Of Wizards, Akuma, and Exorcists
Sixteen: The High Inquisitor
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!
Monday morning, Lavi and Allen were surprised to see Lenalee collecting an issue of the Daily Prophet from
a dirty screech owl. They hadn't a clue how she'd ordered one.
"Good morning, guys," the girl greeted and got up from the table. "I have to show this to Komui, come with me."
"What happened?" Allen asked as they passed by the Hufflepuff table. Lenalee motioned to Krory and Miranda, who caught up to them with worried faces. Upon reaching the Ravenclaw table, the five of them walked up to Komui and Kanda.
"Oh, Lenalee!" Komui exclaimed happily the moment he caught sight of his younger sister. "How are you doing?"
"Fine, Komui," the girl answered. "I want to show you something, could we go outside?"
The young man's face took on a serious shadow. He looked into the eyes of all the Exorcists and said, "Alright, let's go. Come on, Kanda!"
"Cheh, don't act so friendly with me," the Japanese man said grimly, but followed nonetheless.
"Did- did something happen, Lenalee?" Miranda asked nervously. "Something...bad?"
"Well, it depends on who reads it," the girl answered.
Kanda tsked in Allen's ear. "It's about that Umbridge hag, isn't it?" he asked. "Who else?"
Komui and Lenalee exchanged glances. "Someone much worse than Dolores Umbridge, maybe," the older brother answered, "someone like Lord Voldemort or the Millenium Earl."
"Thankfully, or unthankfully, it is about Umbridge," Lenalee sighed. She and her brother led the Exorcists into the shade of a tree out on the school grounds where she showed everyone the Daily Prophet. On the front page, in big bold letters was the headline:
MINISTRY SEEKS EDUCATIONAL REFORM
DOLORES UMBRIDGE APPOINTED FIRST-EVER "HIGH INQUISITOR"
"What does that mean?" Krory asked, peering at Umbridge's toady, smiling face. "And this newspaper has moving pictures!"
"That's beside the point," Kanda grumbled.
"In a surprise move last night the Ministry of Magiv passed new legislation giving itself an unprecedented level of control at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy," Allen read.
Lavi leaned over the white haired boy's shoulder and continuted. "'The Minister has been growing uneasy about going-ons at Hogwarts for some time,' said Junior Assistant to the Minister, Percy Weasley. 'He is now responding to concerns voiced by anxious parents, who feel the school may be moving in a direction they do not approve.'"
"In other words," Lenalee sighed, "they're trying to take control of things at Hogwarts. Here, listen:
"This is not the first time in recent weeks Fudge has used new laws to effect improvements at the Wizarding school. As recently as August 30th Educational Decree Twenty-two was passed, to ensure that, in the event of the current headmaster being unable to provide a candidate for a teaching post, the Ministry should select an appropriate person.
"' That's how Dolores Umbridge came to be appointed to the teaching staff at Hogwarts,' said Weasley last night. 'Dumbledore couldn't find any-one, so the Minister put in Umbridge and of course, she's been an immediate success-"
"Hear hear," Lavi said sarcastically. "We absolutely, adore Umbridge, don't we?"
"Sh!" Allen said. "There's more.
"'-an immediate success...totally revolutionizing the teaching of Defense Against the Dark Arts and providing the Minister with on-the-ground feedback about what's really happening at Hogwarts,'" Allen read. "It is this last function that the Ministry ahs now formalized with the passing of Educational Decree Number Twenty-three, which creates the new position of 'Hogwarts High Inquisitor.'
"'This is an exciting new phase in the Minister's plan to get to grips with what some are calling the "falling standards" at Hogwarts,' said Weasley. 'The Inquisitor will have powers to inspect her fellow educators and make sure they are coming up to scratch. Professor Umbridge has been offered this position in addition to her own teaching post, and we are delighted to say that she has accepted.'"
"The Ministry's new moves have received enthusiastic support from parents of students at Hogwarts," Komui said, taking the papers gently ffrom his sister and adjusting his glasses. Krory and Miranda gathered around them as the others listened grimly. "'I feel much easier in my mind now that I know that Dumbledore is being subjected to fair and objective evaluation,' said Mr. Lucius Malfoy, 41, speaking from his Wiltshire mansion last night. 'Many of us with our children's best interests at heart have been concerned about some of Dumbledore's eccentric decisions in the last few years and will be glad to know that the Ministry is keeping an eye on the situation.'"
