Thank God I finished this before the holidays! I have been going through so much crap lately, from Christmas shopping to working overtime.

This chapter is a little different from the others. I've been picturing the beginning of this chapter for awhile. Hope you guys like it.

Enjoy!

Chapter 18

Suspects

Shiemi Moriyama was not the most social of butterflies. However, she was a good judge of character. Izumo Kamiki, for example, who acted cold towards everyone around her except for a select few, was a good person at heart; Shiemi could tell.

If there was one thing she refused to believe, though, was that Harry Potter was the Heir of Slytherin everyone at school believed him to be. If what Professor Binns said was correct, then the Heir of Slytherin was supposed to purge the school of Muggleborns. And if that was the case, then why was Harry in Gryffindor and not Slytherin?

That was the question she was pondering one day while she was in the library. Her fellow Hufflepuffs were studying as a group, but she was never invited to join. Konekomaru Niwa would occasionally invite her to join him and his friends to study, but he was not in the library today so she browsed through the books instead. She was barely able to tone out the murmurs of her fellow Hufflepuffs. It wasn't until the sound of someone else's voice joining the fray that caught Shiemi's attention. She made it to the end of the aisle and saw Harry Potter talking to the other Hufflepuffs, no doubt about what happened at the Dueling Club.

"...I don't care what sort of blood you've got!" Harry exclaimed fiercely. "Why would I attack Muggleborns?"

"I've heard you hate the Muggles you live with," a boy named Ernie answered swiftly.

"It's not possible to live with the Dursleys and not hate them," Harry argued. "I'd like to see you try." He then turned on his heel and stormed out of the library.

Shiemi knew from what Rin and Yukio told her that Harry Potter was a good person. She had always wanted to meet him even before the Okumura twins told her about him, she just didn't want to be seen as another fangirl who wanted to meet him due to his fame. This was her chance to really get to know Harry Potter as a person. Shiemi picked up her bookbag and quickly followed the scarred boy.

~0~0~0~

"Wait!"

Harry kept walking, ignoring the pleas of whoever was following him.

"Wait! Waaaaiiiit!"

Harry was grinding his teeth at this point. Why couldn't this person understand that he wanted to be left alone?"

"Waaaiiiiiit! Waaaaaaaaiiiiiiiit!"

"WHAT?" Harry yelled as he turned around to reprimand whoever was calling out to him. His anger evaporated when he realized who it was. "Moriyama? What are you doing here?"

Moriyama caught up to Harry and took a moment to catch her breath. "I… I finally… caught up…" she panted.

"What do you want? Are you going to accuse me of being the Heir of Slytherin too?" Harry assumed, his anger slowly growing again.

Moriyama shook her head no. "I just… wanted to talk to you… about what happened at the Dueling Club," she panted as she continued collecting her breath.

Harry felt his face turn red again. "I simply told the snake to leave Justin alone! Why won't anyone believe me?" he asked irritably.

"I believe you."

Harry blinked at Moriyama's sincerity. "You… You really mean that? You actually believe me?" he asked in disbelief.

The Hufflepuff girl nodded. "Yeah. I wasn't able to see exactly what happened from where I was standing at the Dueling Club, but you couldn't be the Heir of Slytherin."

Harry scoffed. "What makes you say that?"

"Because I know you're a good person," Moriyama reasoned. "You don't have anything against Muggleborns. The Heir of Slytherin is supposed to hate them, right? That should be proof enough."

Harry released a small chuckle. "At least someone believes me," he murmured bitterly as he started walking.

Moriyama frowned, following him. "Don't your friends believe you?"

"They do, but they were rather unnerved that I could talk to snakes," Harry answered, "except Rin. He thought it was cool."

Moriyama giggled. "That sounds like Rin."

Harry was shocked. "You know Rin?"

Moriyama nodded. "Yeah. He helped me earlier this year. He brought me to the Hospital Wing when I was having a panic attack. He and Yuki talk about you all the time," she explained.

"Yuki? You mean Yukio?"

She nodded again. "Yeah, that's my nickname for him. You seem like a good person from what they told me about you." She held out her hand. "Can we… Can we be friends?" she suddenly asked.

Harry stared at the blonde girl. She seemed sincere with her offer of friendship.

"Well," he started, "I don't see why not. Okay." He shook her hand.

Shiemi smiled. "I'm glad," she said, shaking Harry's hand. "Okay, you can call me Shiemi if you want."

Harry smiled back. "In that case, you can call me Harry." The two new friends then noticed Hagrid walking down the corridor in their direction. "Hello, Hagrid."

Shiemi bowed. "Hello, Mr. Hagrid."

"All righ', Harry? Shiemi?" Hagrid greeted.

"We're alright," Harry answered.

"Thank yeh, Shiemi, for teaching me that trick with the water an' cow dung," said Hagrid. "Had quite the harvest in me vegetable garden, I did."

Shiemi smiled modestly. "You're welcome, Mr. Hagrid." She then noticed something in Hagrid's hand. "What's that?"

Harry's eye followed Shiemi's and saw Hagrid holding a dead rooster. He held it up.

"Second one killed this term," he explained. "It's either foxes or a blood-sucking bugbear, an' I need the Headmaster's permission ter put a charm around the chicken coop."

The two students bid Hagrid goodbye and continued walking through the corridor.

"Water and cow dung?" Harry asked.

"Oh! You heard that part," said Shiemi. "It's something that my grandmother taught me. She taught me everything I know about gardening."

"She sounds like a wonderful woman," said Harry.

