I intended to post yesterday but FF wouldn't let me log in. (might be the worst excuse ever.)

*Dodge dodge* nice fruits. Thank you for all the great reviews, I love them very much. AndTheWatcherandReader suggested that I get a beta. Any volunteers? *runs*

Snape always prided himself of being a good man, in his own way. He was a man who could take immense amounts of pressure and still look the same. Well, maybe a little more disgruntled. Usually.

But the kind of pressure that Hogwarts was sporting now wasn't healthy. There was the Ministry but there was also the tension that seemed to go unnoticed by most. At least in his mind. There was something going on with Reklaw and the transfers. 'Something' involved teasing smirks from him and vaguely frustrated looks from them. He knew it didn't really have anything to do with him, (probably) but Reklaw was creepy and creepy people were not tolerated in Snape's carefully messed up world.

Dumbledore wouldn't hear his concerns, didn't even bother pretending to listen. Just waived his wrinkled hand and said not to worry. Severus had his suspicions about their presence. It probably had something to do with the new weapons the Dark Lord had uncovered and was now hiding even from his most loyal supporters.

Snape was almost 100% sure that his two masters were hiding the same thing. Now he just had to find out what it was and Reklaw was his best shot. Now if only he could get him talking….

XX

It was a nice night to lie on the roof of the astronomy tower. Of course it was goddamn cold and there was snow everywhere but really, being a Noah had its advantages. Kal found himself rather bored this evening, there was no class to teach and no DA to spy on. He always felt quite nostalgic while watching the club in action. It was, as far as training goes, better than nothing but the truth was that it was child's play. It was times like these that made him remember all the debt collectors warmly.

Or not. For all of Allen's love for humanity, the debt collectors were excluded. Who makes an 11-year old, underfed boy work in a whorehouse anyway? Not as a prostitute, thank goodness. And people at the Black Order had thought he had been completely innocent about sex. Always treated him like a child when he hadn't been one for- Kal cut the train of thought quickly and sank in the numbing cold. He was a pile of white on untouched snow. The wind was slowly covering him.

A sound was heard in the night and the white pile suddenly had a gleaming red eye when the unseen, black world beyond reality shifted.

XX

There was one thing that not many had noticed about the transfers. All of them had an identical earring. It looked innocent enough, with nice carvings and a cross, but was now cursed as the spawn of devil as it beeped loudly right into their respective ears in the middle of the night. They silently got up and dragged themselves down to the common room, dressed in their gear. Nick the geek gave the battle parameters. And so they were off.

It took them about 20 minutes to reach the place, which was the Dark Forest. It was terribly clichéd and all that but also a strategically sound place for an akuma attack. After ages of similar ones, it was getting quite repetitive.

It turned out to be only a small pack, usually quite easily dispatched despite some of them being level threes. This time though proved to be a small exception as their movements weren't so clumsy and purposeless anymore.

The fight was still criminally easy. After so many years the akumas had gotten rusty. Literally.

Carrie was standing amidst the smoking remains when she felt someone looking her. The de-activated innocence in her rings pulsed faintly and faded. The feeling passed. She raised her brow at Gary who was scanning their surroundings carefully. He shook his head.

"There's probably a lot of weird stuff living in these woods. Don't think about it too hard." He was grinning now, "you always do."

Carrie huffed and turned to Nick who was doing some of his laser magic on the rapidly disappearing bodies. He was frowning.

"They have been somehow tampered. With magic, I believe. They fight more at the level recorded hundred years ago than the level we normally have to fight them. This is really interesting…" He rambled on and was immediately ignored by his teammates. Eventually they started back to the castle. They had gotten inside pretty unnoticed but midway through the corridors they ran into, to the great shock of no one, Snape.

His grin looked nearly sadistic when he surprised them with his sudden appearance. His voice was silky when he spoke.

"You have 3 seconds to start explaining. Starting now."

They barely had time to open their mouths and probably ruin all chances of getting away non-traumatized when the timely interruption of Reklaw halted all attempts. He was wet and seemed to radiate coldness. The smell of snow was everywhere.

"These ones have the Headmaster's permission to ignore curfew. It is important that they are allowed to go as they please."

Snape's face looked like something from the deep end of hell and the exorcists spotted Reklaw gesturing them to get the hell out of there. They did and heard after a few corners a sound reminiscent of the few dangerous animals from Hagrid's class. They ran faster.