"Well," Allen said lowly, "that coming from that Draco Malfoy's father is understandable."
"You mean that twig with the greasy blond hair in Slytherin?" Kanda asked. "Cheh. That guy was a total idiot."
"You know him?" Lenalee and Komui asked in surprise.
Lavi was giggling like a little boy bursting with the excitement of keeping something a secret. "Draco Malfoy made fun of Yu's ponytail before," he said brightly, "and Yu almost cut off his nose." The samurai clicked his tongue in irritation and didn't meet anyone's eyes.
Krory stared at Kanda and Lavi for a while before he looked down at the Prophet again. "Among those 'eccentric decisions' are undoubtedly the controversional staff appointements previously described in this newspaper, which have included the hiring of werewolf Remus Lupin, hald-giant Rubeus Hagrid ("No wonder he was so huge," Lavi said.), and dlusional ex-Auror, 'Mad-Eye' Moody.
Rumors abound, of course, that Albus Dumbledore, once Supreme Mugwump of the International Confedration of Wizards and Chief Warlock of the Wizangamot, is no longer up to the task of managing the prestigious school of Hogwarts."
"But," Miranda said, "Dumbledore is such a wonderful, kind person...even to me..."
Komui patted her on the shoulder and continued where Krory left off. "'I think the appointment of the Inquisitor is a first step toward ensuring that Hogwarts has a headmaster in whom we can all repose confidence,' said a Ministry insider last night," he read. "Wizengamot elders Griselda Marchbanks and Tiberius Odgen have resigned in protest at the introduction of the post of Inquisitor to Hogwarts.
"'Hogwarts is a school, not an outpost of Cornelius Fudge's office,' said Madam Marchbanks. 'This is a further disgusting attempt to discredit Albus Dumbledore.' (For a full account of Mada Marchbank's alleged links to subversive goblin groups, turn to page 17)..."
The Exorcists all stared at their chief supervisor, as if the man would have some kind of answer for them. But Komui Lee, in all his glory and inteligence, was lost as well, and they could tell.
"Well," Allen said, "it's all the more difficult for us. A stronger barrier that Dumbledore can't undo, and now Umbridge has the power to rip off our disguise at any second. She's probably already got an eye on us with our uniforms too..."
"Right," Lavi sighed, and Lenalee nodded. "But shan't we hurry now? If she's going to be inspecting any of our classes, it's a lot better if we get there on time."
"Yes, yes," Komui said, folding the Prophet and handing it to Lenalee. "You guys should go. Miranda and I will be Dumbledore's office as usual, and Krory, you'll be at the greenhouses, correct?"
"Y-yes," Arystar Krory answered. "I shall be there."
"Then we'll all see each other safe and sound soon enough, won't we? If you see any Akuma..."
"We won't be able to tell," Kanda finished and walked off. "I'm going to class."
"This mission is kind of hopeless," Lavi said, ruffling his hair. "I'm off, too, see you. Wait for me! Yu!"
"We'll be going too, Komui," Lenalee said to her brother, smiling at his worried face. "We'll be alright, don't fret. Come on, Allen."
"Oh, okay," the boy said, following the girl as she started off down the grass. Komui and Kanda's voices rang in his ears...
If you see any Akuma...
We won't be able to tell...
Allen felt his cursed eye throb and pulse. Mana's curse, it had saved many lives before, and now it might be failing...
Please protect us, Mana, Allen thought desperately. Please help me protect everyone, please, Dad...
Don't fail on me now, of all times...
The two Exorcists didn't know whether they were relieved or not when they didn't see Umbridge in History of Magic, which still failed to be exciting. The toady woman was not in the cold dungeons for Snape's Potions class, where they were passed back their moonstone essays.
If it was because Snape couldn't care less what their grades were, Allen and Lenalee both received an 'E' for their essays. Apparently, an 'E' wasn't a bad grade, for Ron's jaw dropped upon seeing the grade. "Holy cricket! That's the second best grade you could get!" he gasped.
"I have awarded you the grades you would have received if you presented this work in your O.W.L.," Snape drawled, but Allen was having a hard time listening. The air was icy, in a different way from the usual coolness of the classroom.
