Gohan Demented and Mooned
The Gryfiindorians made their way to the edge of the forbidden forest. Harry groaned as the Slytherins also made their way past Hagrid's cabin. Gohan, however, was excited. He loved many different kinds of creatures and couldn't wait to see some new and interesting beasts. Hermione unconsciously smiled as she watched him prancing around the group, his enthusiasm difficult for the demi Saiyan to contain.
Hagrid was already there and called them toward an empty paddock. Gohan looked bewildered at his classmates. For some reason, they all had their book tied by belts and string. He stroked his book's spine, which responded with a purr. Harry and Ron noticed and exchanged shocked expressions. Feeling foolish, Hermione quickly untied her, stroking its spine.
Hagrid was instructing them to open their books when he was cut off by Malfoy. "How?"
"Excuse me?"
"How , exactly, are we to open our books?"
Gohan stared. What was so hard about opening the books?
Hagrid looked over his other students, then blushed. Other than Gohan and now Hermione, everyone else had their books tied shut. He stammered. "Excellent question! Who would like ter answer young Malfoy, eh?"
Malfoy snorted.
Hermione nudged Gohan to raise his hand. After all, he had been the first to figure it out. Gohan looked back at her bewildered. Impatiently, she grabbed his arm and thrust it into the air.
Hagrid beamed. "Ah, Gohan! Perhaps you would like ter answer."
"Oh. You stroke its spine. It likes its spine being stroked best."
"Excellent! Ten points ter Gryffindor!
Malfoy rolled his eyes. "Oh, how silly of us! We should have stroked them! Why didn't we guess?"
"I-I thought they would be funny," Hagrid said sadly to Hermione.
Malfoy snorted. "Terribly funny. Real witty. Nothing's funnier than having one of your books trying to rip your fingers off."
Hermione shot him a scathing look. "Don't worry about him. It's not your fault Malfoy doesn't have a sense of humor."
Malfoy glared at Gohan as he heard her, as if Gohan had been the one to retort. He had seen Hermione taking her spell-o-tape from her book. Gohan had been the only one who hadn't seemed to need to restrain his book. Although he'd never admit it to anyone, Monkey Boy had impressed him.
Hagrid stammered once more and disappeared into the tree line.
"This place is going to the dogs! That oaf teaching classes…wait until my father hears-"
"Shut up, Malfoy," Harry said loudly.
Gohan looked across the paddock. "WOW!" he exclaimed. "Those are pretty!"
The Slytherins stared at him before catching sight of the beasts and exclaiming themselves. Pretty wouldn't have been the first word Hermione would have used to describe them. She had seen pictures of hippogriffs before, but seeing them up close was a new experience. Frightening, even. They were majestic looking beasts, tall, horse-like in all ways, except that they had wings, front feet and heads shaped like eagles. Their beaks were metallic in color and had sharp, orange eyes. Each had their own distinct coloring and some had markings. Hagrid tethered them to the fence.
"Hippogriffs. Aren't they beautiful?" Hagrid asked, beaming at them. Hermione looked at the back of Gohan's head and smiled. She knew someone would agree with him, at least.
"So, if you be wanting to be getting a bit nearer-" Gohan eagerly took a step forward while the others shrank away. Hagrid chuckled. "Excellent, Gohan! Anybody else?" Harry, Ron, and Hermione slowly approached the fence. Videl, more afraid of the glaring students than the beasts, reluctantly followed, remaining a good five paces away.
Hagrid nodded, beaming at them. He told them about how to approach the hippogriffs. "Hippogriffs are proud creatures, easily offended-" Gohan stood in rapt attention as Hagrid continued his explanation.
"So, who wants to go first?"
Gohan squirmed excitedly. He wanted to, but he wouldn't deny anyone else the privilege, either.
"I'll do it," Harry said suddenly.
Gohan heard Lavender and Parvati whispering about tea leaves. "You're so lucky, Harry," Gohan said happily.
Funnily, Harry didn't look like he felt lucky. "Yeah," He climbed over the fence.
