Of Wizards, Akuma, and Exorcists
Ten: I Must Not Tell Lies
Disclaimers: I do not own any D. Gray-Man or Harry Potter characters/settings. They rightfully belong to Mr. Hoshino (D. Gray-Man) and Ms. Rowling (Harry Potter). Also, some conversations between the Harry Potter characters are direct quotes from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and that also does not belong to me!
"Urg," Harry groaned, the morning sunlight burning his sleepy eyes," morning, Allen."
The Exorcist was peering at him with worry. "You went to Umbridge's detention last night, didn't you?" he asked.
Harry grimaced. "Yes, it was horrible," he complained.
"Did she make you write lines?" Allen continued.
"Yep. Wait, how do you know?"
Allen seemed to bite his lip and said. "You don't want me telling anyone, do you? You hand..."
Realization hitting him, Harry quickly stuffed his hand inside his pocket; the skin where 'I must not tell lies' had been cut into his skin stung as it rubbed against the rough fabric of his robe, and he gritted his teeth. "You won't, will you?" he asked quietly. "Hermione won't let me see the end of it, and I don't want her getting into anything messy."
"I won't say a word about it, but I'll find you some anti-pain potions in the library and make something to ease it if it hurts," Allen promised and suggested. "I don't encourage keeping it a secret forever though, if someone finds out, make sure you tell them, alright?"
"Yeah, I will," Harry nodded, and changed the subject as other students began to stumble out of the dormitories. "I couldn't work on my homework last night," he confessed.
Allen shrugged. "I still have something to finish for Binns, so I'll cram with you during breakfast after I drop in at the library for a few minutes. How's that?"
Harry smiled as Ron approached them, yawning widely. "Sure Allen, thanks."
It was midway through breakfast, and Harry nibbled on a piece of toast Allen had brought them as he and Ron sat in the common room finishing as much homework as they could. Allen had finished his report and was currenly sitting in front of a sizzling cauldron by the fireplace, mixing something. He had even offered his finished reports as reference in helping Harry and Ron write
"How come you didn't do it last night?" Harry asked, looking up from his dream diary as Ron gazed around the common room, looking for inspiration. Ron muttered something about "doing other stuff" and bent over his parchment, scribbling a few words.
"He and Timcampy disappeared for a while, then he came back and copied Lenalee's notes, and retired early," Allen aswered for him.
Ron's ears turned pink and he slammed his dream diary shut. "That'll have to do," he said. "I've said I dreamed I was buying a new pair of shoes, she can't making anything weird out of that, can she?"
"Nah, I don't think so, unless it's in my dream diary," Harry muttered in response.
Ron snickered without humor and looked over his shoulder at Allen. "What are you making?" he asked.
The Exorcist removed his cauldron from over the fire, poured a flask full of the potion, and muttered, "Evanesco." Shoving his belongings into a bag and swinging it over his shoulder, he used a hook to hang his cauldron from the bag. "Just something I found in a bag. My arm was hurting a bit, so it's a kind of painkiller," he answered offhandedly, and pulled on his coat. "Let's go to Divination now; I'm still a bit tired, and that's the one teacher who doesn't mind me dreaming in her class."
On their way to the North Tower, Ron walked beside Harry as Allen trailed behind, arguing with his golem, Timcampy, about god knows what. Harry's best friend looked at him for a moment or two and said, "How was detention with Umbridge, anyway? What did she make y ou do?"
Harry almost hesitated, but said, "Lines." Behind him, he heard Allen fall silent.
"That's not too bad then, eh?" Ron asked, completely oblivious.
"Nope," Harry said, shaking his head.
"Hey- I forgot- did she let you off for Friday?"
"No," Harry answered, feeling glum as he remembered the nasty way in which the teacher had crushed his hopes. Ron groaned.
The day, as Harry'd predicted the other night, was another nightmare. Since he hadn't had time to practice Vanishing Spells this morning, he was one of the worst in Transfiguration. At lunch, Allen had once again accompanied him in finishing his bowtruckle picture (Allen was one of the only few people done with it, so he had helped draw it.) Harry felt himself drowning in homework, for McGonagall, Grubby-Plank, and Sinistra had given them more that day, and with detention coming up for him again tonight, Harry had no hopes for getting it finished.
