is this how you pay your respects to the dead in Japan?" asked Swain.

Shiro looked back at the incense candles. "Yeah. It's typically a Buddhist thing, but…"

"They can take you out of Japan, but they can't take Japan out of you," Swain finished. "I get it. It's a cultural thing, right?"

Shiro chuckled mirthlessly. "Something like that. I just wanted to drop by and say hello. The last time I saw them was at their kid's christening," he said solemnly. "I'm such a jackass. I should have come here more often."

Swain shrugged. "Being a single parent and a high ranking exorcist does make you lose track of time," he stated. "I'm sure Lily understands."

Shiro was silent for a few minutes before speaking again. "I met her son over the summer."

Swain's eyes widened. "You met Harry Potter? Truly?"

Shiro nodded. "Yes, I did. Pretty skinny and small for his age. Spitting image of his old man minus the eyes. He's got Lily's eyes."

"Is that why you're here?"

Shiro sighed. "I guess. Seeing the kid and interacting with him… brought old memories to life. Knowing he and my boys are now good friends I think will put her spirit to rest. It's what she wanted the moment she laid eyes on the twins."

Swain chuckled. "I never got to know her as well as you did, but I think you're right. The fact that her son and your sons are good friends should put her soul at ease," he said. He patted Shiro's shoulder. "How about we head to the pub and share a pint over it?"

~0~0~0~

Rin couldn't be happier to leave Nearly Headless Nick's deathday party. It was the gloomiest party he'd ever been in. The music sounded like nails to a chalkboard and the food was moldy and inedible. The guests were gloomy (as to be expected for a party celebrating someone's death). Peeves didn't make things better when he made the ghost of the second floor bathroom cry.

The four Gryffindors, plus Kuro (who hadn't stopped following the kids since Harry's detention) suddenly wished that they'd taken a page from Yukio's book and just went to the Halloween feast (Yukio had promised his Ravenclaw friends he'd go with them).

"The next time you guys invite me to a ghost's deathday party, remind me to say no," said Rin.

"No need to tell us twice," said Ron. "Let's get to the feast. The pudding might not be finished yet."

Everyone agreed as they headed towards the stairs to the entrance hall. Harry and Kuro suddenly stopped. Rin, Ron, and Hermione also stopped.

"What's the matter, Harry?" asked Hermione.

Kuro's back arched, his tails poofed up like a squirrel's, and started hissing again.

This alarmed Rin as he looked at his cat. "Kuro? What's wrong, buddy?" he asked.

"What's going on?" asked Ron.

"It's that voice again - shut up a minute -" Harry shushed.

The quartet stood still for a few seconds before Kuro and Harry started running upstairs. "This way!" Harry shouted, Kuro hot on his heels.

"Hey, wait up!" Rin called out as he, Ron, and Hermione ran after them. They continued running past the Great Hall where the Halloween feast was still going on strong, up the marble staircase to the first floor.

"Harry, what're we -" Hermione started.

"Shhh!" he shushed again. He continued running through the halls and up the stairs to the second floor. "It's going to kill someone!" he suddenly shouted. Kuro let out a warning growl at whatever he was hearing.

"Kill?!" Ron repeated in disbelief. "What's going on, Harry? We can't hear anything!"

Hermione gave a sudden gasp and pointed at something down the corridor. "Look!"

Something was shining on the wall ahead. They slowly approached, squinting into the darkness. Kuro sniffed the air and suddenly became very docile and scared. He retreated behind Rin. When they finally approached the wall, they saw foot-high words shimmered in the light cast by the flaming torches:

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAVE BEEN OPENED.

ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.

"It's written in blood," Hermione noted, gulping nervously.

"What's that thing - hanging underneath?" asked Ron, pointing to something dangling from a torch.

Rin took a hesitant step forward and squinted his eyes. His heart dropped to his stomach when he realized what it was and leapt backward with a splash. 'Splash?'

"It's Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris," he whimpered. The cat was stiff as a board, her eyes wide and staring.

It felt like several hours when in actuality, it was only a few minutes when Ron said, "Let's get out of here."

"Shouldn't we try to help -" Harry began awkwardly.

"Trust me," said Ron. "We don't want to be found here."

"Too late," Rin squeaked. His friends and cat turned and were greeted by the sight of loud, happily chatting well-fed people walking up the stairs back to their common rooms after the feast. The chatter, bustle, and laughter all died down when they saw the message and the cat dangling from the torch bracket. The quartet, plus cat, stood alone in the middle of the corridor as silence fell among the mass of students pressing forward to see the gruesome sight.

"'Enemies of the heir, beware;' you'll be next Mudbloods," Draco Malfoy shouted as he pushed himself forward to the front of the crowd, grinning at the sight of the hanging, immobile cat. Harry and Ron had to grab the back of Rin's robe to keep him from beating Malfoy to a pulp.

"Not here, Rin!" Hermione hissed.

"What's going on here? What's going on?" the unmistakable voice of Filch asked as he shouldered his way through the crowd. The quartet paled. They knew what was coming next. The moment Filch saw Mrs. Norris, he fell back, clutching his face in horror. "My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?!" he shrieked. His eyes then laid on Harry. "You! You've murdered my cat! You've killed her! I'll kill you! I'll -"

"Argus!" Professor Dumbledore's voice suddenly called out. He had arrived at the scene, along with several members of the faculty. He saw what was written on the wall. "Everyone! Return to your dormitories immediately!" Everyone turned to leave but Dumbledore wasn't finished. "Everyone, except you four," he finished as he pointed to the four Gryffindors.

Rin managed to find Yukio in the crowd. He looked as confused as the rest of the student body. 'Tell you later,' Rin mouthed to his twin. He nodded and followed his fellow Ravenclaws back to the dorms.

There's another reason updates are going to slow down. I was recently laid off, so I'm kind of depressed (the oh-woe-is-me kind of depression). Take one guess as to why I was laid off.

You guys finally have a name for the exorcist/wizard who was involved in the situation in Wales. He's completely OC. I didn't know any villionous exorcists who hailed from the UK (Saburota Todo was from the Japan branch of the True Cross, so I had to rule him out). I'm hoping that's okay with you guys.

Studies show that reviewing this story will prevent you from getting COVID-19. Just kidding! Review!