I'm not going to say anything. The OotP part starts at some point.
Harry's summer so far had been full of ignoring and occasional less than savoury happenings. One of them being the phone call he'd received from Ron. The other being the infernal monster of a book he'd gotten from Hagrid.
The third… being Aunt Marge.
Tomorrow would be the final evening of Marge's visit and Harry was anxious to get it over with. The growing twitching in his limbs was urging him to strangle something, namely the people he presently lived with. Or jinx them into mindless zombies. Or something. He was happy that there weren't any meddlesome house elves. He had enough messy memories.
He went down for dinner, missing Hedwig dearly.
He failed to notice a white ghost looking inside through his window.
"Absolutely no instincts. Makes me feel sorry for the wizarding world."
The next evening, after Harry had gotten himself safely into the Knight Buss, Kal wondered if the not-so-much-of-a-dog had noticed him lurking behind the corner of one of the houses. Then he decided that it didn't matter and rose to the sky to prevent Marge from floating too far.
The screeching made him wish he'd just let her float away but he'd started tying the rope to the goddamn clock tower so he was going to finish it. Even at the price of his almost indestructible eardrums.
X
The train would arrive in thirty minutes and Kal was still there, absently patting the thestrals. He had a distinct feeling that they didn't like him that much. Weren't they supposed to be some kind of avatars of death?
Then again, maybe he himself could be considered as an avatar of death. He has certainly laid enough destruction to merit that.
His gloved hand suddenly meets air when the thestral moves away from his vicinity. He can't hold it against the poor thing. Kal had no suspicion that he probably smelled of death and destruction. And lies, don't forget the lies.
He hears the grass rustle when Hagrid arrives to fetch the animals to once again pull the carriages. He knows that some of the students can see the thestrals and he supposes that he should feel sorry but he just can't do it. If you would've asked him a century ago he would've offered comforting words and fully showed his compassion.
But such things no longer matter to him. It might be that he has forgotten a lot about human interaction.
Long time periods alone tended to do that to humans.
Kal fades away before Hagrid catches him terrorizing his little darlings.
X
Kal heard that there was a convict on the loose and said convict is after "the Saviour." When the train comes he can sense the coldness left behind by the terrible things called dementors. He can see all the students are afraid of them. And they probably should, he muses with an amused smile. He'd heard from somewhere (why can't he remember?) that they could take away your soul. With a kiss.
There's some definitely dark irony in that. But if he's completely honest with himself, they aren't really that scary.
Because they are soulless. So it makes sense that they would want to take souls from others. Because of that, they don't feel.
Akumas had souls and they could feel every kill they made. That was a lot more terrifying.
Or then he was just bipolar. But still.
He notices a tired looking man exiting the train and sees something else entirely.
Kal dismisses it as life.
X
There's an uproar in the castle and Kal can hear it all the way to the Forest. He saw something disappearing beneath that psychotic tree he'd acquainted himself with a few weeks earlier. He wonders what happened when he sees Dumbledore come out and talk to the dementors.
"Sirius Black…… sliced….. searching…. no sight of him…" He strains his ears but manages to catch only small pieces of the strange conversation Albus is having with the dementor in front of him. But those small pieces are enough for him to determine what happened. He doesn't even consider telling Albus about what he just saw. It would be interfering.
He realizes that his clothes are frozen to the tree branch he's sitting on, high above the ground. It means that his success in avoiding the "guards" just ended and he'd have to explain himself. Come to think of it, he can feel the coldness somewhere in the edges of his mind.
What a bother.
He sees them all around him, ready to attack. He can sense how confused they are when their abilities have no effect on him.
"I'd like to talk first." Kal says, smirking in a very disturbing way. The dementors hesitate and one of them floats forward and gestures in a questioning way. Why are you here?
"That is my business but I assure you I won't get in your way." They don't like his answer and he feels that they are asking him to justify his entire existence. Well, if they insist.
"I'm an overseer of sorts; I wish that my presence would stay unknown." It's clear that he won't elaborate. The dementors understand that he is not someone they'd like to go against.
They leave and Kal is left to try and persuade a strange stick-like animal to come out from the folds of his cloak, where it escaped the dementors to.
He failed miserably.
X
There's some kind of a sports match going on. It's played on broomsticks, too. He wonders why the hell are they playing in a weather like this. It's a fucking storm out there. Shouldn't these people have some common sense?
Oh well, some entertainment for him if nothing else. Something always happened while storming. It was a law of life. Okay, more like literature but who cares.
He's perched inside one of the towers, hidden from view, when a lonely snowflake lands near him. The feeling is there again. Kal is smiling.
"Since when did I turn into a sadist?" He murmured to the stick-like creature sitting on his shoulder. It stares him for a moment and returns its attention to the game. Kal chuckles and does the same. But in his head he's wondering if he should name the thing "Kanda".