"Don't worry, Harry," Allen said, patting his back. "I'll stay in the common room again until you come back. Oh, and take this after detention tonight if she gives you the same assignment," he handed Harry the vial of potion from this morning-, "it's a simple painkiller for cuts like those- I found it in a book in the library this morning- and it relieves stress too. It doens't heal, but it also kills any infections."
Harry took the vial and placed it in a safe place in his pocket. "Thanks Allen, for doing so much..you know," he muttered, feeling strange. Apart from Ron and Hermione, not many people had done for him so many things.
Allen beamed like what he was doing was completely normal. "I don't know if you're famous for being the only one to not get killed by Voldemort, Harry, but to me, Hogwarts is like a second home, and you're my friend. If I don't or can't help him out, then I'll wonder why I'm trying to save the whole world," he said. "Now come on, we got to survive another class after this."
At lunch, the little bit of cheeriness Allen had given Harry dispersed the moment Angelina Johhnson tracked him down at the Gryffindor table during dinner and exploded the moment he informed her that he wouldn't make it top Keeper tryouts on Friday. Furious and unimpressed, she stomped her foot and told him angrily that players wishing to stay on the team should put training first before any other commitments.
When she had stormed off, Harry whipped around to face his now familar group of friends, who had all sat around him during Angelina's one-sided shouting match, and seethed. "I'm in detention," Harry yelled. "D'you think I'd rather be stuck in a room with that old toad or playing Quidditch?"
Hermione looked sympathetic as Harry slumped down on his bench and stared glumly at his steak-and-kidney pie. "At least it's only lines," she said. "It's not as if it's a dreadful punishment, really..."
Harry opened his mouth, closed it, and nodded. He had no real reason, but he didn't want to tell his friends about what exactly was happening in Umbridge's room. Judging from everyone else's expressions, Allen'd kept his promise and hadn't told anyone about it, not that he could have anyway; Allen was with Harry the whole day, in every class, during lunch and breakfast, and right now. Allen's potion nudged Harry in the side from inside his pocket, reminding him of the young Exorcist's loyalty as a friend.
"I can't believe how much homework we've got," Ron said miserably, and Lavi stuck out his tongue in agreement. Apparently, N.E.W.T. students got a bit more homework than O.W.L.s, and to Lavi, who was unfamiliar to magic, it was probably more than the pile of documents Komui usually dealt with at the Black Order headquarters (Allen had sometimes spoken of Komui's office, which was littered permanently with files and piles of paper).
"Well, why didn't you do any last night?" Hermione asked. "Where were you anyway?"
"I was...I fancied a walk," Ron fidgeted. Lenalee sent the boy a knowing look, and Harry oddly felt relieved when he got a slight feeling that he wasn't the only one hiding something.
"Oy, Moyashi, Lavi, Lenalee," a gruff, irritated voice said. Harry swore he saw a vein pop in Allen's temple, and the other two Exorcists greeted Kanda pleasantly. The Japanese Exorcist leaned over the table between Hermione and Ron and whispered something. Sending Harry a look that Harry couldn't read, he straightened and walked off, following Krory, Miranda, and Komui out of the Great Hall.
"What was that?" Hermione asked as Allen, Lenalee, and Lavi stood up swiftly, the first who was stuffing the last of an apple into his mouth. Timcampy hopped onto Allen's head where it sat still.
"Gotta go," Lavi said, distracted.
"Important meeting, you see," Lenalee added.
"Good night, you guys, and Harry, I'll make sure to be back and awake tonight!" Allen called as the three of them rushed out of the large hall.
At detention that night, Harry was too confused by the Exorcist's sudden departure from dinner to really care about the ever-increasing pain in his hand as he wrote an endless list of 'I must not tell lies' on a blank piece of parchment. But by the time Unbridge released him, the skin was red and raw, and Harry got the feeling it would soon stop healing over so completely. He said, "Good night," and closed the door behind him. He swallowed Allen's potion to relieve the pain, and was glad at how well it worked.
