Kuro: Look who's back!
Kaze: Yes, I'm back. Sorry for the absence.
Kuro: Ok, I promised two chpts after our tests and here they are.
Kaze: Yes, so please enjoy and please review.
Kuro: We own nothing belonging to J.K. Rowling, but we applaud the excellent work she's done.
Kaze: Yep, now on with the story.
Truth Lies in the Shadows
Chapter 9
"Are you still doing our Ancient Runes homework?" asked Hermione. She was coming downstairs to rejoin Harry and Ron in the common room and saw Reina writing.
"No, I finished that a while ago." replied Reina. Moving her legs from under her, she shifted into a more comfortable position on the floor by the sofa. She leaned against the arm and continued writing,
Ron looked up from the chessboard between him and Harry. "Then what are you doing?"
"Writing." Reina stated without looking up.
"What are you writing?" Ron said trying to get more of an answer out of the girl.
"A letter."
"To who?"
"My father."
"Why didn't you just say that in the first place?"
"Didn't want to."
This time Reina did glance up at him with a grin. Ron rolled his eyes then went back to the chess game. Taking out her pocket watch, Reina glanced at the time. She put the watch away and quickly finished the letter. When she was done, the half-demon folded the parchment, addressed it, and stood up.
"I'll see you guys in Potions." she said heading to the portrait hole with her bag.
"Where are you going?" asked Harry.
"To see if I can catch Kaze before class." Reina opened the door and left the common room. Making sure no one was going to follow her out, she walked in the opposite direction of the Muggle Studies classroom.
The door to the Owlery was pushed open and the half-demon scurried in. Going to one of the windows, she looked out over the grounds. She could see several people hanging out below her. It was a beautiful day so that was to be expected. Reina rubbed her fingertip over one of her rings. The stone of the ring glowed red resembling the eyes of the raven she was calling. When the light died away, Reina leaned on the windowsill with her arms and watched the tiny figures below.
Not long after the call, Reina could see a black dot in the sky growing bigger as it got closer. Within seconds the bird was landing on the half-demon's forearm.
"Hello, Mayoke." said Reina as she stroked the raven's feathery body. "Have you been a good boy and stayed near the castle?" The bird let out a soft caw. "That's good. Now, I need you to take a letter to Darikk through the Shadow Realm. Can you do that?"
Once again Mayoke cawed at his master. He took the letter from Reina's hand in his beak. The half-demon put her right hand flat against the stone wall. Focusing on the wall, she began to use her power to pull the shadows in the room into one spot. The stone under her hand turned black, continuing to grow until it was a foot in diameter. Reina stepped away from the small gateway to Shadow Realm. Without being told, Mayoke quickly flew into the hole and disappeared.
"Reina! Are you up here?"
The half-demon lost her concentration causing the gateway to close. She turned to the doorway leading to the outside steps. Harry entered the Owlery a second after the black hole disappeared.
"Here you are." he said. "We ran into Kaze in the hall, and she said she hadn't seen you."
Reina let out the breath she didn't realize she was holding. "Sorry. My bird wasn't here so I had to wait for him."
"Well, we need to get going." Harry told her.
"Okay." Grabbing her bag, Reina followed Harry down the steps and to the dungeons.
"We're here." Harry called out to his friends when they reached the dungeon for their Potions class.
The newly appointed N.E.W.T. students were waiting outside of the room to be let in. As soon as Harry reached Ron and Hermione, another boy ran up to them. By the colors of parts of his uniform, Reina deduced that he was from Hufflepuff. The half-demon decided to stay out of the conversation. Besides the four Gryffindors and a Hufflepuff, there were four Ravenclaws and five Slytherins, one of which was separated from the group. Instead of remaining with her fellow Slytherins, the girl walked over to Reina.
"Reina Krone, isn't it?"
The half-demon stared at the student with purple hair and eyes. She really stood out from the crowd, and not just because of her unnatural hair color. Although she wore the required uniform, she had added combat boots and fishnet stockings to it. Her amethyst hair was pulled back, revealing a tattoo of three kanji symbols down the side of her neck. Since her sleeve was pushed up, Reina also noticed a tattoo of what looked like barbed wire going up her right arm. And to add to all of this the girl had multiple ear piercings, a lip ring, and an assortment of pendants, bracelets, and wristbands.
"Uh, yeah. And your name is?"
"Sukue. Kiku Sukue."
Out of the corner of her eye, Reina saw the rest of the Slytherins watching her and Kiku closely. "Nice to meet you." she said, ignoring the many eyeballs glued to them.
"Likewise."
Before the two girls could continue their conversation, the door to the classroom opened and Professor Slughorn walked into the hall. After glancing over the students he ushered them inside. Everyone quickly took his or her seats. Ravenclaws sat at one table, Slytherins at another. Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat near a very fragrant cauldron. Ernie Macmillan, the lone Hufflepuff, joined them. This left Reina to take a table in the back by herself. But to her surprise, Kiku put her stuff on the table and sat down next to her. This earned stares from almost everyone in the room since it was uncommon for friendships between Gryffindor and Slytherin.