Those two seem to share some characteristics. Like being overly uptight. And having, pardon the expression, a stick up their asses. Why the hell is the thing still there, anyway. Isn't it some kind of a tree-hugger? Kal wasn't a tree, as long as he knew.
Whatever. There's somebody falling from the sky and Kal is reminded of a time long gone. But this is someone he doesn't know or particularly want to either. The match stops soon after.
The people have already gone inside the castle but Kal still stays under the protection of the tower. The water droplets create music unmatched by anything human-made when he surveys the rain gray landscape.
Christmas is coming. Kal thinks that he should probably get new gloves. The ones he's wearing are almost in shreds now, mainly because of the bothersome pointy knuckles of his left hand.
Tip. Tip.
The roof is leaking. Kal runsfloatsteleports under the almost fallen leaves.
X
Albus is feeling very foreboding. It's not a threatening feeling as one would expect. As he walks back from the Christmas breakfast he feels that he should order some food to his office.
So he calmly calls upon a house-elf and requests a tray full of food to be brought to the office later on. He steps inside and sees nothing. The feeling hasn't disappeared and the door closes in an almost ominous click.
"You don't have to be so tense, you know." The amused voice of Kal rings out. Albus suppressed the desire to jump.
"Don't do that to an old man, it's not healthy." Albus said smiling widely. Kal's eye sparkled in mirth.
"Oh don't say it like that. I once heard from somewhere that age is in your head only. You just need to keep it there."
"So that's why you look so young. Do tell me how it's done."
Kal looked him critically. "I think it's late now. What's your opinion, Kanda?" The figure untangled itself from Kal's scarf. Albus surveyed it curiously. Why had it left its tree?
"A bowtruckle."
"A what?" An incredulous eye was directed at him.
"A bowtruckle. They are magical animals that live mostly in wand trees, protecting it from intruders. It's unusual for them to show themselves to humans and to actually attach itself to you…"
"I figured it was some kind of a tree hugger but that it lives for them? I fail to see the point. Well anyway, those dementors finally became aware of me and since I was conveniently sitting on a tree branch it probably slipped under my cloak. Those dementors are rather cold, don't you think?" He was clearly smiling at some untold joke.
".." Albus wasn't sure what he should think. Had Kal seen something? The spell was broken by a loud crack when the house elf arrived.
Kal clapped his hands like a child and dug into the food. It was the first time Albus witnessed the feat and was already feeling slightly ill. Who was capable of inhaling food? It looked rather macabre. He glances the portraits that are were snickering at his expression. For some reason he wanted to stick out his tongue.
"So, what's happening in here?" This time Albus really jumped. He hadn't even noticed that Kal had finished the mountain of food. He saw something strange in Kal's eye.
"You know already, don't you?" The feeling of sheer wrong intensified.
"Perhaps I do but nothing specific." There was definitely a smirk in his voice. Realization dawned to Albus.
Kal was someone who didn't have any obligations to anyone. No matter what, he would always stay in the sidelines, watching and waiting for something. Even if he had seen something important, no one would know.
Kal seemed fully aware of his moment of insight and was clearly holding back laughter. It seemed that even the bowtruckle was amused. He sighed.
"Oh since it's no use… Where have you been?"
"Around. I do all kind of stuff when I go around the world."
"Why?" Albus raised a white eyebrow.
Kal blinked. The uncovered eye seemed go dull for a moment. "I… I don't know. I have nothing else to do, really."
The ensuing silence was interrupted by the door being knocked. Albus opened his mouth to invite his guest in but stopped himself to see if Kal wanted to hide.
But there was no one on the chair.
Albus let Minerva in. She told him about a broomstick that Harry had received as a gift. Albus gave her full power over the matter. Before she left, she stopped and sniffed the air.
"Are you making overly sweet tea, Albus?"
Albus couldn't help it. He smiled mysteriously. "Perhaps I am." Minerva blinked and left to confiscate a certain broomstick.
Albus, in fact, found a cup of excellently made tea from the table of his private quarters but Kal was nowhere to be seen.
X
'This is, to use Kanda's wording, fucked up.' Was Kals thought when he saw Hermione and Harry double.
Man he was thankful that they (neither version) could see him. These tree hiding ones looked slightly more tired and ragged so he presumed there was something time related stuff going on.
He was no stranger to that since the Ark had been rather versatile in time turning as well but it never ceased to amaze him how weird it looked from a side perspective.
Hours later some kind of a man-wolf ran in to the forest. It had blood all over it and was clearly frenzied. Kal presumed that it would run quite deep into the forest and ignored it.
But he hadn't counted on that it would find him to be a nice prey.
Well fuck.
Still not saying anything. Perhaps I should disclaim. Me does not own. I think that the title if this site tells you that.
But please, do review.