"Right, then. I'll see how yeh get along with Buckbeak. Gohan, yeh come as well. Yeh seem eager enough."
"Yeah!" Gohan punched the air happily and hovered over the fence, landing softly. Hagrid removed the tethers from two hippogriffs. Harry's was the gray one. The orange one didn't wait for Gohan to finish bowing. She charged Gohan and picked him up by the collar. She dropped him on the ground and began nuzzling and licking him.
Gohan giggled. "H-h-h-h-hey, cut it out! That tickles!" Hagrid stared in shock. That had never, in the entire history of hippogriffs, happened before. Gohan's hippogriff pranced about him, pushing him with her head and tackling him to the ground. Hagrid had only seen that kind of behavior between two hippogriffs playfully rough housing. For some odd reason, the red hippogriff had assumed that Gohan was one of them, albeit an ugly one of them. He watched in awe as the hippogriff and Saiyan took turns chasing each other across the paddock. Dumbledore had told him the boy had talent with animals. Hagrid had never expected this, however.
Harry was having a harder time with the gray one. He bowed. Everyone forced themselves to look at Harry. His eyes had begun to water from the prolonged non blinking eye contact. The beast stared haughtily at him, before sinking into its own graceful bow.
"Well done, Harry! You can go stroke Buckbeak now." Harry trudged uncomfortably toward him and awkwardly patted him on the beak. Buckbeak closed his eyes and appeared to immensely enjoy the attention. The entire class clapped, except Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle…and Gohan, of course, who had taken to the air and was racing Ginger.
"He will let you ride him, now." Hagrid said happily. Harry groaned. He listened as Hagrid told him what to do. He hoisted himself onto the creature. Hagrid slapped it on the rump. It reared and took off.
"This is great, isn't it?" Harry heard from behind. Gohan was now sitting on Ginger's back, looking perfectly at ease.
"Er, yeah, great, Gohan," Harry said uncertainly.
Hagrid clapped as both hippogriffs landed. "Well done, Gohan! Well done, Harry! So, who else want to go?"
Everyone trotted anxiously toward the paddock. Ginger was now interacting with the other students; although she was considerably haughtier with the others. Gohan had a turn with each of the hippogriffs. Clearly, they were as fascinated with him as he was with them. The chestnut had settled comfortably with Ron and Hermione as Neville backed fearfully away from the only one who Gohan hadn't played with yet. Gohan walked up to it and bowed. It glared at him for only a moment before sinking into a bow and nuzzling his face with his beak. After receiving Gohan, it finally gave a knee to poor Neville.
Videl had sat back, watching her classmates. Gohan had deeply impressed her. She had a new reason for learning more about Gohan, besides her curiosity. Gohan was so refreshing to be around. He hardly let anything faze him. His innocence and strong convictions pulled her like a magnet. She knew he'd make an excellent friend…if she was good enough to be a friend back.
Just then, shrieking filled the paddock as Buckbeak the Hippogriff lunged at Draco Malfoy and knocked him to the ground. In a flash Gohan had appeared between the two, shielding Malfoy from further injury. Malfoy sobbed, clutching his arm. The hippogriff glared at Malfoy before obeying Gohan's commanding squawk. He pranced haughtily away.
"It's killed me! I'm dying!" Malfoy gasped. Hagrid picked Malfoy up. Blood spurted from a deep gash.
Gohan frowned. "That looks bad. Maybe I should take him. I'll be faster." Hagrid gulped and nodded. Gohan grasped Malfoy around the waist and flew toward the castle. He reached the hospital wing and found Madam Pomfrey. She pulled out her wand and began singing. Well, at least Gohan thought she was singing. The gash began closing slowly. She repeated the incantation and the wound knitted some more. She nodded at Gohan to take his leave. Gohan looked at the whimpering Malfoy reluctantly before exiting. He thought Malfoy was really mean, but he didn't want anything bad to happen to him. He passed Hagrid entering the large doors and racing up the stairs.
He joined Harry, Hermione, and Ron at the bottom of the stairs. He saw Pansy Parkinson race up afterwards.