XX

The next day, rumours spread that Snape was in an even worse mood than usual and for once the Slytherins suffered from it too. The exorcists were expecting him to jump from behind every corner.

Harry and co. received even worse treatment. But they weren't the only ones. Snape really was on everyone's case today.

On the other hand, Reklaw seemed to be in the best-est of moods today. Every time he was seen, he was humming some eerie tune. It was all so confusing.

XX

Hagrid had finally returned and the Gryffindors were ecstatic. Other houses, not so much. Harry, Ron and Hermione had hurried in the dead of the night straight to his cottage to talk.

His face had been wrecked and they had interrogated his about his whereabouts and the giants. Then Umbridge had rudely interrupted their chat. Afterwards, when Hagrid started pestering them to leave with promises of the next day's lesson, Ron suddenly piped up.

"Oh yeah, there's a new teacher in Hogwarts." Hagrid looked surprised. "He teaches this Muggle Studies extra course, which we're in."

"Why would y'all be in a Muggle Studies? Isn't it only Ron who needs to be there?" He looked disbelievingly at Ron who blushed and muttered something along the lines of 'well sorry I'm not muggle-born or raised by them'.

But Hermione saved him. "Actually it's really useful. The magical folks learn all kinds of interesting stuff there but there's also practical stuff. Like how to act in different situations and some things even I didn't know about and I'm muggle-born." She looked surprised when she admitted this. Ron looked kind of bashful. Hagrid smiled somewhere behind the blood coated beard and ushered them out.

XX

The next Tuesday was the time for the feared Care of Magical Creatures lesson. There wasn't any snow under the trees and all students were looking at anywhere but the dead cow on Hagrid's shoulder. What animal needed a freshly killed cow? That was cut in half?

As it turned out, there was something very creepy, in a true Hagrid fashion. Thestrals looked weird and slightly starved and just… icky.

Umbridge was in the middle of her examination (evil little witch, according to Hermione) when the rustling of the leafless bushes alerted that somebody was arriving.

XX

Kal had been quite amazed to find out that he couldn't get rid of the bowtruckle. Kanda always started ripping new holes into his cloak whenever he tried to extract it and leave it into the forest, back to his own tree.

(And really he could use some respect, it was an approximately 70 years old cloak.)

The cloak had been with him a long time, which meant that some of the Arks magic had bled into it and Kanda soon found the extra dimensions that the inconspicuous cloth hid. Seeking the bowtruckle from the folds of the cloak was clearly impossible, so he decided to leave it be. Probably had found some trees growing in there.

XX

The students noticed that Umbridge's show experienced a sudden distraction in the form of the ever-smiling Reklaw. He was clad in a strangely tattered cloth that didn't seem to have any effect against the cold. If anything, it looked like it gathered the coldest of winds inside it. The smallest students were shivering from the sight.

A young thestral broke away from the flock and quietly made his way towards the man. It started poking his cloak with his nose as if in retaliation. Reklaw patted the animal's head and muttered something. Then he came towards Hagrid, who did know what to make of the casual man he'd met briefly during breakfast.

'Ye can see them?' Hagrid's eyes asked silently. Reklaw gave a peace of sugar to the small one and commented

"They really are beautiful. Completely underappreciated." His wistful look was arrested to the sight of Umbridge fuming at him.

"If I may ask, why are you here professor? Your subject has nothing to do with Magical creatures." Her tone was simply biting. Most of the Slytherins sneered at him.

Reklaw ignored her completely and addressed Hagrid over Umbridge's shoulder, "I apologize for interrupting you lesson. I just had a question related to your subject. I can wait until you're finished."

Hagrid nodded mutely and continued with the lesson. Reklaw magically faded to the background as the class progressed.

When the lesson ended, with Umbridge long gone and they were walking towards the edge of the forest, Hagrid finally asked Reklaw about his problem.

"Ah yes. I trust you are familiar with bowtruckles and their habits?" He looked expectant and Hagrid nodded, feeling strange. Of course he knew about them, it belonged to the subject he taught.

"You see, I'm not so familiar with them but I believe that they usually live in trees, right?"

"Yes they do, so what seems to be the problem then?" Hagrid fell silent and watched as the other man dug around his cloak. Occasionally he could swear that Reklaw's hand went a lot deeper into the folds than it was realistic but then dismissed it as his imagination. Reklaw let out a victorious whoop and held out the squirming creature from it's middle. The students were staring, flabbergasted. They watched him lift his hand straight above him, next to some branches. They all knew that the creature should be reaching for the trees, instead of trashing around, not unlike a real branch in a strong wind.