Shiemi nodded. "She is. She also taught me… What?" she paused at what was ahead of them.

Both students stared in horror at what was in front of them. Justin Finch-Fletchley was lying on the ground, stiff as a board. Next to him was the strangest sight either Harry or Shiemi had ever seen. Nearly Headless Nick was floating six inches from the ground, his head was half off and lying on his shoulders, his face wore a look of shock similar to Justin's.

"It's… It's… It's Finch-Fletchley," Shiemi stammered. "And the Gryffindor ghost."

A door right next to them slammed open. Peeves the poltergeist came shooting out. "Why it's potty wee Potter and morey borey Moriyama!" he cackled, knocking Harry's glasses askew. "What's Potter up to?"

"Nothing, Mr. Peeves. Please move along," Shiemi pleaded.

Peeves noticed Nick and Justin and started shouting, "ATTACK! ATTACK! ANOTHER ATTACK! NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! ATTACK!"

Students and teachers flooded out of classrooms to see what was going on. As teachers bent over to examine Justin, Peeves broke out into song:

"Oh, Potter, you rotter, oh what have you done?

You're killing off students, you think it's good fun -"

"That's enough, Peeves!" Professor McGonagall barked, and Peeves floated away, blowing a raspberry towards Harry and Shiemi.

"Okay, folks! Show's over, back to class!" Professor Shura ordered. It took awhile but Professors Flitwick and Sinistra from Astronomy carried Justin to the Hospital Wing. McGonagall conjured up a giant fan for Shura to waft Nearly Headless Nick somewhere else in the castle. This left Harry, Shiemi, and Professor McGonagall alone in the corridor.

"This way, Potter," she instructed.

"Professor," Harry said at once, "I swear, I didn't -"

"This is out of my hands, Potter," McGonagall said abruptly.

Shiemi stepped in. "Please, Professor McGonagall," she pleaded, "Harry's been with me. He didn't -"

"Silence, Moriyama," McGonagall snapped, causing Shiemi to flinch. The teacher then escorted Harry away, leaving Shiemi alone in the corridor.

~0~0~0~

Hogwarts was practically a ghost town by the time Christmas break started. Unfortunately that did not stop Shura from doing her job as an exorcist. After Nearly Headless Nick and the Finch-Fletchley kid were attacked, hallway patrols were cranked up several notches.

This rather irritated Shura. She had to stay up well into the night, her workload was larger than usual, and she had to cancel drinks with Hagrid twice. Shura told the staff several times that whatever was attacking the students (plus ghost and cat) was not a demon. To make matters worse, her nagas were not cooperating with her. The results were always the same; they poked around and then curled up into a ball, refusing to do anything more.

She was about to start her evening patrol when she noticed Draco Malfoy and his cronies walking past her. The Ferret sneered at her. Shura responded by pointing two of her fingers towards her eyes and then towards him. The classic "I've-got-my-eye-on-you" gesture. Malfoy's eyes widened and motioned his friends to pick up the pace.

Shura smirked as she continued walking, the memory of Malfoy's detention with her still fresh in her mind…

~0~0~0~

One month earlier…

Shura looked up from grading papers as her office door opened. Draco Malfoy entered with a scowl on his face.

"Eight o'clock sharp. Right on time, Ferret," Shura stated as she stood up from her desk.

"When I tell my father about this -" Malfoy started.

"Daddy ain't here, Ferret!" Shura snapped as she went to her storage cabinet. "He's not always gonna fix the things you don't like. So suck it up, Daddy's Boy!"

The Ferret seemed to have ignored what she said and released an irritated sigh. "So what am I doing? Writing lines?"

Shura let out a loud laugh. "HA! Writing lines? That's too easy. No, yer punishment is going to be one we use at True Cross Academy." She pulled out a small cushion and dropped it on the floor in front of her desk. "On your knees, Ferret."

Malfoy eyed her suspiciously and slowly sank to the floor until his knees were on the cushion. "What is this?"

Shura pulled out what looked like a large rock the size of a football (or a soccer ball) with a sutra on it. She plopped it into Malfoy's lap and then removed the sutra. He immediately grimaced.

"What the bloody hell is this?" he repeated.

"That, Ferret, is a bariyon," Shura explained, "a low-level demon that possesses rocks. The longer it stays in yer lap, the heavier it gets."

Malfoy's eyes widened. "You mean you're going to crush my legs?!" he asked in alarm.

"Nah," Shura dismissed. "I'm not that cruel. I'm just gonna let it sit in yer lap until ya learn not to say racial slurs. Ever. Again."

"And if I don't?" Malfoy challenged with a wince.

Shura smiled sadistically. "Then yer gonna be here for a looooonnng time."

~0~0~0~

Malfoy kept his prejudiced views to himself in Shura's class from that day forward. He couldn't walk right for three days because of the bariyon. Whenever he saw Shura in the hallways while talking about "those filthy Mudbloods" he immediately stopped talking mid-sentence until he was sure he was safely out of her earshot.

Shura shrugged as Malfoy and his friends disappeared into the Great Hall. She knew that one evening with a bariyon in the Ferret's lap wouldn't change his prejudiced way of thinking, but it was an okay start.

"Word of advice, Ferret," Shura said after she dismissed him from his detention. "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

COVID vaccines are in the States! When will I get it, I don't know. Just knowing that it's finally here lifts my 2020 blues.

This will be the last chapter of 2020. You'll have to wait patiently for the next chapter in 2021.

Stay healthy and Merry Christmas!

Make sure to review! You can make it my Christmas present!