When he returned to the common room, Allen was nodding off, but awake as he had promised. In his lap he held a black notebook, and on the table in front of him he had a small pail of snails and other critters, several textbooks, and another small pile of parchment that Harry realized were copies of Hermione's and Lenalee's notes from today's classes.
The Exorcist greeted him with a sleepy smile, but stayed awake the whole time Harry worked on his homework, helping him patiently and refusing when Harry told him he should go to bed. When Harry finally finished with Snape's moonstone essay, it was half past two and Allen had his head on a comfortable cushion, but he diligently accompanied him through McGonagall's questions in Transfiguration, Grubby-Plank's 'The Proper Handling of Bowtruckles' essay. Afterwards, they both staggered up to their beds and fell asleep the moment they collasped on the covers, fully clothed.
Thursday, Allen gave Harry another vial of potion (Allen had bags under his eyes, and told him good-naturedly that he had woken up at five to work on the potion, and that he had several more vials stashed away in his trunk). All throughout the day, Harry was ading in and out of consciousness, and so did Ron, although he wondered why he should be. Luckily, there wasn't as much homwork, so, at ten minutes to five, Harry insisted Allen went to sleep and didn't wait for him to return.
Two hours through Harry's third detention with Umbridge, though, the words in the back of his hand ceased to fade and heal, and oozed droplets of blood through the still-open cut. Harry stopped his writing and gazed tiredly at the blood, transfixed and dazed. He was jolted out of his grogginess when Umbridge suddenly touched his hand, and it took every once of self-control in Harry's body to stop himself from jerking his hand away.
"Ah," the teacher gave a satisfied sigh. "Good. That ought to serve as a reminder to you, oughtn't it? You may leave for tonight.
"Do I still have to come back tomorrow?" Harry asked, hoping against hope that she would say no. But it certainly wasn't so.
"Oh, yes," Umbridge said, smiling. "Yes, I think we can etch the message a little deeper with another evening's work."
She's evil, Harry thought hatefully as he climed the stairs to the seventh floor, she's an evil, twisted, mad old-
His train of thought was cut off when a flash of red hair appeared around a corner, and he almost bumped into a tall boy. "Ron?" Harry said. The boy gave a great leap of shock and hid the new broomstick, the Cleansweep Eleven his mother had given himfor becoming a prefect, behind his back.
"What are you doing?" Harry asked as a shadow moved overhead and Lenalee jumped down form the top of a statue.
"Er-nothing," Ron saif, stumbling on his tongue. "What are you doing?"
Harry frowned, then looked at Lenalee, who flushed and turned away quickly. "Come on!" he said, trying not to laugh, fingering the vial in his pocket and wishing he'd taken the painkiller sooner, "you can tell me! What are you hiding here for?"
Ron glanced nervously form Lenalee to Harry, and said, "I'm- I'm hiding from Fred and George, if you must know. They just went past with a bunch of first years, I bet they're testing stuff on them again, I mean, they can't do it in the common room now, can they, not with Hermione there." He was rambling, and it raised Harry's curiosity more.
"But what have you got your broom for, you haven't been flying, have you?" Harry asked.
"I- well" -Ron looked at Lenalee, who sent him a sharp look and nodded- "well, okay, I'll tell you, but don't laugh, all right?" Ron said, sounding defensive and turning a brighter red with every word. "I- I though I'd try out for Gryffindor Keeper now I've got a decent broom. There. Go on. Laugh." He looked at Harry firmly.
Harry momentarily forgot the pain in his hand. He looked back at Ron and said, "I'm not laughing." Ron blinked, and Harry suppressed the urge to laugh at that. "It's a brilliant idea! It'd be really cool if you got on the team! I've never seen you play Keeper, are you good?"
Lenalee was smiling, and Ron flushed deeper, but seemed pleased. "Charlie, Fred, and George always made me Keep for them when they were training during the holidays," he said.