When Reklaw opened his palm, they expected the bowtruckle either grab the branches or possibly drop on his face and start clawing at it. It did neither. It freezed for a moment and then calmly climbed with it's spindly fingers down a rattled sleeve to his shoulder. It perched momentarily, watching them all with it's black eyes and magically disappeared in the dubious looking folds.

The students were staring at him. Hagrid looked like he didn't believe his eyes.

Reklaw explained, looking sheepish. "I had to visit the forest one day for my class and when I came back, I found him attached to the cloak. After that, I attempted every possible mean to get it return to the forest and, as you can see, it didn't work. I named him already, during a very desperate moment but even then it stayed. Now I'm out of ideas. That's why…" He trailed off looking embarrassedly at Hagrid who just looked confused. After a moment the impenetrable beard started twitching and soon he was laughing deep, rumbling laughs that infected the remaining students around them.

Really, bowtruckles live in trees, guarding them. They didn't not, under any circumstances, live in peoples cloaks.

Reklaw was watching them with a slight but undeniable pout that made some laugh harder. Hagrid finally regained some form of control, feeling refreshed after a long time of constant stress. As to the problem, he had no idea. Maybe he should ask the Headmaster. Hagrid told him that.

Reklaw made an exaggerated, formal bow and walked with the students towards the castle. The swon was deep but they kept a fast pace and were joking all the way up and the bowtruckle even climbed on the professor's head to watch the world and the smiling students.

They were at the front yard now and the children had classes indoors. Reklaw waived them goodbye and started heading towards the greenhouses when Hermione's shout stopped him.

"What name did you give him?" They were waiting impatiently for the answer and for a moment Reklaw seemed contemplative. For a moment he looked nostalgic in the way old people did, bittersweet and yearning.

"I named him Kanda." He then turned and stepped on the path towards the greenhouses. The wizards blinked, confused and suddenly realized that they were late for their classes already but Nick stood there frozen like the snow around him, trying to reach the thought that had escaped him as suddenly as it had appeared.

He was gone, somewhere in his mind for the rest of the day.

XXX

It was just before Christmas when Harry, Hermione and Ron found themselves in the final night class before holidays. The professor had a familiar glint in his eyes which indicated that it was time, once again, for a practical lesson.

"Today's manoeuvre will be quite simple but very useful. As usual, our dummies will demonstrate…." He flicked his wrist, tracing something in the air. Two piles of sand from the corner rearranged themselves into two humanoid forms and stepped into stance.

"Again I remind you, when a wizard attacks someone, he or she shoots a curse or a spell. For Muggle, it's a little more complicated… Today we discuss about the situation where someone has got you by you throat. Watch carefully…"

The sand dolls stood, facing each other. The other doll set it's hands around the other one's neck in a strangling hold.

"This is our starting situation. Of course this is rarely the first thing that happens in a fight but we've already covered that. Remember that this is a position that is very handy when you want to control. Hands around you throat and the subsequent suffocation triggers basic instincts and you hands would automatically wrap round the attacker's in a usually futile attempt to get them to let go. If your attacker was weaker than you, it might work but world rarely goes that way… The point here is to get them to let go, possibly distract them so that you can escape. Heroics are unnecessary in a situation like this. After escaping, you can apparate away, given that you won't be seen. Look carefully at the dolls."

The attacked doll quickly lifted it's arms up from between the attacker's, wrenching them free.

Reklaw continued lecturing. "This one was simple; we can practice it before the end of the lesson. Now to today's main treat. Occasionally just wrenching free isn't enough, you have to restrain them. This is how you do it."

The dolls were now back in position. With a snap of his fingers, the attacked performed a complicated looking manoeuvre that ended with the attacker immobilised. With another snap, they repeated, now slower. And again.

"Divide into pairs. If you don't get the hang of it, look carefully at the dolls or ask me."

Harry faintly thought that this would have been a got move to know when he was growing up but pushed it behind his thoughts and concentrated on strangling Ron, who carefully mimicked the dolls. He didn't get it completely right but wasn't far. He went slower many times until it felt good. Then suddenly Harry found himself restrained by Ron and started grinning at the victorious look he had when he let him go. They switched parts.

In general, these lessons were lots of additional work among his extracurricular stuff. But somehow he liked the things they did here, the information and especially the practical things.

