Transfiguration that Tuesday was a mess. They were learning to transfigure a book into a bird, or vice versa, which was never easy. For Sora, who was the very definition of worse than ever, this feat was a definite recipe for disaster.

"Come on Sora, give it a go," Rose urged.

"Rose, I can conjure, I can charm, I can ride a broom, I can even be semi-good at potions, but the one thing I cannot do is transfigure."

"Of course you can. You just need more practice."

"I turned a turnip into a tea cosy instead of a top hat," the brunette key blade wielder answered flatly. "Even you can't say that's pretty bad."

"He's right Rose, that is pretty bad," Albus interjected.

"Living animals for me will be an abomination," Sora added.

"Albus, shut up. Sora, the only thing you can do is keep going."

"But Rose…"

"You just have to keep trying."

Sighing, Sora turned to his book and put his wand on the cover. "Converto et Besta," he murmured and sat back to watch with dulled interest as the book began to reshape itself in the shape of a bird, growing feathers out of pages.

"There, see? What did I tell you? You just needed more practice," Rose announced happily as she watched.

"Um… Rose? I don't think that's right," Albus announced carefully as he began backing away slowly, pulling a distracted Scorpius with him.

The transforming bird on the desk was still looking like a bird. Just. The wings had become more pointed, the beak looking like it had fangs instead of one sharp point, the talons on the feet pointing angrily as they lengthened and sharpened, and the body swelled quickly.

"Professor McGonagall!" Sora yelled anxiously, not knowing how to get it to stop.

"She's not here!" Another Gryffindor yelled back as the entire class began moving away from Sora's still transforming bird.

"Rose, how do we get it to stop?" Albus asked as he pointed his wand at it.

"Do something Weasley!" A Slytherin yelled.

"Finate!" the ginger haired girl yelled. The spell struck and the entire structure did indeed stop growing. It started shaking instead.

"What now?" Sora asked quietly as the shaking intensified.

"I'm not…"

That was as far as Rose got before the entire statue exploded, loudly. Screams echoed around the room as glowing paper fluttered around and settled on the ground, desks and uniforms. It was brushed off, crumbling into ash as it fell.

"That was… dramatic," Albus commented, pausing briefly to search for the right word as he lowered his wand.

"Just a little," Scorpius answered dryly.

"Hey, what's that?" Sora asked as he pointed to what was left sitting on his desk, looking completely untouched.

"It looks like a… bird," the raven-haired Potter muttered as he too gazed at the black mass curiously.

"Think it's alive?" Scorpius asked quietly.

"Only one way to find out," Sora replied and carefully made is way over to the black bird on his desk.

"Be careful," Rose warned quietly as she lifted her wand.

Looking at it curiously, Sora blinked at the familiar black bird. Where had he seen a bird like that before? Tucking his wand away because he was completely helpless trying to defend himself with it, the brunette reached out a hand to touch a shiny black wing. The moment his fingers brushed the surface, the bird leapt to life, squawking and flapping its wings in a flurry.

"You did it!" Rose cheered loudly when the bird lifted off the table and began flapping around the ceiling.

"I don't think so," Sora murmured as he gazed down at his bleeding fingers, the flesh shredded where the tip of the wings had grazed the top of his fingers. "Stay away from it!" he yelled as he noticed the creatures' talons digging gouges in the bricks as it scratched at them, trying to get out. "Everyone out of the room!"

Not willing to argue, half the Slytherin's darted out the door before the Gryffindor's could even move.

"What are you going to do?" Scorpius asked as his brunette friend went searching through cupboards, obviously looking for something.

"Catch it if I can, or kill it. Whichever comes first."

"I'll help," Albus threw in as he too began searching.

Scorpius trailed after the middle Potter, his wand trained on the bird as it flew around. "Catch it with what exactly?"

"I'm not sure. Something hard? Or metal?"

"Accio metal!" Rose yelled, yelping and diving to the side as chairs, desks, cupboards, pens and other various things came flying at her.

