A little on the short side but it's a new chapter nonetheless. Just plain old filler. We'll get back on our feet in the next chapter.

Enjoy!

Chapter 19

More Letters

Yukio slammed the book he was reading shut then pulled another book off the shelf. While Rin and his friends were busy throughout the year with making the Polyjuice Potion, Yukio was dealing with his own problems. As an aspiring exorcist aiming for dragoon and doctor meisters, he always kept his eyes peeled for any signs of demonic activity at Hogwarts. Most of the time it was just an occasional coal tar (which for some reason there were hardly any in the corridors this year), but he recently noticed something was off about Ron's sister.

"Yukio?"

The bespeckled boy looked up from the book he was looking through and saw Shiro staring at him from the doorway.

"Hey Dad," Yukio muttered before returning to the book. It was Christmas break and the twins once again went home for the holidays and their birthday.

"What are you doing in my study? There are books everywhere."

Yukio's face turned red after being caught. "Nothing," he mumbled.

Shiro stared at him. "'Nothing?'" he repeated.

He hated it when Shiro looked at him like that. It was like that look alone could draw out the truth from the deepest parts of his mind. "Just looking through your medical books," Yukio admitted.

"Your Exwire exam isn't until next year. A little early to start studying for it," said Shiro.

"I'm not studying, I'm researching," Yukio argued.

Shiro raised an eyebrow. "'Researching?'" he repeated.

Yukio sighed. "If I tell you what this is for, do you promise not to tell anyone?" he asked.

"Depends on what it is."

"No, you have to promise me," Yukio pleaded. "If she found out I told, then she won't let me help her."

Shiro smirked. "Oooohhh. Helping a girl?" he teased.

"It's not like that!"

"It's not?"

Yukio ran his hand over his face. "It's Ginny, Ron's sister."

"You have a crush on Ginny?"

Yukio's face turned red. "Will you stop that? I'm trying to help her with a problem."

Shiro chuckled. "Okay, okay, I'll stop. So, what's the problem?"

"Alright, it started a week before break…"

~0~0~0~

"Ow, ow, ow…" Rin cried as Professor McGonagall dragged him away by the ear.

Hermione shook her head while pinching the bridge of her nose while Yukio looked at his brother pityingly. Crabbe called her a Mudblood and Rin reacted by giving him a bloody nose. Unfortunately, McGonagall was nearby and witnessed the whole thing. He cost Gryffindor ten points and got detention that night.

Fred and George, who witnessed the whole thing while walking to their next class, snickered. "The Demon of Gryffindor strikes again," they whispered.

Hermione let out a huff and followed them. "You two better not call him that!" she called out to them. She looked back and waved goodbye to Yukio before going after the redheaded twins.

Yukio rolled his eyes and made his way back to Ravenclaw Tower. On the way, he noticed Ginny sitting on one of the steps crying. Luna was sitting next to her, trying to comfort her.

"Hey Ginny," said Yukio. "Everything alright?"

Ginny looked up and Yukio was startled at how pale her face was.

"I… don't know," she sobbed. "I keep seeing strange… things. They scare me."

Yukio's eyebrows shot up. "You're seeing things?"

Ginny and Luna nodded.

"I asked her if they were Wrackspurts or Nargles but she said no," Luna answered airily.

Yukio gave Luna a look. "Nargles?"

"They infest mistletoe and are troublesome thieves," Luna answered, "but I don't think Nargles are responsible for whatever is bothering Ginny."

Yukio turned to Ginny. "What do you see? Can you describe these strange things?"

"They look like little black bugs. I see them everywhere in the library and sometimes they swarm me," Ginny described.

"Coal tars," Yukio immediately concluded.

"I've always wondered what those things were," Luna said airily. "I could never think of a clever name for them."

"Ginny, you have a temptaint," said Yukio. Ginny's pale face became paler. "Do you have any idea how you got it?"

Ginny shook her head vigorously. "No. I have no idea how I got it."

"I remember getting one from a Nargle," said Luna. "They look nothing like how I thought they'd look like."

"I'm not gonna ask," Yukio muttered. "Let's get you to Professor Shura."

Ginny shook her head again. "I don't know how I got it. How can she treat it?"

~0~0~0~

"Turns out not even Shura knew how to treat it," Yukio concluded.

"Doctors can only treat a temptaint if they can see the injury that caused it," Shiro explained. "What did she say?"