"How is he?" Hermione said in a low voice.
Gohan shrugged. "He's already stopped bleeding. I don't think there will even be a scar."
"Darn," Ron mumbled.
Gohan glared. "That's mean!"
Ron looked at Gohan in shock. "Why? It's not like Malfoy's a saint or anything!"
"Just because Malfoy is mean doesn't mean you have to stoop to his level," Hermione said.
"Besides," Gohan added. "You never know what it's like at home for him."
"Come off it!" Harry said angrily. "He's got a great home life. He's always complaining that he can't be there instead of here."
Gohan gave his friend a knowing look. "You mean like when Vegeta sometimes complains that he still isn't on one of Frieza's ships destroying galaxies? Like when he says he wants to destroy all of us? Like when he says he wants to kill this or destroy that?"
Hermione smiled a little. For a naïve and innocent kid, Gohan was pretty intuitive. Her smile vanished, however, as she added her sobering thought. "Let's just hope Hagrid doesn't get in trouble. Troubled at home or not, Malfoy is probably going to milk this for everything he can get."
While Harry, Ron, and Hermione visited Hagrid, Gohan found Piccolo for a quick spar. Gohan panted as his fifth failed attack earned him another kick by his mentor. "You're distracted, Gohan."
"Sorry, Piccolo." Gohan said.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Gohan told him about the hippogriff attack and his feelings about Malfoy.
Piccolo nodded. "You were right to compare him with Vegeta. His thoughts are every bit as muddled, every bit as conflicted. But as you know with Vegeta, that can be very dangerous, Gohan. You need to be careful, especially with these dementors and Sirius Black business."
Gohan looked up at him. "What do you know about it?"
"Well, I know enough to believe that things are more than they appear. I have the suspicion that Dumbledore isn't telling us everything about Black."
Gohan sighed. "That figures."
"This is going to sound funny, Gohan. But I want you to start paying attention to Ron's rat."
Gohan blinked. "Huh? Because of its ki?"
"There are several reasons. I have a bad feeling about it. Just keep an eye on it. Also, I need you to tell me if ever you see a big black dog."
Gohan flinched. He had already seen one. The action didn't go unnoticed.
"Gohan?"
"I already saw one. It was at the Magical Menagerie." Gohan told him the entire story.
Piccolo frowned. Hmm. That's weird. Why didn't Black go after Harry then? It would have been easy to kill the boy and get away in that form. I didn't peg Black as the cautious type. There's more to this that the old man is telling…I'm certain of it! I'm not going to act here until I've confronted Black myself.
"Piccolo? Why do you want me to watch out for the dog?"
Piccolo frowned into the eyes of his innocent friend. Gohan was so trusting, almost as much as his father had been. "Just do me these favors. One more thing. Keep an extra close eye on Harry. To be on the safe side, watch Hermione as well. Once her secret comes out, she'll be vulnerable."
Gohan nodded firmly.
Malfoy didn't return until the middle of Thursday's double Potions. He had his arm wrapped in a sling and tightly wound.
Gohan blinked stupidly. I thought his arm was cut, not broken. Harry looked back at Malfoy and snorted loudly. After a few exchanges among the Slytherins, Professor Snape called for order and continued to explain Shrinking Solutions.
Professor Snape slid Gohan a sheet of parchment while ordering Ron to cut up Malfoy's roots. Gohan flipped the sheet over. It had the times listed for Gohan's week of detentions that he owed the Professor from the previous year. It seemed that he would be seeing the Professor every evening at seven for the next five days.
Gohan smiled slightly, absently listening as Snape ordered Harry to skin Malfoy's shrivelfig. He didn't need to guess what he was going to be doing during those lessons. The year previous, he and Snape had experimented on various methods of magical and non magical combat. He looked up at Snape, who nodded curtly, confirming his suspicions.