"That was smart," Scorpius drawled sarcastically as she straightened and dusted herself off, a blush on her face. "Watch the bird."

The group of four froze as they realised the frantic sound of flying had stopped. The bird had settled on a light fixture and was watching them like a hawk.

"That's where I've seen a bird like that before!" Sora suddenly announced, realisation dawning.

The others just looked at him in confusion.

"Maleficent had a bird that looked like a crow. I hated the bird. It was annoying as it continuously tried to peck my eyes out."

He just received blank looks from the other three.

"Um… never mind. Random thought."

"Obviously," Scorpius muttered and turned his attention back to the still waiting bird on the ceiling. "Right, what are we going to do with this thing?"

"I'll try and stun it. Albus, Scorpius, give me a hand," Rose decided and Sora quickly looked for something to use, just in case.

Ah, there. Something sticking out of the metal pile. That would do.

"Ready? On three. One… two… three! Stupefy!"

The other two echoed her lead and Sora jumped to attention as the three beams of red light struck the bird almost simultaneously.

When the lights cleared, the bird just squawked a little and fluffed itself up, looking unconcerned.

"Crap… it's magic proof," Albus swore and looked around for something solid to use. Unfortunately everything metal was over near Sora and Rose.

"How the hell did you manage that?" Scorpius asked in disbelief.

"I don't know," Sora replied, sounding slightly panicked. "I told you it was a bad idea."

"No kidding," Al muttered.

"You three, get out of here while it's distracted," Sora ordered quietly, focusing back on the bird and the problem at hand.

"What about you?" Scorpius asked, quickly covering his best friend's protests with a hand.

"My problem, so I'll deal with it. I won't have you three getting hurt in the process."

"Sora, there is no way-!"

That was as far as Rose Weasley got before the birds loud screech ripped through the air, drawing their attention to it as the bird dropped like a rock, aiming for the single female in the room.

Leaping in front of her as she shrieked, Sora swung the desk he'd grabbed at the bird and scowled as the wood just splintered on impact, leaving the desk useless, but knocking the bird away.

Quickly looking for something else in the pile, they didn't notice the bird going after Sora until Albus yelled a warning. Rolling to the side, the brunette keyblade wielder winced as he felt the air skate across his back. That was close…

…and the bird was coming back.

"Sora, here!" Rose yelled, obviously having found something in the pile.

Taking it from her hand without looking, the islander swung whatever it was he'd been given that had a handle as hard as he could. The resulting CLANG resounded around the room, and a sickening crack was heard as the screeching bird was destroyed into chunks of what looked like concrete and fell to the wooden floor with different pitched thumps.

Breathing out, Sora stood straight and looked, for the first time, at what is was Rose had given him. His eyebrows shot up almost as far as his hairline. "A frying pan?" Turning to Rose, he stared at her in bemusement. "You gave me a frying pan?"

"It was the first thing I found that looked substantial enough," the witch replied defensively as she blushed.

"What I want to know is why there is a frying pan in the transfiguration classroom in the first place," Albus announced, looking at the now beaten up looking frying pan curiously. "In Potions I could understand, but in the Transfiguration classroom?"

"It is a bit odd," Scorpius agreed.

The door suddenly flew open and Professor McGonagall walked in and looked about the classroom in shock. "What in Merlin's name happened?" she asked shrilly as she turned to the group of four still standing in her now obliterated classroom.

"Well…" Sora began nervously.

Scorpius sighed. "You three can explain what happened. It was your fault in the first place."

"Actually, it was Rose's fault. She was urging him to try," Albus decided and walked over to his blond friend and sat down on a ledge. This was going to take a while.

"At least I was trying to be supportive," the Weasley witch snapped back angrily.

Sighing, Sora shook his head and explained what happened.

I'M A LINE BREAK BECAUSE HATES ME

"Did you forget you're a Keyblade Bearer?" Riku asked later in disbelief, after having had the entire story relayed over lunch.

Sora's eyes widened almost comically as the realisation sunk in.