"So you've been practicing tonight?" Harry asked, feeling excited. He looked at the girl Exorcist. "What's Lenalee doing here?"
"Helping me practice...Every evening since Tuesday...just on my own, though, until yesterday night when she found me flying. I'd fallen and she caught me before I hit the ground," Ron explained. "I've been trying to bewitch Quaffles to fly at me, but it hasn't been easy and I don't how much use it'll be, but tonight Lenalee was helping me and throwing the balls at me when I blocked...Fred and George are going to laugh themselves stupid when I turn up for the tryouts. They haven't stopped taking the mickey out of me since I got made a prefect," he groaned.
"Don't say that, Ron," Lenalee said hastily. "You caught almost every ball I threw at you. Anyways, it's getting late. Why don't we all go back to the common room now and get some sleep? I'm going to make sure you go to that tryout tomorrow, Ron, and you need to be in good condition-no sleepiness."
"I wish I was going to be there," Harry said bitterly as they set off for Gryffindor Tower.
"Yeah, so do- Harry, what's that on the back of your hand?"
Harry stopped in the middle of scratching his nose with his right hand and tried to hide it when he remembered the results of detention. "It's just a cut- it's nothing- it's-" he stuttered, hie left hand digging around for the potion as his hand began to burn again.
Ron was quicker, and grabbed Harry's hand firmly. Lenalee and he looked hard at the cut, reading the words carved on his hand, and then Ron released Harry, his freckled face now white with disgust. Lenalee looked about as shocked as he.
"I thought you said she was giving you lines?"
Harry considered lying again, but Ron had been honest with him, and besides, what kind of excuse was there for words carved into skin in perfect cursive handwriting? He told Ron and Lenalee the truth about Umbridge's detention, and made a mental note to himself to tell Allen he needn't hide anything anymore.
"That old hag!" Ron hissed angrily as the three of them stopped in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady. "She's sick! Go to McGonagall, say something!"
"No," Harry said defiantly. "I'm not giving her the satisfaction of knowing she's got to me."
Lenalee looked at him in revolt. "Got to you?" she repeated in disbelief. "You can't let her get away with his!"
"I don't know how much McGonagall's got over her," Harry said, feeling weak and lame.
"Dumbledore then, tell Dumbledore!" Ron wasn't giving up.
Harry sighed. "No."
"Why not?" Lenalee asked.
"He's got enough on his mind," Harry reasoned, feeling disloyal for lying once again. He wasn't going to go ask Dumbledore for help. The last time the headmasterhad spoken to him was last June, at the end of fourth year...
"Well, I reckon you should-" Ron began stubbornly.
"Are you going to give me the password or will I have to stay awake all night waiting for you to finish your conversation?" the Fat Lady interrupted.
Lenalee must have seen teh topin as closed: Harry wasn't going to tell anyone other than them. "Mimbulus mibletonia," she said, and they all walked in as the trapdoor swung open.
Hello readers! I found that there was a comment about chapter 8/9.
Q: Krory won't say anything about wanting to "eat" Akuma. Crowley has this "mwahahah BLOOD" thing on his vampire-mode, but never on his normal mode. He is attracted to Akuma's blood, but he doesn't treat it like meals - it's just fuel, energy for his Innocence. And even if he did think so - he wouldn't say it in front Allen and Lenalee. Again, because he's well-educated and shy.
A: When Krory talked about having Akuma for supper, he meant drinking their blood for an energy-boost, not literally chomping down. I'm sorry if that caused a confusion there. And about saying it in front of Allen and Lenalee, I've read the manga in Japanese up to volume 11, and in the later chapters he'd said something that reminded Allen of a bloodthirsty beast (although that was when Krory was already in his fiesty Exorcist mode, after he drinks blood), so I just put that in. And I noticed that the glomping thing was a bit OOC, so I think I'll pay attention to that from now on...or just blame it on some plants.
And to all reviewers, thank you so much for all your comments! They've encouraged me, and I'm sure that this story will turn out great, and for that I thank everyone's comments, that is helping me make this story better with every chapter!