Gohan had been focusing on his own potion when he heard the Professor tell Neville that they were going to feed Neville's toad a bit of his potion. Gohan looked at the potion and gasped. Based on the looks of it, Neville's toad wasn't going to survive the concoction. He looked back at the instructor in anguished horror. Seeing Gohan's face, Snape turned away, wincing. He strode away, hating himself for how the boy affected him. He would never admit it, but he liked Gohan. Gohan was the cleanest and most amiable thing that had been in this place since…since Lily and her.
Malfoy, however, continued taunting Harry. "If I were you, I'd want revenge," Malfoy was saying, talking about Sirius Black.
"What are you talking about?" Harry spat angrily.
Gohan frowned as he watched Malfoy taunt Harry. Catching his eye, Malfoy fell silent. Gohan looked away, deep in thought.
"Come now, Neville. Wand at the ready. Are you ready?" Professor Lupin said. He flicked his wand at the wardrobe. Snape came out in all his greasy fearsome-ness, and strode purposefully toward Neville with a smirk.
Whimpering, Neville said shakily. "R- riddikulus!" Amidst gales of laughter, the boggart-Snape had donned a dress and a pointed hat with a stuffed buzzard attached to the rim. Parvati faced the boggart. Then Seamus, Dean, Ron… finally, Gohan stepped forward. The boggart spun around and turned into...
Daddy?
Boggart-Goku glared at his son. He pointed at Gohan accusingly. "How could you? It's your fault I'm dead! You should have destroyed Cell when you had the chance-"
"-no-" Gohan moaned. "Daddy." Gohan's wand twitched slightly.
"But now I'm dead! It's all your fault, Gohan-"
"-No-" Gohan's wand lurched angrily toward the boggart.
"-I'll never forgive you, Gohan…never! I hate you! It should have been you who died, not me!"
"NO!" He cried in anguish. Gohan's wand shot out angrily, pulling Gohan's arm with it, and shot a spell at boggart-Goku, turning it into a carrot. Everyone chuckled forcibly as the shaken Saiyan retreated to the group. Hermione put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Videl watched him in shock. It was eerily similar to the scene on the train. He stared at the wand in his hand in shock. It sent him a reproachful yet warming and comforting sensation.
They looked up to see Harry's boggart turn into a dementor, but Lupin jumped in front of it. The boggart turned into a slivery orb. Gohan stared. He felt something snap inside of him. He calmly listened to the rhythmic beating inside him. He felt himself changing, and he allowed it. The surging power felt good.
"Riddikulus!" Lupin cried, and the orb vanished, replaced by Snape once more. "Forward, Neville, and finish it!"
Gohan sank to his knees, panting, with an expression of horror filling his face. He had almost transformed into an oozaru right in the middle of class.
Lupin dismissed the class, awarding everyone five points, and Neville ten. "Mr. Son? Might I have a word?"
Gohan sighed and turned reluctantly. "Yes, sir?"
"What just happened? You looked happy when you saw the orb. Afterward you looked shocked."
Gohan nodded. "I might ask you similar, professor. Why would your greatest fear be the full moon?"
Lupin blanched. "I…cannot say. But you can trust me."
Gohan didn't doubt him. "The moon produces Blutz Waves. Blutz Waves cause a transformation in Saiyans. I felt the transformation when I saw the full moon."
Lupin was interested. "Really? Do you become a werewolf?"
Gohan laughed. "Nah. Saiyans become giant apes."
Lupin gasped in shock. Then, he smiled. "Thank you for telling me, Gohan. Can you control the transformation?"
"Sure. There are several ways. One way is to not look at the moon. Another way is to remove a Saiyan's tail. Saiyans cannot absorb Blutz in their bodies as well without their tails."
Lupin stared at the appendage carefully wrapped around his waist. "If that is true, why do you keep your tail?"
Gohan unwound his tail and held it out. "Why shouldn't I keep it? I'm not ashamed of being a Saiyan. It's part of who I am."
Silence. Then, Lupin nodded thoughtfully and dismissed him.
...