"You did, didn't you?"

"I…well, I…"

"I can't believe you're a Keyblade Bearer. Half the time you're an air head!"

"That's not very nice," Albus objected with a scowl.

"He's my best friend. I'm allowed to be cryptic," Riku shot back snootily.

"Either way, we're all okay," Rose said firmly and glared at the two arguing males.

"It still doesn't change the fact that Sora is an air head."

"All right, enough about Sora," Scorpius interjected in annoyance. "I wonder who will win the Quidditch match this weekend?"

"It's Ravenclaw versus Slytherin, isn't it?" Riku asked curiously.

"Yeah. Slytherin will win, no questions asked," Albus decided firmly.

"You never know," Rose disagreed. "Ravenclaw could surprise everyone. I hear they've been training really hard the past month."

"I have heard some rumours flying around," Riku agreed. "They're apparently undergoing some rigorous training schedule. But either way, it's Slytherin. Things are bound to be rough."

Scorpius' expression darkened in distain. "I hope they put some extra umpires on the field. With those Ravenclaw beaters things are bound to get bloody, especially if they do what they did last season and have someone jinxing people during the game."

"They what?" The entire group chorused together in surprise.

"Didn't you hear about it? Three Slytherin Players were sent off the field because of hexes last season. Nothing dangerous enough that they couldn't be treated, but still enough to throw off the game. One beater crashed into the ground hard because of a wrongly timed hex."

"Or a right timed hex," Rose muttered angrily.

"Did they ever find out who did it?" Sora asked nervously, biting his lower lip.

"No, unfortunately. I suspect it was some Ravenclaw students though, not Quidditch players. Wands aren't allowed on the field."

"That's not right," Albus replied with a scowl. "Hexing people when they can't defend themselves is cowardice."

"Agreed," James muttered angrily. "Slytherin might be the most annoying house around, but they've gone through a ton of shit because of something that wasn't even their fault."

"Wow, you've matured finally," Hugo replied in surprise with a grin. "Never thought I'd hear you say that James."

"Shut up…"

Sora glanced at Riku worriedly, biting his lower lip.

Riku caught the glance and raised his eyebrows, looking at him expectantly. "What?"

"It's nothing…" Sora murmured.

"Sora, if it's worrying you, it's not nothing," Riku replied, moving closer and leaning down so he was looking directly into the blue eyes. "What's wrong?"

"I'm just worried… Your first game is this weekend, right? I don't want you to get hurt…"

"Sora, we faced down Xemnas and Organisation Thirteen when they were the bad guys, so I think I can deal with a game of Quidditch by myself," Riku soothed gently. He hugged the brunette though. "Thank you for worrying about me though. I doubt there will be anything life threatening about it, and if there is you'll be right there to help me, won't you?" He looked into the bright blue eyes expectantly.

Sora nodded determinedly. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks Riku."

"Sora!"

Sora turned and found Zexion walking towards him, looking unimpressed. "Oh yeah! Sorry Riku, I have to go." Quickly hugging his best friend, he dashed off towards the slate haired nobody.

Riku watched him and shook his head in amusement. Trust Sora to make him smile.

LINEBREAK

Sora stopped, stared, and blinked for a few seconds at the scene he found himself faced with as he walked towards their Care of Magical Creatures class that afternoon. Hagrid was crouching before a small black blob he recognised only too well, and was patting it, cooing to it gently. The Shadow was twitching in a way Sora recognised far too well.

"You're a funny looking creature, aren't ya? Where did you come from? Popping out of the ground like that…. I wonder what ya are?"

"What are you DOING?!" Sora yelled, startling Albus, Rose, Scorpius and the other various students milling around at his sudden shout. "Hagrid, MOVE!"

Hagrid blinked and looked up at Sora, hissing in pain as the Shadow scratched his hand and launched itself at him, clawing his jacket clad chest.