The feeling sent shivers down his spine, and his blood started to boil as his heart began to flutter, then pound, in his chest. His left eye activated on its own, looking around, through walls, through people, down the corridor, until it landed on one student with a ghost like shadow floating over his head...a lost soul...
"An Akuma," Allen whispered. He was positive, his eye wasn't lying to him this time, that was, unfortunately or fortunately, truly and honestly an Akuma. And from the way the soul was acting, it was a Level II.
"Mr. Walker, may I ask you what you are standing up for?" Snape's oily voice cut through his thoughts like an icy knife.
Allen jumped and whipped around to face Severus Snape, who was peering at him suspiciously. "I- I," Allen sttutered.
"Yes?"
The boy closed his mouth, took a deep breath, and whispered, "Sir, there's an enemy wandering the halls."
"If there was, we wouldn't be sitting here calmly, would we be?" Snape wasn't bothering to stay silent. "Now, I would appreciate if you'd sit down, Mr. Walker."
"You can't see an Akuma, professor," Allen replied quietly, and the teacher raised an eyebrow. "Only I can, and I'm saying I see an Akuma out there." His eye was reacting violently, twitching, and he felt the Akuma's presense coming closer and closer.
Please don't come here now, I won't be able to fight in here...
"Professor, you do care, don't you, whether or not these students die or not? Please let me fight the Akuma, or else there will be casualties," the Exorcist said, panic creeping up his body, making him shiver.
"Well, now, what shall I do?" the teacher asked, clearly enjoying tormenting the boy, not understanding, at all, how dangerous Akuma oculd be, especially a Level II...
And it was right outside the door, and the door was creaking open...
Too late...
"Lenalee! The door! It's right by the door!" Allen yelled, just as an explosion attacked the classroom. Students screamed.
"I got it!" the girl responded in a flash, and was flying across the room in a moment, driving the Akuma out of the classroom as she attacked with her Innocence, her anti-Akuma weapon, the Dark Boots.
"Is anybody hurt?" Allen heard Harry call out, but he knew nobody was hit by the attacks. If there were any casualties, the body would have become dust by now, and a poisonous gas would be filling up the classroom, and there was nothing of that sort.
"You see, Professor?" he said to the teacher, who was staring in shock and wonder at his destroyed classroom. "I don't know if Dumbledore'd told you, but Akuma attack, and you can't cure anyone once their bullets hit them. I hope you do not risk your students' lives again."
"Allen," Hermione said weakly, shivering in fright and clinging to Ron as if he was her lifeline. "What was that?"
"An Akuma?" Harry asked. "That was an Akuma? I saw it before everything exploded, and it...it looked just like a student."
To think that the Earl's hands would reach into this castle so far already, Allen thought sadly. "That used to be a student, but now it's an Akuma wearing his skin. Harry, I'm going to go assist Lenalee. Don't make a sound, hide."
"A-alright," the boy answered, gulping, but Allen was already out in the hall.
"Timcampy, go get Miranda and Krory, hopefully Umbridge isn't in Herbology. I'm more than sure Kanda and Lavi will be here soon, that was one great explosion." The golden golem gave a nod and flew away. Up ahead, around the corner, outside the window, Allen could hear the unmistable noise of an Akuma's cannons. His eye was going mad; there were more Akuma in the vicinity, and all of them were Level II's.
So much for not getting detected, Allen thought. Umbridge is going to kick us out, I'm sure of it. Let's just hope none of us dies.
Just then, the window he was passing by shattered in his face, nearly stabbing his eye out and making a large gash in his cheek. Warm, sticky blood oozed down his face as Allen did an about-face and jumped out of the window, seeing the battle below.
"Hey, Allen!" a voice called from above.
"Look up, Moyashi!" an irritating, familiar voice.
"I knew you'd come," Allen said gratefully, activating his left arm and landing on the Akuma's head, looking around. There were at least thirty Akuma hovering around them, all thirsty for blood and the sensation of death.
"This is going to be along battle," Lavi commented.
"Troublesome monsters," Kanda complained just as Lenalee landed full-force on the Akuma beside them, destroying it.
"Thanks for coming, guys!" she said, dodging a bullet. "I couldn't take down all this on my own."