Hermione trotted from Lupin's class thoughtfully. Harry, Videl and she had yet to face the boggart. Harry, at least, had gotten to see his greatest fear. But she and Videl hadn't. Hermione felt that was some vitally important information. She wondered what her greatest fear was. Did she want to know? Was she better off not knowing? She didn't think so. Less than a year ago, her greatest fear would have been to fail all of her OWLs. But now? She wanted to know, but she didn't.
Hermione bit her lip as she watched her classmates. It was times like these that made her feel alien to the world around her. When she originally started at Hogwarts, she had worried that she wouldn't fit in because of her excellent memory. She had the tendency to remember everything she took an interest in and many things she did not. She sighed. If things were only that simple now.
Gohan caught up with her. He saw her expression and hugged her from the side, ignoring the stares and giggles. Hermione was his friend. Her pain was his pain now.
"Won't things ever be normal again?" she asked him in Namekian, leaning her head on his shoulder.
"Donno. But if they aren't, you can always live with us. I don't even think Vegeta would mind. Piccolo even likes you."
Her lips formed a small smile.
Gohan stood, rubbing his sore body. He still hadn't managed to project a shield that would stave off most of Snape's attack. Gohan could now completely throw off Expelliarmus and Stupefy, but this jet of red light, the kind that made him feel like he was burning inside out, was harder. Gohan chose a defense position and focused his ki and his mental energies, once again trying to mold them into a successful shield. Snape pointed his wand.
"Ready, Son?"
Gohan made a face. He saw Snape's mouth twitch as the nonverbal spell exited his wand. Gohan formed the shield. The spell struck the shield. As usual, the shield separated a portion of the beam but allowed some of the beam to pass. That portion struck Gohan in the chest. Immediately, Gohan felt the burning sensation in his bones and cried out. Hearing the sound, Snape stopped immediately.
"I think that's enough for today, Mr. Son," Snape said as he watched Gohan struggle to his feet.
"No," Gohan moaned as he slowly made his way up the wall. "Let's keep going. I…I can take it."
Snape examined the boy's pleading expression. He sighed heavily. "Very well. Twice more, perhaps. Prepare yourself, Son." He raised his wand.
The professor absently wondered what the headmaster would do if he discovered the curse Snape was actually using on the boy. He wanted Gohan to discover a way to become completely impervious to all three. That was his goal. Then Gohan would have some means of protection. He knew the boy's strength would make him a target for quick elimination, if the Dark Lord was sure to return, as Dumbledore predicted. He had plenty of reasons to teach Gohan these things. One reason was the half Saiyan's close proximity to Potter. He was certain to run into trouble in that company.
The other reason was a promise he had made to Selina Subaru. After he and Lily had parted ways, Selina, who was Lily's closest friend, had still remained cordial with him. Selina told him that despite Lily's anger, Lily still cared deeply for him. Selina never gave up that he would change. Snape had looked up to Selina even then. Although little more than strangers, he had considered her family. She welcomed him like a brother. He pushed the painful memories of their last meeting from his thoughts.
He whirled his arm at Gohan. Crucio, he thought, once again imagining he was attacking the Dark Lord instead. He removed the curse as soon as he heard Gohan's cry. He approached the Saiyan's unconscious body and pushed the hair from his eyes. "I'm sorry," he whispered at the motionless form.
Piccolo aroused from his deep meditation. He had felt the exchange between the Gohan and the other Piccolo knew to be the hook-nosed potions professor. He frowned. He knew that Gohan had been through considerably worse, but the very thought of Gohan in pain was, well, unbearable. This was the third night in a row he felt Gohan's conscience slip from his body. He growled angrily. The nerve of that human! What, exactly, was he trying to prove?
But Piccolo was no fool. He felt Gohan's experiments with his energies. As a Namekian, Piccolo was given to focusing his mental energies. When he had trained Gohan, he had noticed that the boy had revealed some aptitude for it himself. But because of the gravity of their situation, Piccolo had only taught him the essentials. Gohan was getting the mental workout of his life now, thanks to Severus Snape.
Piccolo's eyes narrowed. He followed a petite, agile body as it snuck toward the forbidden forest. The sparking ki told him of her intentions. So, she's decided to step up her training. Why am I not surprised?