Sora charged forward, books all but forgotten on the ground as the keyblade appeared in his hand. The Shadow twitched and turned to face him, Hagrid obviously forgotten for the time being, and shivered only moments before the Keyblade connected with the black blob, sweeping through it and dispersing the heartless in a cloud of darkness.

"Ouch…" Hagrid murmured as he stood up, pressing a hand to chest. It came away bloody.

"Are you alright?" Sora asked in concern as he leant forward to have a better look at the injuries the half giant had gotten during the attack. "Let me see."

"Yeah, the little guy scratched me. What was that?"

"It was a heartless," Sora replied as he held a hand over the scratches that were bleeding sluggishly. "Curaga."

Hagrid blinked in surprise when his injuries healed themselves.

"You know element magic?" Rose asked in surprise from beside him.

"Uh… what?" Sora asked in confusion, turning to look at the frizzy haired Weasley.

"Element magic is magic that is based off elements," Scorpius explained, also looking curious.

"Oh… yeah, I guess."

"Where'd you learn it?" Rose asked, envy in her tone.

"From Merlin," he replied before something clicked in his head. "Hey, I gotta go. Hagrid, can you excuse me from class please? Thanks. Bye!" Waving, he ran off, scooping his books on the way.

Rose, Hagrid, Scorpius and Albus all blinked in surprise and looked at each other. "He couldn't mean our Merlin, could he?" Albus asked curiously.

"No, there's no way," Rose said firmly.

Sora flew through the halls at a sprint, slamming the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom door open, cutting the Professor off mid lecture. "Sorry Professor, but I gotta talk to Riku. It's urgent."

The silver haired teen blinked in surprise before standing and making his way towards the brunette. "Sora what's-" He was cut off though as Sora yanked on his robes and dragged him out of the classroom, shutting the door behind him.

"The Heartless are here," he began immediately, releasing his best friend.

"What are you talking about?"

Taking a deep breath, Sora explained what had just happened.

Riku blinked before frowning in concern. "Are you sure?" The look he received from those blue eyes had the other keyblader blinking in surprise. "Obviously."

"It was just a Shadow, but there are bound to be more coming. I just wanted to tell you – give you a heads up."

"Yeah, thanks. You should tell the others as well."

"I will. Later Riku." With a wave, Sora shot off down the halls, heading for the top of the Castle. He'd start at one end and work his way down, running across the Organisation and Cloud, Leon and Yuffie. Odds were that he'd run into them sooner or later.

LINEBREAK

Axel grabbed his chakram as it came flying back towards him and spun to disperse another heartless that was hovering behind him.

Since they'd shown themselves the day before, the Castle was now swarming with the vile creatures. They poured out of every seemingly deserted corridor and unused classroom and a few students had been attacked. Thankfully they'd been girls who were more likely to run away screaming than stay and fight.

Turning, he marked the entrance of the corridor and headed towards the Great Hall for dinner. Rubbing at the back of his head, he bounced down the stairs.

"Hey, Axel!"

Pausing, the red head turned back, grinning when he spotted Demyx jogging towards him. "Hey, how'd you go?"

"Yeah, good. I found a nest in a deserted third floor corridor. Managed to drown most of them I think."

"That's good. Man, they just appeared out of nowhere. And so many of them."

"Yeah, Zexy has a theory behind that one," Demyx replied as they walked down a flight of stairs to the first floor. "He thinks that they've been gathering before now, and now that there's enough of them they've shown themselves in force because they'll have a better chance of inciting fear and being able to feed off the darker emotions of the somebodies."

Axel gave the water mage an amused look as they headed for the doors of the Great Hall. "That actually sounded intelligent for once."

Making a face of exasperation, Demyx rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah."

The two nobodies found their seats a few people down from Sora at the Gryffindor table.

"Hey," Sora greeted as he leaned forward to talk to them with a smile. "How'd you go?"

"Good. Dem made a dent, or he thinks he did," Axel replied as he began dishing himself up some dinner.