"Nothing helpful. Ginny didn't give much helpful information," Yukio answered. "She kept answering 'I don't know.' Shura eventually threw us out of her office. 'Come back when you have something useful to tell me,' she said."

Shiro gripped his chin in thought. "She wouldn't tell Shura anything?" he asked for clarity.

Yukio nodded. "It seemed like she was afraid to tell Shura anything, like she was hiding something. Then right before Rin and I left to come home, Ginny made me promise not to tell anyone about this." He then glared at his adoptive father. "You better do the same."

Shiro shrugged. "Who would I tell?"

"You know people."

"Most of them hardly know anything about magic," Shiro replied.

"What about your friends from the Order of the Phoenix?"

Shiro shook his head forlornly. "James and Lily are dead, I haven't heard from Remus in years, and Alistor trusts me as far as he can throw me."

"Anyone else?" asked Yukio.

"There is one other person, but he's in prison," Shiro said bitterly. He then grumbled something Yukio couldn't hear but chose not to ask.

Laughter was suddenly heard from the living room. Shiro gestured to Yukio to follow. The boy made a mental note to clean up as soon as possible. They made their way to the living room and saw Rin laughing at a letter he was reading.

"What are you laughing at, Rin?" asked Yukio.

Shiro noticed something else in the living room. "Is that an owl?"

Rin looked up from the letter and followed Shiro's gaze to the back of the couch where a beautiful snowy owl was perched.

"Yeah, that's Hedwig, Harry's owl," Rin explained. "He wrote us a letter, Yukio. It's about the you-know-what."

"What are you - Oh!" Yukio realized. He ran over to read the letter as well.

Shiro chuckled as he walked into the room. He looked at Hedwig. "It's quite a flight back to Hogwarts. Why don't you stay here for a few days and rest? We've got space in the attic," he offered. He then leaned closer to the snowy owl. "There's another owl there. No fraternizing, you hear?"

Hedwig ruffled her feathers and pecked Shiro's nose with a high-pitched screech.

"OW!"

"Dad?" the twins said.

Shiro rubbed his nose and gave the boys a half-smile. "I'm fine. Just made the mistake of teasing the owl," he said casually.

~0~0~0~

Happy Christmas and birthday, Rin and Yukio!

I hope you're both enjoying your holidays. Thank you, Rin, for the mochi. We all loved it. Fred and George loved it so much, they stole some of Ron's. It was pretty funny watching him chase them all over the Gryffindor common room.

In regards to the Polyjuice Potion, there is good news and bad news. The good news is that the potion was a success… for Ron and me. We managed to learn a lot about the Chamber of Secrets from Malfoy. According to him, the Chamber was opened about fifty years ago and a Muggleborn died. He has no idea who the Heir is so it can't be him. He also had several choice words to say about you two and Professor Shura (we didn't know Malfoy had a colorful vocabulary).

The bad news is that the potion backfired on Hermione. She's fine, but the hair she got from Millicent Bullstrode turned out to be cat hair. When Ron and I got back to Myrtle's bathroom, Hermione was covered in cat hair, complete with ears and a tail. She's spending the rest of the break in the Hospital Wing.

We'll fill you in more when you both get back to Hogwarts. I don't know how far Japan is but could Hedwig rest at the monastery for a while before you write back?

Thank you and happy birthday!

Harry

~0~0~0~

Dear Harry, Ron, and Hermione,

I'm glad you guys are enjoying the holidays and that the Polyjuice Potion sort of worked. I guess this means we've ruled Malfoy out as a suspect. Do we have any idea what to do next?

While Rin is laughing about Hermione's predicament (which I'll admit I also find pretty funny. Don't tell Hermione I said that) as I write this, I realize that we no longer have any suspects. Have there been any attacks since we left? I'd ask my dad about this but I don't think he knows how to help. If Professor Shura doesn't know what's attacking the students, I don't think Dad would know either.

Hedwig's going to need a long rest when she gets back to school. We're going to need a faster way to communicate when we're home so she doesn't wear herself out. I don't think she moved from her perch in the attic for two days. It took Ron's owl a week to recuperate before we could send him a reply.

See you in the new year!

Yukio

Once again, I'm sorry if it's short. I had a hard time figuring out how to end this chapter so I just ended it here. We'll be back on track in the next chapter, I promise.

Please review! I've noticed that there haven't been any new ones coming in recently.