X

Carrie immobilised Gary in moments after they started. Their level of knowledge was miles above the other students but they needed something to do on this hideously boring mission. There had been only one attack for god's sake! She attempted to lure Nick into fighting her but he was staring the corner again with some impressive wrinkles in his forehead. She signalled to Gary about a surprise attack, which was executed in seconds. Nick snapped out of his thoughts to find himself under a pile of bodies. He squirmed and cursed at the idiots.

Reklaw's voice forced them to get up, looking anywhere else than the professor. His voice was very amused. "Be sure that we will get to that eventually but if you would now return to the instructed move?"

XXX

Harry was battling with his holiday homework when he suddenly heard that Phineas Nigellus was back again, muttering to himself. The annoyed tone was a huge change to the normal, snide sneer.

"… full of all kinds of freaks these days. What is Albus thinking, allowing those strangers in with only a letter? And that guy too, eating and eating like a horse…"

Harry had never been an idiot. Strangers probably meant the trio that had joined them this year but the Eater didn't ring any bells. So, going for the simplest way, he asked. Perhaps Phineas was annoyed enough with Dumbledore to answer. Suppressing the slight tinge of hurt that came with any thought of Dumbledore these days, he opened his mouth.

"Who eats like a horse?"

Phineas shut up instantly and glared at him. It reminded Harry of Aunt Petunia on some summer's day when Dudley had walked in wearing muddy shoes and she had clearly whished that she could blame Harry for it. She hadn't but he'd still had to clean it up. The memory made his interest waiver.

Phineas looked around in an almost conspiratory fashion and, after checking everywhere he could see, he beckoned Harry closer.

"Albus has brought in outsiders." He gestured wildly with his hands. Harry didn't understand anything from the frenzied movements. "Do you mean the exchange students?"

Phineas looked very solemn. "Them too. But mostly that guy." Harry frowned. The only new one was- "Professor Reklaw?" He barely remembered to stifle his voice.

Phineas suddenly cocked his head, as if listening. He created a long meaningful look at Harry and stepped sideways, out of the frame.

Harry was left with his head full of questions over the cryptic words which he would later mull over with Ron and Hermione.

XX

Nick was staring the window again in the empty dorm room. The important thought was somewhere, hidden in his mind. He was absently toying with a chocolate bar Carrie had bought for him.

In his mind he was reviewing the paintings at HQ. There were lots of them, people and scenery. He recalled a big painting in their cafeteria. It was, ironically, an image of the cafeteria 100 years ago, with it's varying personas and their habits.

In the painting, there is mostly "finders" and scientists. The term "finder" had always been problematic, not to Nick but to Gary who couldn't really apply the present situation to that 100 years ago but enough about that and back to the painting.

Somewhere among the mass of people there is a less populated table. Most of the people sitting also had strangely ominous, black uniforms.

When the painting was showed to the newbies of Sect. XIII their guide had asked them to identify the groups visible in it.

The scientists had been easy. They were people in all shapes and sizes all wearing a white lab coat and all with the same exhausted expression. All in all, they looked like death warmed over. Though the ones with a coffee cup in front of them looked like visitors of the land Euphoria.

Finders in the ever-present uniforms, some determined, some resigned and some serene. Doing their part to save this world.

But in this painting was also the most complete group of exorcists. In hallways there were various pictures with various groupings but it was in this painting that they were all together.

All generals were there except for Cross but that man wasn't anywhere. A gray haired, gentle looking man was sketching something on the pad in his lap instead of eating the cold-looking meal in front of him. Nick had always thought that general Tiedoll seemed like he'd been sketching for hours.

Next to Tiedoll there was Nine and Sokaro, both scary in their own right. The legends of them two were incredible but in the painting there were two persons, eating. Admittedly, Sokaro looked metallic, which he was.

Somewhere to the right the crowd of black-clothed people got younger. A shade of green (Lenalee was what they called her, the first crystal type.), bright red (his name was Lavi the Bookman, which automatically negated the "Lavi") and many others including Marie, Miranda, Chaoji and Timothy.

But Nick's attention was in the final duo. Painting depicted them as a pile of food with some white on top and blue hair resting on a muscular shoulder. But in a hallway that was rarely used was a painting with both of them.

Eternally scowling at anyone who dared to take a look at him, there was Yu Kanda. But the people 100 years ago knew him as "Kanda".

This he could buy as a coincident.

He went by the window and breathed into it. The moisture fogged the window, offering a surface. Nick wrote.

REKLAW

Then he turned it around.

WALKER.

See ya next time.