"I'm betting you three Galleons that we're going to get expelled," Lavi said to Allen as they leaped away from the Akuma they were on, Allen destroying it with his arm.
"Get out of my way, you idiots!" Kanda yelled at them, swinging his sword. "Mugen...saiaku shourai..."
"Hey, wait!" Allen yelped as he and Lavi scurried away. "Don't kill us!"
"Kaichuu 'Ichigen!'"
Apparently, Kanda wasn't going to bother listening to Allen as he destroyed several Akuma at once.
"We can't let Kanda take all the credit, at the least," Lavi said, reaching into the pouch tied to his leg and taking out a tiny hammer. "Big hammer, little hammer, grow"- the hammer increased in size- "grow"- it grew three times larger- "grow!" The hammer was as large as one of the castle's towers. "Let's get started, shall we, Akuma?"
"Lavi! Don't recklessly throw yourself at a Level II!" Allen gasped as the older boy jumped into battle. But he lost sight of Lavi as a group of Akuma attacked him as well. "Arg...cutting and slashing them one by one isn't going to help me at all..."
There were just too many Akuma. Whenever they destroyed once, at least three would come and take its place. They needed more help. Where was Krory? Miranda? The Akuma began to shoot at him altogether. He was able to dodge them all, but it was all a matter of time before he ran out of stamina. If only they'd stop moving so much-
"Time Out!"
Maybe God was on his side this time. The Akuma froze in space, trapped in the midst of Miranda Lotto's powers. Allen took a moment to catch himself in time, caught off guard by the sudden lack of movement. "Wow," he whispered in awe.
"Stop slacking off and get to work, brat," a gruff voice said, and Arystar Krory began to destroy the Akuma.
"Oh, right," Allen nodded, slightly disturbed by the older Exorcist as he sucked out the Akuma's blood with his teeth. Allen couldn't help but be glad, as a fellow parasite-type accomdator of the Innocence, that his weapon was not his teeth.
In the distance, Lavi was dancing and enjoying his battle with twenty or so Akuma. Swinging his enlarged, oversized hammer, he yelled, "Hi ban: Gouka Kaijin!" and a huge, fiery serpent swallowed the Akuma whole. Lenalee was fighting with Kanda, both of them destroying their handful of Akuma with swift slashes and powerful kicks.
"I'm full now," Krory said, landing beside Allen. "Now why odn't you make yourself useful and finish them all off?"
Allen nodded, raising his arm. "I'll do that," he said, and jumped into the air. Gathering the Innocence's holy power into one attack, he gathered his strength and yelled, "Cross Grave!"
He knew he'd just destroyed every Akuma in the vicinity, every single one of them was gone. He also knew that Lavi, Lenalee, and Kanda were not expecting their prey to disappear in a flash of holy, silver light. He heard them yell and cry out in surprise.
"What the-?" Lenalee gasped.
"Where did the Akuma go?" Lavi exclaimed.
"Moyashi!" Allen didn't feel the need to try identifying who that was.
"Yes?" he drawled out.
"What did you just do?" Kanda demanded angrily. Seeing that he had grass in his black hair, Allen guessed that he had fallen rather clumsily when the Akuma had disappeared.
Suppressing a laugh, Allen replied coolly, "I destroyed Akuma, Kanda, because I am an Exorcist."
"You...you..."
"Great going, Allen!" Lenalee and Lavi cheered. The girl sobered instantly though. "Was anyone hurt in the classroom?"
"No, thankfully."
"That's good, but..."
"Yeah."
"Do you think-"
"You do realize we screwed up this mission big time, don't you?" Kanda asked, his eyebrow twitching.
"W-w-we did...?" Miranda stammered. "I-i-is it my fault...?"
"No!" Lenalee said. "It's not, Miranda, don't worry."
Timcampy fluttered around Krory's head, sensing the tension. The man was staring into space. "Eliade..." he muttered.
The Exorcists all looked at each other and sighed.
"We're going to get expelled, aren't we?" Allen muttered.
Hi readers-
I really can't believe I'm actually posting two chapters on the same day. When I was first writing this, it was supposed to be a bit of a 'filler' chapter, but I guess it turned out to be a bit of a turning point for our Exorcists now. I think, from now on, the Black Order wouldn't be working in small groups but working as one group...maybe.