Reina soon grew annoyed by the stares. She got enough of those in her own village, she didn't need them her, too. Not caring what everyone else thought, she glared back at a few people who immediately looked away.
"Now then, now then, now then," said Slughorn from the front of the room. "Scales out, everyone, and potion kits, and don't forget your copies of Advanced Potion-Making."
There was bustling around the room as everyone took out their needed materials. Harry informed Professor Slughorn that he and Ron did not have their things. Slughorn got the boys some old scales and textbooks. After the students were ready, the teacher positioned himself at the front once again.
"Now then," he began. "We are going to review a few potions that you will need to know for your N.E.W.T's."
As Slughorn pointed out the cauldrons placed around the room, Hermione correctly identified each one earning twenty points for Gryffindors. Next to the Slytherin table was a cauldron filled with Veritaserum, a colorless and odorless potion that forces the drinker to tell the truth. Near the Ravenclaws was a potion that the Gryffindor trio was quite familiar with, Polyjuice Potion. The liquid by Harry and the gang was the powerful love potion Amortentia. And lastly, Felix Felicis sat in a small cauldron on Slughorn's desk. A small bottle of this golden luck was the prize for the best Draught of Living Death.
Throughout the class, Slughorn walked around the room examining everyone's progress. At some he gave an approving nod, and at others his lip curled up in disappointment.
"How do you like Hogwarts so far?" Kiku asked after Slughorn passed her.
"It's cool," replied Reina. She glanced over to the table to their left where Hermione seemed to be frustrated, but Harry looked pleased. "The teachers seem nice with the exception of Snape."
"Yeah, he's strict, but he's a good teacher."
"I guess." Keeping her eyes on the potion-in-progress before her, Reina asked, "Do you happen to know why Draco Malfoy is glaring daggers at us?"
Kiku looked up from her work. Indeed, Draco was paying more attention to her than his potion. The girl cut him a dirty look. Something flickered in Draco's eyes before he turned back around. If someone had looked closely, they would have recognized it as nervousness and fear.
"He's just pissed that I'm over here and not with his group," answered Kiku.
"Because I'm a Gryffindor?" Kiku nodded. "I don't understand what the big deal is. It's not like we're conspiring against the school." Reina said as she cut up some ingredients.
Kiku knew the other girl was being serious, but she couldn't help stifle the snicker that escaped. It was amusing how little Reina knew about Hogwarts. "Let's just say that our houses have never really…gotten along." She left it at that which Reina was content with.
As the class progressed, Reina and Kiku continued talking and getting to know each other. Every now and then there would be a pair of stray eyes watching the girls, but they ignored them. However, it wasn't just the students. Slughorn studied them closely as he walked around the room. 'Strange.' he thought.
"Time's up!" Slughorn announced. There was only five minutes left of class when everyone was told to stop. A few people hurried to do more to their potions, but it didn't help much. Some potions were fairly decent, a dark purple instead of the light lavender it was suppose to be. Ernie's concoction, for some unknown reason, was bubbling. No one seemed to have nailed it, not even Hermione. That is until it came to Harry's potion.
"We have a winner!" said Slughorn. "My boy, you have inherited your mother's talent. Here you go." He handed the small bottle of Felix Felicis to Harry.
Reina looked into her own cauldron then Kiku's. "We were close." she said with a smirk.
When Reina turned away from the table, Kiku ran a hand over her cauldron. The dark colored liquid lightened to lavender in the blink of an eye. With a smirk of her own, Kiku stood aside so Slughorn could judge her attempt at brewing Draught of Living Death.
"Ah! We now have two winners." said Slughorn cautiously. He did remember Snape saying Kiku Sukue was one of his best students. But he could've sworn he saw dark purple in her cauldron not a minute before. He went to his desk, got out another vial, and filled it with Felix Felicis. He then gave it to Kiku. There was a distant ring echoing down to the dungeons. Slughorn waved his wand and all of the cauldrons' contents disappeared. "You are dismissed."
Once outside, Reina turned to Kiku. "How did you do that?" she asked. The half-demon was confused at how Kiku was able to correct her potion in a matter of seconds.
"Do what?" Kiku said innocently. She heard her name being called from up ahead. "I'll catch you later." She then ran down the hall and caught up with the other Slytherins.
"That girl's mental." said Ron as he and the others came up behind Reina.
"What are you talking about? She is really nice." The half-demon said.
"Nice? Look at her! Someone who's a Slytherin, dresses like that, and can scare Malfoy is not nice in my book."
"But you don't like Malfoy. Shouldn't it be a good thing that she scares him?" Reina retorted frowning. It wasn't right for Ron or anyone else to judge people just on how they look. She knew from personal experience how much pain that can cause.