"That's good. Well, I'll give you the update now. Professor McGonagall has explained what's happening to everyone, has instilled a temporary curfew that starts straight after dinner for everyone's safety, and has warned the students and staff not to wander into any not regularly used corridors or sections of the castle for safety. If anyone runs into heartless, they're to run back the way they came and come and find one of us immediately, and we'll deal with the infestation."

"So we have a permanent late to class ticket? Awesome!" Demyx cheered as he served up his own dinner.

"Yeah, kinda," Sora agreed with a smile. "Anyway, Prefects and staff have been taken off rounds until we can get the heartless numbers under control, and we're on duty instead. Also, we're escorting the houses back to their dorms after dinner finishes."

"Okay, cool. Who am I with?" Axel asked.

"Dem, you're with Gryffindor. Axel, you're going to Ravenclaw Tower, and then back to the Gryffindor."

"What about you?" Demyx asked.

"I'm going with Hufflepuff," Sora replied.

"Who's going with me?" Axel asked curiously.

"I think Zex said Leon and Cloud, because their rooms are up that way. Xaldin and Yuffie too."

"And me?" Demyx asked curiously.

"Uh… Gryffindor has Saix, Luxord and Cid."

"Who's going to Slytherin?" Axel asked curiously.

"Riku, Zex, Lexaeus and Vexen."

"Okay, thanks." Sitting back, Axel quickly ate his dinner.

"Who is on rounds tonight?" Albus asked, having heard the conversation in full.

"Um… I think Lexaeus, Vexen, Cloud, Leon, and Marly and Larxene," Sora replied as he squinted, trying to remember.

Al nodded.

Sora leant back into his normal position and kept eating.

LINEBREAK

Sora walked at the front of Hufflepuff House with the Hufflepuff prefects leading the way. He darted off every now and again to deal with the heartless while Larxene and Marluxia brought up the rear, taking care of the Heartless that followed them, being drawn to the large number of hearts and emotions. Xigbar walked on the ceiling overhead, capturing a 'birds-eye view' of their progression as he called it.

Sora didn't care; it was working.

Smiling an apology at the Prefect that he was talking to, Sora darted up ahead to deal with the Heartless that had shown themselves in a pre-emptive ambush.

Eventually they made it to the barrels that marked the entrance to the Hufflepuff dormitories and Sora waited until they were all inside before nodding to Marluxia, Larxene and Xigbar and heading back to Gryffindor Tower.

Zexion had tested the dormitories earlier that day and had found them to be Heartless proof due to the number of spells that had been used to keep the living quarters private, safe and hidden, so that was a small relief off everyone's backs.

Reaching the base of the Tower, Sora smiled and nodded a greeting to Axel, who was just returning form his own run to Ravenclaw.

"Hey, all good?" the red head asked.

"Yeah, they're home."

"And so are we," Axel replied with a sigh, speaking the password to the Fat Lady. She opened and they made their way into the common room.

Sora looked around the quiet common room, noticing it was mostly empty. "Well, I've got homework I need to get done. Sleep well."

"Yeah, you too," Axel replied with a nod as he headed for the flames.

Sora headed up the stairs to his dormitory. Walking in, he greeted Albus who was sitting cross-legged on his bed with books and parchment spread out around him. "Hey."

"Hey, everything okay?"

"Yeah, all good."

Nodding in relief, Albus went back to his homework.

Pulling his robes over his head, Sora dropped them on top of his trunk in a pile, changed into his pyjamas and crawled into bed with his charms textbook. "Sweet dreams."

"You too."

Drawing the curtains closed, Sora opened the book and settled in to read. He was snoring within minutes.

~TBC


I am SO sorry. I meant to get this up about a week ago and only just remembered I hadn't posted it. Please forgive me! i'll get the next chapter up sooner, I promise.

I'm back at work again, so my time has been cut shorter again, so writing time will be a bit less. I apologise to everyone, again. I will try to update more regularly. I'm having a bit of trouble with ch 23, but I think it's more of an 'i need time to get back into the zone' thing than anything else. :o)

Happy New Year everyone!

Vex