"Just forget about it, Ron." Harry whispered to his friend. He noticed the painful and angry expression on the girl's face that showed this issue was bothering her.
When they arrived back at the common room, Kaze greeted them from the sofa. The wind demon was already finished with her homework, so she enjoyed laughing at the others doing theirs. She soon became bored with that and started playing with Fireball. Hermione was the first to finish, which was no surprise to anyone. She took out her Ancient Runes textbook so she could replace it with The Standard Book of Spells. When she did this, a piece of parchment fell out of the thick book. Before Hermione could reach for it, Ron grabbed it up from the table.
"Oh! What's this? A note?" the redhead teased.
"Ronald, give it back!" Hermione reached out for the note, but Ron moved it away from her.
"Thank you." said Harry when he plucked the parchment from Ron's hand. He handed it back to Hermione who thanked him, but Ron wasn't giving up. He pestered the girl for several minutes until she finally cracked.
"Alright!" she exclaimed. Before saying anything else, Hermione turned in her seat to look at the girl in one of the armchairs. She scooted back around and whispered, "It's from Reina." With another glance to make sure Reina wasn't watching, Hermione gave the note to Harry. He unfolded it and read.
Near the top of the parchment, in small, neat handwriting, was written something about the next lesson for Ancient Runes. Then, in Hermione's handwriting, was a reply. The next question from Reina was an unusual one that caught Harry off guard. He saw that there was no reply to this one and looked up to Hermione.
"What did you tell her?" he asked as Ron took the paper from him.
"Nothing. I didn't get the chance to. The bell rang and she said nothing about it for the rest of the day." replied Hermione.
Ron took a short breath and read the last line aloud. " 'Don't take this the wrong way, but what is Harry Potter like?'" He looked at his best friend quizzically. "Why would she want to know that? I know you're famous and all, but that's still strange."
Harry had to agree with this, it was strange. His emerald eyes wandered over to Reina. She was curled up in the armchair, an open book resting on her thighs. There was a quill in her hand, but it wasn't moving. When she moved her head slightly, the hair that escaped the braid fell away from her eyes, which happened to be closed. Harry then realized that she was asleep.
His lips curled into a smile. "So much for making Ron apologize." he said. Ron perked up at his name.
"What are you talking about?" asked Hermione. Harry gestured to the slumbering half-demon. "She was the last one to wake up this morning. How can she be tired?"
"She didn't get to sleep until two."
The trio turned their heads to the on who had spoken. Kaze pulled up a chair to the end of the table and sat down. "She's a night owl, and is not quite used to the new schedule yet." she continued. Hermione nodded her head in understanding.
"Why do I need to apologize?" Ron blurted out.
"Because of earlier, after Potions class." said Harry. "It was beginning to upset her." This quieted Ron for the moment. Since she didn't have Potions, Kaze was confused as to what they were talking about. She asked what happened and Harry explained. Afterwards he asked, "Do you know what was bothering her?"
Kaze sighed. "I might." She paused long enough to review the cover-ups she and Reina had come up with. "Reina has had a bit of a rough life. The majority of our village does not accept her. So, I would assume that she is trying to make a better life for herself here at Hogwarts. When Ron criticized this Sukue, she thought it was wrong of you to do so. Reina has lived through that criticism all of her life. She is just tired of it."
After Kaze's explanation, Ron was feeling pretty guilty. The wind demon could see this guilt written all over his face. "It's okay. There was no was for you to know that."
"Why is she unaccepted by your village?" Harry questioned. He was curious to know. Kaze's story seemed vaguely familiar to his own childhood.
"I would suggest you ask Reina about that. She might become angry with me for only telling you as much as I have. That girl is secretive and I don't want to over step my boundaries." Kaze told him.
"I understand. Thanks."
"No problem. Now, how about some dinner?"
The trio agreed and put away their things. As Kaze was climbing out of the portrait hole, Harry asked, "What about Reina?"
"She'll come down when she wakes." said Kaze before completely disappearing out of the room. Taking her word for it, the others followed.
Sure enough, Reina came marching into the Great Hall twenty minutes after her friends. When she first sat down next to Kaze, the trio gave her strange looks then went back to their dinner. Reina beat away her curiosity and enjoyed her dinner. After they ate, the group left the Great Hall, meeting Seamus and Neville outside. They all walked back up to the Gryffindor tower. Once there, Reina ran up to her room and came back down heading for the portrait hole.
"Going to visit Hagrid?" asked Kaze when her friend passed right by her.
Reina had changed out of her school uniform and into a pair of black jeans and a purple tank top. She threw on her cloak as she walked to the exit. "Yes. If anyone asks, tell them I went for a walk."
Distracted by the Daily Prophet she was reading, Kaze only waved the half-demon's departure off of her mind. About five minutes later, the famous trio came down to the common room. Kaze paid no attention to them at first.
Harry looked around the room. When he didn't see whom he was searching for, he asked, "Where's Reina?"
From behind the newspaper came the reply, "I don't know."